Evolutionary Psychology Reflection Paper

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Evolutionary psychology has been criticized by many, and before I took this class I was not sure which side of the debate I was on. I felt like evolutionary psychology suggested behavior is caused by nature alone, and to some extent it does, but it depends on interpretation. It searches for biological and physiological causes for human behavior, emotions, and motivation. In my other psychology classes I was hearing different views about evolutionary theory from my professors. One professor stated that evolutionary theory pretty much claims that rape is natural and inevitable. That, of course, made me really angry. I did not understand how anyone could believe and spread such an idea. My professor of brain and behavior, and also sensory perception, …show more content…
It does seem plausible though, that if ones only life goal was to reproduce as many offspring as possible, rape would be an effective technique. This realization made me, simultaneously, feel more and less empathetic to rape perpetrators. I believe that there may be urges and tendencies to have certain thoughts about rape because humans once engaged in it for more effective survival. At the same time, if an human acts on these urges, than they show us they are a human, yes, but a primitive human. If someone can rape, it means that they have not grown enough to learn control, respect, or compassion. I do not deny the fact that we live in a rape culture simply because I accept this piece of evolutionary theory. Our culture subscribes to rape myths that perpetuates rape, and this is different from the evolutionary perspective of rape. Both nature and nurture together make this such a complex and anger provoking issue for me. I accept evolutionary psychology because I understand the necessity of learning about the origins of human species, because it was a time of great growth and importance. Although, we cannot simply accept these realizations. Knowledge and education is the greatest tool for change, and understanding our past development will lead to future

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