Understanding Human Nature
Sin Ting (AKA Kalia) Leung
Sacramento City College
Understanding Human Nature Understanding human nature is essential to the science of psychology. Exploring Psychology 8th edition by David Myers, module 8-5 introduces the perspective of understanding human nature known as evolutionary psychology. This perspective is built upon understanding human behavior and mental processes through the principles of Charles Darwin’s idea of natural selection. (Myers, 2010). The validity of evolutionary psychology as a viable approach to researching and understanding human nature is debated in two research articles which will be the topic of discussion in this essay. Glenn Geher, who identifies himself as an evolutionary …show more content…
Gantt and Melling (2009) criticize the credibility of utilizing evolutionary perspective as the sole framework for attempting to study and understand human nature. Geher argues that human nature can be explained by a relation to such principles as biological disposition, survival instinct, and primal drive to reproduce by attracting a mate. Materialism is a central idea supporting the argument of evolutionary psychology, which states that “thought, feeling, mind, and will, can be exhaustively explained in terms of matter and physical phenomena” (Gantt & Melling, 2009). Gantt and Melling refute the notion of explaining human behavior strictly related to these principles because it excludes individual ability to choose traits such as …show more content…
One side of the argument believes we have advanced and will continue to advance in our understanding and prediction of human behavior by looking thru an evolutionary lens. Evolutionary psychologists apply this modular perspective in other science such as health psychology as a tool in finding answers to ailments (Tyber, Bryan & Hooper, 2012). On the other hand, critics dispute that if evolutionary psychology truly is the answer to all human behaviors, than we are just reduced to casual outcomes of natural selection (Gantt & Melling,
Sin Ting (AKA Kalia) Leung
Sacramento City College
Understanding Human Nature Understanding human nature is essential to the science of psychology. Exploring Psychology 8th edition by David Myers, module 8-5 introduces the perspective of understanding human nature known as evolutionary psychology. This perspective is built upon understanding human behavior and mental processes through the principles of Charles Darwin’s idea of natural selection. (Myers, 2010). The validity of evolutionary psychology as a viable approach to researching and understanding human nature is debated in two research articles which will be the topic of discussion in this essay. Glenn Geher, who identifies himself as an evolutionary …show more content…
Gantt and Melling (2009) criticize the credibility of utilizing evolutionary perspective as the sole framework for attempting to study and understand human nature. Geher argues that human nature can be explained by a relation to such principles as biological disposition, survival instinct, and primal drive to reproduce by attracting a mate. Materialism is a central idea supporting the argument of evolutionary psychology, which states that “thought, feeling, mind, and will, can be exhaustively explained in terms of matter and physical phenomena” (Gantt & Melling, 2009). Gantt and Melling refute the notion of explaining human behavior strictly related to these principles because it excludes individual ability to choose traits such as …show more content…
One side of the argument believes we have advanced and will continue to advance in our understanding and prediction of human behavior by looking thru an evolutionary lens. Evolutionary psychologists apply this modular perspective in other science such as health psychology as a tool in finding answers to ailments (Tyber, Bryan & Hooper, 2012). On the other hand, critics dispute that if evolutionary psychology truly is the answer to all human behaviors, than we are just reduced to casual outcomes of natural selection (Gantt & Melling,