The grand challenges for evolutionary psychology : survival challenges for a discipline

As defined by some of the founders of the field, Barkow et al. (1992), “evolutionary psychologyis simply psychology that is informed by the additional knowledge that evolutionary biologyhas to offer, in the expectation that understanding the process that designed the human mindwill advance the discovery of its architecture.” In the field of biology, there is no (with theexceptions of “creationist” or “intelligent design” research) line drawn between evolutionary andnon-evolutionary approaches because “nothing in biology makes sense except in the light ofevolution” (Dobzhansky, 1973). Like in biology, evolutionary psychologists are often interestedin understanding the ultimate adaptations that characterize organisms and account for variance intheir behavior. Adaptations are evolved solutions (e.g., color vision for seeing ripe fruit) for specificproblems that contribute directly or indirectly to successful reproduction. Adaptations have threecharacteristics. They occur reliably in a species (e.g., cross-culturally), they are effective at solvingadaptive tasks, and they impose reasonable costs on the person