Evolutionary psychology: Resistance is futile
2006; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 17; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1532-7965
Autores Tópico(s)Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
ResumoThe Borg is an imaginary federation of Star Trek creatures who conquer other beings not by annihilation but by incorporating them into a larger collective. Thus, the strengths of former foes become assets for an ever-enlarging and ever-strengthening network. When a member of the Borg alliance encounters opposition, he responds with a simple declaration: Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated. For several decades, a Borg-like federation of re searchers in several disciplines has been working to ward a fully integrated perspective for the behavioral sciences. This increasingly inclusive perspective melds insights from evolutionary psychology, cognitive sci ence, and dynamical systems theory (Cosmides, Tooby, & Barkow, 1992; Kenrick, Li, & Butner, 2003; Kenrick et al., 2002). Attacking individual proponents of this integrative perspective is akin to attacking indi vidual ants-it may bring a temporary sense of relief, but it will do little to slow the growth of the colony, and it may result in a surprisingly effective counterattack. Gangestad, Haselton, and Buss's (this issue) article illustrates why years of frequent and persistent attack have not caused evolutionary psychology to crumble. Evolutionary psychologists have used the many attacks to fortify strengths, jettison weaknesses, and borrow the best weapons of their enemies. This is of course nothing more than science-as-usual. Incorporating criticism into newer and stronger theories is what makes scientific approaches resilient in a way that has perennially annoyed proponents of dogmatic belief systems.
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