Universal Selection Theory: Implications for multidisciplinary approaches to clinical psychology and psychiatry

Universal Selection Theory claims that the increases in the fit of a system to its environment are achieved through a process of blind variation and cumulative selection that is analogous to evolution by natural selection. The process is proposed to occur in many domains, including the gene, behavior, cognition, and culture (meme). This paper reviews the background for the theory and explains how it may contribute to clinical psychology and psychiatry. It is suggested that the theory provides: A framework for integrating biological, psychological and cultural perspectives; an account for why problem-solving and cognitive reappraisal prove to be effective interventions; and an understanding of why psychological disorders can be resistant to change. Implications for psychological treatments, theoretical integration, and future research are discussed.     

试论医学的社会意识

医学的社会意识是一个重要的理论概念,研究医学的社会意识的内涵和作用有重要的理论与实践的意义。同时,强化卫生决策者,医务人员和社会公众的医学社会意识,对于医学的正确发展和卫生事业的进步也同样是重要的。     

进化论与医学教学

达尔文主义在生物学中是一个很重要的理论,它对医学事实所做的进化论解释同样是不应忽视的。但是由于偶然的原因,它一直不能走上医学院的讲台。尽管要克服许多困难,我们还是应该把一些最重要的进化理论传授给我们的医学生,因为这对于他们未来行医是大有益处的。     

Memory and mystery: the cultural selection of minimally counterintuitive narratives

We hypothesize that cultural narratives such as myths and folktales are more likely to achieve cultural stability if they correspond to a minimally counterintuitive (MCI) cognitive template that includes mostly intuitive concepts combined with a minority of counterintuitive ones. Two studies tested this hypothesis, examining whether this template produces a memory advantage, and whether this memory advantage explains the cultural success of folktales. In a controlled laboratory setting, Study 1 found that an MCI template produces a memory advantage after a 1-week delay, relative to entirely intuitive or maximally counterintuitive cognitive templates. Using archival methods, Study 2 examined the cognitive structure of Grimm Brothers folktales. Compared to culturally unsuccessful folktales, those that were demonstrably successful were especially likely to fit an MCI template. These findings highlight the role of human memory processes in cultural evolution.     

Deontic Reasoning With Emotional Content: Evolutionary Psychology or Decision Theory?

Three experiments investigated the contrasting predictions of the evolutionary and decision-theoretic approaches to deontic reasoning. Two experiments embedded a hazard management (HM) rule in a social contract scenario that should lead to competition between innate modules. A 3rd experiment used a pure HM task. Threatening material was also introduced into the antecedent, p, of a deontic rule, if p then must q. According to the evolutionary approach, more HM responses (Cosmides & Tooby, 2000) are predicted when p is threatening, whereas decision theory predicts fewer. All 3 experiments were consistent with decision theory. Other theories are discussed, and it is concluded that they cannot account for the behavior observed in these experiments.     

Book Review: “Dimensions of Apeiron: A Topological Phenomenology of Space,Time, and Individuation”

This article suggests that it may be timely to action the relationship between design and evolution. While this view is not particularly new, the form of its expression here may be. It is noted that the exponential (possibly double exponential) rate of technological change, and the merging of the technological evolutionary lineage with those of biology, cognition, and socioculture is causing greatly accelerated evolution in these latter lineages. So rapid are these change processes that the attendant evolutionary time frames are becoming consonant with those of human design activities. Implications of these developments are outlined.     

Adolescent bullying and personality: An adaptive approach

From an evolutionary perspective, bullying behavior may be viewed as adaptive in nature. Moreover, as bullies may utilize both prosocial and aggressive means to achieve desired goals, they likely exhibit specific personality traits that allow for this bistrategic approach to survival. Therefore, after accounting for general aggression levels, bullying should be negatively associated with personality traits such as fairness and modesty (Honesty-Humility), but unrelated to traits such as forgiveness and tolerance (Agreeableness). Additionally, the intentional nature of the behavior suggests that bullying should be positively associated with instrumental, but not reactive, aggression. A sample of 310 adolescents completed measures of bullying, personality, and instrumental/reactive aggression. Results supported the hypotheses and are interpreted from an adaptive perspective.     

《文化演化与宗教》

社会学家贝拉(Robert Bellah)在其颇具影响力"宗教演化"的文章中,根据广泛的人类经验提出了一个检验文化和宗教互动的模式。贝拉在其雄心勃勃的计划中还是保持相当的谦虚,他警觉到其所用的例证源于历史文献,而模式本身则不是历史。模式是"一种思考的工具":一个用来指导思考的理论性框架,而非基于田野调查的经验性描述。在我们下面的讨论中,我们将使用贝拉的"思考工具"的基本模式,将包括来自贝拉本人和其他宗教学者研究中的一些修正和补充的内容。