Tree thinking: a new paradigm for integrating comparative data in psychology

Over the past 15 years, several important theoretical and methodological developments have emerged from evolutionary biology. These developments--collectively dubbed tree thinking--are now well known in evolutionary biology but have yet to be incorporated into mainstream psychology. Tree thinking has revolutionized evolutionary biology and has the potential to do the same for how comparative data are integrated into psychology. Tree thinking holds that explanations (or narratives) for adaptations must be based on an understanding of the adaptations' history (or chronicle) over evolutionary time. This tenet of tree thinking requires researchers to consider hitherto neglected patterns of data. The authors present the ideas and methods behind tree thinking, examining their implications for psychology.