The emperor’s new paradigm

1. The emperor’s new paradigm The rise and fall and rise and fall of evolutionary perspectives in psychology

2. On evolution A chicken is just an egg's way of making more eggs.

3. Charles Darwin • Premise 1: Struggle for survival • Premise 2: Variability • Premise 3: Heritability • Premise 4: Fitness • CONCLUSION : NATURAL SELECTION • He observed breeders and different naturally evolving species • Charles Babbage: God = programmer of laws

4. Charles Darwin • Premise 1: Struggle for survival • Premise 2: Variability • Premise 3: Heritability • Premise 4: Fitness • CONCLUSION : NATURAL SELECTION • (Artificial selection = eugenics – later!)

5. On the origin of species, 1859 • Premise 1: Struggle for survival • Species have great fertility. They have more offspring than ever grow to adulthood. • Populations remain roughly the same size, with small changes. (Food resources ) • An implicit struggle for survival ensues.

6. On the origin of species, 1859 • Premise 2: Variability • In sexually reproducing species, generally no two individuals are identical. • Some of these variations directly affect the ability of an individual to survive in a given environment.

7. On the origin of species, 1859 • Premise 3 Inheritability • Much of this variation is inheritable. • Mind you: Mendel’s work – though existant at the time – was not known by Darwin from the outset! • Inheritance mechanism was imagined entirely differently

8. On the origin of species, 1859 • Premise 4 Fitness • Individuals less suited to the environment are less likely to survive and less likely to reproduce, • while individuals more suited to the environment are more likely to survive and more likely to reproduce.

9. On the origin of species, 1859 • CONCLUSION : NATURAL SELECTION • The individuals that survive are most likely to leave their inheritable traits to future generations. • A continuous natural embetterment of the world?

10. Underlying assumptions • Premise 1: Struggle for survival • Malthusian idea – technological improvement • Premise 2: Variability • Much uniformity • Premise 3: Heritability • Debates even today – syphilis, doctoritis running in families • Premise 4: Fitness – well-adapted to the environment • Not at all a clear concept • Sickle cell anaemia • what it means for a non-natural selection philosophy

11. The puzzling survivor • The Naked Ape – homo sapiens • No claws • No sharp teeth • Not too fast – slower than most predators at any rate • Why is this parody of evolutionary perfection still around and moreover everywhere?

12. Solution by Evolutionary Psychology • The adapted mind • The complexity seen in nature by Darwin is compared to the complexity in human behaviour and it is explained as such • Evolutionary psychology as an approach

13. Evolutionary psychology • The Human Animal (Sociobiology) • Adaptationism • Originally applied to biological organs – the most well-known is the eye • Extensions: the brain is a biological organ • Supposition: the brain produces behaviour and consciousness • Therefore: behaviour and consciousness is formed by evolution just as the biological body is • Eye’s complexity – in the centre of debates

14. Richard Dawkins • An ardent proponent of adaptations - earning him the title of Darwin’s Rottweiler (and equally ardent opponent to creationism ) • The Blind Watchmaker – focuses on how evolution could create marvellous structures – like the eye • William Paley – a watch presupposes intelligent design because of its complexity

15. The Weasel problem • Shakespeare’s Hamlet • Hamlet: Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel?Polonius: By the mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed.Hamlet: Methinks it is like a weasel. • Based on the infinite monkey theorem • A monkey bashing away at random on a typewriter – given enough time he would type the entire works of Shakespeare • how long would it take him to produce the sentence ‘Methinks it is like a weasel.’?

16. The Weasel problem • Methinks it is like a weasel • This is 28 characters • Using 26 letters – only capitals and a space bar • Probability? • 2728 = 1040 = infinity, or at least much longer than milliseconds from the existence of the universe (13,73 billion = 13,73 * 109 years = 7,22 * 1018 milliseconds)

17. Sir Frederick Hoyle • „approximately the same order of magnitude as the probability that a hurricane could sweep through a junkyard and randomly assemble a Boeing 747.” • solar system full of blind men solving Rubik's Cube simultaneously. • The simplest bacterium needs 1040,000permutations, while the number of the atoms in the universe is „only” 1080, • the chance is the same as throwing 50000 sixes in a row with a die

18. Sir Frederick Hoyle • Astronomer and sci-fi writer • He opposed the Big Bang theory – because it needs a cause Steady State theory • He also opposed natural abiogenesis! • Intelligent design - Evolution from Space

19. Hoyle’s fallacy • You don’t need 28 letters. You start with say 3. • They calculate the probability of the formation of a "modern" protein, or even a complete bacterium with all "modern" proteins, by random events. • This is not the abiogenesis theory at all – it starts with VERY SIMPLE organisms • They assume that there is a fixed number of proteins, with fixed sequences for each protein, that are required for life. • They calculate the probability of sequential trials, rather than simultaneous trials. • Changing one at a time – mutations are rare but do not exclude each other • They seriously underestimate the number of functional enzymes/ribozymes present in a group of random sequences – only one good solution fallacy

20. The Weasel problem • Cumulative selections instead of a single step selection • Two differences in his model: • Copying mechanism – it retains previous states • There is an inherent goal – any change that occurs towards methinks it is a weasel is kept, others are discarded • Generation 1: WDLMNLT DTJBKWIRZREZLMQCO P • Generation 2: WDLTMNLT DTJBSWIRZREZLMQCO P • Generation 10: MDLDMNLS ITJISWHRZREZ MECS P • Generation 20: MELDINLS IT ISWPRKE Z WECSEL • Generation 30: METHINGS IT ISWLIKE B WECSEL • Generation 40: METHINKS IT IS LIKE I WEASEL • Generation 43: METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL

21. Adaptive landscapes • Fitness or adaptive landscapes – genetic variation is pushed to the direction of the arrows • Waddington – epigenetic landscape – curiously posits a rolling, not a climbing ball • Saddle points in mathematics as non-optimal solutions

22. Cosmides & Tooby • Flexibility – a basis never questioned • Instinct vs reason distinction • Please make a mental note as this is to be relevant to the discussion on implicit/explicit! • What is instinct blindness according to Williams James? • Make the „natural seem strange” program • „’of course’ is no longer a good answer” – does evolutionary psychology manage to get round the problem? • „cognitive psychologists spend more time studying how we solve problems we are bad at” – the concept of „difficult” is being redefined

23. The Blank Slate • The Standard Social Science Model (SSSM) • learning • Induction • Intelligence • Imitation • Rationality • the capacity for culture • Culture • A proposed problem with domain generality: if there is no inborn mechanism at all (only perception), what learns how to learn?

24. SSSM What is this „roughly” supposed to mean exactly? The problem of innateness – is it presence at birth? • Hypotheses and problems: • Babies are born with the same capacities (roughly) all over the world • YET they come to be very different adults finally, with different customs and habits • The difference must therefore lie in their experience of the world • This experience is mediated through general-purpose-learning mechanisms • Culture must be the explanation – it has an overarching and all-pervasive effect Are domain-general learning mechanisms good enough to deal with the information load? +Consider the visual system Are cultures all that different? How much universality lies under the cultural differeces of human societies?

25. Arguments against • Many things are not present at birth that are rarely doubted to be innate • Do we learn to grow beards and menstruate? • The nature/nurture dichotomy is not only arbitrary – it is false • again connected to innateness • In some cases domain-general learning mechanisms are just not enough • Most prominent example is language – poverty of stimulus argument • Moreover: striking differences - species-specific learning mechanisms (also consider phobias)

26. Asking the wrong questions • genes vs environment ~ engine or gasoline? ~ the ingredients of bread • Presence at birth is not required – points at the problematics of „innate”

27. Innateness • What do we mean by innate? Cognitive science • Non-acquisition • UG – vacuous, as in a sense everything is acquired at some point – a blastula has no UG • Presence at birth – inborn • Neither necessary (pubic hair), nor sufficient (prenatal learning is possible) • Internally caused as opposed to environmentally induced • Jeffrey Ellman: rethinking Innateness „the product of interactions internal to the organism…” • Impossible: without maternal blood, no organ could possibly develop at all • Triggering is often evoked – yet unsure in meaning

28. Innateness • What do we mean by innate? Biology • Genetically determined? • Genetically caused • Genetically represented – mapped in DNA • Both accounts fail because of • interactionist explanations • difficulty of observation • Invariance accounts – stable across „normal” environments • Attractive as it explains stability and universality in a species • YET: the concept that water is wet would be innate

29. Innateness • What do we mean by innate? • Innateness as high heritability • Heritability=overall phenotypic variation that is due to genetic variation (Vg/Vp) • However: only works if there is phenotypic variation – if there is none, it is useless • Opposable thumb in humans – drug taaken by mother disrupting its development -> low heritability • Not learned • Learning is nearly as slippery as innateness is…Yet.. • Psychologically primitive • Can not be explained by general psychological mechanisms – have to retreat to biological explanations • Bootstrapping-type learning – learning that is faster that would be expected based on a domain-general view

30. Adaptive minds • Problem-specificity: • The brain is a naturally constructed computational system whose function is to solve adaptive information-processing problems • Modularity of mind – the Swiss army knife model • face recognition, threat interpretation, language acquisition, or navigation • Domain specificity (environment specifity) – domain generality (modus ponens works in all environmental conditions) • adaptive problems • Permanent to be solved in the life of a species • Enhance reproductive success • What about survival? • The side-effect trick (exaptation) • Walking and skateboarding

31. MMA hypothesis • Massive modularity • Modern-day phrenology?

32. Jerry Fodor: Modularity • Differentiation of modules and central processing systems • Modules are: • Domain-specific • Rapid • Informationally encapsulated • Automatic – obligatory firing • Shallow output • Inaccessible to consciousness • Characteristic pattern of breakdown - lesions • „The moon looks bigger when it’s on the horizon; but I know perfectly well it’s not. My visual perception module gets fooled, but I don’t. The question is: who is this I?[…]  If, in short, there is a community of computers living in my head, there had also better be somebody who is in charge; and, by God, it had better be me. ” Jerry Fodor on Pinker and Plotkin • Jerry Fodor: The trouble with psychologicalDarwinism. London Review of Books

33. Reasoning circuits – rational instincts • Structured around an adaptive problem • Universally present in homo sapiens • Develop without conscious effort (speech vs writing) • Applied without conscious effort • Distinct from more general abilities

34. Stone age minds • EEA - environment of evolutionary adaptedness • „For this reason, evolutionary psychology is relentlessly past-oriented…” • What is problematic about this argument? • Proximal and distal explanations in psychology • Universalism • the universal, species-typical architecture • reliably develops across the (ancestrally) normal range • psychic unity of humankind – as opposed to marvellous cultural diversity • (Donald Brown – the universal human) • Margaret Mead – coming of age in the Samoa – Derek Freeman

35. Abstraction (in speech and in thought) Language! baby talk Antonyms Nouns numerals Belief in supernatural/religion – magic (wicca) Beliefs about death, disease, fortune & misfortune Binary cognitive distinctions – antonyms Childhood fear of strangers/loud noises Coalitions Collective identities Cooperation & competition Morals Murder prohibited Rape prohibited Myths & narratives Meals & meal times Marriage Daily routines Melody Metaphors Music Repetition&variation Dance Crying (emotions?) Personal names Planning Prode Promise Recognition of individuals by face Rhythm Rites of passage & rituals Oedipus complex – defense mechanisms self-image The Universal PeopleThe total list comprises about 150 items Donald Brown

36. The importance of universalism • In theory, evolution could explain diversity – supposing a varying environment would entail varying organisms • Why is universalism so highly emphasized then? • Sociobiology and social Darwinism

37. Edward O. Wilson • 1971. Insect societies • 1975: Sociobiology: The New Synthesis • 1978: On human nature • In a Darwinian sense the organism does not live for itself. Its primary function is not even to reproduce other organisms; it reproduces genes, and it serves as their temporary carrier... Samuel Butler's famous aphorism, that the chicken is only an egg's way of making another egg, has been modernized: The organism is only DNA's way of making more DNA

38. Edward O. Wilson • People are animals, their behavior has evolved just like that of the animals, and our culture has a biological component • altruism : self-destructive behavior performed for the benefit of others – what other explanation than culture?

39. Edward O. Wilson • Culture is the slave of biology – it can only survive as long as it supports biological needs • Gathering of resources (territorial fights) • cooperation – helping relatives • Securing the continuity of the population • Resonates to Nazi „Sozialbiologie”, genetic determinism, eugenics

40. Richard Lewontin Not in Our Genes • Population geneticist – locus studies • The concept of niche and interaction – the environment does not form passive creatures according to its own accord • Deterministic perspective is false : biological creatures are actively forming their environment • Sould it be different the homo sapiens would not be alive by now • Legitimation and ideology – first God and now science is the weapon – universities the factories that produce them

41. The danger in evolutionary belief • Sociobiology • The mere idea of struggle and survival is inherent in nature and it is inevitable gives moral justification towards the „unfit” • Mary Midgley: Evolution as a Religion • „Facts will never appear to us as brute and meaningless; they will always organize themselves into some sort of story, some drama” • Buss: the moral/naturalistic fallacy (Dawkins examines it as well) • Does studying heart attack cause heart attacks?

42. Eugenics • Eu – good, well (euphoria) • Genics – (genes) born (genetics) • any human action whose goal is to improve the gene pool • Renaissance idea: improvement of the world through science: why not better humankind?

43. Second International Eugenics Conference, 1921

44. Popularity of eugenics • Originally a field of science!

45. Trait Intelligence Mental diseases Detrimental mental traits - criminality Physical diseases (tubercolosis) Race Means: Dissemination of information and free choice Vocational counselling Genetic counselling Marriage restriction Segregation Compulsory sterilization Compulsory abortion Forced pregnancy Genocide Multifaceted Eugenics

46. Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) • Charles Darwin’s half-cousin • and a child prodigy • Statistician • Correlation • Medical studies • 1960 – Oxford Evolution Debate

47. Hereditary Genius • Count the number of the relatives of various degrees of eminent men • Proposed: • adoption studies • trans-racial adoption studies • Twin studies • adopted and non-adopted • Later: dyzigotic and monozygotic • Aware of the nature-nurture debate • 1883: invented the word eugenics (Inquiries into human faculty and its development) • Dysgenic behaviour of eminent people • Introducing monetary incentives

48. The Galton Institute (Former Eugenics Society)

49. The Bell Curve, 1994 • Intelligence predicts: • Financial income • Job performance • Crime • Intelligence is inherited 40-80% • Perils of a custodial State

50. The Bell Curve, 1994 • Intelligence is normally distributed - g • sum of many small random variations in genetic and environmental factors • Racial claims – differences between blacks and whites • Controversial – APA Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns • At present, no one knows what causes this differential. Validity problem National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience of Youth