Evolutionary Psychology Theory: Can I ever let go of my past?

Abstract

Evolutionary psychology (EP) is a theory in psychology that explains human behaviours with innate psychological mechanisms based on the evolutionary perspective. Evolutionary psychologists attribute current human behaviours to psychological adaptations in our brain acquired to survive in the ancestral environment. EP exhibits merits when explaining particular behaviours consistently observed in the contemporary workplace. The contemporary working environment is significantly different from the ancestral environment of hunter-gatherers. Thus, particular workplace design and management practices may force people to work in ways that do not accommodate innate psychological mechanisms that were acquired and adapted since hunter-gatherer societies. People may persistently desire or prefer certain spatial or environmental conditions due to commonly underlying evolutionary psychological drivers. This chapter discusses a set of topics that can be explained by EP, focusing on spatial and facility elements of the workplace environment. These topics comprise attachment and territoriality, cognitive and perceptive biases, biophilia and cognitive restoration, prospect and refuge, complexity and mystery, and spatial biases. It will help workplace professionals develop strategies to reinforce positive behaviours and adjust inadequate behaviours in the contemporary workplace by better understanding human innate psychological drivers.