Evolutionary psychology, altruism, and kin selection

Abstract

Darwin suggested that evolution would shed new light on human psychology. There have been various attempts in the ensuing century and a half to articulate exactly what that might mean. Evolutionary psychology is the most recent program aiming to explain the relevance of Darwinism to psychology. This program of research is varied, but in general it takes a strongly selectionist perspective, guided by a series of assumptions about the evolutionary process. One of the most promising applications of evolutionary theory involves the explanation of incest avoidance, as an instance of altruism to be explained in terms of kin selection. Evolutionary psychologists typically assume that ancestral hominids lived in compact groups that are kin based. Assuming this is so, kin selection could have been a crucial influence in explaining altruism, and in particular incest avoidance. This case highlights not only the promise of evolutionary psychology but also the inadequacies of the program when it is applied to the evolution of human psychological and social capacities. The evolutionary program could be improved considerably by taking account of more recent work in evolutionary biology, though this is unlikely to deal with the epistemological problems the program confronts.