Book Review: The Implications of Automaticity for Evolutionary Forensic Psychology

Abstract

Reviews the book, "On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Mind’s Hard-Wired Habits" by Wray Herbert (2010). In this book, the author introduces 20 heuristics and organizes the discussion of them into three sections according to the purposes they serve. Heuristics are shortcuts to thinking that free up our cognitive resources so that we are better able to direct our cognitive efforts elsewhere, where the use of our full cognitive abilities may be more vital. Throughout our evolutionary history, humans have developed these rules of thumb to aid in our ability to survive and thrive in various environmental situations. The understanding of automatic cognition has many potential applications, including within the realm of subliminal persuasion. One very interesting application of such research is in the area of forensic psychology. Forensic psychology is an eclectic field of research that relates to legal issues: corrections, eyewitness testimonies, violent crimes, behavioral profiling, etc. The application of basic psychological research to solve forensic problems is the essence of forensic psychology. Herbert’s book is informative to such an audience. A growing body of research in the area of forensic psychology is informed by evolutionary theory (Duntley and Shackelford, 2008). One example of this is the cognitive adaptations of victims of crimes, psychological mechanisms that were selected to inform a potential victim of potential perpetrators and to help the individual avoid becoming exploited in some way. Research on the hard-wired processes of the brain, which are adaptive, and the most current results of natural selection, is best informed by evolutionary theory and can contribute to forensic applications. Herbert’s book is a useful link in this abductory chain of logic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)