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Evolutionary Psychology
Toni Broussard
Science of Social Work, Liberty University
PSYC 101: General Psychology
Professor Kristi Starnes
November 9, 2020
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Evolutionary Psychology
My worldview began developing as a child based on the influences of the lessons and
viewings I was taught by my parents and the environment around me. As I got older the
framework of how I interpreted the world, how I reacted, and how I learned to evolve to the
situations around me continued to shift and change based on the trauma and hardship I had
experienced from my childhood to my teenage years. During that time my worldview had what
felt like a battling development, as I found myself in a new place, with family members that
lived a completely different lifestyle than I and had different views of the world. Though what
felt like a sweet and sour time in my life, my worldview was heavily impacted by not only my
life experiences, both good and bad, but also by the family I now had close to me and the friends
I had surrounded myself with. With these influences, a big part of my worldview had changed
because I began to learn more about my faith, and as a child, I knew the basics and believed, but
I never truly knew or understood what being a Christian meant. The people I had met and gotten
to know closely through God changed my life for the better. They gave me what I needed most at
that time, to help mend the wounds left by my past. Now as a married twenty-three-year-old full-
time college student with two kids, the worldview I had formed from my life until now has
shaped the person, mother, and wife I am today. Through this, I am still continuously developing
my worldview by having the opportunity to learn more about both my worldview and biblical
worldview. I continue to learn more about what it is to truly be a Christian and to understand
how I see, process, interpret, and handle any situation around me was developed. As I walk this
journey I have the chance to learn more about not only my faith and worldview, but of others and
continue to shape my worldview to have a better understanding of other's cultures, worldviews,
actions, and views on situations (Weider & Gutierrez, 2015).
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Evolutionary psychology is the research developed for a better understanding of the
structure and design of the human mind (Tooby & Cosmides, 1997). It is an approach to
psychology that revolves its attention around one’s biology and genetics to explain how
evolution and the development of the brain impacts a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior
(George, 2020). With the information I have analyzed, I was able to form a basic understanding
of what evolutionary psychology is and the different views it partakes from others, by believing
that there is more to a person’s development than just the wiring or functions of the human brain.
So, while going through this research I begin to think back about my worldview and of how it
began, and how it continues to develop throughout my life. Once a person knows what a
worldview is in general, they can start to understand what their worldview is and how it is
developed based on their views or insights of the world around them. Due to my knowledge of
both my worldview and evolutionary psychology, I believe they are compatible with one another
because of the similar views they share on a person’s development. When looking at them both
overall you see that they share some of the same common principles that believe that other
reasons influence the development of a person’s framework on life that goes beyond just
genetics. Some examples that can influence the development of a person’s framework are their
environment, religion, culture, peers, the media, and any form of trauma or experience that
affected their life. All these influences affect the way a person receives and processes
information, makes decisions, and sets goals in their life, resulting in the way they behave and
how they react or respond in situations (Tooby & Cosmides, 1997) (Weider & Gutierrez, 2015).
Now when just looking at evolutionary psychology, just like any other research about the
brain and its development, no matter how good and appreciated the research is, it will always
have its pros and cons. So, in that research, I found that some of the strengths of evolutionary
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psychology are that it provides us with a different view of studies that help us to better
understand the human mind and its development. Also, due to that research, it provides us with
information on how the development of a person’s framework on life can be affected beyond
their genetics, but also by influences in that person’s life. These influences mold the way a
person interprets one’s emotions, decisions, life patterns, and views on situations, values, and
meanings in life (Kenyon, 1994/2006) (Tooby & Cosmides, 1997). Though it provides us with an
easier and different approach to understanding a person’s development, evolutionary psychology
also has some weak points in their research that has generated criticism by individuals. They
questioned the results of the research based on the disputes on its testability of this hypothesis
based on the difficulty in supporting these arguments due to the fact evolution occurs over long
periods, making it difficult to have supporting evidence to assess (Tooby & Cosmides, 1997).
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References
Tooby, J. & Cosmides, L. (1997). Center for Evolutionary Psychology: Evolutionary
Psychology: A Primer. https://www.cep.ucsb.edu/primer.html
al, George E. (2020). Introduction to Psychology from a Christian Worldview (pp.27, 45 & 399).
Kendall Hunt Publishing.
https://libertyonline.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781792411540/pageid/0
Weider, L. & Gutierrez, B. (2015). Finding Your Worldview: Thinking Christianly about the
World (pp. 57-61). https://app.wordsearchbible.lifeway.com
Kenyon, P. (1994/2006). Evolutionary Psychology: The 'Emperor Eugenics' in new clothes?
http://www.flyfishingdevon.co.uk/salmon/year3/psy339evaluation-evolutionary-
psychology/evaluation-evolutionary-psychology.htm#further-reading
