Evolutionary Thought in Psychology: A Brief History

Preface ix

CHAPTER 1 CURIOUS HISTORIES 1

CHAPTER 2 BEFORE DARWIN 9

Preliminaries 10

Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck 20

Herbert Spencer 24

CHAPTER 3 PSYCHOLOGY BORN AND THE DARWINIAN REVOLUTION 28

The New Science of Mind 28

The Darwinian Revolution 33

Darwin’s Immediate Successors 38

Early Psychology in the United States 44

CHAPTER 4 THE NEAR DEATH OF DARWINISM IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES 48

Evolution after Darwin 48

Behaviorism Takes Hold in Psychology 53

The Rise of Cultural Anthropology 62

CHAPTER 5 AN EXCEPTIONAL CASE 70

The Fundamental Problem 71

A New Factor in Evolution 77

Evolutionary Epistemology 83

Fall and Decline 88

CHAPTER 6 LESSONS TO BE LEARNED: ETHOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY 90

Classical Ethology 91

Sociobiology 105

CHAPTER 7 CONTEMPORARY EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 123

Evolutionary Theory from 1959 124

Necessary Precursors in the Main Discipline 129

Evolutionary Psychology Reborn 134

Which Side is Bringing Science into Disrepute? 148

A Natural Science of Culture 154

CHAPTER 8 FUTURE PROSPECTS 158

References 162

Index 166