Evolutionary Psychology

The course will provide students with a basic background of evolutionary theory and how it may apply to the field of psychology. Training on evolutionary theory will address common misunderstandings and provide students with the necessary information so that they can think critically and independently about its relevance to understanding human behavior. During the course, we will see how evolutionary theory provides a theoretical framework for understanding basic survival strategies, sex and mating strategies, parenting and kinship, development, language, emotion, cooperation, conflict, aggression, warfare, social dominance, psychopathology, and other aspects of human behavior. The course will culminate in an effort to demonstrate how evolutionary theory can apply to all branches of psychology and to address the advantages and disadvantages that the evolutionary approach provides for advancing our understanding of mind and behavior.