Beyond 'just-so stories'Lisa DeBruine examines how evolutionary theories led to predictions thatnon-evolution-minded researchers would never dream of

摘要

In The Origin of Species Darwin118591 wrote, 'In the distant futureI see open fields for far moreimportant researches. Psychologywill be based on a new foundation,that of the necessary acquirementof each mental power and capacityby gradation.' However, critics ofevolutionary psychology claim thatthe field consists entirely of 'just-sostories'. Here, I discuss threeexamples of behaviours that maynever have been investigated ifthey hadn't first been predicted byevolutionary theories.