Acknowledgments
Introduction: The problem
Part 1. Evolution
1 - Additivism
2 - Hill-climbing
Part 2. Information
3 - Adding value
4 - Social ontology
5 - Minds
Part 3. Development
6 - Development
7 - Open ends
Part 4. Culture
8 - Moving targets
9 - Culture
10 - Accumulation
Part 5. Architecture
11 - Parts
12 - Wholes
13 - Us
Conclusion: Possibilities
References
Index
H. Clark Barrett is an evolutionary anthropologist who studies the evolution of cognition. For the past fifteen years he has conducted field work in the Amazon region of Ecuador, and uses experimental cognitive tasks across cultures to test hypotheses about the evolution of the mind. He is now Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"Rich and thoughtful, this book lays out why, if we want to
understand human psychology, neural plasticity, cultural
differences and cognitive development, we need evolutionary theory,
and an understanding of how humans evolved. In Barrett's hands, the
pernicious dichotomy that divides "learning" from "innate"
explanations crumbles, leaving only evolutionary explanations,
which may involve different types of developmental processes. In
setting the house back in
order, Barrett synthesizes insights and findings from psychology,
culture-gene coevolutionary theory, anthropology, developmental
biology and philosophy. He delivers Evolutionary Psychology
2.0."--Joe
Henrich, Canada Research Chair in Culture, Cognition and
Coevolution, University of British Columbia
"In this lucid book, Barrett explains how thinking about the
evolution of the mind should shape our understanding of how the
mind works. Bringing sophisticated knowledge of evolutionary
biology and cognitive science together, he reconciles opposing
views about the role of learning and culture in the workings of the
human mind. This book will be the bible for a broader, more
inclusive evolutionary psychology."--Rob Boyd, Origins Professor,
Arizona State
University
"Barrett has read your mind, and knows your questions. He will lead
you gently but fiercely through the controversies that surround
evolutionary psychology and cognitive science, showing you that one
cannot exist without the other."--Leda Cosmides, Center for
Evolutionary Psychology, University of California, Santa
Barbara
"Clark Barrett takes the reader from the basics of evolutionary
psychology to exciting stuff at the cutting-edge of today's
research. He does so with splendid clarity, illuminating examples,
and an engaging balance of wisdom and passion. An important book
and an excellent read!"--Dan Sperber, Professor of Cognitive
Science and of Philosophy at the Central European University,
Budapest
"The author, a biological anthropologist specializing in
evolutionary psychology and Professor at University of California
(UCLA), is undoubtedly informed and it is able to contextualize
where does the field of evolutionary psychology stands today."
--Metapsychology
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