Many of the debates that take place today regarding psychology can be reduced to: Is our behavior the expression of our genetics (something innate), or does it depend largely on the context in which we live?
This question has been answered, analyzed and qualified not only from different theoretical currents belonging to science, but even from certain political, economic and philosophical positions.
Psychology can be considered a heterodox discipline, and it has raised this problem in very diverse ways. There is a tradition in psychology that emphasizes the biological, and that is based on fields of study such as neuroscience, and there is another that is responsible for studying the functioning of thought based on symbols, concepts and thought structures However, there is a relatively new approach that emphasizes the importance of searching for the evolutionary history of the human species to understand its behavior. This is evolutionary psychology.
In the same way that some fields of study in psychology have a biological foundation when investigating alterations in the neuro-endocrine system, the evolutionary psychology It is based on the discoveries of evolutionary biology to raise hypotheses about our behavior. That is to say: it is also based on the biological substrate, but not understood as something static, but rather in constant development according to the transformations that occur in the evolution of species. From the discoveries that have been made about our ancestors and the context in which they lived, hypotheses can be raised that explain, at least in part, our behavior.
While it is true that these studies are conditioned by the accuracy of our knowledge about our ancestors and the environment in which they lived, evolutionary psychology can offer us interesting explanations about phenomena such as the emergence of language, breeding strategies, risk tolerance and many more aspects that are practically timeless and transversal to our species
In some way, then, it appeals to universal in human beings, since to base ourselves on our evolutionary precedents we must investigate the way of life of our common ancestors. On the other hand, if some differences in how we act could be genetically determined, it outlines a kind of psychological imbalance between two or more groups of people with other biological characteristics. The latter has caused evolutionary psychology to generate a certain amount of controversy in some circles.
The context and manifestation of genes
Indeed, Evolutionary psychology can be a tool to legitimize situations of social inequality, attributing this to genetics and not to a context in which a minority is discriminated against. An explanation of the different ways of life between two nationalities based on ancestral origins may very well respond to the interests of the social darwinism, or the domination of the white man over all others. Although the results of scientific studies do not establish moral precepts, they can have their origin in the need to justify or perpetuate injustice: science, as the creation of a political animal, is not neutral, and the conclusions of an experiment can be collected by spokespersons for racism, machismo or xenophobia.
There is also a confrontation between the promoters of this approach to psychology and part of the international feminist movement, especially circles related to Queer theory In general, comparative studies between the sexes are a field highly studied by these psychologists, who find in the distinction between the masculine and the feminine a universal variable for the human species, regardless of the context.
By focusing on the differences between the two sexes, the differences in the way of life that exist today between men and women are justified to a certain extent. For example, studies that show a tendency for women to seek a partner with someone of higher status, or capable of providing more resources, have been especially controversial. In some way, they question the belief that gender is something socially constructed and determined by the historical moment.
However, it is important to highlight something: While it is true that these psychologists seem to pay more attention to what is already determined by DNA, it can also be said that DNA is determined by context Both our actions and the context in which we develop them significantly determine which genes are manifested, when they do so… and even whether our genes are going to be transmitted or not! The very essence of the evolution of species explained by Darwin is the interaction between the genetic and the changing: the world in which we live, the experiences to which we are exposed. Evolutionary psychology is not about what we are programmed to do, but rather offers an explanation of our potential.
