Fwd: Re: the pseudoscience of evolutionary psychology?

[Steve Smith]

But of course, I sent this only to Glen because I am still not used to the default ReplyTo:Sender vs the former ReplyTo:List which shifted a few months back?  I'm sure there is an EP motivation/explanation for this type of error or perhaps there is a molecular neurobiological explanation that is more motivated?

-------- Forwarded Message --------

Subject:	Re: [FRIAM] the pseudoscience of evolutionary psychology?
Date:	Wed, 21 Feb 2018 11:19:47 -0700
From:	Steven A Smith [hidden email]
To:	uǝlƃ ☣ [hidden email]

Glen -

I doubt that Nick nor I believe that *every* thought is traceable back
to some prehistoric evolutionary trait".

8^)  I know.  I'm just trolling you.  But the bait I'm trying to use is important.

I take *most* of your responses (and posts) to be "Socratic Trolling", as it were.

Female "display" is the one I identified here.   And it *definitely*
doesn't rule out precisely what you say in the next paragraph being at
work as well.  I don't think the two are mutually exclusive.

Right, which is why this is in the sub-thread started by Frank.  Artificial discretization seems rampant.

I think you are overly sensitive to *potential* artificial discretization and perhaps project your fear/resentment/mistrust of it onto some of the statements made here?  I take some of this to be a feature of contrarian trolling (in the Socratic sense invoked above), but is it also in some way a personal allergy you suffer?

  Why would we talk about things like "female display" or "alpha male" when there are MUCH more obvious things to talk about like oxytocin and dopamine?  As Dave points out, why would we talk about evopsych when we can talk about biology?

I don't find Oxytocin or Dopamine any more (and possibly less) "obvious" personally.  While I have some storytelling about those two molecules, their source in the body, their effect on neurobiology, metabolism, mood, and behaviour, those stories all depend very much on specialized/reserved knowledge, while the "alpha male" and the "female display" (and similar) stories come from a much larger lore than what you might be suggesting that EP is as arcane/obscure/un(der)motivated as (fairly modern/recent) neurobiology.   This wide accessibility/relevance has some charms perhaps, though I can see myself painting myself into the "looking for one's keys under the lamp post because the light is better there in spite of having dropped them in the nearby dark alley".

Feelings of belonging, love, and satisfaction can come from playing blackjack *or* coddling one's baby.

While one might posit (and/or discover evidence to support?) that both of these might involve a similar *mechanism*, why would one not be (also?) interested in the (likely) disparate reasons for those mechanisms being in place to be triggered?   Your general line of reasoning/discussion here would suggest that there is no reason to look at the artifice of playing BlackJack to in any way relate to more visceral risk taking such as fighting off a predator with primitive weapons or that the cuddling/coddling of a child shouldn't be considered a deep part of a group-survival instinct of humans (and most/all mammals/warm-blooded creatures)?

  Women might show their arms because all the designers make clothing that bares arms *or* because they want to be provocative or both or for other reasons.  Why do we feel the need to trace one motivation to biology (and a phylogenetic tree) but not the other?

If you are asking why we are not interested in the possible selective value of mimicry and adoption of cultural norms but we ARE interested in the possible value of controlling/influencing choice of one's reproductive partner's, I would answer:  1) I think "we" ARE interested in both; and 2) the latter is somewhat more salacious than the former and we *might* look at to EP arguments for preferences for salacity as well?


- Stevve

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