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Article: Why evolutionary psychology is not mere speculation or "just so" stories: with examples from human sexuality and from narratives.
- Article from:
- Journal of Evolutionary Psychology
- Article date:
- August 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Institute for Evolutionary Psychology. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Contrary to what some of its opponents claim, evolutionary psychology is not mere speculation, or "just so" stories which are incapable of being tested. Many believe these critiques. In fact, a former colleague of mine, now a journal editor, recently stated them to me in an e-mail. He mentioned Stephen Jay Gould, who has made such criticisms (Gould, 1997). Influential people like Gould have advanced these critiques, and they were once somewhat true, when evolutionary psychology was called sociobiology. In the early days of sociobiology, there was much speculation with little empirical or quantitative assessment. In fact, I was initially turned off by that reality. But, ...