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The Taxonomy of Human Evolved Psychological Adaptations

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The Taxonomy of Human Evolved Psychological Adaptations Evo Edu Outreach (2012) 5:312–320 DOI 10.1007/s12052-012-0428-8 EVOLUTION AND EDUCATION RESOURCES PsychTable.org: The Taxonomy of Human Evolved Psychological Adaptations Niruban Balachandran & Daniel J. Glass Published online: 8 July 2012 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012 Abstract We announce the launch of PsychTable.org,a Introduction collaborative web-based project devoted to classifying and evaluating evolved psychological adaptations The timing is right to establish a classification system for (EPAs), geared toward researchers, educators, students, human evolved psychological adaptations (EPAs). Several and the general public. The website works by aggregat- factors have coalesced to create a unique opportunity to de- ing citations which support or challenge the existence of velop a taxonomy that will facilitate the expansion of a culture each purported EPA, using a mathematical algorithm to of both synthesis and empirical rigor in the evolutionary assign an evidentiary strength score to each, and gener- behavioral sciences, including disciplines such as evolution- ating a table which represents the current but ever- ary cognitive neuroscience, behavioral ecology, “evo-devo,” changing state of the empirical evidence. Citations are primatology, evolutionary anthropology, human ethology, ge- added and assigned evaluative ratings by both general netics, and others. users and an international community of expert contrib- These aforementioned factors include: a large international utors; as such, the content of the site will represent the body of research describing hundreds of amassed EPAs; a consensus of the scientific community and new research global research community of evolutionary behavioral scien- opportunities. PsychTable has features for achieving empir- tists that recognizes the importance of both synthesis and ical meta-goals such as quality control, hypothesis testing, classification; the ascent of evolutionary psychology as a cross-disciplinary collaboration, and didactic utility. Addi- controversial but internationally recognized scientific disci- tionally, PsychTable will help adjudicate arguments within pline; an explosion in web-based scientific collaboration and the field by providing a one-stop resource to display which social networking; a well-developed Internet infrastructure proposed EPAs have strong empirical support and which and an abundance of affordable computing power; an increas- others are relatively lacking in evidence. ing pool of capital available for research funding in the evo- lutionary behavioral sciences; the existence of role models of Keywords Classification .Taxonomy .Web-basedscientific evolutionary behavioral scientists who are worthy of emula- collaboration . Evolutionary psychology . Evolutionary tion; the rapid proliferation of other web-based taxonomies as behavioral sciences exemplars of best practices in classification and database management; a global network of universities and research groups that support the discipline; and the emergence of a new, younger, and proactive core of both researchers and students who are passionately pursuing opportunities to ad- vance the evolutionary behavioral sciences. * : N. Balachandran ( ) D. J. Glass An important milestone in the maturity of a discipline’s 181 State Rte 32 South, New Paltz, NY 12561, USA scientific program is the taxonomic synthesis and classifi- e-mail: [email protected] cation of the observed entities (taxa) that have been discov- ’ D. J. Glass ered so far, as in Gray sAnatomyfor medicine and e-mail: [email protected] physiology, Mendeleev’s Periodic Table of Elements for Evo Edu Outreach (2012) 5:312–320 313 chemistry, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental investigation. The data underlying PsychTable will con- Disorders for psychiatry, and so on. Classification systems sist of existing, publicly available citations of published, enable the organization and labeling of entities under obser- peer-reviewed articles. These studies and abstracts can be vation within a discipline, so that scientists can communi- accessed online via ISI Web of Knowledge, SciVerse, Google cate with each other, plan research studies more effectively, Scholar, and related academic databases. PsychTable aggre- and utilize a common terminology to describe the empirical gates these citations using an algorithm to evaluate the phenomena under study. strength of support for each proposed EPA and generates a Evolutionary psychology, in its broadest definition, is graphical table which will serve as both a reference a biosocial–scientific endeavor which analyzes human tool and a snapshot of the currently available evidence (and nonhuman) psychology through the lenses of bio- within the field. logical evolution. One of the empirical objectives of the Scientists, educators, students, contributors, and the gen- discipline is to discover and examine EPAs—also known eral public will be able to use PsychTable.org to: in the field’s literature as mental mechanisms or modules & Explore detailed descriptions of hundreds of proposed (Barrett and Kurzban 2006)—in human nature (Schmitt EPAs and Pilcher 2004). However, the discipline has yet to & Connect directly with a worldwide community of scien- possess a classification system of its own (Mills 2003). tists, educators, students, contributors, and the general Hence, the primary objective of this paper is to map out public the vision of PsychTable.org, the world’s first taxonomy & Propose empirical evidence and studies that support or of human evolved psychological adaptations. challenge the existence of individual EPAs Given current Internet technology and the field’s & Easily evaluate the existing literature to determine substantial body of literature today, the logistics of how robustly any purported EPA is empirically creating a taxonomy on such a large scale are now supported finally possible. This paper proposes the creation of a & Help compile individual dossiers that profile individual web-based taxonomy of human evolved psychological EPAs’ neurolocalizations, neurochemical substrates, adaptations. The PsychTable taxonomy has five broad elicitors, outputs, and so on purposes: & Nominate hypothesized EPAs that may be substantiated 1. To classify the observed taxa (EPAs) that have been or appear in the future via emerging research discovered so far & Gain rapid insight into which areas of evolutionary 2. To aggregate both supporting and negative findings for social scientific research are open to further empirical proposed EPAs, and thus evaluate the strength of evi- inquiry dence for each in a more objective way than is currently & Provide a helpful web-based study tool for students available 3. To propose empirical evidence and studies that sup- PsychTable as a Tool for Settling Empirical Debates port and challenge the existence of individual EPAs, and highlight where further research is Evolutionary psychology’s cultural, religious, and politi- needed cal controversies are well documented among academia 4. To educate the general public, critics, and skeptics and the general public (Barrett and Kurzban 2006; Geher about the evolutionary social sciences by provid- 2006). In addition, elements of evolutionary psychology ing open access to information about which EPAs are also still empirically controversial within the biosocial have been discovered and the evidence for them sciences, with scholarly critiques by some biologists and so far psychologists asserting that certain basic assumptions and 5. To enhance a culture of synthesis in the international tenets of evolutionary psychology are empirically unsup- research community by raising the importance of classi- ported (Barrett and Kurzban 2006). Further, a broad fication as a force multiplier for research breakthroughs, definition of “evolutionary psychology” which includes Web-based scientific collaboration, and interdisciplinary all evolutionary approaches to understanding the mind consilience has often been neglected in favor of a narrow definition PsychTable.org will be an interactive, user-friendly which refers only to certain research programs within classification system which aims to organize empirical evolutionary perspectives on behavior (Wilson 2009), evidence that supports and challenges purported evolved further fragmenting the body of research in this domain. psychological adaptations, and presents them all in one Therefore, beyond descriptive collections of EPAs and neutral, authoritative location on the Web for further their biological components, PsychTable will allow examination, hypothesis testing, dialogue, criticism, and researchers and contributors to aggregate studies and 314 Evo Edu Outreach (2012) 5:312–320 evidence from across the spectrum of the evolutionary hypothesized EPA possesses. For example, Schmitt and behavioral sciences to classify the adaptations that have Pilcher (2004) tentatively propose that: been soundly supported, as well as call attention to those …having one box of adaptation evidence should be which may be lacking in empirical support. In this way, considered a “minimal” level of evidentiary breadth. the project will help researchers debate and empirically Two or three boxes in a nomological network should evaluate which psychological phenomena are evolved be considered “moderate” evidentiary breadth. Four or adaptations and which are not, irrespective of formal five boxes of evidence should be considered “exten- academic boundaries. sive” evidentiary breadth, and six or
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