Evolutionary Developmental Psychology

Year
4
Academic year
2020-2021
Code
02018251
Subject Area
Psychology
Language of Instruction
Portuguese
Mode of Delivery
Face-to-face
ECTS Credits
4.0
Type
Elective
Level
2nd Cycle Studies - Mestrado

Recommended Prerequisites

Darwin's Theory of Evolution (basic knowledge); Biology and Genetics (basic knowledge); Developmental Psychology. Languages necessary for consulting the bibliography: Portuguese and English

Teaching Methods

Lectures: expository method supported by handouts ("Power Point" slides, available as PDF documents); interrogative methods; oral or written reflection based on the presentation of audio-visual materials. a theoretical written individual assignment (literature review paper),

Learning Outcomes

To promote the study, the knowledge, and the reflection of core and applied themes of human development and behaviour in an evolutionary psychology perspective, as a currently emerging important theoretical framework of reference.
To know and to identify major topics of human development and behaviour, emphasizing an integrative and holistic evolutionary perspective, based on Tinbergen’s four levels of analysis (or complementary categories of explanations): Ontogeny (development); Phylogeny (evolution); Mechanism (causation); and Function (adaptation).

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Introduction: pathways toward an evolutionary psychology (ethology, integration of genetics and evolution, sociobiology); Developmental psychology from an evolutionary perspective; Tinbergen’s levels of analysis.

General Themes: Intelligence and personality (Evolution of the brain and intelligence; Multiple intelligences; Differences in intelligence and personality); Human development and social exchanges (The evolution of human prosocial behaviors); Foundations of a Darwinian approach to morality (the origin, expansion, and refinement of the moral senses); Health (the “Paleolithic prescription”).

Themes related to human development: Sexuality and human mating (Reproductive strategies; Jealousy); Parenthood (Parental and biparental investment; Parent–offsping conflict; Sex differences and preferences in parental investment; The impact of parents in development; New perspectives on attachment; Grandparents and alloparenting);

Head Lecturer(s)

Pedro Manuel Malaquias Pires Urbano

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Exam: 100.0%

Bibliography

Crawford, C. & Krebs, D., Eds. (2008). Foundations of evolutionary psychology. NY: Lawrence Erlbaum
Dunbar & Barrett, Eds. (2007). The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology. Oxford: OUP
Krebs, D. L. (2011). The origins of morality. Oxford: OUP.
Ray, W (2013). Evolutionary psychology: neuroscience perspectives concerning human behavior and experience. LA: Sage.
Robert, S., Ed. (2012). Applied evolutionary psychology. Oxford: OUP.
Salmon & Shackelford, Eds (2011). The Oxford handbook of evolutionary family psychology. Oxford: OUP.
Sapolsky, R. (2018). Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst (reprint ed). London: Penguin

Revistas/Journals:
Evolutionary Psychology; Evolution and Human Behavior

Buller, D (2006). Adapted Minds. Cambridge, MA: MIT.
Buss, D (2014) Evolutionary Psychology. The New Science of Mind (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Buss, D (Ed.). (2005). The handbook of evolutionary psychology. Hoboken.: Wiley.