Why Smart People Believe Stupid Things
Why Smart People Believe Stupid Things
Steven Pinker explains the cognitive biases we all suffer from and how they can short-circuit rational thinking and lead us into believing stupid things. Skip to 12:15 to bypass the preamble.
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Phrenology wwas an active field until it wasn't.
Evolutionary psychology does start with a reasonable starting point, that some behaviors are passed genetically, but then uses that to give excuses to things that are primarily learned or discourged through social and environmental pressures. It takes something that is reasonable to speculate about as part of being biological but then twists it into justifications for racism and sexism by painting with broad brushes.
Evolutionary psychology does start with a reasonable starting point, that some behaviors are passed genetically,
And that's the entire premise, evolution affects behaviour as well as physical attributes. The brain is not insulated against evolutionary pressures.
but then uses that to give excuses to things that are primarily learned or discourged through social and environmental pressures.
And that's where the (well earned) criticism comes from. As I said, loads of garbage is printed with "just so" stories. That does not make the premise invalid.
It takes something that is reasonable to speculate about as part of being biological but then twists it into justifications for racism and sexism by painting with broad brushes.
That's the same as saying darwinism is garbage because it led to eugenics.
Quantum mechanics isn't a garbage field because Deepak Shopra thinks it can cure baldness.
That’s the same as saying darwinism is garbage because it led to eugenics.
Quantum mechanics isn’t a garbage field because Deepak Shopra thinks it can cure baldness.
Evolutionary psychology at its core twists the concept of genetic inheritence into justifications for racism and sexism, like phrenology before it. These two examples are people taking existing science and misapplying them to things they don't have anything to do with.
Evolutionary psychology at its core twists the concept of genetic inheritence into justifications for racism and sexism, like phrenology before it.
That is not evopysch "at its core".
Again, you may as well describe darwinism as racist at its core.
These two examples are people taking existing science and misapplying them to things they don't have anything to do with.
Misapplying science doesn't make the science wrong.
As someone without skin in this game, I have a clarifying question and you seem willing to discuss. Why is phrenology junk science and evopsych not? What separates the two, for you?
The premises that underpin any science is what separates it from a pseudoscience. Phrenology posits that random bumps on your skull predict mental abilities and behaviours, why? What mechanism could possibly be responsible for such a correlation. It was based on a theory that the brain was a group of muscles and like all muscles if you worked it it got bigger. Easily shown that this wasn't the case.
A bit like chiropractry positing that all diseases are due to the bones/spine being out of alignment.
What's the premise behind evopsych? Evolution. Where does animal behavior originate from? Is it entirely spontaneous? The brain, like every other organ, is subject to evolutionary pressures. Natural selection will produce behaviour that increases survivability, and that's it.
In your mind, how do you think a phrenologist would respond to that explanation?
I couldn't possibly speculate. Is this hypothetical phrenologist the sort of scientist who adjusts their position based on new evidence?
I guess what I'm getting at is: Is there a way you can explain why evopsych is a valid science where phrenology is not, without relying on an argument that a phrenologist would also make? That's a tough set of criteria, but I think it's required.
The premise upon which it was based was later shown to be false.
Right! So accepted "science" can become pseudoscience once further discoveries are made. I think we all agree on that. The question being debated in this thread, I think, is whether evopsych will also eventually be found to be a pseudoscience. To be clear, I am not proposing we try and guess the future, but to look at the state of the science now and extrapolate that as best we can into the future.
I am a complete lay(wo)man here, so I'm not casting aspersions either way. I would need to do a lot more research for that. I see the other arguments devolving into semantics and rhetoric though instead of focusing on that core conceit.
So you feel any confidence in evopsych as a science? Why or why not? And if those same arguments could be applied to phrenology prior to its official debunking, how valid is that confidence?
Your reading comprehension is lacking.
There's no need to be impolite. You seem to basing your opposition to the premise of evopsych entirely on exames where it has been applied badly.
If you accept that behaviour is subject to evolutionary pressures then we are on the same page.
Name one time evo psych was used correctly and wasn't just reinforcing stereotypes.
Well I'm not sure what counts as "used correctly" but I can direct you to some highly cited respectable papers
Barrett and Kurzban 2006 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16802884/
Provides an intro to fundamental disagreements around the scope and the mechanisms of adaptions. Long but comprehensive.
(You should he able to find a pdf of it if you don't have journal access)
Curtis et Al 2004
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1810028/
Evidence that disgust evolved to protect from disease.
Edit:
I'll add this essay from Laith Al-Shawaf as well. It covers some of the misconceptions and changes the field has gone though over the last 20 years.
https://areomagazine.com/2019/08/20/seven-key-misconceptions-about-evolutionary-psychology/