Evolutionary psychology facts for kids

Evolutionary psychology is a branch of psychology which investigates behaviour which has evolved. It is similar in this respect to ethology, which has always used ideas from evolutionary biology.

It seeks to identify which human psychological traits are evolved adaptations, that is, functional products of natural selection or sexual selection. Evolutionary psychology usually focuses on behaviour most people share.

Evolutionary psychology is related to other fields of science like sociobiology, social psychology, and sociocultural anthropology. Evolutionary psychologists argue that much of human behaviour is the result of adaptations which evolved to solve recurrent problems in human ancestral environments.

Related pages

• Adaptive unconscious
• Sociobiology

Images for kids

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  Nobel Laureates Nikolaas Tinbergen (left) and Konrad Lorenz (right) who were, with Karl von Frisch, acknowledged for work on animal behavior

See also

In Spanish: Psicología evolucionista para niños