Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary psychology has significantly influenced psychology, although some people take issue with its foundational assumptions. In particular, a fundamental underlying assumption in evolutionary psychology relates to the evolution of human beings from apes (Jackson Jr, 2017). This assumption does not agree with the perspective of Christians. This essay explores the Christian worldview and examines whether evolutionary psychology is compatible with the Christian worldview. The essay will also discuss the strengths and weaknesses of evolutionary psychology.
Christian Worldview
According to the Christian perspective, human beings were created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, humans are unique in God’s eyes and were given dominion over all other species in the world. Christians also believe in the existence of the living God (Jackson Jr, 2017). Generally, Christians believe that God created the world and everything in it.
Is Evolutionary Psychology Compatible With Christian Worldview?
In recent years, most Christians from all corners of the world have started to accept that evolution is the most probable explanation for human origin and creation. Today, most Christian leaders from the mainstream churches believe that no conflict exists between the Christian view of creation and the evolution theory (Jackson Jr, 2017). Therefore, the recognition of an evolving universe and species has gained wide acceptance in modern theological debates. Today, it is not easy to find individuals outside the circles of Christianity who do not believe’ in the evolution theory. The evolution of different species is closely associated with biology, while natural selection serves as the evolution driver. What is more, there may be no meaningful debate on evolution and creation because evolutionary theories are not meant to answer issues of the origin of life; instead, they only focus on its further development.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Evolutionary Psychology
Strengths
The main aim of evolutionary psychology involves bringing the functional approach to thinking of biological mechanisms into the discipline of psychology and viewing psychological mechanisms in the same way (Jackson Jr, 2017). Generally, evolutionary psychology seeks to explain how evolution has influenced the brain and behavior of human beings.
Weaknesses
Evolutionary psychologists presume that the human brain consists of numerous evolved modular adaptations, though there is a discrepancy in the field regarding the extent of elasticity of these modules. Based on evolutionary psychology, modularity evolves because, in comparison to non-modular webs, it could have been associated with some advantage when it comes to fitness and since connection costs would be lower (Jackson Jr, 2017). However, some scholars believe that it is pointless to suggest the existence of highly-domain specific modules or that the brain’s neural anatomy supports a model based on domain-general faculties and processes. Also, empirical evidence supports the domain-specific theory that stems from performance variation of Wason selection task, which has a minimal scope because it is only used to test a single subtype of the deductive reasoning
What is more, some critics consider evolutionary psychology a sort of genetic reductionism and genetic determinism. However, they argue that evolutionary psychology fails to solve the complexity associated with individual development and experience and does not explain how genes influence individuals’ behavior (Jackson Jr, 2017). Evolutionary psychologists respond by arguing that they work within a nature-nurture framework that recognizes that most psychological adaptations tend to be facultative, in that they are sensitive to any environmental variations in the course of individual development.
Conclusion
This essay has looked at the Christian worldview and examined whether evolutionary psychology agrees with the Christian worldview. From the analysis above, it is quite apparent that most Christians today have no problem with the evolution theory of the origin of species. However, this does not necessarily mean that all Christians agree with the evolution theory. Also, evolutionary psychology has been associated with many controversies, which have significantly compromised its rationale.
Reference List
Jackson Jr, J. P. (2017). Cognitive/evolutionary psychology and the history of racism. Philosophy of Science, 84(2), 296-314.