Why Students Love Evolutionary Psychology . . . and How to Teach It 

He's a life saver for us students writing essays about Evolutionary Psychology.

Good succinct lecture. I especially liked the comparison.between the function ( physiology ) of the liver and the function of the brain. Evolutionary psychology is " updating" psychology in general. And it's about time too.

thanks for the upload

Darwin changed the world as no other scientist. EP has taken his legacy. Mind, at last, is being understood. Glad to be alive to see this happening.

9:50 ish “although it may be correct…” well I already love this man.

We love it indeed!

Lekking, to which Dr. Buss obliquely refers, is an interesting human phenomenon, as we are attracted to leks, including cities, sport events, clubs, and other competitions.

This guy is a genius.

It's important to remember that evolution doesn't necessarily give rise to the best traits, just any old trait as long as it survives. Mutations are random, sometimes a creature may evolve some largely bad or neutral traits along with some good ones, but they'll end up surviving anyway, because the good will outweigh the bad. And there's no such thing as good, neutral or bad traits in the absolute sense of those words, rather, there's better and worse traits for survival. This explains why some creatures have goofy, pathetic traits, mutations are largely Darwinian, random, not Lamarckian, it's natural selection which tends to weed out the bad traits, but it doesn't do a perfect job, there's no such thing as perfection, so creatures end up having all kinds of traits, like homosexual or pedophilic behaviors, or hair and nails that grow indefinitely, that do not benefit the animal in any way shape or form, that nonetheless are able to parasitize and pass themselves down from generation to generation, because of the good traits they're accompanied by. So just because you have a trait, doesn't mean it's beneficial, it may be largely neutral, or detriment. We can't look at traits in isolation, but they only become meaningful as part of a whole.

He even said it was a thought experiment.

Great to mention Darwin as being linked to the field of EP. Darwin carefully stayed as far away as possible from controversy as his ideas were if not heretical at least scandalous. Imagine him finding out in his own research that marrying his cousin is why he had a disabled child. Darwin knew that our present characteristics stemmed from ancient history through genes. . EP is science and has truth, contrary to what some even today say.

Oh the humanity

Not really clearly connected Evolution and Psychology, was more to do with Evolutionary theory. However, if we evolve (which we do) than Psychology has to evolve, thus Evolutionary Psychology.

Modern men’s longevity certainly plays some role in women’s mate selection choices, and I’ll explain why. During the Stone Age when men had much shorter average lifespans, a woman with “good genes” would typically pair up with a number male partners during her reproductive years, due to the fact that each of her partners would die before she reached menopause. However, given the average lifespan of males in developed societies today, a man who impregnates a woman is ‘on the hook’ for financial support for 18 years. At the same time, a woman who ‘fails to collect’ child support from her child’s father is now considered a ‘liability’ to any new man who she dates or wishes to pair up with. This was not the case eons ago. Men’s lifespans were so short (compared to today) that there was no thought given toward what a child’s biological father owed his children, or how his failure to provide for them made this ex-mate ‘damaged goods’ to any new man. Nor did a woman’s new male lover have any reason to be concerned about a woman’s child being a drag or a drain in him. This man has to ‘score’, impregnate a female (regardless of whether she had ever had kids before), and hopefully ‘live long enough’ to spread even more of his seed over time (often with other women). Today, things are radically different. Now, even a woman who is ‘very physically attractive’ is likely to have difficulty finding a quality ‘long-term mate’ if she already has a child, particularly if the father of that child is not paying support. Many men will want to ‘have sex’ with this attractive woman (mother), but she will have a much harder time getting any ‘one man’ to commit to her, because she now has less value in the sexual marketplace than she had before she had dependent children. Again, this was not a problem for single mothers eons ago, back when humans lived in 40 to 100-person clans, and children were looked after by more than one woman in the tribe.

Every living has a defence system which is inbuilt

I don't understand why David Buss puts down behaviorism at the end of his talk and even compares it to phrenology. Evolutionary psychology IS behaviorism on a very large timescale. It's the very same thing; nothing more nothing less.

Oops, brain size reached its human maximum before 10k ya, and then shrunk rather steadily over 15%. This too is evolution, although we cannot detect which modular areas may have become less valuable, and therefore less subsidized in their copious appetite.

he sounds sorta like james woods

Infinite turtles

Tai Lopez sent me here

“although it might be correct, it’s not terribly useful for us” is another way of saying it’s simplistic and d u m b 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣

7:12 "Is this thing on?"

This is an old post below that I thought should receive an answer. teleological bias when he asks students 'what would you do if you were a gene'. May misguide understanding, since it is the very existence of the body that obtain the genes that drive survival of genes.. it's not that the gene has a conscious motive to survive You're right and wrong. First this was a thought experiment for the students. Obviously genes themselves cannot think. But a genes successful continuation without motive still becomes a force of nature. The students have to think gene replication while a gene just does replication without thought. And if the gene messes up and the body dies then the gene dies with it. genes and bodies have a symbiotic relationship. Dawkins explains this much better then I can.

Good lord (pun intended) - learn to move off that podium, this isn't a lecture about Evolutionary Psychology... it's death by PowerPoint.

Im amazed that a university professor has to pretend that creationism is even a theory, much less that it is deserving of any kind of respect in an academic setting.

According to my analysis world is made by aliens

14

It's a heuristic device. Look up 'Gene-centered view of evolution'

Blue eyes =. Sexually selected for....

11:06 ... only stupid opportunistic can hold that two at the same time

ACK! I've been trying to explain sexual dimorphism as why trans women should not be in female competitive sports as part of my view these days... but... I'm heckled because of anti social narrative of today's culture... Mental Slavery....*le sigh*

Why would a student "love " being taught something? Because they either thrive on being lied to, or simply don't know any better. If I had one day with ANY student of your's I could point them at the truth, while at the same time tearing down every pillar of your fairy fable you've been teaching their. Period. Try me.

Interesting that God is enclosed in the image of a brain. It means God is a concept of the mind.

Evolution is science. Evolutionary psychology as it exists is mostly a bunch of hypotheses.

Pacing of this lecture was so off...time allocation to topics not well.paced so tjat toomuch detail was given until the latter part of the second half and so the last parts were just glanced at. It strike me as odd that a seasoned professor did not do a better job at pacing! This should NOT happen..it give very nhort shrift to odeas people are LESS familiar with...Darwinism shoud not need to receive such a large amount of time..knowledge of the basics of evolutionnshould be well lnown by this audience...frustrating!

it's just a theory

that's fat shaming!

I'll tell you the truth. It is Jehovah God who makes everything possible!