Comments on: Mothers and Others by Hrdy: A Review

By: James Donaldson

James Donaldson — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:27:44 +0000

Your use of the phrase “bla di bla di bla” to describe the science of evolutionary psychology is inspired. Well done!

But, um, while I hate to have to point this out, Susan Hrdy has regularly published in evolutionary psychology journals and books. How is Mothers and Others an alternative to the pseudoscience of evolutionary psychology if Hrdy is an evolutionary psychologist (you don’t have to have a degree in psychology to be an evolutionary psychologist)?

By: Michael Meadon

Michael Meadon — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:25:04 +0000

By: Michael Meadon

Michael Meadon — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:22:21 +0000

You seem to define “evolutionary psychology” as “the Santa Barbara School of evolutionary psychology”. Maybe – maybe – the latter is ‘dead’, but the former most certainly is not. The Darwinian approach to studying human behavior is flourishing, as far as I can see at least.

Indeed, if you’re not to dismiss evolutionary explanations for all animal behavior (“sociobiology”) – which would be dumb – or hold on to the silly notion that evolution doesn’t apply to humans (“liberal creationism”), you’ve got to accept a (broad version of) evolutionary psychology.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:27:48 +0000

We B29-ers are everywhere.

Do you still use “Cinderella”? Also, do you know that Jay Phelan has written a college intro bio textbook? (Probably not good for B29, but a great source to crib lab stuff and lecture bits.)

By: KBHC

KBHC — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:35:48 +0000

That sounds fantastic. I use her other books when I teach all the time. I think I’ll try to incorporate a chapter or two of this into my fall course on the Biology of Human Behavior (my version of B-29).

By: Sharon Astyk

Sharon Astyk — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:15:31 +0000

I’m waiting for my copy to arrive – love Hrdy!

Sharon

By: Arjay

Arjay — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:20:07 +0000

On a hot and humid day, in a small seminar room in Cambridge at the height of the Darwin Festival, Hrdy fielded questions from an interrogative audience with calm aplomb. Especially Tim Clutton-Brock, who had completely missed the point. She was kind.

By: frog

frog — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:50:24 +0000

Evolutionary Psychology makes about as much sense as Quantum Tree-House Building. Yeah — there’s a link, just not one that actually helps you build tree-houses.