Evolutionary Thought in Psychology: A Brief History (Blackwell Brief Histories of Psychology) [Paperback]

Henry Plotkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2004 | Series: Blackwell Brief Histories of Psychology (Book 11)

Evolutionary Thought in Psychology: A Brief History traces the history of evolutionary thought in psychology in an accessible and lively fashion and examines the complex and changing relations between psychology and evolutionary theory.

• First book to trace the history of evolutionary thinking in psychology from its beginnings to the present day in an accessible and lively fashion.
  
• Focuses on the rise of evolutionary theories begun by Lamarck and Darwin and the creation of the science of psychology.
  
• Explains evolutionary thought’s banishment by behaviorism and cultural anthropology in the early 20th century, along with its eventual re-emergence through ethology and sociobiology.
  
• Examines the complex and changing relations between psychology and evolutionary theory.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Henry Plotkin is unique among academic psychologists in his gift for lucid and provocative exposition; in this book, his latest exploration of evolutionary thinking in psychology, he delivers a superbly crafted historical portrait of his own discipline: he tells us why Darwinian psychologists think as they do, and what we can expect from the felicitous new alliance of psychology with biology and the social sciences." Frank R. Wilson, Stanford University School of Medicine

"In the 19th century, Darwin’s theory of evolution was initially integrated into the new science of psychology by pioneers such as Lloyd Morgan, George John Romanes, and James Mark Baldwin. But in the 20th century it was as if their efforts had been wasted; a self-names ‘science’ that insisted on ignoring conscious experience itself, as well as any of its determinants that might be of direct or indirect genetic origin, took over academic departments of psychology. But Plotkin compellingly describes how 21st century psychology, which will be about consciousness as well as the brain, will probably incorporate findings from ethology, sociobiology, and evolutionary theory (including ideas about ‘selfish’ genes)…a must-read." David J. Murray, Queen’s University

"This book is a true reflection of its title, a history of evolutionary thought within psychology, building on Darwin's original ambition to extend his theory to a science of the human mind. It runs through the eclipse of this thinking by behaviourism and its return in the last 20 years in the various forms of evolutionary psychology. A very readable introduction to the field." Scientific and Medical Network Review, Summer 2005

"Plotkin gives an erudite and engaging account of the intellectual currents that influenced the relationship between psychology and evolutionary thought over the past 100 years.....Interspersed throughout are interesting anecdotes, colorful descriptions of personalities, and accounts of twists of fate that affected careers and influenced the history of psychology....For any psychologist interested in the history of ideas -and how intellectual currents, politics and chance events can affect scientific paradigms-it is a must read. It's lasting value is that it provides a lucid and well-documented hisotry of the intellectually shameful exculsion of evolutionary thought in psychological theory during most of the 20th century. Thankfully, that exclusion is being remedied in the 21st century." Personnel Psychology, Summer 2005

`This is science writing of a high order, and I hope this book has the wide readership it so strongly merits.' Michael Ruse, Journal of the History of the Behavioural Sciences, Autumn 2005

Book Description

This book traces the history of evolutionary thought in psychology in an accessible and lively fashion. The book focuses on the rise of evolutionary theories begun by Lamarck and Darwin and the creation of the science of psychology. Evolutionary thought's banishment in the early 20th century by behaviorism and cultural anthropology is explained, along with its eventual re-emergence through ethology and sociobiology. Evolutionary Thought in Psychology: A Brief History examines the complex and changing relations between psychology and evolutionary theory..

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition (August 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1405113782
• ISBN-13: 978-1405113786
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,197,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brief yet helpful survey of the history and prospects for an enlightened synthesis, October 30, 2006

By 

Robert Mulholland (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evolutionary Thought in Psychology: A Brief History (Blackwell Brief Histories of Psychology) (Paperback)

This book presents a brief review of the relationship between evolutionary thought and psychology, along with an assessment of the current state of evolutionary psychology and its prospects of providing an enlightened melding of the two disciplines.

After identifying precursors, Plotkin begins his survey in earnest with the start of both disciplines in the latter half of the 19th century. He traces initial interest expressed by psychologists in evolutionary thought to James and Freud. He considers their projects to have be dead-ends with respect to integrating evolution into psychology because they failed to meet Plotkin's "principle of specific action. Evolutionary theory only effectively enters psychology when specific aspects of the theory drive empirical studies and frame causal explanations." James came from a Darwinian core, but did not develop a research program based on that core. Freud posited evolved mechanisms of the unconscious mind that were without adequate empirical foundation.

The rise of behaviorism by the middle of the 20th century led to the banishment of speculations regarding mentalistic mechanisms, and suppressed evolutionary contributions to psychology for decades. During this period, the study of culture developed in cultural anthropology under the primary influence of Franz Boas, who built on a foundation asserting the near complete independence of culture from biology.

This separation of evolutionary biology from the study of mind, behavior, and culture was breached in the 1970's with attempts to extend insights from ethology and then sociobiology from non-human animal studies to humans. A firestorm resulted. Some attacks were without merit. Others reinforced the need to heed the "principle of specific application" if research is to stand up to the heat which continues to greet forays across the divide.

Plotkin wraps up with a tentative yet sympathetic look at contemporary evolutionary psychology. He offers a balanced view that accepts insights from critics and cautions about presumptions to inheritance when developmental or other explanations might be invoked. His call is for research, conducted with civility, motivated by a resolve to develop the research programs needed to tease out the evolutionary structures that underlie our mental faculties.

Plotkin provides a useful survey of this subject, although the brevity presupposes a reader with some familiarity with the history of psychology. To the newer student embracing an evolutionary perspective to investigate human behavior and culture, the book can serve as a head-up to why this is such a sensitive approach to take.

The book could have used a bit more editing to simplify recurrences of convoluted sentence structure. At times, you need to slow down and reread passages to get the author's meaning. In the end, your patience will be rewarded

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pithy acount of how psychology dealt with evolutionary theory, December 4, 2007

By 

Shaun Johnston "evolved self" (Tillson, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Evolutionary Thought in Psychology: A Brief History (Blackwell Brief Histories of Psychology) (Kindle Edition)

This is an amazingly compact summary of how psychology has alternately embraced and ignored developments in evolutionary theory over the past two centuries. The compactness is largely due to the superb writing, which often effortlessly compresses three points into a single short sentence. So good is the writing that when I tried to isolate extracts to illustrate this they started running into one another! Uncompressed, from another pen, I think this book could easily have run to 400 pages.

I found this book unusual in focusing on psychology alone. The familiar stages in its history took on a wholly new coloring when seen as either the embrace, or more interestingly the denial, of evolutionary theory. I've not seen the two stitched so tightly together, distinct from social science in general and social issues such as racism and eugenics.

The author boldly brings his account up close to the present, facilitating the weighing of how new developments in evolutionary theory such as evolutionary psychology contribute to psychology itself.