Steve Stewart-Williams Profile picture
Psychology, evolution, science. Author of "A Billion Years of Sex Differences" (2026) and "The Ape That Understood the Universe" (2018).

May 26, 2021, 12 tweets

Misguided Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology #1: Evolutionary psychology aims to justify traditional gender roles, societal inequalities, etc. From #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverse amazon.com/Ape-that-Under…

Misguided Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology #2: Evolutionary psychology provides an excuse for bad behavior – in particular, for the kinds of bad behavior that men specialize in. From #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverse amazon.com/Ape-that-Under…

Misguided Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology #3: Evolutionary psychology implies that certain undesirable phenomena – old-fashioned sex roles, xenophobia, war and aggression – are ultimately ineradicable. From #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverse amazon.com/Ape-that-Under…

Misguided Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology #4: Evolutionary psychology is the latest incarnation of a disturbing trend in Western thought: genetic determinism. From #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverse amazon.com/Ape-that-Under…

"Why, though, do people think that, according to evolutionary psychologists, everything is down to genes?" #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverse amazon.com/Ape-that-Under…

Misguided Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology #5: Hypotheses in evolutionary psychology are unfalsifiable. amazon.com/Ape-that-Under…

"First point: If you argue that evolutionary explanations are unfalsifiable, you can't also argue that they're false..."

"But is it actually the case that evolutionary explanations are unfalsifiable? This claim is itself falsifiable – and has been repeatedly, resoundingly falsified." From #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverse amazon.com/Ape-that-Under…

"There's no magic-bullet study that can single-handedly establish that a given trait is an adaptation – or that it's not. The best we can ever do is to look at the preponderance of evidence and see which way it points." #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverse amazon.com/Ape-that-Under…

Misguided Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology #6: Evolutionary psychology is just a collection of just-so stories. From #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverse amazon.com/Ape-that-Under…

Misguided Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology #7: Evolutionary psychologists only test their theories on undergraduate students from WEIRD nations. #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverse amazon.com/Ape-that-Under…

Misguided Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology #8: Evolutionary psychologists argue that everything is an adaptation. They're guilty, in other words, of what’s sometimes called "panadaptationism." #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverse amazon.com/Ape-that-Under…

Critics who rail against status quo bolstering, genetic determinism and just-so storytelling are like the crazy person in the bus shelter, fighting with a sparring partner who isn't really there: They've invented their own evolutionary psychology and are arguing loudly with that.

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