Conceptual Tensions And The Road To Integration Between Evolutionary And Differential Psychology

Abstract

Most of the success of evolutionary psychology has been in examining adaptive aspects of the mind that are thought to be common to all of our species. This has led to the idea that the field of differential psychology, which focuses solely on the ways in which people systematically differ from one another, can benefit little from the adaptationist approach. In order to identify the conceptual and theoretical issues that have kept differential psychology apart from evolutionary psychology and from explanatory approaches in general, the current article frames the historical origins of both disciplines and examines the ways in which they each address the particular difficulties of psychological description and explanation. The authors examine how modern evolutionary research is overcoming these conceptual issues, paying particular attention to them, and provide insightful recommendations about how differential researchers (and others) can best advance these advancements.