Evolutionary Approaches to Social Cognition

Abstract

Abstract This chapter provides a starting point for social cognition researchers interested in adopting evolutionary approaches or those who seek to expand their theoretical and empirical toolkit. Evolutionary approaches offer numerous tools for discovering and explaining social cognitive phenomena. This chapter gives an overview of six of these tools: levels of analysis, ecological approaches, internal regulatory variables, approaches to bias and error, evolutionary mismatch, and phylogeny. The chapter explains how each tool may be used to understand social cognition, with examples and guidance for application. It then reviews recent applications of evolutionary approaches to understanding how humans navigate different domains of social life, such as kinships, friendships, status and hierarchies, romantic relationships, and violence and disease. Finally, it highlights the insights these approaches have generated for understanding stereotypes and stereotyping.