What evolutionary psychology hypotheses might be just-so stories?

December 7, 2018 8:38 AM

Evolutionary psychology has often been criticised for producing "just-so stories" that explain a particular result, where an equally compelling story could have been constructed if the opposite result had been found. Does anyone have any good examples of a compelling evolutionary psychology explanation that seems less compelling once you see that there is an equally compelling explanation for a contradictory theory?
posted by casebash to Science & Nature (5 answers total)

Best answer: Did the religious early humans succeed because religious behaviors help keep a community cohesive? Or is it the other way around -- is it a biological predisposition to religion that leads to religious behaviors? Or is it both working together? Chicken or egg? Now my head hurts.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 8:53 AM on December 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Babies evolved to have a piercing cry so that the caregivers who stuck them under a rock so they could gather whatever would hear them and respond to their cries, especially if attacked by predators.

OR babies evolved to be quiet because when you are a baby alone under a rock you are vulnerable to predators, so you don't want to attract their attention by making lots of noise.
posted by praemunire at 8:59 AM on December 7, 2018 [4 favorites]

There's been some interesting conversation recently about the role of sexual dimorphism (size differences between males and females). Holly Dunsworth wrote a great essay on some of this for the Washington Post in response to Jerry Coyne - there's some good back and forth and nitty gritty and nastiness, but Holly (who is a friend) has a paper in review presenting evidence against a sexual selection explanation for sexual dimorphism and I found her talk on it pretty compelling.
posted by ChuraChura at 11:16 AM on December 7, 2018 [5 favorites]

Mod note: Folks, let's stick to stories that have citations rather than just throwing theories at the wall. Thanks.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 1:09 PM on December 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

Sorry, here's one cite for the babies issue. if you google, you'll see that even wackier theories have been built up over time around this issue!
posted by praemunire at 1:35 PM on December 7, 2018