Our Mind is Not a Blank Slate: Evolutionary Psychologists Leda Cosmides & John Tooby

Summary

In this interview, John Tooby and Leda Cosmides from UC Santa Barbara discuss the significance of evolutionary psychology. They emphasize that the human mind is not a blank slate but is equipped with innate, species-typical programs that guide behavior. These programs evolved to solve specific adaptive problems faced by our ancestors, enabling a flexible yet structured response to environmental stimuli. The conversation highlights how understanding these cognitive mechanisms can lead to insights into human behavior and potential interventions to achieve social goals.

Takeaways

• 🧠 Evolutionary psychology views the human mind as having evolved to solve specific adaptive problems faced by our ancestors, rather than being a blank slate.
• 🌟 John Tooby and Leda Cosmides emphasize that evolutionary psychology is an intersection of evolutionary biology, information theory, and computer science, focusing on the structure of cognitive mechanisms.
• 💡 The mind is seen as containing species-typical programs that guide behavior, which are the result of natural selection, not as a passive recipient of cultural influences.
• 🔍 Understanding the design of these cognitive mechanisms is crucial for developing a true science of the mind and for understanding human behavior.
• 🚫 A common misconception is that evolutionary psychology supports racism or sexism; however, it is concerned with human universals and not with justifying social prejudices.
• 🌱 The field has seen increased acceptance as the idea of the blank slate has faded due to research in evolutionary psychology and cognitive neuroscience.
• 🔄 Human behavior is incredibly flexible, and evolutionary psychology aims to understand the mechanisms that allow for this flexibility and adaptation to different environments.
• 🔄 The programs in our minds are designed to be universal in their genetic basis but flexible in their expression, depending on environmental inputs.
• 🔬 Research in evolutionary psychology can lead to interventions that change behavior by understanding the underlying mechanisms, such as experiments that alter racial categorization.
• 🌐 The approach of evolutionary psychology contrasts with the blank slate model by viewing individuals as actively inventing themselves based on the information from their environment, rather than being passive recipients of cultural dictates.

Q & A

What is the primary insight that an evolutionary approach brings to the study of human behavior?

An evolutionary approach, particularly evolutionary psychology, provides insights into the design of the human mind by examining the adaptive problems faced by our hunter-gatherer ancestors and the cognitive mechanisms that would be well-designed for solving them.

How does the evolutionary psychology perspective differ from the traditional view of the mind as a blank slate?

Evolutionary psychology sees the mind as having species-typical programs that guide behavior, rather than being a blank slate that passively receives cultural and environmental influences. These programs are designed by natural selection to process information and guide behavior.

What role do these 'programs' in the mind play in human behavior?

These 'programs' are cognitive mechanisms designed by natural selection to process information, guide behavior, and enable learning. They are not metaphorical but are actual devices that help humans adapt to their environments.

Why is understanding the structure of these mental programs important for the science of the mind?

Understanding the structure of mental programs provides a clear link between selection pressures and behavior, allowing for a more scientific approach to understanding the human mind rather than relying on fuzzy relationships and general learning systems.

How has the acceptance of evolutionary psychology changed over time?

Evolutionary psychology has become more accepted and widespread due to advances in evolutionary biology, cognitive neuroscience, and the debunking of misconceptions about its implications, such as links to racism or sexism.

What is the relationship between evolutionary psychology and the study of human universals?

Evolutionary psychology is rooted in understanding human universals, which are the genetic and developmental bases of behavior. These universals are not about predetermined behaviors but about the flexibility of behavior based on environmental information.

How does evolutionary psychology address the issue of variation among subpopulations?

Evolutionary psychology acknowledges variation among subpopulations by focusing on the causal mechanisms that result in observed differences. It emphasizes that understanding the structure of cognitive mechanisms is key to interpreting these variations.

What is the significance of understanding the adaptive problems our ancestors faced in the study of human behavior?

Understanding the adaptive problems faced by our ancestors helps identify the cognitive mechanisms that evolved to solve them, which in turn provides insights into the structure of mental programs and their influence on current human behavior.

How can an evolutionary psychology perspective inform social interventions?

By understanding the mechanisms behind certain behaviors, evolutionary psychology can guide the design of interventions that target the right aspects of these mechanisms, potentially leading to more effective changes in social behavior.

What does evolutionary psychology suggest about the flexibility of human behavior?

Evolutionary psychology suggests that human behavior is incredibly flexible due to the design of our cognitive mechanisms, which are adapted to respond to a wide range of environmental inputs and can be influenced by understanding and manipulating these mechanisms.

How does the evolutionary psychology view of human nature contrast with the blank slate approach?

The evolutionary psychology view sees humans as actively inventing themselves based on the design of their cognitive programs, in contrast to the blank slate approach, which views humans as passive recipients of external influences.

Outlines

00:00

🧠 Evolutionary Psychology and the Human Mind

Nick Gillespie interviews John Tooby and Leda Cosmides, prominent figures in evolutionary psychology, discussing the significance of evolutionary theory in understanding human behavior. They emphasize that the human mind is not a blank slate but is equipped with innate cognitive mechanisms designed to solve adaptive problems faced by our ancestors. These mechanisms are species-typical and guide behavior. The conversation highlights the importance of understanding the structure of these 'programs' in the mind, which are shaped by natural selection, to truly grasp the science of the mind. They differentiate evolutionary psychology from other approaches by pointing out that it does not view the mind as a passive recipient of cultural influences but as an active processor of information, with pre-existing structures that enable learning and culture.

05:04

🌱 Human Behavior and Environmental Interaction

The discussion continues with an exploration of how evolutionary psychology views the flexibility and variability of human behavior. Tooby and Cosmides argue that while there are universal genetic and developmental bases for behavior, the expression of these behaviors is highly dependent on environmental input. They challenge the notion of a deterministic view of human nature, suggesting that understanding the mechanisms of the mind can lead to interventions that enhance or alter behavior. The conversation also touches on the misconceptions surrounding evolutionary approaches, clarifying that it does not imply racism or sexism but is concerned with understanding human universals and variations among subpopulations. They provide examples of how understanding the evolutionary basis of certain behaviors can lead to social changes, such as altering racial categorization based on an understanding of the underlying cognitive mechanisms.

10:05

🌟 The Creative Potential of Human Nature

In the final part of the interview, the conversation shifts to the implications of evolutionary psychology for human dignity and self-invention. Tooby and Cosmides contrast the evolutionary psychology perspective with the blank slate model, where humans are seen as passive recipients of their environment. They argue that an evolutionary perspective empowers individuals by recognizing their active role in shaping their own identities and behaviors based on the flexible programs designed by natural selection. The discussion concludes with the idea that understanding these programs can lead to the development of educational and social interventions that are more effective because they are grounded in the actual mechanisms of the human mind.

Keywords

💡Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that seeks to understand human behavior through the lens of evolutionary biology. It posits that much of human behavior is a result of psychological adaptations that evolved over time to solve problems faced by our ancestors in their environment. In the script, John Tooby and Leda Cosmides, central figures in this field, discuss how evolutionary psychology connects to various social sciences and humanities by examining the design of the human mind and how it has adapted to solve specific problems.

💡Adaptive Problems

Adaptive problems refer to the challenges that our hunter-gatherer ancestors faced in their environments, which had to be overcome for survival and reproduction. The script mentions that evolutionary psychology is particularly interested in understanding what kinds of problems these ancestors encountered and how cognitive mechanisms evolved to address them. This concept is central to the discussion of how the human mind has been shaped by natural selection.

💡Cognitive Mechanisms

Cognitive mechanisms are the mental processes and structures that underlie thought and behavior. In the context of the video, these mechanisms are seen as solutions to the adaptive problems faced by our ancestors. The script discusses how understanding these mechanisms can provide insights into the human mind's structure and how it processes information and guides behavior.

💡Blank Slate

The term 'blank slate' refers to the idea that the human mind starts as a tabula rasa, or a clean slate, with no innate content, and is shaped entirely by experience and learning. The script contrasts this view with the perspective of evolutionary psychology, which sees the mind as containing innate, species-typical programs that guide behavior. The discussion highlights how evolutionary psychology challenges the blank slate model by emphasizing the role of innate cognitive structures.

💡Natural Selection

Natural selection is the process by which organisms with traits that are better suited to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring, thereby passing on those advantageous traits to future generations. In the script, natural selection is mentioned as the driving force behind the evolution of cognitive mechanisms in the human mind, shaping them to solve specific adaptive problems.

💡Domain Specialization

Domain specialization refers to the idea that certain cognitive mechanisms or mental modules are specialized for specific types of problems or information processing. The script discusses how evolutionary psychology posits that the mind contains specialized mechanisms that evolved to handle particular adaptive problems, rather than a general learning system that can adapt to any kind of information.

💡Information Theory

Information theory is a field of study concerned with the quantification and communication of information. In the context of the video, it is mentioned as a discipline that intersects with evolutionary psychology, particularly in understanding how cognitive mechanisms process information and guide behavior. The script suggests that viewing the mind through the lens of information theory can help in understanding the structure of cognitive mechanisms.

💡Universal Behavior

Universal behavior refers to behaviors that are common to all human beings, regardless of culture or environment. The script discusses how evolutionary psychology seeks to understand the genetic and developmental basis of such behaviors, which are seen as expressions of the universal programs in the human mind. The conversation highlights that while there are universal aspects to human behavior, the expression of these behaviors can vary widely depending on environmental inputs.

💡Hunter-Gatherer Ancestors

Hunter-gatherer ancestors are the pre-agricultural human societies that relied on hunting, fishing, and foraging for subsistence. The script mentions that understanding the adaptive problems faced by these ancestors is crucial for evolutionary psychology, as it provides a context for understanding the evolution of cognitive mechanisms in the human mind.

💡Cultural Evolution

Cultural evolution refers to the process by which cultural information, beliefs, and practices are transmitted and change over time within a population. The script touches on the idea that while the human mind has evolved with certain cognitive mechanisms, it is also capable of learning and adapting to cultural influences. This concept is important for understanding how universal cognitive mechanisms can give rise to diverse cultural expressions.

💡Behavioral Flexibility

Behavioral flexibility is the ability of an organism to adapt its behavior in response to changes in its environment. The script emphasizes that human behavior is remarkably flexible, which is a key feature of the human mind's design. This flexibility is seen as a result of the evolved cognitive mechanisms that allow humans to respond to a wide variety of environmental conditions and stimuli.

Highlights

Evolutionary psychology connects evolutionary biology with information theory, computer science, and anthropology.

The human mind is viewed as having species-typical programs that guide behavior, rather than being a blank slate.

Understanding the structure of cognitive mechanisms provides insights into the human mind's design.

Evolutionary psychology focuses on the intermediate step of the structure of mental programs.

The mind is not a passive receptacle; it actively processes information based on pre-existing structures.

Evolutionary biology has significantly influenced fields beyond biology, including social sciences.

The blank slate model of the mind has been challenged by research in evolutionary psychology and cognitive neuroscience.

Evolutionary psychology aims to understand the adaptive problems our ancestors faced and how they shaped our cognitive mechanisms.

The flexibility of human behavior is a result of the brain's design to respond to environmental information.

Understanding the genetic developmental basis of behavior can help in social interventions.

Evolutionary psychology does not support the idea of predetermined behavior; it emphasizes the brain's adaptability.

The mind's programs are designed to be flexible, allowing for a range of behaviors based on environmental inputs.

Evolutionary psychology can help explain and potentially change ingrained behaviors, such as racial categorization.

The approach of evolutionary psychology is to understand the causal mechanisms behind observed variations.

Gender differences in spatial cognition can be explained by the different adaptive problems faced by our ancestors.

Understanding the mechanisms of spatial cognition can lead to the development of educational programs that enhance learning.

Evolutionary psychology sees the person as an active inventor of themselves, not just a passive recipient of environmental influences.

The field emphasizes the importance of understanding the 'circuit logic' or 'code' of the mind's programs.

Transcripts

human behavior is the most amazingly

flexible behavior of any animal species

hi I'm Nick Gillespie for recent TV and

today we're talking with john tooby and

leda cosmides of UC santa barbara thanks

for talking to us

you guys are central to evolutionary

discussions of things like anthropology

psychology applications of evolutionary

theory to all aspects of human existence

what's the primary insight that an

evolutionary approach approach brings to

to the table we're particularly

associated with evolutionary psychology

but that connects to all of the social

sciences and humanities because theories

about the design of the human mind are

central to all of those areas and so

were we're asking the question what

kinds of adaptive problems were our

hunter-gatherer ancestors what kinds of

problems did they have to solve well in

order to survive and reproduce in those

environments and what kinds of cognitive

mechanisms would be well designed for

solving them because that it gives you

insights into what to look for in the

human mind the key thing that changes it

from other coaches to psychology is

instead of looking at the mind as a

blank slate we see the mind is full of

very interesting reliably developing

programs species-typical programs that

guide our behavior yeah when you talk

about little programs you started to use

computer metaphors which I'm assuming

when evolutionary psychology or a

precursor sociobiology or whatever

ethology you weren't using that so how

much how much that was the problem they

were talking about selection pressures

and they're talking about behavior but

behavior is generated by programs in

your head and I don't mean it

metaphorically yeah

devices that are designed by natural

selection to process information guide

jokie havior and you evolutionary

psychology focuses on that intermediate

step of what's the structure of those

programs and without understanding that

you just all you can have a sort of

fuzzy relationships between insights

about selection pressures and behavior

as opposed to a real science of the mind

one of the primary differences is the

traditional worldview was the mind with

some

like a tape recorder or a blank slate

general learning system and the model of

human nature was we're just a passive

receptacle and culture and our

environment is downloaded into us

without the mechanisms of the mind

inscribing a particular content of their

role so I mean it's just like a video

camera doesn't describe it just reports

with others so I mean this is kind of

following up on a critique of pure

reason that there are pre-existing

structures or strictures on how we

process information what information we

see and then how we respond to that

that's exactly right

but can I just say I wouldn't hold I

wouldn't call them strictures right

because that presumes that a that a

blank slate mind could learn anything

and it's actually not computationally

possible for a completely mind that was

a completely domain general that

operated uniformly on all contact to

learn anything that's useful and so I

think of these programs as enabling

learning they enable culture so in

sociobiology the the book by EO Wilson

is one of the watershed beginnings of

this kind of broad area of analysis

since then and now while evolutionary

psychology never evolutionary approaches

to all sorts of things are still

contested but they're much more accepted

much more widespread what what explains

that so Ed's book gave the best

evolutionary biology of its time and

although this is not generally known to

social scientists it went on to just

totally conquer the biology journals

it's not called something separate it's

just evolution area biology but that's

not a complete thing so really what

evolutionary psychology is is it's the

intersection of evolutionary biology

with information theory computer science

and then with edit and so that's the

programs are what evolved and then you

have to know the environment in which

they evolved and function and so that's

then the third component of you know

hunter-gatherer studies and primatology

and reconstruction of the pain is it

partly that I mean it's more accepted

now in a way that the idea of the blank

slate of whether it was an anthropology

or psychology has kind of faded because

it doesn't explain enough

there's many things that have made it

made that fade more it still exists but

it's faded the sum has been because of

research and and and theory in the

evolutionary psychology some because of

cognitive neuroscience in cognitive

neuroscience it's becoming clearer and

clearer that many mechanisms are domain

specialized for particular kinds of

problems there's also been we had to do

a lot of debugging of misconceptions

people had a lot of Miss cat if you're

taking an evolutionary approach that

means you must be racist sexist etc when

it doesn't even have it it has to do

with human universals not to do with

things like greys what what does

evolutionary psychology then have to say

if it's saying ok well we're talking

about universal behavior but then you're

also studying variation among

subpopulations what you know where where

does it end especially for libertarians

because we want to believe in a kind of

domain of unrestricted freedom but we

also want to be rooted in an empirical

world that is available through rational

analysis I mean because you're not

saying everything go everything can go

but you're also not saying that

everything is predetermined it's not

universal behaviors it's actually the

genetic developmental basis of the

program's it's universal so and that

that's one of the key things because the

whole point of having a brain is to make

your behavior dependent on information

from your environment so you expect

there to be varying behavior depending

on the environments that you're

encountering and you can't know in

advance what's inevitable and what's not

inevitable socially until you know

something about the design of these

mechanisms just like being nearsighted

doesn't mean you can't see you there's

glasses contact lenses there's laser

surgery why is that true because people

bother to figure out how the eye works

if you understand how a mechanism works

you know how to intervene in some way I

mean it's very important what Lida just

said that human behavior is the most

amazingly flexible behavior of any

animal species right and we don't know

some intrinsic limits about what could

be potentially expressed by people in

the different and in various

environments or differ

interacting but you can't unlock these

potentialities unless you understand the

the circuit logic or the code of the

programs in the head so for example

people tend to ought to automatically

categorize people on the basis of race

and then they found it was very they

couldn't get people to stop doing it it

turns out that from an evolutionary

perspective it would be very unlikely

you'd have a mechanism whose function

was to detect race because you never

would have run into ancestrally there's

somebody from a different race so it had

to be that the program's function was

different okay and we hypothesized that

the program's function was to detect

coalition's and therefore in the modern

world certain kinds of input of alliance

and so on then made race as opposed to

any of the thousands of other dimensions

of human variation a kind of queue - who

would like me to lie with whom and so we

created experiments in which race no

longer predicted coalition in just a few

minutes as you have a lifetime of

experience supposedly of learning race

right but people stopped categorizing by

race in their memory systems and their

sort of implicit ways and that was if

you find the right aspect what's the

what is the feature of the program then

you can start to have make much more

deliberate active progress towards

whatever your social goals are how do

you know when differences are big and

really matter say and when they're

trivial so like you know it's hair color

we would say is trivial I mean it has

meaning but compared to gender or and

not even gender but you know physical

differences among the sexes or between

the sexes how do you how do you figure

that out no so then in any population

I'm assuming that the differences among

women are with with inside the category

of women are as great as they are

between women and men or you know how do

you find out what is salient that well

we don't try to quantify that what we

try to do is and our colleagues try to

do is understand the causal mechanisms

that result in whatever whatever

variation you see around you

gender differences in gender

similarities I mean some mechanisms if

the men men and women ancestrally had

similar adaptive problem to solve you

you don't expect there to be differences

in the mechanisms that solve them it's

when there were adaptive problems like

ones in hunting versus foraging that the

differed by the sexes that's when you

expect to see some differences but you

need to know the structure of the

mechanism involved so colleagues of ours

there had been a hundred years of theory

free research looking at spatial

cognition in humans and people kept

finding a male advantage on certain

kinds of spatial cognition some of our

colleagues thought well what would you

need what kind of spatial cognition

would you need to be a good gather and

they said well you need to remember

where things are in a complex array you

need to be able to plants don't don't

get up and move around but they might

not be fruiting now they might be

footing later so you want to remember

that you want to be able to go straight

to one of those patches and so on and

through a series of experiments from

right from the beginning they found the

first female advantage that any

psychologist had found in spatial

cognition and it's because it's not

because the scientists were male or

female or anything like that

it's because they were starting from a

theory about the adaptive problems our

ancestors faced now once you know

something about the mechanisms that are

governing spatial cognition you can you

you could in principle design math

programs that might make certain types

of mathematical concepts easier to

understand depending on how you in

particular think about it and that

doesn't have to be taught to people on

the basis of their gender because

there's as you said there's a lot of

variation within genders too but if you

understand it that's when you can start

to use it for good one difference

between the blank slate approach is that

you're the basic model of human dignity

is your clay you are passively acted on

by the outside world whereas an

evolutionary psychology model the person

is in a really strong sense inventing

themselves and that that we instead of

just downloading the environment and

becoming what you're told to be and also

it's just in these individual in

prosperous societies with lots of

choices you get this amazing

fluorescence in which people get

together in groups and they very

creatively cuz

rocked a lot of rich diverse ways in

which individuals you know find

themselves and built their identities

and that's that's a very different world

view than the we are passive and have a

key receptacles at first and then or

that everything is fixed ahead of time

that every time

that's the absence of kingly people fear

right but that's not what what's fixed

is the design of the programs but the

programs are themselves designed to be

very flexible well we'll leave it there

I want to thank John to be and leda

cosmides from UCSB talking about

evolutionary psychology today thanks

guys for reason TV I'm Nick Gillespie