An Introduction to Evolutionary Psychology
What you'll learn
- The basics of Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory of natural selection
- Foundations of Evolutionary Psychology as an academic discipline and how it chronologically developed
- Relevant other science paradigms as for example: sociobiology, genetics and institutionalized paradigms such as eugenics
- An insight into elementary human behavior in the light of evolution and evolutionary psychology
- Methodic evaluation and principles concerning Evolutionary Psychology
- How evolutionary theoretical ideas are played out in real life and how we can understand those
- Insight into the research in Evolutionary Psychology
Requirements
- There's no experience required. The course is made very beginner-friendly and is oriented towards students, who are taking relevant academic classes on any beginner levels.
Description
My philosophy in regard to teaching psychology academia entails that you have to stand before you can walk.
In this course, I've put a tremendous amount of energy and hours into trying to make complex evolutionary psychological phenomena understandable. Essentially, this course is for anyone who has a hobby, academic or extracurricular interest in Evolutionary Psychology, its history, and the precursors of Evolution and Evolutionary Psychology.
Without going into too much detail you will learn the following, which will contribute to your understanding of Evolutionary Psychology:
The historical overview of Charles Darwin's ideas, his theory of evolution through natural selection (and heritable variation and differential reproductive success), and insights into his work
How the "human mind" is conceptualized through evolutional theories, and how behavior and psychological aspects of human nature are understood and developed
A brief introduction to Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's theory of acquired inheritance and how it inspired Darwin
Knowledge of the reproductive process of sexual and asexual species and the process of mutations
Gregor Mendel's genetics, and how his ideas established an important part of modern Evolutionary Psychology
The modern conceptualization of Evolutionary Psychology and how cognitive psychology influenced it in relation to the definition proposed by the Santa Barbara School (John Tooby and Leda Cosmides)
Another historical overview of Francis Galton, the father of Psychometrics, and how he formed and institutionalized the Eugenics movement, which had severe ethical implications for the future of Evolutionary Psychology
Methodological and methodic considerations concerning Evolutionary Psychology as an academic discipline
Evaluations of Evolutionary Psychology and its future prospects in terms of considering critiques in an effort to counterargue the most common ones
I'd like to thank you for showing interest in my course. I sincerely hope you'll consider buying it due to its elementary nature so that everyone can tag along on the journey into the landscape of Evolutionary Psychology.
Enjoy.
Christian
Who this course is for:
- Psychology students
- Academic students
- Psychologists
- High school students
- Psychology class participants
- Anyone who are interested in basic evolutionary psychology
Instructor
- 4.2 Instructor Rating
- 30 Reviews
- 9,137 Students
- 2 Courses
Hello, I'm Christian
I am a 27 years old Danish psychologist, who studied for five years at Aalborg University, where I also took my Master's in the program called "Educational Practices and Cultural Psychology". Besides teaching online at Udemy, I work at a hospital with somatically sick children (0-18 years) and their parents. We cover a broad variety of patients including chronic illness, acute crises, Bodily Distress Syndrome, diabetes, neurological disorders and overweight patients amongst others.
My interests center mainly around the premises of Cultural Psychology (especially Constructionist perspectives), but I find the general discipline of Psychology, and all of its broad subdisciplines, very fascinating. Praxis-wise I find Bodily Distress Syndrome, and its often associated psychiatric comorbidity, interesting and difficult to work with.
I used to teach Psychology at high-school level. Teaching Psychology was a way for me to stay-on-my-toes in regards to the development of the discipline, but it also challenged me personally and motivated me to constantly better my presentational skills!
Welcome to my classes - I hope you enjoy what I can offer, and feel free to message me at any time.
Kind regards,
Christian