CJ Paloma's ...account
Today's theme: be very wary of ideas that rely on ideas taken from evolutionary psychology. They have begun to sneak into what may look like progressive critiques.
Evolutionary psychology routinely says certain culturally produced artifacts (preferences for tall male leaders, for example) are products of "evolution."
That's like saying speaking English is a product of evolution. Billions of people do it, so it must be an evolutionarily caused thing, right? Wrong. It's a cultural product.
Kit Rhett Aultman
@CJPaloma My advice -- if someone from evo psych tells you what time it is, check your watch.
You'll notice the watch will say "time to find a party where there are no evo psych people".
Kit Rhett Aultman
@CJPaloma Indeed, all evo psych can offer is a set of "Just So Stories" for how things are as they are now, and with neither meaningful verification of historical evolutionary pressures nor practical guidance for the future.
I have, for example, had to listen to an evo psych PhD student explain her study indicating men's domestic violence against women stems from evolutionary pressures to prevent reproductive competition. How? Language patterns in verbal abuse; surely that's not learned!
CJ Paloma's ...account
@roadriverrail Right? these are the same types who used to say "It's human nature to oppress others."
Now that people have caught on to the fact that's emphatically not true of billions of …humans, they try to use fancier language.
Assigning "evolutionary" status to certain issues is super convenient: it lets whatever oppressive system(s) that created the issue off the hook, AND makes whatever the issue is hand seem "inevitable." Quite a nice narrative for those already in charge.
Kit Rhett Aultman
@CJPaloma the idea of "human nature" provides comforting certainty. People love to accept that certainty even when it limits their freedom or forces them to live in ways they don't want to.
CJ Paloma's ...account
Aiy Yai Yai… BTW: I've loved the Just So Stories analogy since I first heard about it from an archeologist. It happens in many fields.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-so_story
Meanwhile, social learning theories keep saying "Um, excuse me, but…" and getting ignored.
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