Infopaket

Evolutionary Psychology

ОК. 05

Обов’язкова дисципліна для ОП

Second

2024/2025

2 Semester

5

LO 7. Be able to present research findings orally and in writing, and discuss them with the professional community. LO 13. Develop strategies for clinical-psychological research, taking into account the specific nature of the research subject and the capabilities of available methods. LO 16. Develop and implement programs of psychoprophylactic and educational activities (in the form of lectures, discussions, roundtables, trainings, master classes, etc.) in the clinical-psychological and counseling-psychotherapeutic spheres, and evaluate their quality. LO 17. Conduct an analytical search of interdisciplinary information sources and evaluate them based on their relevance to the formulated problem in clinical psychology and counseling and psychotherapy practice.

Full-time form

1. To know the theoretical foundations of anatomy and physiology of higher nervous activity, zoopsychology, psychology of sexuality, social psychology, and personality psychology. 2. To possess elementary skills in scientific research, search, processing, and analysis of information from various sources, and the use of information and communication technologies.

The purpose of the discipline is to provide students with the theoretical knowledge necessary to use evolutionary theory to explain mental phenomena and human behaviour, their determinants, and the context of their emergence and development. The content is presented in three modules. Module 1 introduces evolutionary psychology as a branch of modern psychology: history, key concepts (survival and reproduction, adaptation, by-product of evolution, mismatch theory), evolutionary explanations of cognition, emotion, personality, behaviour, debates and criticism. Module 2 covers an evolutionary view of sexuality and family relations: physical attractiveness and sexual aversion by gender, men's and women's strategies for finding and retaining partners (jealousy, violence), birth and rearing of children. Module 3 covers social psychology from an evolutionary perspective: altruism, cooperation, conflict and aggression, social status, reputation, dominance, culture and art as adaptations.

Buss D. M. Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind (7th Ed.). Routledge, 2024. 486 p. De Waal F. Our inner ape: A leading primatologist explains why we are who we are. Riverhead Books, 2006. 320 p. Dawkins R. The selfish gene. Oxford University Press, 1990. 368 p. Jonason P. K., Schmitt D. P. Quantifying common criticisms of evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary Psychological Science. 2016. Vol. 2, No. 3. P. 177–188. Lewis D. M. G. et al. Evolutionary psychology: A how-to guide. American Psychologist. 2017. Vol. 72, No. 4. P. 353–373. Ridley M. The red queen. Sex and the evolution of human nature. Harper Perennial, 2003. 405 p. Sapolsky R. Human Behavioral Biology. Stanford Bio 250, 2010. 652 p. Shackelford T. K. (Ed.). The Sage Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology: Foundations of Evolutionary Psychology. SAGE, 2020. 502 p. Shackelford T. K. (Ed.). The Sage Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology: Applications of Evolutionary Psychology. SAGE, 2020. 552 p.

Lectures, seminars and practical classes, presentations, reports and discussions, independent work.

Assessment methods: evaluation of the written task on Topics 1–5; evaluation of the written task on Topics 6–7; evaluation of participation in seminar discussions; evaluation of the quality of seminar tasks; analytical essay. Form of final control — credit (pass/fail). Allocation of points per semester: written task on Topics 1–5 — min. 6 / max. 10; written task on Topics 6–7 — min. 6 / max. 10; participation in discussions — min. 12 / max. 20; quality of seminar tasks — min. 12 / max. 20; analytical essay — min. 24 / max. 40. The final mark is the sum of points accumulated during the semester; maximum is 100, the pass threshold is 60. A student is not admitted to the credit if they score fewer than 36 points for current work. Scale: 60–100 — passed; 0–59 — failed.

Ukrainian, English