Evolutionary psychologists see humannature as a collection of psychological adaptations that often operatebeneath conscious thinking to solve problems of survival andreproduction.
Human nature is one of those things that everybodytalks about but no one can define precisely. Every time we fall inlove, fight with our spouse, get upset about the influx of immigrantsinto our country, or go to church, we are, in part, behaving as a humananimal with our own unique evolved nature—human nature.
This means two things. First, our thoughts, feelings,and behavior are produced not only by our individual experiences andenvironment in our own lifetime but also by what happened to ourancestors millions of years ago. Second, our thoughts, feelings, andbehavior are shared, to a large extent, by all men or women, despiteseemingly large cultural differences.
Human behavior is a product both of our innate humannature and of our individual experience and environment. In thisarticle, however, we emphasize biological influences on human behavior,because most social scientists explain human behavior as if evolutionstops at the neck and as if our behavior is a product almost entirelyof environment and socialization.In contrast, evolutionary psychologists see humannature as a collection of psychological adaptations that often operatebeneath conscious thinking to solve problems of survival andreproduction by predisposing us to think or feel in certain ways. Ourpreference for sweets and fats is an evolved psychological mechanism.We do not consciously choose to like sweets and fats; they just tastegood to us.
The implications of some of the ideas in this articlemay seem immoral, contrary to our ideals, or offensive. We state thembecause they are true, supported by documented scientific evidence.Like it or not, human nature is simply not politically correct.