Chapter 17: Evolutionary Psychology and The Classroom: Implications for Theory, Research, and Practice in Motivation, Learning, Achievement, and Instruction

Evolutionary psychology emanates from classic evolutionary concepts to consider evolution in terms of the psychological mechanisms that are needed to survive, with the mind viewed in terms of the domains or modules relevant to meeting environmental challenges (Buss, 2005; Cosmides & Tooby, 1994; Dunbar & Barrett, 2007; Geary, 2008a, 2008b, 2012; Tooby & Cosmides, 1992). From an evolutionary psychology perspective, the mind is comprised of psychological adaptations and predisposed mechanisms for learning that survive because they solve context-relevant problems that help individuals survive (Buss, 2005; Gergely & Csibra, 2003; Kanazawa, 2010; Pinker, 1994; Schaller, Park, & Kenrick, 2007; Schaller, Simpson, & Kenrick, 2006; Sweller, 2004)—although the specificity of this predisposition and the precise nature of these psychological modules have been the subject of debate (e.g., Karmiloff-Smith, 1997; Pinker, 2002).