Saturday, July 22, 2006

"Why Women Have Breasts" And Other Fascinating Questions (As Explained By Evolutionary Psychology)

Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach to psychology that explains many mental traits as adaptations in the sense of evolutionary biology, as a product of natural or sexual selection. A good explanation in one short essay is here.

Although human beings have other ways (books, social customs, religions, etc.) besides using the genes to transmit information to the future generations, during most of our species's early history, the genes are the dominant form of passing on legacy. Therefore, it's useful to consider how evolution shapes our behaviors. We might actually understand something.

This page contains a lot of interesting, entertaining, and plausible explanations of why things are the way they are such as "Why women have breasts", "Why Women Pretend To Be Stupid", "Why We Can’t Find Lasting Happiness", "Why Placebos Work", "Why We Follow Fashion", "Why Pigeons Don't Know They're Alive", and "Why I Have No Free Will."

You might want to read one essay a day and try to find arguments for and against it.

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