The Evolution Paradigm

Philosophical roots:

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770 - 1831)

proposes a dialectical understanding of knowledge, leading to a developmental view of economics, social conditions, politics, culture, human psychology.

1. Knowledge is a progression: thesis/antithesis/synthesis . Any limited truth calls forth its opposite. From the dialogue between opposites (dialectics) comes a fuller truth. it is a fundamentally optimistic theory: things get better and better.
2. History is a progression reflecting humanity's growing understanding.
3. Hegel's theory is compatible with the view for example that, left alone, economic systems would follow this thesis/antithesis/synthesis progression and become better overtime. Hence, it supported the development of capitalism.
4. Hegel's theory also supports the idea of social change following this same mechanism, hence it also supported the development of marxism.
5. The concept of the evolution of the species, starting from the primordial soup, and leading to the emergence of more and more evolved species is also an idea compatible with that framework.

What characteristics of the evolution paradigm have influenced psychology?

1. The notion of continuity between the species:

• This led to the emergence of comparative psychology (ex: George John Romanes 1848-1894: notion of the "mental ladder")
• and also to the use of animals in experimentation
• Since we are a species, then we too can be studied as such, hence the growth of anthropometry, statistics, and the study of individual differences. There were many vantage points from which people could be studied.
• This in turn led to the testing movement, interested in measuring intelligence and other human characteristics

2. Theory of recapitulation (ontogeny repeats phylogeny)

The theory of recapitulation proposed that, in the course of development, the individual went through the various stages the species followed.
So, in biology, the human embryo goes to a fish-like stage where it has gills, and it has a tail (the remainder of which is the coccyx).
Similarly, the child of today, in his/her development, exemplifies modes of thinking existing in the simpler cultures that preceded.
Though these theories turned out to be an oversimplification, they were a major impetus for the development of fields like:

• developmental psychology
• anthropology

3. Notion that the distribution of human traits follows the normal curve.

This led to the development of statistics and the whole tests and measurements area.

4. An emphasis on function rather than structure.

While psychologists like Wundt were interested in the contents of human consciousness, psychology became interested in function, in the manner in which humans (or animals) adapted to the demands of their environment.