双语时事系列196:为进化论心理学辩护

2009-12-10 00:00:00来源：网络

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双语时事：为进化论心理学辩护

Lisa DeBruine of the University of Aberdeen proposes that the value of evolutionary psychology lies in its ability to inspire new questions about human behavior.

来自阿伯丁大学（University of Aberdeen）的Lisa DeBruine认为，进化论心理学的价值在于它能启发人们对人类行为提出新问题。

In Defense of Evolutionary Psychology

Some in the scientific community are criticizing the so-called “post-hoc” claims of evolutionary psychology. This is the discipline that explains modern behavior using theories of human adaptation over thousands of years.

But a paper in press by Lisa DeBruine at the University of Aberdeen defends evo psych by offering another angle. She writes: “…the real power of an evolutionary perspective lies not in generating…reasons for behavior that we already know about, but in generating novel predictions about behaviors that have not yet been investigated.”

DeBruine points to an evolutionary way of thinking that can allow us to ask new questions that then lead to testable hypotheses. Take this example: back in the mid-60s predictions were made about how humans perceived vertical and horizontal distances differently.

One such theory predicted that vertical distances are overestimated when viewed from bottom up. But no experiments were done, until researchers proposed a possible evolutionary reason for the discrepancy in vertical views.

And here the researchers predicted that humans ought to overestimate a vertical distance from top down, versus looking up from below because of this evolutionary reasoning: a fall from a high perch is much more likely to lead to death or injury. And this ain’t good for the overall fitness of the species.

Russell Jackson and Lawrence Cormack confirmed this effect in 2007. They found that nearly all of their 210 subjects (from two separate experiments) perceived the height to be 32 percent greater when looking down than when looking up.

DeBruine’s point in her paper is that evo psych perspectives are valuable not because they provide reasons for human behavior, but because they lead to new hypotheses that then lead to discovery that is supported by verifiable evidence.

为进化论心理学辩护

目前科学界中有些人对进化论心理学的所谓“因果关系的”观点持批评意见。这门学科使用人类几千年来的适应理论来解释现代人类的行为。

但是来自阿伯丁大学（University of Aberdeen）的Lisa DeBruine在一篇即将出版的文章中通过提出另一种观点来维护进化论心理学。她写道：“…从进化论角度看问题的真正力量不在于对我们已经知道的行为给出解释，而是对于对那些我们没有进行研究的行为给出崭新的预测。”

DeBruine指出了一种进化论方法的思考模式，这种思考方式能让我们提出新的问题，这些新的问题又引出可被检测的假设。举个例子来说：在上个世纪60年代中期，有研究者预测了人类在感知垂直和水平距离如何不一样。

其中一个理论预测，当从底部向上看的时候，垂直距离被过高估计了。但是，对于这个预测，人们一直没有进行实验，直到研究者们提出了一种可能的进化论解释来说明为何从垂直的角度看会带来这种差异。

研究者们预测，与从下往上看对比，当人们从上往下看时，人类应该过高估计垂直距离，因为这符合进化论推理：从高处掉下来导致死亡和受伤的可能性非常大。而这对于物种的整体健康来说是不利的。

Russell Jackson和Lawrence Cormack 在2007年证实了这种效应。他们发现，当从上往下看时，几乎所有210名受试者（来自于两个独立的实验）感受到的高度要比从下往上看时高出32%。

DeBruine在文章中表达的观点是：进化论心理学观点有价值并不是因为它们能给人类行为提供解释，而在于它们可以引出新的假设，这些新的假设又能引出新的发现，这些新的发现能得到可靠证据的支持。

Vocabulary:

Propose：提议；提出解释

Evolutionary：进化论的

Psychology：心理学