Psychology 3228 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Swiss Army Knife, Assistive Technology, Problem Solving

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 3228
• Professor: Scott Mac Dougall- Shackleton

Document Summary

Evolutionary view that the mind is an adaptation: or set of adaptations. Cognitive functions are solutions to problems related to survival and reproduction. Natural selection has assigned cognitive modules to meet certain problems: designed modules. One of the tenets of evolutionary psychology is that the mind is modular: consisting of functionality distinct units. Rather than all-purpose general machine, it is more like a swiss army knife. One of the fundamental assumptions of evolutionary psychology is that the human mind is modular. There are different domain-specific psychological modules to deal with adaptive problems in distinct areas of life. There are no domain-general psychological modules, because there are no domain-general adaptive problems. Many benefits: movement and navigation, problem solving, social interactions, language. The brain is a costly organ: 3% of the body by mass, uses 20% of energy, prolonged development required, high risk birthing. To provide useful representation and guide action. Programs can operate and be described independent of hardware.