The Evolution of Evolutionary Theory and Mental Testing: From Anaximander to Galton, Slides of History of Psychology

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The Darwinian Influence

and the Rise of Mental

Testing

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Evolutionary Theory before Darwin

 Anaximander proposed evolution from fish.

 Plato and Aristotle did not believe in evolution.

 Christianity added the divine creation described in Genesis.  Evolutionary thinking was put to rest! Docsity.com

Evolutionary Theory Before Darwin Jean Lamarck

 Philosophie Zoologique (1809), noted that fossil forms different from living forms, therefore species change over time.  Environmental change might be responsible for structural change in plants & animals  Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics: Lamarck's contention that adaptive abilities developed during an organism's lifetime are passed on to the organism's offspring. Docsity.com

Evolutionary Theory Before Darwin Herbert Spencer

 No formal education  Worked for railroad, surveyor to engineer  Worked as a journalist  “Educated” by books and friends “ From his voracious reading and the exchanges with his group of friends during the early 1850s Spencer acquired a general vision of the world that was to have a more pervasive effect on nineteenth century thinking than that of any other philosopher of his era.” Docsity.com

Evolutionary Theory Before Darwin Herbert Spencer Social Darwinism

 Evolution meant progress, it is the mechanism by which perfection is approximated.

 Social Darwinism: Spencer's contention that, if given freedom to compete in society, the ablest individuals will succeed, the weaker ones will fail, and this is as it should be.  Survival of the fittest applied to society  The best government was one that allowed free competition among all its citizens. Docsity.com

Evolutionary Theory Before Darwin Herbert Spencer Social Darwinism

 “ With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination; we build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed, and the sick; we institute poor-laws; and our medical men exert their utmost skill to save the life of every one to the last moment. There is reason to believe that vaccination has preserved thousands, who from a weak constitution would formerly have succumbed to smallpox. Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. … [E]xcepting in the case of man himself, hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed .” Docsity.com

Charles Darwin

 Had passion for Entomology which brought him together with professors of botany and geology.  Went on geological expedition to prolong the day he had to take his religious vows.

 The position of naturalist onboard the Beagle was offered to John Henslow, who could not go, but suggested Darwin take his place.  Darwin’s father initially opposed because of costs and because it would further postpone the religious vows. Docsity.com

Charles Darwin The Journey of the Beagle

 Five year expedition led by Captain Robert Fitz-Roy  Fitz-Roy firmly believed in biblical creation and wanted a naturalist to support it.  Darwin began voyage a firm believer in biblical account.  Biblical questions:

 Why’d God created so many plants & animals?  Is there room in Noah’s Ark for such large species of fossil record?  Why’d God let species go extinct?  How’d species and earth change from 9 am Oct 22,Docsity.com

Charles Darwin The Journey of the Beagle Darwin’s Finches

• Contrary to biblical account, species are capable of adaptation and change.

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Charles Darwin Back in England Influence of Thomas Malthus

 Essay on the Principle of Population (1798)

 The world’s food supply tends to increase arithmetically whereas human population tends to increase geometrically.

 Food supply and population tend to be kept in check by war, starvation, and disease.

 Darwin expanded the notion to plants and animals. Docsity.com

Charles Darwin Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

 The reproductive capacity of all organisms allows for more offspring than the environment can support (Malthus).  Struggle for Survival: The situation that arises when there are more offspring of a species than environmental resources can support.  Among the offspring, there is much variation.  Some variations more conducive to survival than others (depends on the exact environment).  Survival of the fittest (Spencer) Docsity.com

Charles Darwin Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

 In times of food shortage, only long-necked giraffes will be able to get enough food to survive.  As long as food is scarce, giraffes with shorter necks will tend to become extinct.  Natural Selection: A key concept in Darwin's theory of evolution. Because more members of a species are born than environmental resources can support, nature selects those with characteristics most conducive to survival under the circumstances, which allows them to reproduce.  Evolution is the natural selection of the natural variations in a species over eons.  Motivation of the process is survival, not perfection Docsity.com.

Charles Darwin Darwin’s Influence

 Evolutionary Psychology: A modern extension of Darwin's theory to the explanation of human and nonhuman social behavior (also called sociobiology).

 Inclusive Fitness: The type of fitness that involves the survival and perpetuation of copies of one's genes into subsequent generations. With this expanded definition of fitness, one can be fit by helping his or her kin survive and reproduce as well as by producing one's own offspring. Docsity.com

Charles Darwin Modern Evolutionary Thinking

 Many critics of evolution have a real hard time with speciation, but have no problem with the basic concept of adaptation and change (really just domestication).

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