Jerome H. Barkow is a Canadian anthropologist who works in the field of evolutionary psychology . He is a professor emeritus at Dalhousie University .
41-654: The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture is a 1992 book edited by the anthropologists Jerome H. Barkow and John Tooby and the psychologist Leda Cosmides . First published by Oxford University Press , it is widely considered the foundational text of evolutionary psychology (EP), and outlines Cosmides and Tooby's integration of concepts from evolutionary biology and cognitive psychology , as well as many other concepts that would become important in adaptationist research. The theoretical foundations of evolutionary psychology are discussed in
82-409: A Canadian academic is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This biographical article about a Canadian anthropologist is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Domain-general learning Domain-general learning theories of development suggest that humans are born with mechanisms in the brain that exist to support and guide learning on a broad level, regardless of
123-433: A domain-general mechanism to constraints on cognitive development. For example, researchers believe that with maturation, one is able to hold more complex structures in their working memory, which results in an increase of possible computations that underlie inference and learning. Thus, working memory can be viewed as a domain-general mechanism that aids development across many different domains. Researchers have expanded
164-421: A few favoured alternatives. For this reason domain-specific mechanisms are faster and more effective than their domain-general counterparts and we should expect natural selection to have favoured them. The authors conclude that the flexible and highly intelligent appearance of human behaviour is not the result of domain-general mechanisms having taken over from older domain-specific mechanisms (or 'instincts'), but
205-421: A module is defined as “functionally specialized cognitive systems”. These modules are said to be mostly independent, develop on different timetables, and are influenced by a variety of different experiences an individual may have. Some argue that Piaget's domain general theory of learning undermines the influence of socio-cultural factors on an individual's development. More specifically, the theory does not explain
246-451: A result of developmental changes in domain-general mechanisms. As humans mature, various domain-general mechanisms become more sophisticated, and thus, according to Piaget, allow for growth in cognitive functioning. For example, Piaget's theory notes that the humans transition into the concrete operation stage of cognitive development when they acquire the ability to take perspective, and no longer have egocentric thinking (a characteristic of
287-516: A theory on the existence of a single factor accounting for all general cognitive ability. Domain-general learning theories are in direct opposition to domain-specific learning theories, also sometimes called theories of Modularity . Domain-specific learning theories posit that humans learn different types of information differently, and have distinctions within the brain for many of these domains. Domain-specific learning theorists also assert that these neural domains are independent, purposed solely for
328-796: A third layer of human intelligence factors. Carroll named these factors “narrow abilities”. Narrow abilities are described as abilities that do not correlate with skills outside their domain, following more along the lines of domain-specific learning theories. Despite breaking g into more specific areas, or domains of intelligence, Carroll maintained that a single general ability was essential to intelligence theories. This suggests that Carroll, to some extent, believed cognitive abilities were domain-general . As discussed above, Piaget's theory of cognitive development posits that periods of major developmental change come about due to maturation of domain-general cognitive mechanisms. However, although Piaget's theory of cognitive development can be credited with establishing
369-407: Is a single underlying mechanism that impacts how humans learn. In the early 20th century, Charles Spearman noticed that children's scores on different measures of cognitive abilities were positively correlated. Spearman believed that these correlations could be attributed to a general mental ability or process that is utilized across all cognitive tasks. Spearman labeled this general mental ability as
410-458: Is important to note, however, there currently is no consensus to what causes the positive correlations. Spearman's work was expanded upon by Raymond B. Cattell , who broke g into two broad abilities: fluid intelligence (Gf) and crystallized intelligence (Gc). Cattell's student, John Horn, added additional broad abilities to Cattell's model of intelligence. In 1993, John B. Carroll added more specificity to Cattell and Horn's G f -G c model by adding
451-479: Is open, is something that is encoded in genetic instructions that have been fine-tuned through millions of years of evolution. Tooby and Cosmides also critique ' domain-general psychological mechanisms ': the psychological faculties which according to the SSSM comprise the human mind. These are general-purpose mechanisms, devoid of situational content, and function equally well regardless of behavioral domain. For example
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#1732797853989492-401: Is specialized to operate on, only a specific class of information”. Furthermore, domain-specific learning prescribes different learning activities for students in order to meet required learning outcomes. Modern cognitive psychologists suggest a more complex relationship between domain-generality and domain-specificity in the brain. Current research suggests these networks may exist together in
533-442: Is that knowledge within domains is cumulative, and builds under these domains over time to contribute to our greater knowledge structure. Psychologists whose theories align with domain-general framework include developmental psychologist Jean Piaget , who theorized that people develop a global knowledge structure which contains cohesive, whole knowledge internalized from experience, and psychologist Charles Spearman , whose work led to
574-455: The g factor , and believed g could represent an individual's overall cognitive functioning. The presence of this g factor across different cognitive measures is well-established and uncontroversial in statistical research. It may be that this g factor highlights domain-general learning (cognitive mechanisms involved in all cognition), and that this general learning accounts for the positive correlations across seemingly different cognitive tasks. It
615-407: The ' SSSM ', short for 'Standard Social Science Model'. The term refers to a metatheory that the authors claim has dominated the behavioral and social sciences throughout the twentieth century, blending radical environmentalism with blind empiricism. The SSSM has retained and reified the nature/nurture dichotomy, and its practitioners have meticulously amassed evidence over the years which 'proves' that
656-592: The acquisition of one skill (i.e. facial recognition or mathematics), and may not provide direct benefits in the learning of other, unrelated skills. Developmental psychologist, Jean Piaget , theorized that one's cognitive ability, or intelligence – defined as the ability to adapt to all aspects of reality – evolves through a series of four qualitatively distinct stages (the sensorimotor , pre-operational , concrete operational and formal operational stages). Piaget's theory describes three core cognitive processes that serve as mechanisms for transitioning from one stage to
697-787: The authors use untested evolutionary assumptions to eliminate rival reasoning theories. Jerome H. Barkow Barkow received a BA in Psychology from Brooklyn College in 1964 and a PhD in Human Development from the University of Chicago in 1970. Formerly a professor of Social Anthropology at Dalhousie University, he retired as professor emeritus in 2008, and was an honorary professor at Queen's University Belfast ( Northern Ireland ) from 2010 to 2017. Barkow has published on topics ranging from sex workers in Nigeria to
738-542: The brain, and the extent to which they function in tandem may vary by task and skill-level. Technology advancements and changes in the labor market show the need for workers/employees to be adaptive. This may suggest that school curricular should incorporate activities focusing on developing the necessary skills for dynamic environments. People tend to use domain-general learning processes when initially learning how to perform and complete certain tasks, and less so once these tasks become extensively practiced. Problem solving
779-458: The development of executive functions such as working memory and inhibition) may relate to success on tasks that measure the Piagetian concept of object permanence . Thus, this research supports Piaget's notion that developmental changes in domain-general mechanisms promote cognitive development. The general cognitive processes perspective of language development emphasizes characteristics of
820-422: The environment rather than others, rendering certain environmental features causally relevant to development. So, step by step, as natural selection constructs the species' gene set (chosen from the available mutations), it constructs in tandem the species' developmentally relevant environment (selected from the set of all properties of the world). Thus, both the genes and the developmentally relevant environment are
861-504: The exact opposite; human domain-specific mechanisms have proliferated to the point where man has become competent in an unprecedented number of domains, and can therefore usually employ some motley assortment of these specialized mechanisms for his own novel needs (e.g. he has combined lingual, visual and motor skills to invent the written word, for which no specialized psychological mechanism exists). Critics argue that Cosmides and Tooby's conclusions contain several inferential errors and that
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#1732797853989902-1328: The field of cognitive development, some aspects of his theory have not withstood the test of time. Despite this, researchers that call themselves " neo-Piagetians " have often focused on the role domain-general cognitive processes in constraining cognitive development. It had been found that many skills humans acquire require domain-general mechanisms rather than highly specialized cognitive mechanisms for development. Namely, memory, executive functioning, and language development. One theory of memory development suggests that basic (domain-general) memory processes become more superior through maturation. In this theory, basic memory processes are frequently used, rapidly executed memory activities. These activities include: association, generalization, recognition, and recall. The basic processes theory of memory development states that these memory processes underlie all cognition, as it holds that all more complex cognitive activities are built by combining these basic processes in different ways. Thus, these memory basic processes can be seen as domain-general processes that can be applied across various domains. Domain general processes in memory development: In addition to these general processes, working Memory in particular has been extensively studied as it relates and functions as
943-446: The folk notion of man as a rational being that has largely lost or suppressed its animalesque instincts and now operates primarily according to reason. Tooby and Cosmides devote the larger part of their essay to establishing that the human mind cannot consist exclusively or even primarily, of domain-general mechanisms. The argument may be summarised as follows: since domain-general mechanisms come without innate content, they must work out
984-441: The genes are evolved reflects a widespread misconception about the way natural selection acts. Genes are the so-called units of selection, which are inherited, selected, or eliminated, and so they are indeed something that evolves. But every time one gene is selected over another, one design for a developmental program is selected over another as well; by virtue of its structure, this developmental program interacts with some aspects of
1025-471: The grammatical cues perspective, which emphasizes characteristics of the language input as a source of development. Furthermore, the general cognitive processes perspective also contrasts the constraints perspective of language development, in which children are said to be able to learn many words quickly because of constraints that are specialized for language learning. The relationship between domain general learning and domain specific learning (also known as
1066-454: The influence of parental nurture and social interactions on human development. Domain-specific learning is a theory in developmental psychology that says the development of one set of skills is independent from the development of other types of skills. This theory suggests that training or practice in one area may not influence another. Domain-specificity has been defined by Frankenhuis and Ploeger as that “a given cognitive mechanism accepts, or
1107-827: The introduction, by Cosmides, Tooby and Barkow, in an essay by Tooby and Cosmides on "The Psychological Foundations of Culture", and an essay by anthropologist Donald Symons "On the Use and Misuse of Darwinism in the Study of Human Behavior". The book also includes empirical research papers meant to introduce topics of interest in evolutionary psychology, such as mating , social and developmental psychology , and perceptual adaptations. It includes contributions from evolutionary psychologists such as Steven Pinker , David Buss , Martin Daly , and Margo Wilson . In "The Psychological Foundations of Culture", Tooby and Cosmides critique what they call
1148-502: The kinds of sentients SETI might find. He is best known as the author of Darwin, Sex, and Status: Biological Approaches to Mind and Culture (1989). In 1992, together with Leda Cosmides and John Tooby , Barkow edited the influential book The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture . In 2006, he edited Missing the Revolution: Darwinism for Social Scientists . This biography of
1189-493: The language learner as the source of development. The general cognitive processes perspective states that the broad cognitive processes are sufficient for a child to learn new words. These broad cognitive processes include: attending, perceiving, and remembering. Important to this perspective is the idea that such cognitive processes are domain-general, and are applied to learning many different kinds of information in addition to benefiting word acquisition. This perspective contrasts
1230-443: The modularity debate or modularity of mind) has been an ongoing debate for evolutionary psychologists. The modularity of mind or modularity debate states that the brain is constructed of neural structures (or modules) which have distinct functions. Jerry Fodor, an American philosopher and cognitive scientist, stated in his 1983 book that brain modules are specialized and may only operate on certain kinds of inputs. According to Fodor,
1271-451: The next. Piaget's core processes for developmental change: However, these processes are not the only processes responsible for progressing through Piaget's developmental stages. Each stage is differentiated based upon the types of conceptual content that can be mastered within it. Piaget's theory holds that transitioning from one stage of development to the next is not only a result of assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration, but also
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1312-674: The overwhelming majority of psychological phenomena fall in the 'nurture' category. Only some instinctive and primitive biological drives like hunger and thirst have been retained in the 'nature' category. Most commonly, they continue, evidence for such a preponderance of nurture over nature is drawn from the ethnographic record. A phenomenon (e.g. marriage, religion, reciprocity etc.) is taken to be of purely environmental or cultural origin if it can be shown to manifest in different forms in different cultures or locales. However, this reflects an assumption that biological phenomena are instinctive and inflexible - incapable of taking on different forms. In
1353-399: The pre-operational stage). This change can be viewed as the result of developmental changes in information processing capacity. Information processing is a mechanism that is used across many different domains of cognitive functioning, and thus can be seen as a domain-general mechanism. Psychometric analysis of measurements of human cognitive abilities (intelligence) may suggest that there
1394-425: The prior (planning, problem-solving, reasoning). Piagetian tasks – tasks that measure behaviors that relate to cognitive abilities associated with Piaget's developmental stages – have been used in studies of cognitive neuroscience to investigate whether executive functions relate to cognitive development. Such studies revealed that the maturation of the prefrontal cortex (an area of the brain identified to underlie
1435-500: The product of evolution' (p. 84). With both our genes and our environment "biological" in nature, the nature/nurture dichotomy lacks any meaning. In its place Tooby and Cosmides propose a distinction between "open" and "closed" developmental programs, which refers to the extent to which our various psychological mechanisms can vary in their manifest form depending on the input they receive during development. Some psychological mechanisms (e.g. our visual faculties) will normally assume
1476-412: The same manifest form regardless of the environments they encounter during development (closed developmental programs), while others (e.g. our language faculties) will vary in their manifest form in accordance to the environmental input they receive during development (open developmental mechanisms). However, they argue, whether a mechanism is closed or open, as well as the range of forms it can assume if it
1517-503: The search for domain-general mechanisms that underlie cognitive development beyond working memory. The advancement in cognitive neuroscience technology is credited as making this expansion possible. Within the last decade, researchers have begun to focus on a group of cognitive mechanisms, collectively named Executive Functions . Mechanisms commonly labeled executive functions include: working memory , inhibition , set shifting , as well as higher-order mechanisms that involve combinations of
1558-417: The section entitled 'Selection regulates how environments shape organisms' (pp. 82–87), Tooby and Cosmides argue that this view of nature/nurture is deeply flawed. They begin with the statement that natural selection is necessarily responsible for complex biological adaptations, including that extremely complex class of biological phenomena that are human psychological mechanisms. 'The assumption that only
1599-473: The so-called 'problem-solving methods' with which cognitive psychologists have traditionally busied themselves are abstract rational strategies (e.g. break the problem into smaller parts or start working backwards from the desired end to the present state) that supposedly work the same regardless of if one wants to play a game of chess, order a pizza or find a sexual partner. This academic preoccupation with domain-general mechanisms, they suggest, stems directly from
1640-427: The solution to each problem from scratch through costly and potentially lethal trial-and-error. Domain-specific mechanisms , on the other hand, come with content that is specialized for their domain (e.g. mating, foraging, theory of mind etc.) and can therefore immediately dismiss a staggering number of plausible courses of action (which by definition a domain-general mechanism would have to examine one by one) for one or
1681-466: The type of information being learned. Domain-general learning theories also recognize that although learning different types of new information may be processed in the same way and in the same areas of the brain, different domains also function interdependently. Because these generalized domains work together, skills developed from one learned activity may translate into benefits with skills not yet learned. Another facet of domain-general learning theories