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Cognitive Psychology Vs Evolutionary Psychology

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Psychology is defined by Google as, “the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context.” To me, psychology is not as simple as that. After my many readings and eye opening self-discussions, I have come to realize psychology is a lot like a tree. In its beginnings, it’s definition was short and sweet, but as it grew and people discovered more about the mind it began to branch out into many different sub-sciences. Giving psychology a definition is as easy as defining poetry. On the outside and with very little thought it may seem simple to do. Although once one has written it many begin to see many different and complex sides to poetry that cannot be included in a simple statement. …show more content…

Evolutionary psychologists believe that almost all of our behavior can be explained by internal instincts. The major difference between cognitive psychology and evolutionary psychology is that evolutionary believes that these instincts are adaptations. That they are part of natural selection. Almost like the mind is a finely tuned computer that has been upgraded over time. They believe that things like how most men are attracted to the “hourglass figure”, which was originally seen as a healthy mate, or how a lot of people are scared of snakes was an instinct created out of survival. Just as many scientists study a mutation of an animal such as beginning of what looks like legs, evolutionary psychologists study the hard drive of a person to see what instincts became survival traits and made life as many know it today. Many evolutionary psychologists believe that the brain is modularly structured, which is again a result of Natural …show more content…

They believe that the brain has a conscious and unconscious functioning system at all times. They believe that people and animals are born with instincts. The half of the brain that is unconscious holds things like desires and instincts, or feelings, things that are difficult to change or things that come naturally. They study the growth and development of the psychosexual aspect of the brain. Things like desire and pleasure points throughout growth. While this is important to study to help further explain the brain’s functions I see little here to be used in my definition of

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