In a message dated 5/29/2002 12:19:33 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> Subj: RE: evolutionary psychology > Date: 5/29/2002 12:19:33 PM Eastern Daylight Time > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Dennis Goff) > Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Teaching in the Psychological Sciences) > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Teaching in the Psychological Sciences) > > Hi Rod, > John Kulig has already provided a good summary of Buss' response to this > criticism. You might also be interested in John Alcock's response. He > addresses this criticism in the 4th chapter of his book The Triumph of > Sociobiology (2001, Oxford University Press). The nice thing about that > chapter is that he explores different levels of this criticism. His answer > is much the same as Buss' in that he presents specific examples of how the > theory is used to generate hypotheses and then how those hypotheses are in > fact tested. (By the way, Alcock sees Evolutionary Psychology as the > application of Sociobiology to explaining human behaviors.) I recommend > Alcock's book to anyone who is interested in the cultural and scientific > debates surrounding the topic of Sociobiology. > > Dennis > > Dennis M. Goff > Dept. of Psychology > Randolph-Macon Woman's College > Lynchburg VA > > As I recall, the criticism raised about Sociobiology during its infancy and preceeding Evolutionary Psychology (when I was in graduate school - back in the dark ages) was not that the theory did not generate testable hypotheses, but that it did not generate hypotheses that were testable using the experimental (manipulative) approach to the scientific method. . . .that all hypotheses generated were restricted to testing via observational and correlational methods. It seems that this is still the case. Question for those more familiar with Buss and Alcock: does this 'limitation' still hold or have new paradigms worked around this? Sandra ********************************************************** Sandra Nagel Randall, Ph.D. Psychology General Education Assessment Coordinator Saginaw Valley State University 166 Brown Hall 7400 Bay Road University Center, MI 48710 Office: (989) 964-4635 Fax: (989) 790-7656 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *************************************************** "It is the responsibility of the sender to make sure the receiver understands the message." Joseph Batten "Forgive me if I fail. I'll try to do better the next time!" Sandra Nagel Randall --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
