Standard social science model
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The term the Standard Social Science Model (SSSM) was first introduced to a wide audience by Tooby and Cosmides in the 1992 edited volume The Adapted Mind,[1] to describe the "blank slate" or "cultural determinist" perspective that they describe as the dominant theoretical paradigm in the social sciences as they developed during the 20th century. According to this model, the mind is a general-purpose cognitive device shaped almost entirely by culture.[2]
Accused Proponents
Evolutionary psychologists accuse several prominent scientists as being proponents of what they call the standard social science model, including Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, B. F. Skinner, Richard Lewontin, John Money, and Steven J. Gould.[3] According to evolutionary psychologists, those who disagree with their definition of the mind are likely adherents of the SSSM. According to everyone else, no one is an adherent of the SSSM.
Alternative theoretical paradigm: The Integrated Model
Evolutionary psychologists have argued[4] that the SSSM is now out of date and that a progressive model for the social sciences requires evolutionarily-informed models of nature-nurture interactionism, grounded in the computational theory of mind. Tooby and Cosmides refer to this new model as the Integrated Model (IM).
Tooby and Cosmides[5] provide several comparisons between the SSSM and the IM, including the following:
| Standard Social Science Model | Integrated Model |
|---|---|
| Humans born a blank slate | Humans are born with a bundle of emotional, motivational and cognitive adaptations |
| Brain a “general-purpose” computer | Brain is a collection of modular, domain specific processors |
| Culture/socialization programs behavior | Behavior is the result of interactions between evolved psychological mechanisms and cultural & environmental influences |
| Cultures free to vary any direction on any trait | Culture itself is based on a universal human nature, and is constrained by it |
| Biology is relatively unimportant to understand behavior | An analysis of interactions between nature and nurture is important to understand behavior |
References
- ^ Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (1992). The adapted mind.
- ^ "instinct." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 08 Feb. 2011. [1].
- ^ Pinker, Steven. The Blank Slate. New York: Penguin. 2002
- ^ Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (1992). The adapted mind.
- ^ Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (1992)
External links
- Tooby and Cosmides briefly define the SSSM in their Evolutionary Psychology Primer.
Sources
- Barkow, J., Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J. 1992. The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Degler, C. N. 1991. In search of human nature: The decline and revival of Darwinism in American social thought. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Rose, H. 2001. Colonising the Social Sciences? In Rose, H. and Rose, S. (Eds) "Alas Poor Darwin": London, Cape.
Further reading
- Fruehwald, Scott. 2006. "Postmodern Legal Thought and Cognitive Science," 23 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 375.
- Hampton, Simon Jonathan. 2004. "The Instinct Debate and the Standard Social Science Model". Psychology, Evolution & Gender. 6, no. 1: 15-44.
- Levy, Neil. 2004. "Evolutionary Psychology, Human Universals, and the Standard Social Science Model". Biology and Philosophy. 19, no. 3: 459-472.
- Schmaus, Warren. 2003. "Is Durkheim the Enemy of Evolutionary Psychology?".Philosophy of the Social Sciences.33;25