進化心理學(xué)是社會科學(xué)和自然科學(xué)中從現(xiàn)代進化的角度審視心理結(jié)構(gòu)的理論方法。它試圖確定哪些人類心理特征是進化適應(yīng)的結(jié)果，即人類進化過程中自然選擇或性選擇的功能產(chǎn)物。在進化生物學(xué)中，有關(guān)心臟、肺和免疫系統(tǒng)等生理機制的適應(yīng)性思維是常見的。一些進化心理學(xué)家把同樣的想法應(yīng)用到心理學(xué)上，他們認(rèn)為大腦的模塊性與身體的模塊性相似，并且具有不同的模塊適應(yīng)性，服務(wù)于不同的功能。進化心理學(xué)家認(rèn)為，人類的許多行為都是心理適應(yīng)的結(jié)果，而心理適應(yīng)是為了解決人類祖先環(huán)境中反復(fù)出現(xiàn)的問題而進化出來的進化心理學(xué)不僅僅是心理學(xué)的一門分支學(xué)科，它的進化理論可以提供一個基礎(chǔ)的元理論框架，以進化生物學(xué)對生物學(xué)的方式整合整個心理學(xué)領(lǐng)域進化心理學(xué)家認(rèn)為，在所有文化中普遍存在的行為或特征都是進化適應(yīng)能力的良好候選者，包括推斷他人情緒的能力、區(qū)分親屬與非親屬的能力、識別和選擇更健康伴侶的能力，以及與他人合作的能力。他們報告說，有關(guān)殺嬰、智力、婚姻模式、濫交、對美的看法、彩禮和父母投資等話題的理論預(yù)測都得到了成功的測試進化心理學(xué)的理論和發(fā)現(xiàn)在許多領(lǐng)域有應(yīng)用，包括經(jīng)濟學(xué)、環(huán)境、健康、法律、管理、精神病學(xué)、政治學(xué)和文學(xué)進化心理學(xué)的批評包括可測試性問題、認(rèn)知和進化假設(shè)(如大腦的模塊功能、祖先環(huán)境的巨大不確定性)、非遺傳和非適應(yīng)性解釋的重要性，以及由于研究結(jié)果的解釋而引起的政治和倫理問題

Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in the social and natural sciences that examines psychological structure from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify which human psychological traits are evolved adaptations – that is, the functional products of natural selection or sexual selection in human evolution. Adaptationist thinking about physiological mechanisms, such as the heart, lungs, and immune system, is common in evolutionary biology. Some evolutionary psychologists apply the same thinking to psychology, arguing that the modularity of mind is similar to that of the body and with different modular adaptations serving different functions. Evolutionary psychologists argue that much of human behavior is the output of psychological adaptations that evolved to solve recurrent problems in human ancestral environments.[1]Evolutionary psychology is not simply a subdiscipline of psychology but its evolutionary theory can provide a foundational, metatheoretical framework that integrates the entire field of psychology in the same way evolutionary biology has for biology.[2][3][4]Evolutionary psychologists hold that behaviors or traits that occur universally in all cultures are good candidates for evolutionary adaptations[5] including the abilities to infer others' emotions, discern kin from non-kin, identify and prefer healthier mates, and cooperate with others. They report successful tests of theoretical predictions related to such topics as infanticide, intelligence, marriage patterns, promiscuity, perception of beauty, bride price, and parental investment.[6]The theories and findings of evolutionary psychology have applications in many fields, including economics, environment, health, law, management, psychiatry, politics, and literature.[7][8]Criticism of evolutionary psychology involves questions of testability, cognitive and evolutionary assumptions (such as modular functioning of the brain, and large uncertainty about the ancestral environment), importance of non-genetic and non-adaptive explanations, as well as political and ethical issues due to interpretations of research results.[9][10]