Lecture on Evolutionary Psychology

I went to listen to Professor David Rakison talk about evolutionary psychology. I found it to be extraordinarily interesting and it got me really thinking of taking his class on the subject next spring. I thought that it was cool to see how our fears and actions are part of our genetic makeup and how we do things because of reasons from way back when. Going along with the theme of On Beauty, he touched on how skinny has not always been preferred. He also mapped out what men look for in women and what women look for in men. It was interesting that he discussed studies taken from around the world, in all sorts of cultures. No matter the living situation, many things are very similar in all places. I find it fascinating how everyday things like fears can be traced back to our birth. For example, he discussed how babies instinctively know that spiders are “scary” and they can actually pick out the shape of a spider. Many studies have proven the existence of evolutionary psychology and I would like to follow it as this become more well known.