Comments on the original article, "Many forms of culture," by A. B. Cohen. Cohen argued that psychology must broaden its conceptualization of culture to consider its many forms, such as religion, socioeconomic status, and region. The current author could not agree more with Cohen's proposed conceptualization of culture and its potential impact on…

Evolutionary psychology has emerged over the past 15 years as a major theoretical perspective, generating an increasing volume of empirical studies and assuming a larger presence within psychological science. At the same time, it has generated critiques and remains controversial among some psychologists. Some of the controversy stems from…

This article traces the personal as well as the intellectual and scientific relationship between Charles Darwin and his younger half-cousin Francis Galton. Although they had been on friendly terms as young men, and Darwin had in some ways been a role model for Galton, the two did not share major scientific interests until after the publication of…

American functionalist psychology constituted an effort to model scientific psychology on the successes of English evolutionary theory. In part it was a response to the stagnation of Wundt's psychological research program, which had been grounded in German experimental physiology. In part it was an attempt to make psychology more appealing within…

Comments on the article by J. S. Hyde (see record EJ733581), which concluded that males and females are similar on most psychological variables. Zuriff suggests that Hyde missed the fact judgments of similarity and difference are psychological, not scientific, and that Hyde was dismissive of dismissal of any gender difference that is dependent…

This article presents comments on "Psychology Needs Realism not Instrumentalism" by B. Haig, "Ontological and Epistemic Claims of Realism and Instrumentalism" by Lau and "The Scientific Denial of the Real and the Dialectic of Scientism and Humanism" by Ramey and Chrysikou which were all comments on the original article "Realism, Instrumentalism,…

Controversies are rampant in contemporary psychology concerning the appropriate method for observing consciousness and the role inner experience should play in psychological theorizing. These conflicting orientations reflect, in part, methodological differences between natural science and human science interpretations of psychology. Humanistic…

Presents some of the concepts being developed by evolutionary thinkers to explain how animals deal with varying conditions in their environments. Discusses the environmental perspective. Explains why it involves more than predetermined behavior and that evolutionary theories now include developmental and environmental variables. (Author/JS)