Evolution and Development Psychology: The Development and Change of Motives under the Evolution of Human Happiness

Course 23: Evolution and Development Psychology: The Development and Change of Motives under the Evolution of Human Happiness

I. Course Description

The crossover study of evolutionary and developmental psychology will provide a unique perspective to help explain why people exhibit specific preferences and behaviors when choosing partners and friends. By exploring the associations between pleasure, mate choice and dating, students will better understand the deep motives of human behavior and how these motives shape our social interactions in different environments. This will provide new insights into the field of psychology and sociology, but also help us to better understand the development and changes in human culture and society.

The goal of this topic is to gain insight into the role of pleasure in human evolution and how it influences the choice of potential partners and social relationships. We will analyze the changes in the standards of mate choice and dating in different historical periods and cultural backgrounds, and reveal the mutual influence between human society and the environment. By integrating the data and research results from different time periods, we will gradually analyze the context of human motivation and behavior in the historical evolution. By combining evolutionary theory and psychological research, we will explore the close relationship between pleasure, choosing choice and making friends. This will help explain why people exhibit specific preferences and behaviors when choosing partners and friends. Our goal is to drill down into the intrinsic driving forces of human behavior and how these motivations shape our social interactions in different settings.

II. Professor Introduction

Max Krasnow – Tenured professor at Harvard University

Professor Max Krasnow is a tenured professor at the Harvard School of Psychology, and is also a member of the Harvard Undergraduate Teaching Committee and co-founder of the Institute of Cognition, Brain and Behavior. He was awarded the New Academic Research Award from the Harvard Presidents Fund and the Teaching Excellence Award from the Harvard Department of Brain Neuroscience. In addition, he is a reviewer of personality and psychosocial journals.

Dr. Krasnows research focuses on the evolutionary origins and computational design of the mechanisms of human cooperation and social behavior. Moreover, his work reveals the origins of human music psychology and spatial cognition, providing deep insight into our understanding of human behavior and psychology. At the Harvard School of Psychology, Professor Krasnow teaches several courses, including Evolutionary Psychology, Statistics in Behavioral Science, Psychometrics, and Applied Educational Psychology.

III. Syllabus

1. What is natural selection, and why we should pay attention to it
2. How the evolutionary psychology is integrated into the scientific enterprise
3. Why there is a universal human nature, and how it changes
4. Why human nature is congenital in a specific field
5. Environmental adaptation, adaptation and adaptionism programs.
6. How the brain plans for and controls our eating
7. How psychology influences sexual partner choice and dating behavior
8. The correlation between psychology and kinship relationship and intimate relationship
9. How psychology affects our social behavior (1)
10. How psychology affects our social behavior (ii)