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Summary: Most people do not think of Charles Darwin as apsychologist. In fact, his work revolutionized the field.

Most people do not think of Charles Darwin as a psychologist. In
fact, his work revolutionized the field. Before Darwin, philosophical
speculation shaped our psychological understanding. But even great
philosophers -- Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Hume, Locke, Kant,
Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and others -- could only describe current mental
events and behaviors; they could not explain their causes. Darwin
provided the profound understanding that evolution has influenced the
shape of our minds as strongly as it has the shape of our bodies. Since
humans evolved from the same primate ancestor as modern chimpanzees or
gorillas, he suggested one could learn more by comparing human
instincts, emotions and behaviors to those of animals than one can
surmise from subjective speculation. As Darwin put it, "he who
understands baboon would do more towards metaphysics than Locke."


Philosophy is inadequate to understand the roots of human
psychology, because self-reflection does not make us aware of the forces
that drive most of our reactions to the environment. Rather, we are
subject to inborn tendencies, which develop through the reciprocally
influential forces of natural and sexual selection.


Natural selection is the process by which the variants within a
species that are best adapted to survive in their environment win the
reproductive contest -- at least until an even better-adapted variant
comes along. The traits that enable people to feed and protect
themselves increase the likelihood that they will live long enough to
produce offspring, whom they will be able to feed and protect until they
reach maturity.


In a sense, sexual selection is the psychological extension ofnatural selection. But, instead of gaining an advantage from traits thatenhance one's ability to survive, one gains an advantage fromqualities that potential mates have evolved to find appealing.

Given that humans' sexual choices determine who reproduces
most and, in turn, which physical and psychological features are favored
over time, a trait that may not help a person to survive can still
provide a reproductive advantage that is passed along to offspring. In
other words, in choosing a mate, one shapes the course of evolution.


Moreover, the principle of sexual selection implies that, in
addition to regulating bodily functions, the nervous system indirectly
influences the progressive development of bodily and mental structures
such as ornamental appendages; cognitive skills such as musical ability;
and characteristics such as courage and perseverance. Peacocks have
evolved to have long, colorful feathers simply because peahens have
evolved to find them attractive.


Darwin explained that such qualities are propagated and enhanced
over generations, through "the exertion of choice, the influence of
love and jealousy, and the appreciation of the beautiful in sound, color
or form." Indeed, while natural selection is blind, sexual
selection has an eye for beauty -- although the nature of beauty is
always in the eye of the beholder.


Given that human psychology has developed through a
sometimes-uneasy balance of natural selection and sexual selection,
evolution and psychology influence and interact with each other.
Darwin's contributions to understanding human psychology involved
the careful study of child development, which he reported on in 1877 in
his "Biographical Sketch of an Infant." For the first three
years of his first-born son William's life, Darwin observed him
with the practiced eye of a naturalist, recording developments as
diverse as his ability to follow a candle with his eyes to the first
manifestations of conscience. Darwin also pioneered the experimental
tools of scientific psychology, such as the use of photographs of facial
expressions and surveys to determine the universality of human emotions.


Darwin had already made most of his major psychological discoveries
even before he identified natural selection as the mechanism of
evolution -- but he waited 35 years before publishing his findings. This
decision can be partly attributed to his meticulous approach to
research, which entailed carefully collecting and studying evidence
before he presented his theories.


But Darwin also knew that if he needed time to accept hisconclusions, the rest of the world was not ready to face such amaterialist view of humanity. He shied away from the inevitableconfrontation with critics -- among whom were friends and colleagues.

By the time Darwin died, his ideas had gained significant influence
among psychologists and neuroscientists -- even if they did not always
fully realize it. Sigmund Freud never met Darwin, but most of his
mentors were enthusiastic Darwinists. Just as Isc Newton revolutionized
astronomy and physics by "standing on the shoulders" of his
predecessors, Freud built on Darwin's evolutionary insights in
order to understand psychological symptoms, dreams, myths, art,
anthropology and much more. Freud's biographer, Ernest Jones, was
mistaken in calling Freud "the Darwin of the mind." Darwin
himself was the Darwin of the mind; Freud was his great popularizer.


Since Darwin, academic psychology has expanded quite significantly,
enriched by the sophisticated tools of cognitive science, cybernetics and brain imaging. But most of these developments have been derivative
elaborations of Darwin's grand evolutionary model. The fundamentals
of our conception of human nature can all be found in Darwin's
notebooks, which were written 175 years ago and before his 30th
birthday.


Allen Frances, a professor of psychiatry at Duke University, was
chair of the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-IV Task Force.
He is the author of "Saving Normal." THE DAILY STAR publishes
this commentary in collaboration with Project Syndicate/Institute for
Human Sciences (www.project-syndicate.org).


Copyright 2013, The Daily Star. All rights reserved.


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