The Evolution of "Just-So" Stories

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May 4, 2019 • 48 mins

Evolutionary Psychology has been criticized as simply generating "just-so" stories—plausible explanations that lack evidence. In this episode, Smith and Monroe question whether evolutionary psychology is useful for generating predictions rather than simply generating post-hoc stories. Chris—the evolutionary psychology expert in the group—defends his area and articulates the instances where evo psych can help inform people's predictions. We also get a bit sidetracked talking about sperm competition theory.

Marginally Significant is hosted by: Andrew Smith @andrewrsmith (https://twitter.com/AndrewRSmith) Twila Wingrove @twilawingrove (https://twitter.com/TwilaWingrove) Andrew Monroe @monroeandrew (https://twitter.com/MonroeAndrew) Chris Holden @profcjholden (https://twitter.com/profcjholden) You can contact Marginally Significant on Twitter (@marginallysig (https://twitter.com/MarginallySig)), through email (marginallysig@gmail.com), or on the web (marginallysignificant.fireside.fm/contact (https://marginallysignificant.fireside.fm/contact)).

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Evolution of "Just-So" Stories