Persistent Misunderstandings of Inclusive Fitness and Kin Selection: Their Ubiquitous Appearance in Social Psychology Textbooks

Inclusive fitness theory and kin selection theory are among the most recognizable theories associated with evolutionary biology and psychology—they are also among the most widely misunderstood. The problem begins early, in undergraduate psychology textbooks. Here, ten social psychology textbooks were reviewed, and they were all found to contain at least one form of misunderstanding. Because these misunderstandings appear to result partly from people’s intuitions about kinship and adaptive behavior (which are not necessarily in line with the scientific theories), writers must be especially vigilant in order to combat the misunderstandings.