An Evolutionarily Informed Education Science

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Schools are a central interface between evolution and culture. They are the contexts in which children learn the evolutionarily novel abilities and knowledge needed to function as adults in modern societies. Evolutionary educational psychology is the study of how an evolved bias in children's learning and motivational systems influences their ability and motivation to learn evolutionarily novel academic abilities and information in school. I provide an overview of evolved domains of mind, corresponding learning and motivational biases, and the evolved systems that allow humans to learn about and cope with variation and change within lifetimes. The latter enable the creation of cultural and academic innovations and support the learning of evolutionarily novel information in school. These mechanisms and the premises and principles of evolutionary educational psychology are described. Their utility is illustrated by discussion of the relation between evolved motivational dispositions and children's academic motivation and by the relation between evolved social-cognitive systems and mechanisms that support children's learning to read. The discovery of the mechanisms of natural selection and thereby the processes that result in evolutionary change within species and the emergence of new species is one of the most important findings in the history of the life sciences (Darwin, 1859; Darwin & Wallace, 1858). Empirical support for the theory of evolution is overwhelming and ranges from behavior (e.g., Grant & Grant, 2002) to genes (e.g., Liu et al., 2001). The integration of evolutionary theory into the social sciences has been slow and contentious (Richardson, 2007; Segerstrale, 2000) but nevertheless has been successfully used to frame empirical findings and generate testable hypotheses in areas ranging from mate choice to morality (see Buss, 2005). Cultural influences, such as a parental socialization, mores, and so forth, …