Darwin's Psychology

Ben Bradley

Presents a Darwin new to contemporary science, lighting a way forward for those who seek to base psychology on the foundation of evolutionary biology, while challenging the misunderstandings and misrepresentations of Darwin's work current in biology and the social sciences
The first book dedicated to examining Darwin's own extensive writings about agency, interdependence, and psychological matters, proving that Darwin's psychology stands at the forefront of twenty-first century moves toward an evolutionary biology in which organisms lead and genes follow
Shows that, for Darwin, what is most human about human agency flows from the fact we are what he called 'social animals,' whether we are talking about emotions, sexual desire, conscience, or culture, and thus, in developing this social approach, his work challenges the assumption that psychology can make sense as the study of individuals

Darwin's Psychology

Ben Bradley

Description

Darwin has long been hailed as forefather to behavioural science, especially nowadays, with the growing popularity of evolutionary psychologies. Yet, until now, his contribution to the field of psychology has been somewhat understated.

This is the first book ever to examine the riches of what Darwin himself wrote about psychological matters. It unearths a Darwin new to contemporary science, whose first concern is the agency of organisms — from which he derives both his psychology, and his theory of evolution.

A deep reading of Darwin's writings on climbing plants and babies, blushing and bower-birds, worms and facial movements, shows that, for Darwin, evolution does not explain everything about human action. Group-life and culture are also keys, whether we discuss the dynamics of conscience or the dramas of desire. Thus his treatment of facial actions sets out from the anatomy and physiology of human facial movements, and shows how these gain meanings through their recognition by others. A discussion of blushing extends his theory to the way reading others' expressions rebounds on ourselves — I care about how I think you read me. This dynamic proves central to how Darwin understands sexual desire, the production of conscience and of social standards through group dynamics, and the role of culture in human agency.

Presenting a new Darwin to science, and showing how widely Darwin's understanding of evolution and agency has been misunderstood and misrepresented in biology and the social sciences, this important new book lights a new way forward for those who want to build psychology on the foundation of evolutionary biology

Darwin's Psychology

Ben Bradley

Darwin's Psychology

Ben Bradley

Author Information

Ben Bradley, Professor Emeritus, Charles Sturt University

Ben Bradley was educated at Oxford and Edinburgh, where, with Colwyn Trevarthen, he began his pioneering research on infancy. He later migrated to Australia, where he was appointed Foundation Professor of Psychology at Charles Sturt University in 1998-and where he is now Professor Emeritus. He wrote the widely-translated Visions of Infancy (1989), and Psychology and Experience (2005). Amongst many research highlights are studies: with Jane Selby and Michael Smithson, proving young infants can participate in social groups; and, on the literary structure of Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859). His film Darwin's Babies, received its world premiere at Darwin 2009: A Celebration of the bicentenary of Darwin's Birth in Cambridge, UK

Darwin's Psychology

Ben Bradley

Reviews and Awards

An excellent and elegantly crafted book on Darwin's psychology. It is the first work to seriously scrutinise Darwin's contributions to psychology whilst comprehensively situating these within his account of evolution. This book is a marvellous gift to 21st century psychology - Paul Stenner, Professor of Social Psychology, The Open University, UK

Bradley's fascinating analysis throws a spotlight on Darwin's genius in anticipating major developments in contemporary evolutionary thought, from plasticity-led evolution, to extra-genetic inheritance, to niche construction, to a renewed emphasis on phenotypic agency. In doing so, Darwin's Psychology brilliantly demonstrates the Great Man's relevance to modern science. - Kevin Laland, Professor of Behavioural and Evolutionary Biology, University of St Andrews, U.K.

Bradley explores two sources for proof of human sociability: Darwin's understanding that plants and animals share agency in social ecologies, and a new psychology of the human infant born with desire to negotiate roles of imagination in groups of three or four infants. Thus Darwin's Psychology is confirmed. - Colwyn Trevarthen, Professor (Emeritus) of Child Psychology and Psychobiology, The University of Edinburgh, UK

This book is truly extraordinary - well beyond the usual - in its careful comprehension of Darwin's words and their relevance for modern understanding of behaviour, whether in animals, plants or humans, and whether adaptive or pathological. A rare treat for Darwin fans, scholars of behaviour, and the educated public looking for a good, superbly illustrated book. - Mary Jane West-Eberhard Scientist Emerita, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Costa Rica

Darwin's Psychology

Ben Bradley

From Our Blog

Darwin's theory of agency: back to the future in evolutionary science?

Was Darwin a one-trick pony? The scientists who most laud him typically cite just one of his ideas: natural selection. Do any know that his theory of evolution'like his take on psychology'was drawn from a comprehensive analysis of organisms as agents? This fact has long been eclipsed by the 'gene's-eye view' of adaptation which gained a strangle-hold over biology during the twentieth century'and hence over sociobiology and today's 'evolutionary' psychology.

Posted on February 24, 2021

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