All psychology students should be able to apply evolutionary explanations to at least some of the behaviours they study. In the case of some topics, ‘evolution’ is explicitly named in the specification or you may include it as part of the biological approach.
The key issue that Lance Workman tackles (see pages 8–10) is whether humans are still evolving. He mentions the ‘environment of evolutionary adaptedness/adaptation’ (EEA), the environment that existed at the time when humans were evolving and therefore the environment to which we are adapted. Such adaptations may no longer be relevant as the environment has changed. But Workman shows that evolutionary pressures are still operating, which means that human behaviour is continuing to adapt to new selective pressures.
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