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100 _aCervone, Daniel
245 _aEvolutionary psychology and explanation in personality psychology: how do we know which module to invoke?
260 _c2000
300 _ap.1001-014
362 _aMar
520 _aPersonality psychology explores personal determinants of social behavior, that is, psychological systems that causally contribute to the coherent patterns of experience and action that distinguish individuals from one another. This article explores two obstacles faced by evolutionary accounts of personality functioning. The first is the problem of act identification. Explaining social behavior by reference to an evolved mental module requires that one determine which module to invoke. This generally requires identifying the meaning of complex, culturally and socially embedded actions. Evolutionary psychology provides no tools for unambiguously making these identifications. The second obstacle derives from the fact that, in evolutionary psychology, behavior may reflect the joint action of multiple mental modules. Prediction and explanation would require assessment of the relative strengths of activation of the multiple modules. This commonly is not possible. Alternative accounts of personality structure and functioning, including that of social-cognitive theories of personality, are considered. - Reproduced
650 _aPsychology
650 _aPersonality development
773 _aAmerican Behavioral Scientist
909 _a44552
999 _c44552
_d44552