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Human Nature and Biocultural Evolution

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Synonyms

Evolution of culture; Genes and culture interaction; Human behavior

Definition

Human nature refers to psychological aspects and behavioral traits that are common to most people. Biocultural evolution is the process by which biological and cultural aspects interact to shape human nature throughout human evolutionary history.

Introduction

One of the most intriguing topics of scientific investigation is human nature, why humans behave the way they do, having been the object of study of a wide variety of disciplines, including psychology. Despite the volume of research, human nature has not been completely unveiled. This is partly due to the controversy over the extent to which human behaviors are a product of their environment or of their genetics, resulting in the “nature versus nurture” debate that has been the focus of scientific discussion since classical times (Thorpe 1974). Philosophers such as Locke and Rousseau, for example, adopted the nurture side of this debate,...

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Correspondence to Bruna Da S Nascimento .

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Nascimento, B.D.S., Little, A.C. (2021). Human Nature and Biocultural Evolution. In: Shackelford, T.K., Weekes-Shackelford, V.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_2895

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