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Keeping cultural in cultural evolutionary psychology: Culture shapes indigenous psychologies in specific ecologies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2019

Rita Anne McNamara Open the ORCID record for Rita Anne McNamara [Opens in a new window]  and
Tia Neha
Rita Anne McNamara
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand. rita.mcnamara@vuw.ac.nztia.neha@vuw.ac.nzhttp://ramcnama.wordpress.com/https://tewhanaulab.wordpress.com/
Tia Neha
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand. rita.mcnamara@vuw.ac.nztia.neha@vuw.ac.nzhttp://ramcnama.wordpress.com/https://tewhanaulab.wordpress.com/
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Abstract

In Cognitive Gadgets, Heyes seeks to unite evolutionary psychology with cultural evolutionary theory. Although we applaud this unifying effort, we find it falls short of considering how culture itself evolves to produce indigenous psychologies fitted to particular environments. We focus on mentalizing and autobiographical memory as examples of how socialization practices embedded within culture build cognitive adaptations.

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Open Peer Commentary
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Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 42 , 2019 , e179
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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