Social Sciences Are Branches of Biology

In: Socio-economic review, Band 2, Heft 3, S. 371-390

Abstract

Since biology is the study of living organisms, their behavior & social systems, & since humans are living organisms, it is possible to suggest that social sciences (the study of human behavior & social systems) are branches of biology & all social scientific theories should be consistent with known biological principles. To claim otherwise & to establish a separate science only for humans might be analogous to the establishment of hydrogenology, the study of hydrogen separate from & inconsistent with the rest of physics. Evolutionary psychology is the application of evolutionary biology to humans, & provides the most general (panspecific) explanations of human behavior, cognitions, emotions, & human social systems. Evolutionary psychology's recognition that humans are animals can explain some otherwise perplexing empirical puzzles in social sciences, such as why there is a wage penalty for motherhood but a wage reward for fatherhood, & why boys produce a greater wage reward for fathers than do girls. The General Social Survey data illustrate the evolutionary psychological argument that reproductive success is important for both men's & women's happiness, but money is only important for men's. 1 Table, 1 Figure, 74 References. Adapted from the source document.