| Abstract: | Reviews the book, The adaptive design of the human psyche by Malcolm Owen Slavin and Daniel Kriegman (see record 1992-98703-000). The adaptive design of the human psyche offers an evolutionary perspective on the mind. Reasoning from natural selection, it holds that over the estimated 50 million years or 10 million generations since man parted company from the chimpanzee, deep psychological structures evolved that enhanced man's chances for survival and procreation. These structures are considered in the context of current psychoanalytic theoretical models, which the authors see as being organized around two divergent paradigms: the classical and relational models. After identifying the deep structures and their implications for both models, the authors attempt a synthesis compatible with the deep structures. The authors make a novel contribution to psychoanalytic thought, and their arguments should serve as a corrective for elements of both the classical and relational theories. In their enthusiasm, however, they appear to be earned away when they discuss certain clinical concepts and reach conclusions that are quite incongruent with clinical experience. In summary, The adaptive design of the human psyche makes an important contribution as a corrective for certain extreme tenets of existing theories and presents valuable perspectives on the phenomena of altruism and parent-offspring conflict. The work is hurt, however, by the authors' failure to acknowledge the nature of real psychopathology in pressing their conceptualization of an evolved adaptive design of the psyche. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved) |
