The Maladapted Mind: Classic Readings in Evolutionary Psychopathology

This text brings together classic and contemporary readings illustrating the subdiscipline of evolutionary psychology. The book highlights how mechanisms in the brain which normally enable us to be well-adapted to survival in our environment can occasionally malfunction, leading individuals to develop what is recognized as psychiatric disorder. Each paper demonstrates how evolutionary arguments are being brought to bear on the study of a different psychiatric condition, including anxiety, depression, psychopathic personality, autism and rape. The framework presented in the book should lead to new insights into the aetiology of psychiatric conditions and, at the same time, illustrate how the study of such mental abnormalities can reveal the existence of basic neurocognitive mechanisms in the normal mind that have been overlooked.