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Human Biological and Psychological Diversity

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Abstract

Many evolutionary psychologists have asserted that there is a panhuman nature, a species typical psychological structure that is invariant across human populations. Although many social scientists dispute the basic assumptions of evolutionary psychology, they seem widely to agree with this hypothesis. Psychological differences among human populations (demes, ethnic groups, races) are almost always attributed to cultural and sociological forces in the relevant literatures. However, there are strong reasons to suspect that the hypothesis of a panhuman nature is incorrect. Humans migrated out of Africa at least 50,000 years ago and occupied many different ecological and climatological niches. Because of this, they evolved slightly different anatomical and physiological traits. For example, Tibetans evolved various traits that help them cope with the rigors of altitude; similarly, the Inuit evolved various traits that help them cope with the challenges of a very cold environment. It is likely that humans also evolved slightly different psychological traits as a response to different selection pressures in different environments and niches. One possible example is the high intelligence of the Ashkenazi Jewish people. Frank discussions of such differences among human groups have provoked strong ethical concerns in the past. We understand those ethical concerns and believe that it is important to address them. However, we also believe that the benefits of discussing possible human population differences outweigh the costs.

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Notes

  1. It is possible that some rapid evolutionary change and/or divergence across population groups are caused by epigenetic effects rather than through the processes of natural and sexual selection (Riddihough and Zahn 2010). Epigenetics is, unfortunately, unclearly defined in much of the literature, but generally refers to information transmitted during cell division “other than the DNA sequence per se” (Feinberg and Fallin 2015, p. 1129; see also Ptashne 2013 for additional clarification regarding epigenetics). Many social scientists who use the term “epigenetics” are referring to transgenerational epigenetic effects that are induced by the external (and in particular, social) environment, and then passed transgenerationally from parent to offspring (Dickins and Rahman 2012; Moffitt and Beckley 2015). If such epigenetic effects are common, it is possible that two populations would diverge without genetic differentiation. This is an important area of future research and is currently the topic of much research, hyperbole, and debate (see, e.g., Moffitt and Beckley 2015; Ptashne 2013). We hold the possibility of epigenetic effects accounting for some population differences and some instances of rapid evolution as an open hypothesis. However, we note that the best evidence to date suggests that most epigenetic effects do not survive beyond the lifetime of an individual (i.e., they are not transgenerational) (Radford et al. 2014).

  2. This is a slightly altered version of an argument that was made by the authors earlier (Winegard et al. 2016).

  3. Although this genetic research is suggestive, caution is necessary given recent evidence about the effects of single polymorphisms on complex quantitative traits. As Chabris et al. (2015) made clear when they introduced the “fourth law of behavior genetics,” single alleles are likely to exert only minor effects on complex polygenic traits. The reality of the small effect of single alleles is reflected in the poor replication record of candidate gene studies, and the tendency for false positives to emerge repeatedly in research testing the effect of one gene on one behavior (Chabris et al. 2015). In the future, in might prove more fruitful to examine the distributions and frequencies of numerous trait relevant genes, not simply a handful of them.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, Florida State University, 1107 West Call Street, Tallahassee, FL, 32301, USA

    Bo Winegard

  2. Psychology Department, Carroll College, 1601 N Benton Ave, Helena, MT, 59625, USA

    Benjamin Winegard

  3. School of Social Work, Department of Epidemiology, Saint Louis University, One Grand Blvd, Saint Louis, MO, 63103-2097, USA

    Brian Boutwell

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Winegard, B., Winegard, B. & Boutwell, B. Human Biological and Psychological Diversity. Evolutionary Psychological Science 3, 159–180 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-016-0081-5

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