Evolutionary Approach to Psychology

"Who's Better At Giving Directions,
Men or Women?"
by Corey Binns
Popular Science
April 2008, Pages 90-91

Summary: This article discusses the differences in how men and women give directions. Based on an observational study, Dr. Deborah Saucier saw that men usually focus on compass directions and distances measured in minutes or miles where women typically focus on landmarks and left and right turns. Dr. Saucier theorizes that the differences date back to our hunting ancestors. While on a hunt, men would rely on tracking the position of the sun to find their way home after straying into unfamiliar territory. Meanwhile, women, who gathered food, may have found their way to and from the most bountiful plants by the use of landmarks. This theory was tested in a farmer's market. After one tasting tour, the women could point to stalls visited noting the foods with high energy content. With the benefit of food stalls as landmarks, the women found their way better than the men.
Connection to Psychology: This relates to Chapter 1 where the textbook introduces the evolutionary approach to psychology. This approach emphasizes the inherited, adaptive aspects of behavior and mental processes. Since men and women are still exhibiting the same basic skills of finding their way as our hunting ancestors did, this demonstrates the evolutionary thinking that the fittest survived. That is, the ones who could not adapt to using the two methods of directions used by men and women did not survive. This is shown in the methods that men and women still use today to get around.