Constructivism and Evolutionary Psychology

​Constructivism and evolutionary psychology are two different paradigms within psychology that investigate and try and understand human psychology, aspects within human environments such as culture and corresponding behaviours. Both can complement each other but also have fundamental differences.

Constructivism: Constructivism is a theory in psychology that emphasises the importance of individuals and how their environment and resulting experiences influence their view of the world.

It therefore suggests that people actively build their perceptions of reality based on their experiences. Constructivism has a prominent influence in fields such as Social Psychology.

Constructivist theories often focus on the importance of social and cultural factors in shaping humans and can even influence the vantage point from which research is conducted within some fields of Psychology.

Evolutionary Psychology: Evolutionary psychology (EP) is a theoretical approach that seeks to explain human behaviour and cognition in terms of the adaptive functions they served in ancestral environments (helpful adjustments to one’s environment). The era which formed human psychology is called the EEA (Era of Evolutionary Adaptedness).

EP states that many of the human behaviours and cognitive processes evolved through natural selection because of their advantageous nature.

​Evolutionary psychologists often study universal human tendencies that may have evolutionary roots, such as mate selection, parental investment and threat based processing such as a fear of predators.

These two approaches can offer different perspectives on human behaviours and don’t have to necessarily oppose each other. In fact, they can be complementary:

Constructivism can provide insights into how individuals perceive and interpret information, including how they navigate social and cultural contexts and how these in turn reinforce aspects of human nature.

Evolutionary psychology can offer explanations for why certain human tendencies (proximate and ultimate explanations) might be universal across cultures or why certain tendencies even exist in the first place.

Conflicts can arise when constructivist theories emphasise the importance of social and cultural influences and how the shape human nature, to the point of neglecting the role of evolved psychological mechanisms (nurture vs. nature). In turn some argue that evolutionary psychologists may sometimes overlook the significance of individual experiences and social context in shaping behaviour.

Both paradigms have influenced different fields of counselling psychology and psychotherapy. Counselling has especially laid a lot of value on constructivism by trying to create narratives of how people became who they are through their environment. When looking for therapy near you, you may have a personal preference as to which paradigm you prefer.

​Styles like CBT often place a lot of value on both approaches and will include evolutionary psychology in order to for example explain threat based processing. The nature of your difficulties will often most determine which style of therapy is relevant. Not so much whether you do telephone counselling or therapy vs in-person sessions. Some like to explore their difficulties and some like to also work on them. Some require a systematic approach to address a certain problem and some don’t.

In summary, while constructivism and evolutionary psychology approach the study of human behaviour from different vantage points, they can both contribute valuable insights towards our understanding of human beings and further research may highlight how their differences are not necessarily irreconcilable.