Future in Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary psychology provides a foundational framework for understanding how cognitive and behavioral traits have evolved in response to recurring selection pressures throughout human history. Traditionally focused on uncovering universal patterns of adaptation, the field has recently expanded its purview to include individual differences, cultural diversity, technological advancements, and mental health. The emergence of powerful research tools, including artificial intelligence, eye-tracking methodologies, and extensive data sources, has enabled more sophisticated exploration of evolutionary hypotheses. At the same time, critical perspectives, such as those from feminist psychology, have challenged long-standing assumptions and called for more rigorous attention to interpretation, measurement, and inclusivity. While these developments enrich and diversify the field, the integration of such varied insights remains an ongoing and complex challenge.

This Research Topic aims to both consolidate and advance the evolving landscape of evolutionary psychology. It focuses on how evolutionary approaches can inform the study of mind and behavior, how natural and sexual selection may operate across multiple levels, how proposed universal features of mind and behavior relate to individual and contextual variation, and how evolutionary thinking can be connected with other areas of the psychology, biology, and the social sciences. Contributions should explicitly engage with evolutionary theory while examining conceptual, methodological, or interpretive issues. The themes outlined below represent some areas of particular interest, but submissions are not limited to these topics. This Research Topic welcomes work that investigates, refines, or reinterprets existing frameworks in light of new evidence, technologies, or theoretical perspectives.

The following themes are especially welcome:

• Mating, attraction, and social evaluation, including studies using face perception, eye-tracking, sexual orientation, mate preferences, and intrasexual competition

• Universals, individual differences, and multilevel selection, featuring research on personality, life-history strategies, sex differences, and the dynamics of cooperation and competition

• Culture, social structure, feminism, and inequality: investigations of how cultural and social variables interact with evolved psychological processes; the coevolution of culture and biology; and work that examines or integrates feminist, intersectional, and critical perspectives on behavior, inequality, norms, and power

• Psychopathology and fitness-related outcomes, focusing on the integration of evolutionary models with mental health, adaptive and maladaptive traits

• Methods, measurement, and new technologies, encompassing the application of AI, machine learning, computational simulations, and big data to evolutionary psychological questions

• Theoretical integration and meta-frameworks, exploring how evolutionary psychology can unify diverse domains within and beyond psychology

We welcome contributions that help define the future directions of evolutionary psychology by identifying the field’s most pressing open questions, proposing clear and testable predictions, improving measurement and methods, and clarifying how evolutionary explanations can be integrated with cultural, developmental, and critical perspectives to build more cumulative and rigorous science. We especially invite Data Reports, Policy Briefs, Mini Reviews, Perspectives, Opinions, and General Commentaries, while remaining open to other article types that advance these aims.