“BSc Psychology Third Year Project Proposal Investigating the Extent to Which Uncles and Aunts Invest in Their Nephews and Nieces and Exploring the Psychological Explanations in Human Evolution and Genetics”

The underlying fascination of this proposed study lies within the field of evolutionary psychology and how knowledge of this subject may be applied to the characteristics of family life.  Evolutionary psychology applies Darwinian ideas of natural selection to human beings, studying the ways in which evolutionary history contributes to the development of behavioural patterns and cognitive strategies related to reproduction and therefore survival (Carlson & Buskist, 1997).  There are a number of cases where an understanding of evolutionary psychology can provide study-supported theories about family life.  One such example is the idea that it may be considered natural for  step-fathers to want to kill their step-children because there is no genetic link between them (Cardwell, 2000).

This clearly opens up a frighteningly controversial subject matter which composes the primary inter…(short extract)