Topic: Evolutionary Perspectives on Mental Health and Illness
Instructor: Paul Wehr
See the PSYCH 363 course description in the undergraduate calendar.
Expanded course description
Short Description:
Given that pathologies have a negative impact on fitness and are partially heritable, why has natural selection failed to remove genes from the population that lead to physical and mental disorders? This course will introduce evolutionary models of both mental health and illness that help to understand this interesting puzzle.
Long Description:
This course will introduce students to Darwinian applications to mental health and illness. Although still underutilized, adaptationist approaches are increasingly gaining favour in the social sciences because they offer a unique and useful perspective on human cognition, emotion, and behaviour. When evolutionary theory is applied to mental and physical illness, however, an interesting question arises: Given that pathologies are heritable (there is a nontrivial underlying genetic component) and that they have a significant negative impact on fitness (decrease survival and reproduction) why do pathologies persist in the population? In other words, why has natural selection failed to remove genes that lead to physical and mental disease? In addition to mental illness, this course will present a unique perspective on mental health: For instance, how can we use Darwinian theory to improve people’s lives? And what kind of mistakes might psychologists make about mental health when they ignore Darwinian theory, as traditional approaches in the social sciences have done?
Requirements for enrolment
Prerequisites: PSYCH 101/101R (or 121R); year/level at least 2B
Antirequisite: None
Enrolment instructions during Course Selection Week for Winter 2016 (July 30 through August 7, 2015)
If interested in enrolling in PSYCH 363 section 1 and you have the prerequisites to enrol, please self-enrol on Quest.
Enrolment instructions after Course Selection Week for Winter 2016
Department permission is required for enrolment. Please e-mail your enrolment request to Emily Mininger (emininger@uwaterloo.ca). Telephone requests are not permitted.
Include the following information with your request:
- full name,
- student identification number,
- email address,
- course to be dropped when PSYCH 363 section 1 is added to your schedule (if applicable),
- current program and year/level (e.g., General Psychology 3A), and
- indicate whether or not you have the prerequisite.
Include your last name, the course number, and your Major/Minor in the subject line of the message so that the requests for PSYCH 363 enrolment can be prioritized.
Sample subject line: Jones - PSYCH 363 section 1 W2016 - Psych Major.
Last updated: April 21, 2015