Instructions for An Evolutionary Analysis of Art, Literature, or Popular Media, Psych 369, Evolution and Human Behavior

For this paper, you will demonstrate a deep understanding of the evolutionary perspective by selecting one of the concepts you have studied this term (e.g., kin selection, reciprocal altruism, parent-offspring conflict, mate selection criteria, male aggressiveness, etc) and using it to interpret a film, a piece of literature, a work of art, or a collection of articles about relationships from popular men’s or women’s magazines. What you select might range from the battle of the sexes in romance novels to sibling rivalry in the bible to an analysis of family violence in Shakespearean drama. Your task will be to demonstrate both an understanding of the evolutionary concept and a persuasive, thoughtful argument as to how that concept can explain what is going on in whatever it is you are analyzing.