Positive Evolutionary Psychology: Darwin’s Guide to Living a Richer Life

Positive psychologists focus on ways that we can advance the lives of individuals and communities by studying the factors that increase positive outcomes such as life satisfaction and happiness. Evolutionary psychologists use the principles of evolution, based on Darwin’s understanding of life, to help shed light on any and all kinds of psychological phenomena. This book brings together both fields to explore positive evolutionary psychology: the use of evolutionary psychology principles to help people and communities experience more positive and fulfilling lives.

Across eleven chapters, this book describes the basic ideas of both evolutionary and positive psychology, elaborates on the integration of these two fields as a way to help advance the human condition, discusses several domains of human functioning from the perspective of positive evolutionary psychology, and finally, looks with an eye toward the future of work in this emerging and dynamic field. Over the past few decades, evolutionary psychologists have begun to crack the code on such phenomena as happiness, gratitude, resilience, community, and love. This book describes these facets of the human experience in terms of their evolutionary origins and proposes how we might guide people to optimally experience such positive phenomena in their everyday lives.

Glenn Geher is Professor of Psychology and Founding Director of Evolutionary Studies at the State University of New York at New Paltz. Geher has won numerous awards in the domains of teaching and research, including the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in both Teaching and Scholarship. An
advocate of evolution education, Glenn has published extensively on various topics related to evolution and human behavior.

Nicole Wedberg served as the assistant for the Evolutionary Studies program and supervisor for the Evolutionary Psychology lab at the State University of New York at New Paltz. She has won numerous awards in the domains of writing and research, including the SUNY New Paltz Award of Distinction for
Excellence in Writing. As a researcher in evolutionary and positive psychology, she has published in various academic journals with work on the topics of the evolutionary origins of homosexuality, the evolutionary function of orgasm, and the evolutionary underpinnings of warfare.