Nature's Psychologists

Abstract

On temple at Delphi was written stern message Know thyself'. Did oracle realize she was uttering an evolutionary imperative? I shall argue presently that self-knowledge, and through it possibility of intuitive knowledge of others, has made an essential contribution to biological fitness of man and certain other social animals. The means to self-knowledge have consequently been promoted and perfected by selection. Within this argument lies a theory of evolution of consciousness; within it, too, lie some humbler ideas about evolution of overt behaviour. In The Nature of Explanation 1 Kenneth Craik outlined an Hypothesis on nature of thought, proposing that the nervous system is ... a calculating machine capable of modelling or paralleling external events. ... If organism carries a `small-scale model' of external and of its own possible actions within its head, it is able to try out various alternatives, conclude which is best of them, react to future situations before they arise, utilize knowledge of past events in dealing with future, and in every way to react in a much fuller, safer and more competent manner to emergencies which face it. The notion of a mental model of reality has become in years since so widely accepted that it has grown to be almost a cliche of experimental psychology. And like other cliches its meaning is no longer called in question. From outset Craik ' s