Parental investment, sexual selection, and evolved mating strategies - Implications for psychoanalysis

The author suggests that all major psychoanalytic theories posit a universa l, ungendered human mind that is subsequently gendered by developmental exp erience. Thus, psychoanalysis has ignored built-in, innate differences betw een males and females. The concepts of distal versus proximal causes, and p arental investment and sexual selection theory, along with some of the evid ence for innate sex differences, are presented. An evolutionary understandi ng of gender is then applied to both psychoanalytic theory and practice. Co ntrary to postmodern reactions-suggesting that notions of innate factors or universals are essentially tools to enable those in a more powerful positi on (e.g., therapists) to impose controls and constraints on others-it is sh own how a modern evolutionary understanding can actually enhance openness t o a fuller range of human experience and possibility.