The historical figures Cosmides and Tooby are two remarkable psychologists behind popular evolutionary psychology. In it, the duo uses the example of dung to illustrate how species adapt and find comfort in an environment fueled by the fact that they come into existence with the environment. Against the backdrop of this example is the evolutionary process in light of time course and adaptation for humans. This paper elaborates on why the time course and function of evolutionary adaptation are essential for comprehending why some of our thought processes are adapted to a hunter-gatherer society contrary to the contemporary technological and industrial era using the case of the dung. Similarly, the paper seeks to analyze the five principles of evolutionary psychology concerning the dung case and mention whether the example is domain-specific or domain-general and why.

As per the two psychologists, evolution’s time course provides a valid explanation as to why some humans’ mental processes have evolved to function in a society characterized by hunting and gathering. Generally, evolution occurred for an extended period. The process took more than a millennium, and human ancestors lived as hunters and gatherers for most of human history. Evidently, “natural selection is a slow process, and our species lived as hunter-gatherers 1000 times longer than as anything else” (Cosmides and Tooby 16). Thus, given the slow process and the time it took, it is rational to argue that the human thought process evolved to solve adaptive problems in the hunting and gathering society, like looking for food and protection from predators. According to the dung example, “human’s neural circuits were designed by the evolutionary process and natural selection to solve problems that our ancestors faced during human species’ evolutionary history” (Cosmides and Tooby 7). Contrarily, the thought processes are unsuitable for solving modern-day industrial and technological problems. Despite the ability to solve it, they are only side effects or by-products of circuits meant to provide solutions to adaptive problems.

Additionally, evolutionary adaptation’s function also explains why human thought processes are adapted to a society defined as a hunter-gatherer. Fundamentally, adaptations include behavioural features of organisms that help them survive in an environment over time. Using the dung example, the fly has sensory receptors that allow it to smell and see dung. Accordingly, “humans can see and smell dung, so can a dung fly” (Cosmides and Tooby 6). This is an adaptation helping the fly to locate food and lay its eggs in its environment. When applied to people, most of their thought processes are adaptations that help them move around in their environment for survival. For example, adaptation allows humans to avoid predators, communicate, and create alliances. Thus, these adaptations are influenced by the selective pressure the ancestors faced in the hunter-gatherer society, which continues to shape contemporary human behaviour.

In the article, Tooby and Cosmides also provide five principles relating to “evolutionary psychology” concerning the dung case. The first discussed principle suggests that “the brain is a physical system” (Cosmides and Tooby 5). This principle explains the functions of the brain, whereby it works like a computer. For example, it is programmed to produce an appropriate behaviour to suit the environment. “Our neural circuits were designed by natural selections to solve problems that our ancestors faced during our species’ evolutionary history” is the succeeding principle (Cosmides and Tooby 6). The principle uses the example of the dung to elaborate that natural selection designed human minds to provide solutions to adaptive problems our ancestors experienced. The following principle explores human consciousness, which, according to the principle, is just the tip of the iceberg. The idea behind the principle is that humans are oblivious to what is going on in their minds. The subsequent principle notes, “different neural circuits are specialized for solving the different adaptive problems” (Cosmides and Tooby 11). This postulation illustrates that the human body has multiple organs for solving various problems. “Our modern skulls house a stone age mind” is the last principle (Cosmides and Tooby 15). Accordingly, evolution occurs with time; hence human circuits are not yet evolved to merge the modern technological and industrial era. The aforementioned principles demonstrate the evolution process in the organisms and their adaptations, like smell and sight, based on their ecological niches and thought processes influenced by natural selection. The dung example, however, is domain-specific because it emphasizes the smell and sight sensory adaptation necessary for the fly’s survival in its environment.