Beyond the justification hypothesis: a broader theory of the evolution of self-consciousness.
We evaluate Henriques' Justification Hypothesis (JH; this issue) and argue that his explanation for the evolution of self-consciousness is overly narrow and the evolutionary sequence of events is backwards. Instead, we propose a broader theory of the evolution of self-consciousness, with four categories of adaptive functions: (a) self-regulation, (b) selective information processing, (c) understanding others, and (d) identity formation.
Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA. simine@mail.utexas.edu
Simine
S
Vazire
Richard W
RW
Robins
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention; D001364:Awareness; D001519:Behavior; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004532:Ego; D019348:Empiricism; D006801:Humans; D007062:Identification, Psychological; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008606:Mental Processes; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D011582:Psychological Theory; D011584:Psychology / Q000145:classification / Q000639:trends*; D013038:Specialization / Q000639:trends*