Okay, so I wanted to make a syllabus for evolutionary psychology, right? It’s a super interesting field, but finding a good, structured outline online was kinda tough. So, I decided to roll up my sleeves and make my own. Here’s how I did it:
First, I spent a good chunk of time just browsing. I hit up Google Scholar, ResearchGate, even just plain old Google. My goal was to see what other people were teaching in their evolutionary psych courses. I looked at a bunch of university websites and tried to find any publicly available syllabi.
After that initial dive, I started to see some common themes. Most courses covered the basics like natural selection, sexual selection, and kin selection. There were usually sections on parenting, cooperation, aggression, and the evolution of the human mind. It was like putting together a puzzle, seeing how all these different pieces fit.
Next, I organized everything. I created a simple document and started listing out the major topics. Under each topic, I added subtopics and key concepts. It was messy at first, just a brain dump of everything I’d found. This is very import to me.
- Introduction to Evolutionary Psychology
- Principles of Natural and Sexual Selection
- Kin Selection and Inclusive Fitness
- Parenting and Family Dynamics
- Cooperation and Altruism
- Aggression and Conflict
- Mating Strategies
- Evolution of Cognition and Language
- Evolution of Culture
Then came the refining part. I went back and rearranged things, making sure the order made sense. I wanted the syllabus to flow logically, from foundational principles to more complex applications. I added some specific readings, mostly classic papers and some more recent research. It’s all good for me. I thought about including some popular science books too, to make it a bit more accessible.
The hardest part? Deciding what not to include. There’s just so much cool stuff in evolutionary psychology, and I had to be realistic about what could fit into a single semester. I focused on the core concepts and tried to provide a good foundation for further exploration.
Finally, I formatted everything to look nice and readable. I added sections for course objectives, grading policies, and a weekly schedule. It’s still a work in progress, but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. It’s something I can actually use and build upon, and that’s what matters.
