López M. 2011. ¿Existen Reglas Adaptativas en la Mente Humana? Una revisión crítica de las teorías cognitivas evolutivas por medio del enfoque de la perfección del condicional. Cinta moebio 41: 123-143

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Are there adaptive rules in human mind? A critical revision of the evolutionary cognitive theories by means of the approach of conditional perfection

Dr. Miguel López (m.lopez@ulagos.cl) Departamento de Educación, Universidad de Los Lagos (Osorno, Chile)

Abstract

Social contracts theory is a cognitive approach that emerged decades ago and holds that human mind has evolved neurocognitive systems. These systems regulate different social situations, for example, exchanges and contracts, and allow detecting offenders and individuals that do not fulfill agreements. In this paper, I check critically the theses of this approach by means of the Moldovan’s linguistic arguments about conditional perfection. In this way, I conclude that, if we apply the Moldovan’s approach in a more psychological level, we can explain the outcomes of the experiments that support social contracts theory by means of the information processing made by the participants and we do not need to suppose that there are evolved neurocognitive systems.

Key words: cognition, conditional perfection, evolved neurocognitive systems, information processing, social contracts.