Evolutionary psychology is an approach to understanding the mind which explores how psychological traits have evolved over time, both over the lifespan of an individual and over the course of human history. This approach seeks to discover how certain traits, behaviours and our views of the world are shaped by our evolutionary history and the environment in which our species evolved. This approach has been used to explain various aspects of human nature, such as our social behaviour, emotions and cognition, as well as how we perceive and interact with the environment in which we find ourselves.

See also: evolution, cultural evolution, emergence, evolutionary computing, game theory