ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the concept of applied evolutionary psychology and why evolutionary psychologists generally reject the notion of applying evolutionary principles to help shape society. Having examined a number of subfields of psychology, where evolutionary theory has made an impact, from developmental, cognitive and social to individual and cultural differences, it is clear that evolutionary psychology has its fair share of critics. Evolutionary psychologists do consider that some gender differences have arisen from sexual selection acting differentially on the two sexes. This means that in some areas men and women have faced different recurrent adaptive problems, such as hunting and gathering, and in mate choice criteria and levels of aggression. Biosocial construction theory of sex differences derived from social role theory considers that biological factors interact with social ones in the development of male and female sex roles. Some evolutionists consider that natural selection can operate at multiple levels, favouring the species, population, group, individual or gene.