# John Tooby John Tooby (1952–2023) was an American anthropologist who, with [[Leda Cosmides]], founded [[Evolutionary Psychology]]. Their key contribution was the "Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness" (EEA) concept—the Pleistocene conditions that shaped human cognitive adaptations. Tooby argued for a universal [[Human Nature]] against the "Standard Social Science Model" that emphasized cultural determinism. Tooby brought anthropological and evolutionary biological perspectives to cognitive science. He emphasized that the mind contains hundreds of specialized modules, each an adaptation to ancestral problems. With Cosmides, he co-directed the Center for Evolutionary Psychology and edited *The Adapted Mind* (1992). His work influenced [[Steven Pinker]]'s *[[The Blank Slate]]* critique of social constructionism. ## Key Contributions | Contribution | Significance | |--------------|--------------| | EEA concept | Ancestral environment shaped mind | | Critique of SSSM | Against blank slate views | | *The Adapted Mind* (1992) | Foundational EP text | ## Quotes <!-- QueryToSerialize: LIST FROM #type/quote AND [[John Tooby]] WHERE public_note = true SORT file.name ASC --> ## Books <!-- QueryToSerialize: LIST FROM #type/book AND [[John Tooby]] WHERE public_note = true SORT file.name ASC --> ## Related - [[Leda Cosmides]] - [[Evolutionary Psychology]] - [[Steven Pinker]] - [[Human Nature]] ## References - Barkow, Cosmides & Tooby (eds). *The Adapted Mind* (1992) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tooby