Evolutionary Developmental Psychology

One of the contributions of Evolutionary Psychology is the Area of Evolutionary Developmental Psychology (EDP).

EDP is the use of Darwin's basic evolutionary principles to explain how human beings develop.

According to evolutionary theory, animals must live long enough to pass on their genes through reproduction. End of Story. Humans seem to defeat this theory living years, even decades, after they've passed on their genes. Why? The idea that babies survival rate increases with the rate of old age (older people can take care of children) has been proposed by numerous Evolutionary Psychologists. Regardless of that, natural selection has removed many diseases and problems that would prevent human survival before reproduction, such as widespread childhood genetic diseases that would prevent humans from reaching a certain age (20s-30s, reproducing age), but it has not removed problems that occur later in life. Because humans don't adapt physically, as much as mentally, we begin to experience"aches and pains" as we get older, and the older we get the more benefits from evolution begin to fade, hence why humans have distinct differences between youthful and old age.