`It is refreshing, in the wake of the sometimes uncritical enthusiasm for evolutionary psychology, to read a thoughtful and balanced account of the problems as well as the benefits of an evolutionary perspective on human behaviour' - Professor Anne Campbell, Durham University Essential Evolutionary Psychology introduces students to the core theories, approaches, and findings that are the necessary foundations for developing an understanding of the evolutionary psychology. It offers a sound, brief and student friendly explication of how evolutionary theory has been and is applied in psychology. The book unpicks the very essence of human evolution, and how this knowledge is used to give evolutionary accounts of four of the central pillars of human behaviour - cooperation, attraction, aggression, and family formation. It also covers evolutionary accounts of abnormal behaviour, language and culture.