Evolutionary Biology (1 Viewer)

[Zarathustra]

I was wondering if there are many job opportunities in this field - (research for post grad etc.) - in particular evolutionary psychology (which is all that really interests me about biology)
Explaining human behaviour through evolution has always appealed to me, and I'm just curious if such a job exists. Would you start by doing an undergraduate double degree of psych and bio???

P.S. Who are the best writers on this subject (e.g Richard Dawkins, Matt Ridley - who else )

 

[~TeLEpAtHeTiC~]

evolutionary psych can be followed by doing a straight psych degree, u dont neccessarily need to do biology.
i'm doing psych and we are currently studying evolutionary psych funnily enough
um possibly one of the better known names in evol. psych is trivers then there are famous articles by people such as buss on mating preferences that was a huge leap in evol. psych..and even charles darwin made evol. and its psychological implications, emphasising more on a branch of natural selectioncalled sexual selection

i love psych and evol. particulary intrgues me...
there is jobs for this field all over the world, and most often that not its postgrad research...
all in all great area of knowledge in psych..love it to bits

 

[abdo]

I was wondering if there are many job opportunities in this field - (research for post grad etc.) - in particular evolutionary psychology (which is all that really interests me about biology)
Explaining human behaviour through evolution has always appealed to me, and I'm just curious if such a job exists. Would you start by doing an undergraduate double degree of psych and bio???

P.S. Who are the best writers on this subject (e.g Richard Dawkins, Matt Ridley - who else )

i think math/chemistry/physics is the way to go for undergrad, the biological/phychological theories are not the difficult part of this subject. one should be really at least competent at math (higher logics ect) to truly understand the dynamical concepts involved and make contribution to the subject.

are you interested in game theory my friend? or behavioral economics (i.e. applied psychology to economics)?

if you are then math/physics should be your basic tools...

 

[Zarathustra]

i think math/chemistry/physics is the way to go for undergrad, the biological/phychological theories are not the difficult part of this subject. one should be really at least competent at math (higher logics ect) to truly understand the dynamical concepts involved and make contribution to the subject.

are you interested in game theory my friend? or behavioral economics (i.e. applied psychology to economics)?

if you are then math/physics should be your basic tools...

I could just do the basic Bachelor of Science first year course and then specialise later. I would try and do a fair amount of Maths, Abdo, and of course physics but I would try and stick to biology and biochemistry etc.
I'm thinking about a double Science/Arts degree with Economics and philsophy for arts and evolutionary biology and psych. for Science. I'm still unsure if this is possible and how much work it would involve.

With a Science/Arts double degree do you have a major and a minor in each area and could you even do a double major?

 

[TheKing]

ooooo.......
I want to do a science degree with alot of biochemistry and maybe with a side of philosophy....

 

[Zarathustra]

I still have no idea what's possible with double degrees - could someone who is doing a double degree tell me; how wide a range of subjects can you pick? I have biological science and philosophy as my two main subject areas - but as it's not possible to do them through any degree I'm aware of - maybe Adv. Science???? I've decided on a double degree, focussing on the science degree - so a double major in science and a major minor in Arts - or something similar - who should I talk to - please reply any helpful BSci/BArts students out there...

 

[babydoll_]

I'm a Science/Arts student

Science students at UNSW are allowed to do 1 Arts subject per semester. This is your elective subject - a subject not offered by the Science faculty. All students have to do some to extend their knowledge beyond the scope of Science only.

Compared to this, Science/Arts students MUST do subjects from both the Arts faculty AND the Science faculty. The range of subjects is pretty broad. Let me find a list.

So if you wanna major in Science BUT you want the philosophy as well, I'd say go for Science or Adv Sci combined with Arts. It's a 4 year degree at UNSW.

 

[babydoll_]

NB: This is for UNSW. The list might not be 100% accurate - I just copied it from the handbook. Some majors are available in specific degrees only (e.g. Optometry - you need to do a B Optom; Aviation you need to do the related degree)

Arts Majors

CHIN Chinese Studies
EDST Education
ENGL English
FREN French
GERS German Studies
GREK Greek, Modern
HIST History
HPSC History and Philosophy of Science
INDO Indonesian Studies
JAPN Japanese Studies
KORE Korean Studies
LING Linguistics
MUSC Music
PHIL Philosophy
POLS Politics and International Relations
RUSS Russian Studies
SLSP Policy Studies
SOCA Sociology and Anthropology
SPAN Spanish and Latin American Studies
DANC/FILM/
PFST/THFI/
THST Theatre, Film and Dance

Science Majors

Anatomy
Applied Mathematics
Aviation [specific degree only]
Biochemistry
Biological Science
Biomechanics
Biotechnology
Chemistry
Ecology
Engineering Physics
Environmental Sciences
- Biology
- Marine
- Microbiology
- Chemistry
- Earth Science
- Geography
- Oceanography
Environmental Earth Science
Food Science and Nutrition/Technology
Genetics
Geography(Physical and Human)
Geology
Geoscience
History and Philosophy of Science
Marine Science
Marine and Coastal Studies
Materials Chemistry
Materials Science
Mathematics
Mathematics and Finance
Mathematics and Computer Science
Medical Chemistry
Medical Microbiology and Immunology
Medical Physics
Medical Science
Microbiology
Molecular Biology
Nanotechnology
Neuroscience
Optometry
Pharmacology
Philosophy
Physical Oceanography/ Meteorology
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Physics with Computer Science
Physiology
Psychology
Pure Mathematics
Safety Science
Science Communications
Science Media and Communications
Spatial Information Systems
Statistics
Toxicology

 

[Survivor39]

If you want a touch of Philosophy, i think it is better to just to B Science. Because you are doing 3 science subjects and 1 philosophy subject (a touch of Phil).

Hmmm, can Babydoll confirm whether in B Sci/B Arts, you have to do 2 subjects in each faculties in one semester? For example, 2 Science and 2 arts subjects?


So the bottom line is how much Philosophy do you want to do?? 1/2 or 1/4 of your study??

 

[babydoll_]

Nope, just at LEAST 1 Arts and 1 Science subject per semester. Then you make up the rest of the workload for the semester with EITHER Science/Arts subjects... but there's rules about the amount of units you do in Science and Arts over the whole degree.