The first aim of the course is getting the student acquainted to the positioning of psychology and its contents in an appropriate biological framework, beyond the trivial assumption that the immediate mechanisms of realization of mental processes are based in the work of the brain, but considering the brain, mental functions and behaviours as the result of the slow process of biological evolution. The second objective is the understanding of the concept of adaptation, and its adoption in psychology. More specific objectives are the understanding of cognitive and motivational adaptations useful to individual survival, adaptations useful for selection based on mating and the choice of a partner, and the peculiar features of social adaptations.