"An evolved psychological mechanism is a set of processes inside an organism with the following properties: 1. An evolved psychological mechanism exists in the form that it does because it solved a specific problem of survival or reproduction recurrently over evolutionary history. [...] 2. An evolved psychological mechanism is designed to take in only a narrow slice of information. [...] 3. The input of an evolved psychological mechanism tells an organism the particular adaptive problem it is facing. [...] 4. The input of an evolved psychological mechanism is transformed through decision rules or procedures into output. [...] 5. The output of an evolved psychological mechanism can be physiological activity, information to other psychological mechanisms, or manifest behavior. [...] 6. The output of an evolved psychological mechanism is directed toward the solution to a specific adaptive problem. An important point to keep in mind is that a mechanism that led to a successful solution in the evolutionary past may or may not lead to a successful solution now. [...] In summary, an evolved psychological mechanism is a set of procedures within the organism designed to take in a particular slice of information and transform that information via decision rules into output that historically has helped with the solution to an adaptive problem. Psychological mechanisms exist in current organisms because they led, on average, to successful solutions to specific adaptive problems for that organism’s ancestors."