Natural selection will result in the evolution of brain, cognitive, and emotional systems that are sensitive to and process the types of information that have been correlated with survival and reproductive outcomes during the species' evolutionary history. The resources associated with these outcomes fall into three categories - social, biological, and physical - and for people compose the respective domains of folk psychology, folk biology, and folk physics. The primary dynamic that has driven and is currently driving human evolution is competition with other people and groups of other people for resource control (e.g., of other people, food, and land). In addition to the elaboration of folk-psychological systems (e.g., theory of mind), social competition results in variability in social dynamics and through this creates pressures for the elaboration of systems of brain and mind that can anticipate, mentally represent, and devise behavioral strategies to cope with these complex social dynamics. These systems create self-centered mental models that enable the simulation of the 'perfect world', a world in which other people behave in ways consistent with one's best interest, and biological and physical resources are under one's control: These mental models enable people to devise behavioral strategies to cope with the actions of others and to better compete with others for social influence and resource control. The systems that evolved to support the use of mental models are known as general fluid intelligence, working memory, and attentional control. The combination of these systems and folk knowledge is the foundation upon which human intellectual and cultural advances have been built.