Psycho 104 - Ch. 4 Cont.

Question 1

What is Evolutionary Psychology?

Answer 1

Studies how behaviour and tendencies have evolved in response to environmental demands.

Question 2

What is Evolution?

Answer 2

Change over time in frequency with which genes and the characteristics they produce occur within an interbreeding population

• Changes occur due to heritable genetic mutations
• Natural Selection & adaptations are crucial concepts for the study of evolution.

Question 3

What is Natural Selection?

Answer 3

Characteristics that increase the likelihood of survival and ability to reproduce within a particular environment will be more likely to be preserved in the population and therefore will become more common in the species overtime

Products of natural selection are ADAPTATION

Question 4

What are Adaptations?

Answer 4

Products of natural selection

Question 5

How has the Human Brain evolved?

Answer 5

Greatest growth in areas linked w higher mental processes - attention, memory, thought, and language

Culture is important to evolution of behaviour as well (Cultural Evolution)

Question 6

What are the types of adaptations?

Answer 6

BROAD
-Learn language, reason logically

DOMAIN SPECIFIC
-Solve particular problem (Mate selection, choosing safe food, avoiding certain environmental hazards.)

-Mind Composed of specialized and independent modules

Question 7

Examples of Evolutionary Snapshots

Answer 7

• Innate ability to acquire language (Whether thats sign if theyre deaf)
• Newborns more responsive to human faces (Compared to pictures with the facial features arranged in a random pattern)
• Need to belong to a group. (Social anxiety, the fear of social disapproval, may be an adaptive mechanism to protect againts doing things that will prompt group rejection.
• Some basic emotions like smiling are universal

Question 8

What are the BIG FIVE personality dimensions?

Answer 8

Universally you can find

• Extraversion (Social)
• Neuroticism (Anxious)
• Conscientiousness (Responsible)
• Openness to experience (Imaginitive)
• Agreeableness (Helpful, cooperative)

These exist because of survival and reproduction

Twin studies result w agreeableness (0.42) to openness (0.57)

Question 9

What are the three categories that Reared Apart studies are divided into?

Answer 9

1. Variation attributable to genetic factors
2. Variation due to a shared family environment among those reared together
3. Variation attributable to other factors, such as unique individual experiences.

These studies have shown that identical twins are far more similar in personality traits than are fraternal twins

Family environment had little influence on personality differences in these REARED APART studies

Question 10

Elaborate on Parental Investment

Answer 10

• Time, effort, energy, risk associated with caring successfully for each offspring
• Humans invest a great deal i a small number of offspring
• Other species produce large numbers of offspring and offer little care

Question 11

Sex differences in parental investment explain mating systems – Trivers (1972)

Answer 11

Two parents do not make equal parental investment

Competition for sex with highest parental investment (usually the female)

Gender with highest parental investment will be more discriminating in mate selection

Question 12

What are the types of Mating Systems?

Answer 12

MONOGAMOUS

• Two parents have equal parental investment
• Little sexual dimorphism between males/females (Birds prefer this because one usually gets food while the other protects the nest from predators)

POLYANDRY
-One female, many males

POLYGYNOUS
-One male, many females
(This system would lead to larger and stronger males, since increased size and strength would confer an advantage in male-male competition)

POLYGYANDRY
Many males, many females
(Found amongst chimpanzees, one of the possible ways to reduce competition for a mate and may help bonobos be the most peaceful of all primates)

Question 13

What do men and women want?

Answer 13

MEN & WOMEN

• Mutual attraction
• Dependability
• Emotional stability

MEN
Physical attractiveness,
Health

WOMEN
Earning potential
Status
Ambition

Question 14

The ideal mate worldwide

Answer 14

WOMEN

• Older (3.5 yrs older)
• Symmetrical face
• High parental investment

MEN

• Youth and health
• Symmetrical face

Question 15

Cooperation VS Altruism

Answer 15

COOPERATION
-One individual helps another and gains some advantage
(Group school project)

ALTRUISM
-One individual helps another but there are costs involved
(A squirrel will yell when a predator is near by to warn its relatives)

Question 16

What are the two theories of Altruism?

Answer 16

KIN SELECTION

• Purpose is to increase the survival of relatives (When a squirrel yells to warn its relatives about a present predator)
• More altruistic acts towards relatives

RECIPROCAL ALTRUISM

• Long-term cooperation
• I help you - you help me in the future

Question 17

Elaborate on Aggreasion

Answer 17

EVOLUTIONARY
-Protect mate, young ones, territory, and food

-Fight or die

INTRA-SPECIES
-Competition for a mate during mating season

-Establishing position of dominant male

-Sexual jealously is one of the most common causes of
homicide amongst humans

-Belittling same-sex rivals

CONTINUED

• Animals fight for position once and then resource access is set
• Aggression makes evolutionary sense in some cases
• Biological tendency towards aggression does not mean that animals will always act aggressively

Question 18

What are some things NOT to believe?

Answer 18

GENETIC DETERMINISM

• The idea that genes are destiny
• Cant be changed

SOCIAL DARWINISM
-Survival of the fittest (less fit have to go)

DEFENDING THE STATUS QUO
Evolution gave us a trait - must be good

Question 19

Genetic Determinism

Answer 19

GENETIC DETERMINISM

• The idea that genes are destiny
• Cant be changed
• If this is true that means interventions are not useful

GENES WORK THROUGH THE ENVIRONMENT

• Genes have role in reaction range
• Environment often determines placement

IMPORTANT PURSUIT

• Understand interaction between biology & experience
• Importance of culture, environment, biology

Question 20

Social Darwinism

Answer 20

Darwin did not claim ‘survival of the fittest’

DISTORTS DARWIN
-Strong do NOT have the right to exploit the weak

Question 21

Neuroscience and Dyslexia

Answer 21

Dyslexics show less activation in two areas of left temporal lobe

• Left inferior temporal cortex (IT)
• Middle temporal cortex (MT)

Activation within these areas correlates with reading ability across range of reading skill

Question 22

Evolution of the Brain

Answer 22

Australopithecus (4 million years ago)

Homo Erectus (1.6 - 100,000 years ago)

Neanderthal (75,000 years ago)

Homo sapiens

Question 23

Polygenic Transmission

Answer 23

The process of a number of gene pairs combining to create a single pheonotypic trait

Question 24

Genetic Influences on Behaviour

Answer 24

The more genes people have in common, the more similar they are in IQ

Question 25

Reaction Range

Answer 25

The range of possibilities, the upper and lower limits, that the genetic code allows

Each of us has a range of intellectual potential that is jointly influenced by two factors

1. Our genetic inheritance
2. The opportunities our environment provides for acquiring intellectual skills

Question 26

Minnesota Twin Study

Answer 26

Assessed more than 400 pairs of twins, that were separated at the median age of 2.5

Genetic factors account for 39 to 58 percent of the variation among people in personality trait scores

The degree of resemblance did not differ much whether the twin pair was reared together or apart, showing that general features of the family environment, such as emotional climate and degree of affluence, accounted for little or no variation in any of the traits

HIGHEST heritability coefficients were found in reading books, playing sorts, riding roller coasters, and the death penalty

Genetic influence has been reported for a tendency to abuse alcohol, seasonal mood changes, anxiety, and humour