Evolutionary Developmental Psychology (PowerPoint)

What are some examples of deferred adaptations?

-Children playing with dolls, preparing them to care for children of their own. -Children playing roughly, preparing them to compete for mates and adapt to social hierarchies in the future.

Exam Review: Discuss the contribution of evolutionary developmental psychology to developmental psychology.

-Evolutionary developmental psychology goes the extra step in explaining how our reflexes and patterns of behavior across our ontogeny or adaptive or simply not debilitating enough to be selected against.

Exam Review: Identify the major theoretical elements of evolutionary developmental psychology.

-Explains how adaptations to ancient environments both prepare children for adulthood and help them to survive their childhoods. -Asserts that Evolved Psychological Mechanisms such as social skills and the Theory of the Mind enable us to better predict the motives of others which makes us more likely to survive.

Exam Review: Define ontogeny, ontogenetic adaptations, deferred adaptations, and epigenesis.

-Ontogeny: The development of an organism from embryo to mature form. -Ontogenetic adaptations: Serve an adaptive function during infancy/childhood. (i.e. suckling reflex) -Deferred adaptations: Serve an adaptive function during adulthood. (i.e. rough-and-tumble play) -Epigenetics: Complex sets of mechanisms that lead to potential developmental outcomes. They also relate to how the environment can influence the expression of your genes.

Exam Review: Identify the adaptive functions of the theory of the mind and aggression in early childhood.

-The Theory of the Mind allows you to predict what others are thinking. Being able to avoid people with bad intentions is adaptive because if they can't get you, they can't kill you and you'll be more likely to reach reproductive age.

What are some examples of ontogenetic adaptions?

-The suckling reflex for feeding -Babies' ability to imitate maternal facial expressions to form bonds with their mother even when they cannot speak or direct their eye contact well.

What is a notably important Evolved Psychological Mechanism (EPM) in children?

An important EPM for children is plasticity, the ability to modify EPMs, which is imperative to children as they learn so many new things and have to adjust to a slew of novel situations.

Deferred Adaptations

Deferred adaptations serve an adaptive function during adulthood.

What is the focus of developmental psychology?

Developmental psychology focuses on change across the lifespan.

Epigenetic rules

Epigenetic rules are complex sets of mechanisms that lead to potential developmental outcomes.

True or False: Evolutionary Developmental Psychology discounts the role of culture insisting that humans developed in nearly universal ways.

False. Evolutionary Developmental Psychology does not discount the role of culture. It acknowledges culture in asserting that biological factors interact with environmental factors (like culture) to produce unique ontogenetic development.

True or False: All adaptations serve the sole function of preparing children for adulthood.

False. Some adaptations such as suckling do not prepare children for adulthood, they disappear after a short amount of time. They are only meant to help children survive to reach adulthood.

What is unique about human childhoods?

Human childhoods are unique in their longevity, most other species grow up a lot faster than we do. It is thought that this longer childhood prepares humans for more complex tasks than other species and so serves an adaptive function.

Ontogenetic adaptations

Ontogenetic adaptations serve an adaptive function during infancy/childhood.

Ontogeny

Ontogeny is the development of an organism from embryo to mature form.

How does agreeableness impact the Theory of the Mind?

People who are more agreeable tend to have a stronger Theory of the Mind than those who aren't because they are better able to anticipate others' beliefs and desires.

What type of aggression is more common in men than in women?

Physical aggression is more common in men than in women. It often involves intense competitiveness and people getting hurt. There are way more injuries and deaths associated with physical aggression than there are to relational aggression (aggression that is more prevalent among women).

What type of aggression is more common in women than in men?

Relational aggression is more common in women than in men. It often involves gossiping, ostracism, and backstabbing.

What is the Theory of the Mind?

The Theory of the Mind is the ability to make inferences about the beliefs and desires of others.

What is the focus of evolutionary psychology?

The focus of evolutionary psychology is adaptive change that occurs over long periods of time (sometimes thousands of years). It asserts that species have mental processes called Evolved Psychological Mechanisms (EPMs) that work to promote behavior that enhances our potential for survival and reproduction.

Why is slow development of cognitive abilities adaptive for humans?

The limited working memory of humans allows us to learn small, more manageable chunks of information at a time. It also enables us to put our failures to the back of our minds and try again at tasks that we didn't succeed at the first time around.

What is the most controversial assertion of epigenetics?

The most crazy interesting thing about epigenetics is that the way in which you relate to the environment can influence your genome expression. For example, during World War II, some villages in Norway never got enough food so genes that kick in when you're nearly starving got turned on in these people. These people then had children who had enough food but inherited sets of turned on starvation genes so now there are high obesity rates in those Norwegian villages.

True or False: Social skills are EPMs.

True. Social skills are EPMs because they allow us to better predict the behavior of others, anticipate hostile attacks, form coalitions, and communicate. These skills make us more likely to survive to reproductive age so they increase our fitness.

What is a notable gender difference in empathy?

Women tend to be more apt to empathy than men are. It is thought that this is because women typically have the greatest responsibility for direct interaction with small children.