7- evolutionary approches

intersexual selection

Members of one sex choose a mate based on their preferences for particular qualities in that mate

intrasexual competition

Members of the same sex compete with each other for sexual access to members of the other sex

cyberball studies

. In Cyberball, the subject plays an online game of catch with two other players. Eventually the two other players begin throwing the ball only to each other, excluding the subject. Compared with volunteers who continue to be included, those who are rejected show increased activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate and the anterior insula — two of the regions that show increased activity in response to physical pain, Eisenberger says. As far as your brain is concerned, a broken heart is not so different from a broken arm.

possible limitations of evolutionary approaches

: Adaptations are forged over long expanse of evolutionary time, and we cannot go back to determine with certainty what the precise selective forces on humans have been o Forced to make inferences o But current mechanisms provide windows for viewing the past o Learning more about our evolved mechanisms is a tool for overcoming limitation of sparse knowledge of ancestral environments • Evolutionary scientists have just scratched the surface of understanding the nature, details, and design features of evolved psychological mechanisms • Modern conditions are undoubtedly different from ancestral conditions in many ways, and so what was adaptive in the past might not be adaptive today • It is sometimes easy to come up with different and competing evolutionary hypotheses for the same phenomena—true of all science o Onus is on the researcher to fashion specific, testable, and falsifiable hypotheses o Thus, competing theories can be pitted against each other and data can be the final arbiter • Evolutionary hypotheses are sometimes accused of being untestable and hence unfalsifiable, but this is no more true than for any other science

Need to belong

According to Hogan, the most important social problems early humans had to solve in order to survive and reproduce involved establishing cooperative relations with other members of the group and negotiation hierarchies. Achieving status and popularity likely conferred a host of reproductively relevant resources on an individual, including better protection, more food, and more desirable mates.

Charles Darwin

Adaptations; inherited solutions to survival and reproductive problems posed by hostile forces of nature • natural selection: Darwin revolutionized biology by proposing a theory of the process by which adaptations are created and changes take place over time—natural selection • More offspring produced than can survive and reproduce • Changes or variants that better enabled an organism to survive and reproduce lead to more descendants • Descendants inherit variants that led to their ancestors' success

sexual selection

Darwin noticed that many mechanisms seemed to threaten survival, such as the peacock's elaborate plumage and the stag's large antlers • Darwin proposed evolution by sexual selection as solution—these traits evolved because they contributed to an individual's mating success

Universal Emotions

Eckman (1973) pioneered the cross-cultural study of emotions. He assembled pictures of several different faces, each of which showed one of seven emotions, it was found different cultures had tremendous agreement on which emotions corresponded to which face. This has been found to hold true for tribal civilizations too. (The Fore of New Guinea)

Big 5 and evolutionary theory

Individual differences on these dimensions can be maintained in the population because different levels are adaptive under different conditions. Agreeableness reflects differences in the proclivity to cooperate vs act selfishly in conflicts over resources. High neuroticism can be beneficial in causing increased vigilance to social danger but at a cost of increased stress and depression. Extraversion reflects pursuit of a risk-taking strategy marked by success in short-term mating. Conscientiousness reflects a long term-strategy of delayed gratification and tenacity of goal pursuit versus a more impulsive solution that involves grabbing immediate adaptive benefits.

Individual Differences

Most challenging and difficult level of analysis for evolutionary psychologists o Environmental effects on species-typical patterns—e.g., father absence directing individuals toward short-term sexual strategy o Adaptive self-assessment of heritable qualities—e.g., individuals who are muscular and large pursue a more aggressive strategy than those who are less muscular and smaller o Frequency-dependent alternative strategies—e.g., short-term and long-term sexual strategies of women are maintained in the population at a frequency where reproductive benefits of strategies are equal

Why have a need to belong?

Reason 1: Groups can share food, information, and other resources. Reason 2: Groups can offer protection from external threat, or defense against rival groups. Reason 3: Groups contain concentrations of mates, which are needed for reproduction. Reason 4: Groups usually contain kin, which provide opportunities to receive altruism and to invest in genetic relatives.

inclusive fitness theory

personal reproductive success (number of offspring you produce) plus effects you have on genetic relatives as well. Take some risk for relatives but not too great a risk.

Burnstein et al.

pointed out that during natural disasters people's uppermost concern is with their families. The idea that concern for others should be dependent upon relatedness has been predicted by evolutionary biologists in their discussions of 'inclusive fitness'.

Evolutionary noise

random variations that are neutral with respect to selection.

Kin selection

the evolutionary strategy that favors the reproductive success of an organism's relatives, even at a cost to the organism's own survival and reproduction. Kin altruism is altruistic behavior whose evolution is driven by kin selection.