Chapter 15: Evolution and Human Behavior
Which of the following statements would be made by someone who assumes that the nature-nurture debate is valid?
Correct Answer(s) -Behaviors are either genetic or learned. -A dichotomy between genetic transmission and learning exists. -There is a clear distinction between genetic effects and environmental effects. Incorrect Answer(s): -Genes and the environment interact with one another to create behaviors and traits.
The graph below depicts results from an experiment between American and Shuar children regarding their memories of animals who were categorized as either dangerous or edible. What can be concluded from this graph?
Correct Answer(s) -Children from both societies were more likely to remember dangerous animals than edible animals. -Shuar children were more likely to remember edible animals than American children. Incorrect Answer(s): -Shuar and American children were more likely to remember edible animals than dangerous animals. -American children were more likely to remember edible animals than Shuar children.
The graphs below show men's and women's responses to a prompt regarding whether they thought sexual or emotional infidelity would be more upsetting. What can be concluded from this chart as well as current research about fidelity and jealousy?
Correct Answer(s) -Concerns about infidelity were higher in locations where paternal investment among men was higher. -In seven of the eleven societies, women thought sexual infidelity was more upsetting than emotional infidelity Incorrect Answer(s): -Women care more about emotional infidelity than sexual infidelity. - There is no variation in how men and women feel about infidelity across cultures.
The table below shows men's and women's average ranking of traits in regard to mate preference. Which of the following statements regarding the table are true?
Correct Answer(s) -Women are generally more interested in a potential mate's ambition level than men are in a potential mate's ambition level. -Men are generally more concerned with the health of a potential mate than are women. -Cross-culturally, mutual attraction is typically the most desirable trait in a potential mate. Incorrect Answer(s): -Women generally care more than men about whether a partner has been chaste before marriage.
Which of the following groups were the Agta more likely to share their food acquired from foraging with?
Correct Answer(s) -people who also allocated resources to them -people who are in need -close relatives Incorrect Answer(s): -distant relatives -cheaters
Which of the following statements regarding genetics and behavior are true?
Correct Answer(s): - Genetic determinism of behavior is inconsistent with the fact that most behavior is learned. -Evolution has shaped our behavior. Incorrect Answer(s): - Most of the variation in our behavior has a genetic basis. - Culture and environment are the factors that influence behavior the least. - Evolutionary explanations of behavior imply genetic determinism.
Which of the following statements regarding people who grow up together and the incest taboo are true?
Correct Answer(s): -Adults tend not to be sexually involved with people with whom they were raised. -Kibbutz age-mates did not generally marry others in the same peer group. -We have an aversion with regard to sexual relationships with close relatives. Incorrect Answer(s): -Minor marriages demonstrated that regardless of the age of the wife when adopted, these marriages never survive.
Which of the following statements regarding how humans think and learn are true?
Correct Answer(s): -Evolutionary analysis helps us understand the development of the human brain. -Human societies share many universal mental mechanisms. Incorrect Answer(s): -Human brains are designed to solve the problems that our very early scavenging ancestors faced. -Most learning strategies are very flexible and can be used to adapt any aspect of phenotype.
Which of the following is true in terms of how people across cultures rely on kinship?
Correct Answer(s): -Kinship systems exist in all contemporary societies. -Kinship systems provide an organizational system. -Kinship systems around the world use culturally-distinct terms to organize kin. Incorrect Answer(s) -"First cousin" has the same meaning everywhere. -Keeping track of kin is not important for humans. -Kinship systems around the world use the exact same terms for cousins. -Kinship systems around the world distinguish between maternal and paternal kin.
Which of the following was suggested by the Buss study?
Culture account for substantial variation in mate preferences, but some is also explained by evolved psychology.
Animals with complex neural systems, such as mammals and birds, have a few general-purpose learning mechanisms that allow them to learn a wide range of behaviors suited to a wide range of conditions
False
Behavior is entirely genetically determined.
False
Food sharing among the Agta can be explained entirely by evolutionary theories of human behavior.
False
Why are anthropologists so intent on studying the food-gathering practices of hunter-gatherer societies?
Humans have been foragers since the rise of our species, and before our species arose, other animals of the Homo genus were foragers. Anthropologists think that our brains are evolutionarily designed to experience life in foraging societies.
First-cousin marriages are legal in many states. What is the anthropological explanation for this?
It seems to be in our genes to avoid inbreeding because we do not want to increase the chance of passing on deleterious alleles; however, culturally, the definition of inbreeding or incest differs.
According to one theory, cultural rules are all that prevent widespread incest from occurring. This theory can be disproved by evolutionary theory. Why?
Matings between close relatives are exceedingly rare among all primates
Which of the following is one of David Buss's predictions about patterns of human mate preferences?
Men prefer women with traits that indicate that they will likely be able to reproduce successfully.
The pie chart below depicts the Agta's responses regarding how they intend to allocate their rice. What can be concluded from this graph?
The Agta were more likely to allocate rice to genetic relatives and need-based individuals.
The graph below depicts the age of adoption of the wife in Taiwanese minor marriages compared to fertility rates. What can be concluded from this graph?
The younger a wife is when adopted, the lower is her fertility rate.
Which of the following statements regarding incest taboos is correct for all societies?
There is no human societies in which parent- offspring pairing regularly occur.
Experimental research shows that children have psychological mechanisms to help them avoid potentially dangerous plants.
True
In humans, the offspring of closely related parents have lower fitness than the offspring of unrelated parents.
True
The study of the human brain, informed by evolutionary science, provides insight into how our brains are designed and how they work.
True
The Buss study found that---------- had a greater effect than gender on the variation in desirable mate traits.
country of residence
Various studies on mate preferences in humans show some general differences in mate preferences between men and women. Identify whether the following traits are typically male or female mate preferences, or preferences of both.
male mate preference: -Younger mate. female mate preference -good financial prospects -older mate both: -mutual attraction
According to the Buss study, both males and females rated ------above all other desired traits of a potential mate.
mutual attraction
Matings between unrelated individuals is considered ------
outbred mating
The interaction between an individual's genes and the environment produces their -----------
phenotype
What is the central misconception in the nature versus nurture debate?
that there is a clear distinction between the effects of the environment and the effects of genes on the phenotype
The graph below shows age-specific fertility rates for men and women in !Kung society. On the x-axis, click on the age at which females have their greatest reproductive success.
the answer is the age of 25
Behavioral traits and their expression are usually more sensitive to ------- than morphological traits are.
the environment
Ethno-linguistic groups share the same ethnicity and language but are rarely living together at the same time and place.
true