Psy 410 Midterm

What is a mating strategy? Example?

A set of behaviors used to attract, select, and retain mates ex: human's short term v. long term mating strategies

What is a brain network?

A set of brain regions that are known to be interacting

What is reciprocal altruism?What is needed to support reciprocal altruism?

asynchonous trade (you scratch my back, I scratch yours) Support: Someone benefits Someone pays Multiple interactions must occur cheating must be dealt with

What is Hamilton's rule for kin altruism?

c<rb cost to an altruist <relatedness(prob. of sharing a gene)x reproductive benefit

What are the main functions of families that we discussed in class?

general survival benefits, knowledge, resources, inclusive fitness

How might altruism and cooperation evolve for non-kin interactions?

may evolve into reciprocal altruism--> essentially asynchronous trade -reciprocal altruism may evolve because both parties benefit, even if completely unrelated

What are the potential costs of pursuing short term mating strategies among men and women?

men: disease, reputation, lower survival due to low investment, violence, and retaliation women: the same ^^, low parental investment, conflict with other children

How does paternity uncertainty relate to male parenting?

paternity uncertainty constitutes an adaptive challenge and so we can look for potential adaptations and sex differences -greater investment in children that look like themselves (men) - men show greater response to children's faces that look like them

What is inclusive fitness theory?

our relatives share our genes (to differing degrees) and helping them is effectively increasing our own success at passing genes to the next generation -evolution applies to the population!

According to Buss, what are possible benefits of men who pursue a long term strategy?

1) may be the only choice available to attract a woman 2) best choice to attract the highest quality of mate 3) May increase Paternity certainty 4) May increase survival of children 5) Increase in status 6) can increase coalition allies through mate's family

What factors affect the payoff to offspring of parental investment?

*age*- Early investment is highly valuable; offspring near reproductive age are also very valuable (inclusive fitness) *health*- Less healthy children receive more resources, same with healthy children (remember infanticide in the animal kingdom)

At what stage of development does conflict occur?

-At weaning: baby wants more milk but the mom wants to prepare for the next baby sooner -in utero: think, spontaneous abortions more common in fetuses with genetic abnormalities also think: preeclampsia is the baby's need for good blood flow and a mothers need to regulate blood pressure

What evolved mechanisms may be relevant for human cooperation?*

-cheater detection? -indirect reciprocity: creating a reputation as an altruist may have more people want to help you when you need it -showy altruism: since altruism is costly, it may make one more socially attractive

What were the main findings in the peacock paper by Veblein paper?

-conspicuous consumption only triggered by desire for short term mates in men -conspicuous consumption only possible in the modern era -think: short term mating is when cc is most attractive

What evidence does Schmitt list as potential adaptations for short-term mating in males?

-larger than average testicles -sperm emission varies with time since last with partner, suggesting sperm competition w/potential rivals -human mating cycles are not on display, sex is always in season baby ;)

What else could a parent do with resources other than investing in offspring?

-other mating opportunities -investment in other offspring -investment in other relative's reproductive success

What drives the parental offspring conflict?

-the amount of resources that would benefit a child most is always less than the amount that would benefit the parent when there are no other places to "invest" -this mismatch is what drives the conflict!

Can you name at least 4 questions that Buss claims have been explored by evolutionary psychologists researching human mating?

1) Do men and women differ in the in the value they place on long term mates, and if so, were these sex differences limited to the US/West? 2) Do trait preferences depend on the type of mate sought, such as a short term sex partner v a long term committed mate? 3) Do women's mate preferences vary as a function of their ovulation cycle? 4) To what degree do mate preference influence actual mating and marital decision?

What are the main factors that should affect parental investment according to Alexander 1979?

1) Genetic Relatedness 2) Payoff of investment to children 3) Tradeoffs in investment

How valued is chastity across cultures?

Although there have been broad claims about the importance of chastity for men, it is widely varied throughout culture. More important: fidelity and things associated with fidelity!

How might cuteness be an adaptation?*

Cute babies have higher chances of survival b/c they elicit caregiving in adults

Why do Stewart et al. argue that mutual mate choice is a better description of human mating strategies?

Evolutionary psychology may focus too much on sex differences, ultimately they argue: -there is high *mutual parental investmen*t in humans -*low* psychological dimorphism -claims that females are arguably the 'showier' sex indicating male choice as well

What evidence is there that cuteness is relevant for parental care?

High baby schema is rated as more cute -with this, the higher the baby schema the higher the motivation for caretaking! stay cute lil babies get fed

How does testosterone vary as a function of relationship status in males?

Men in committed, romantic relationships have lower testosterone

What benefits do men and women accrue from short term mating strategies?

Men: can increase the overall # of offspring, scaling directly with the number of mates Women: resource access (paternity confusion) -good genes -mate switching (trading up) -mate evaluation -mate manipulation

What kinds of kin recognition systems are discussed in the ground squirrel papers?

Location (places where you're likely to meet relatives i.e. nests) Association (interacting with kin/social learning) Phenotype Matching (they look like me) Recognition Alleles

How do modern infant and child mortality rates compare to historical ones, and other species?

Modern- IMR =0.1%, CMR =1% Hunter Gatherer- IMR = 26.8%, CMR = 48.8% (little higher than historical ones, but pretty close) other species are higher than hunter gatherer except for orangutan

How is sexual selection different from natural selection?

Natural selection is more about the *process* of inheriting specific characteristics that help them survive and reproduce, where sexual selection is where the individuals with these characteristics are more likely to obtain mates Natural selection = adaptations that arise due to survival Sexual selection = adaptations arise due to successful mating

What is the prisoner's dilemma and what insights may it give us into altruism?

PD: way of demonstrating that you can get cooperation happening even without wanting to help your kin; opportunities for multiple interactions occur through a cost-benefit game where the most effective strategy is to be cooperative but also play tit-for-tat

What is the main idea behind Parental offspring conflict?

Parent's interests and children's interests do not directly overlap: -it's in the interest of the child to extract the maximum amount of care possible from a parent -in the interest of the parent to balance the needs of one child with any other needs of other children, future children, or relatives

What method did they use for creating different groups or sets of ground squirrels to test?

Parents --> birth litter--> *cross fostering*--> rearing litters--> groups tested

What predictions does Parental Investment Theory make?

Predictions: a) The sex that invests more energy will be more choosy and picky b) the sex that invests less will be more competitive for access

What is sexual dimorphism? Give a behavioral example...

Sexual dimorphism: differences between the sexes; different species are sexually dimorphic to varying degrees Ex: Human males better at way-finding and spatial orientation that human females

What is sexual selection?

Some features of animals vary widely between the sexes, producing in some cases, size differences, showy displays, and a variety of behaviors associated w/ attracting mates -energetically costly -potentially risky natural selection arising through preference by one sex for certain characteristics in individuals of the other sex

What features of organisms are relevant for reproductive success?

The ability to detect and find a mate Mate attraction, competition with rivals

What are correlates of mating patterns?

The degree of ornament, type of competition, and consequences of certainty of paternity differ with mating patterns

How do beauty preferences relate to evolution?

They point to: -cues in reproductive capacity -cues to paternity certainty -babies look at attractive faces longer

What is a mating pattern? Examples?

different mating strategies make different levels of demand for the species--> monogamy is associated with a lesser degree of dimorphism species vary in general patterns of mating -serially monogamous, socially monogamous, polyandry, polygynous

What is altruism?

philosophical:intentionally acting on other's interest *biological*: increasing other's fitness at some cost or risk to one's own (irrespective of intention)

What's the main reason we have sex according to the Buss and Meston paper?

pleasure

In the Little et al. paper, how did women's preferences for masculine features vary across the lifespan?

preferences for more feminine features were more pronounced in pre-pubscent and post-menopause, while around 18-45 yr olds prefered masculine features

What is the puzzle/problem of altruism and its evolution?

puzzle: how could it evolve in the first place because any altruistic organism would seem to be taking itself out of the gene pool? How then, could an altruistic disposition spread in a population?

What is another definition of inclusive fitness?

the number of effective/equivalent offspring you helped succeed