PSYC 602 Exam 1.
ultimate causation
"why?" • usually a cause that is "farther" away • humans were not "designed" to understand that causal reasons behind human tendencies
Natural Selection crafts...
Adaptations
Which of the following is evidence for evolution? A. Embryo Development B. Fossils C. Vestigial Organs D. All of the above E. None of the Above
D. All of the above. Similar embryo development among unrelated organisms, the discovery of fossils with similar structures to modern humans, and organs, such as the appendix, that we no longer have a known use for are all evidence that the modern human has evolved.
sight
• comes in handy for detecting some predators • food ID • depends on the environment -- creatures that live in underwater caves for their entire lives don't have sight
Dewal? Article
"cruelty depends on empathy" • your ability to inflict pain on someone/be cruel relates to your ability to understand the effect of your actions on another -- if you don't understand how the person will feel, you cannot understand how to make be cruel • in order to be cruel you have to understand the effects of your actions on another • the only creatures capable of cruelty are the ones who have empathy -- i.e., lions are not cruel but people are
cooperative
+ self, + neighbors
selfish
+ self, - neighbors
Lamarckism
- Jean Pierre Lamarck → believed organisms can change their traits during their lifetime by use or disuse - thought that these traits are passed on to offspring; over time this would cause change in a species - Lamarck was wrong -- BUT not completely -- epigenetics
Threads of Evidence for Evolution
- common ancestry - homologous structures - vestigial organs - fossils - embryonic development - the universality of the genetic code (from a reading not ppt)
Pre-Darwin Beliefs
- earth was only a few thousand years old -- actually billions of years old - neither the planet nor the species that inhabited it had changed since the beginning of time -- actually planet has changed and so have organisms (see this in fossils) - Lamarckism (Jean Pierre Lamarck)
Darwin's Galapagos Findings
- finches on each island had different types of beaks • common ancestry between the finches • drought/lots of rain (environment) clearly affected evolution - tortoises on each island had different shaped shells
Evolution and Natural Selection
- genetic variations are passed on through reproduction (recombination of parents genes) -- genes can mutate; do not stay fixed over time -- better genes more likely to be passed on - evidence for evolution illustrates how organisms are related - natural selection leads to evolution - understanding of evolution has changed over time - environments have a large role in evolution
John Green Video
- homo species wasn't always homo sapiens -- a bunch of branches of pre-human creatures -- varies pre-humans did interbreed sometimes - many thousands of years of evolution brought humans to this point - social hierarchies are very important for primates, including humans -- social groups tend to have clear dominance hierarchies with people on top having access to most stuff
Psychological Adaptations
- mental modules can be specialized • ability to recognize faces of own species but not others - psychological mechanisms are modular and task-specific - psychological adaptations have been designed by natural selection to produce adaptive behavior • selection designs the organs that underlie and produce behavior not behavior directly
Study 2
- power moderates the relationship between mating goals and women's conspicuous consumption • high and low power appear to increase conspicuous consumptions and mate-guarding and mate-attracting women respectively - social comparison orientation mediated between power and women's conspicuous consumption • high power increased mate-guarding women's conspicuous consumption inclination by promoting their adoption of the other-comparison orientation frame • low power increased mate-attracting women's conspicuous consumption inclination by promoting the self-comparison orientation - marketing for products that improve women's attractiveness should aim to suggest low power - marketing for luxury gifts for women should aim to suggest high power
Neo-darwinism: the union of selection and genetics
- selection acting on phenotypes determines what alleles get passed to the next generation - selection can act only on traits that have a genetic basis - a trait has a genetic basis if any change in the genotype would change the phenotype
altruistic
- self, + neighbors
spiteful
- self, - neighbors
Sexual selection as a kind of natural selection
- sexual selection favors traits that provide benefits in the mating context - unlike natural selection sexual selection typically leads to the evolution of sex differences intersexual selection vs. intrasexual selection
Critique of the SSSM
- the SSSM misunderstands the nature of development • how can something that is truly blank respond to environmental stimuli? • the human mind is prepared for the experience of language, not a blank slate - the SSSM draws a false dichotomy between nature and nurture • behavior cannot be divided between nature and nurture - environmental effects cannot be explained by general laws of learning • learning mechanisms tend to be specialized for specific kinds of problems - the SSSM drives a wedge between the natural and social sciences • natural and social sciences though coexist and cannot be explained separately - the SSSM lacks an overarching theory of design • EP seeks to add an overarching theory that unifies findings and allows one to predict them in advance • explains WHY people respond to their environments in the ways that they do
adaptations formed slowly because
- the natural pace of evolution is measured in generations • traits cannot spread any faster than the members of the population can reproduce (generation time; for humans ~20 years) - natural selection can choose only naturally occurring alternatives; it cannot create entirely new variants • most species that have ever existed are now extinct because sometimes natural selection cannot build a good adaptation because the variation it needs is not present
Gardner Fear
- we act in irrational ways especially when we get frightened that we're losing something even if it's not something important that we fear we've lost - current fears do not align with actual dangers we face - more afraid than ever but safer than ever
Core Tenets of Evolutionary Psychology
1. all behavior is a function of psychological mechanisms and input to those mechanisms 2. All psychological mechanisms, at some basic level, originate from evolutionary processes 3. Natural and sexual selection are the most important evolutionary processes responsible for creating psychological mechanisms 4. Evolved psychological mechanisms can be described as information processing devices. 5. Evolved psychological mechanisms are instantiated in the brain. 6. Evolved psychological mechanisms are functional: Designed to solve statistically recurrent adaptive problems
natural selection provided 3 key answers
1. explained change over time - descent with modification 2. explained the apparent purposive quality of component parts - adaptive function 3. united all species into one grand tree of descent - including humans
the Mechanism of natural selection
1. natural populations could grow exponentially 2. despite this potential for exponential growth, natural populations normally are relatively stable 3. many individuals do not leave as many offspring as they might • often due to limited resources • natural selection = the tendency for those best suited to the current environment to produce more offspring 4. those best suited to the prevailing environment leave the most offspring • in each generation nature selects form the population those best able to cope with the prevailing environmental barriers to reproduction 5. because of heredity offspring are like their parents • advantages are passed on • disadvantages are not passed on (generally) 6. over many generations, natural selection builds individuals that are well adapted to their environment
Mendel's Model of Heredity
1. the stuff of heredity consists of particles, not fluids • genes 2. each normal adult carries a pair of genes for each trait • homozygous → two identical genes • heterozygous → two different genes 3. when breeding, each parent gives one and only one of its pair of genes for each traits • diploid → somatic cells • haploid → sex cells 4. although pairs of genes do not dilute or change each other permanently, they can influence each other's expression • dominant • recessive
2. Which of these is an example of Intersexual selection? A) A female peacock choosing a male peacock because of his brightly colored feathers. B) Two lions fighting for access to viable females. C) A boy wearing blue because it's he's crush's favorite color. D) Both A & C
A) A female peacock choosing a male peacock because of his brightly colored feathers. A. Intersexual selection occurs when members of one sex choose a mate based on preferences for particular qualities in that mate.
According to Gardner, many of our fears are _________ when compared with the actual dangers we face. A) Irrational B) Rational
A) Irrational
2. Which of the following is true of pre-Darwin beliefs about evolution? A. Organisms could modify features over their lifetime and these acquired traits could be passed genetically to offspring B. Organisms could modify features over their lifetime but these traits would not be passed genetically to their offspring C. The ideas that perpetuated before Darwin's concept of evolution have been completely discredited D. Both A and C E. Both B and C
A) Organisms could modify features over their lifetime and these acquired traits could be passed genetically to offspring For instance, this belief, largely perpetuated by Lamark, was said to act on giraffe's necks. The giraffe's were able to grow longer necks by stretching to get to taller leaves, and through this growth, they were able to pass on the trait of longer necks to their offspring. In reality, the giraffe's with longer necks were simply surviving better due to the ability to get more food, thus they passed on their genes more. However, this theory is not completely discredited because there are certain traits that our own actions can cause to be expressed differently. For instance, skin tone due to melanin is very dependent on how much time a person spends outside in the sun. This is now known as the field of ethogenetics, and while it cannot pass on traits acquired over the lifetime to offspring, we do see variations of traits based on our own actions, thus not completely discrediting Lamark's ideas.
Dewaal suggests that the ability to inflict pain on another comes from understanding how another will feel as a result of the pain. This thought process uses... A. Theory of Mind B. Hierarchy of Structure C. Natural Selection D. Costly Signaling
A. Theory of Mind. In order to understand one will feel the pain you intend to inflict, Theory of Mind enables the thinker to understand that another entity has thoughts and feelings not already understood by the thinkers mind.
4. Which of the following traits of adaptation describes a trait that would increase the fitness of neighbors but decrease the fitness of yourself? A. Selfish trait B. Altruistic trait C. Cooperative trait D. Spiteful trait E. None of the above
B) Altruistic trait Selfish- increase your own fitness while decreasing neighbors, altruistic- increase neighbor's fitness while decreasing your own, cooperative- increase both your own and your neighbor's fitness, spiteful- decreasing both your own and your neighbor's fitness. Traits explained more in G&McB chapter 2.
3. Which of the following is NOT a factor that prevents selection from reducing to a single favorable allele? A. Environmental Variation- different environments making different features favorable B. Selective Mating- specific traits being more attractive to the opposite gender C. Heterozygote Superiority- heterozygotes sometimes having more advantages than homozygotes D. Frequency dependent selection- fitness depending on how common a phenotype is in the population E. Mutation- new alleles arising through random mutation
B) Selective mating certain traits being more favorable to the opposite gender (ex. a bird's song being more complex, a peacock's feathers being bright) would encourage selection for one specific trait, which would encourage reducing the allele to a single favorable one (barring complications from costly signaling). The other choices are talked about in Chapter 1 G&McB.
1. Which of these is an example of Intrasexual selection? A) A male peacock attracting a female peacock with his brightly colored feathers. B) Two lions fighting for access to viable females. C) A boy wearing blue because it's he's crush's favorite color. D) None of the Above
B) Two lions fighting for access to viable females. B. Intrasexual selection occurs when members of the same sex compete with each other for access to members of the opposite sex.
Which one of these is an example of costly signaling A) Eating an apple for breakfast B) Wearing high heels to impress others C) Painting alone D) Going to the doctor
B) Wearing high heels to impress others
1. It was originally theorized that evolutionary changes took place over periods of hundreds of years, there is now evidence that it happens ______________ A. Much Slower B. Much Quicker C. As Originally Expected D. A Constant Rate
B. Much Quicker. Evolutionary changes can be see in short periods of time with organisms that have a shorter life span than humans, for example, New York City sewer rats.
According to Gardner, we have two systems of thinking. What are they and how do they work? A. Reasoning System works fast and the Gut/Feeling system also works fast B. Reasoning System works slow and the Gut/Feeling system works fast C. Reasoning System works fast and the Gut/Feeling system works slow D. Reasoning System works slow and the Gut/Feeling system also works slow
B. Reasoning system works slow and the Gut/Feeling system works fast. This is because the reason system tends to be evidence or language based while feelings are unconscious, super fast, based on intuitions, snap decisions, based on availability heuristics.
According to EP
Biology is a natural science; biology is built upon the rock of evolutionary theory; psychology is a branch of biology Animal and human behavior are biological phenomena that have evolved Ignorance of evolutionary theory can lead some psychologists to appear to view humans as having progressed to be above apes and other "lower" animals on a "scale of nature" or scala naturae (hierarchy)
1. What was the primary cause behind Darwin's finches developing into different subspecies? A. Droughts B. Competition for resources C. Different microclimates of each island D. Selective mating E. None of the above
C) Different microclimates of each island Each kind of finch has a different beak because natural selection has selected for the beak that optimizes the most abundant food source in the particular climate that the specific birds live in. Because each of the Galapagos islands had such different microclimates, the same finches were able to develop differently, making it a perfect location for Darwin to study natural selection without far travel.
Which of these is an example of coevolution? A) The white peppered moth dying out after the Industrial Revolution B) Finches on the Galapagos Islands developing different beaks C) Prey species growing larger in response to predation pressures, and predators in turn getting larger D) A peacock's bright feathers attracting a mate
C) Prey species growing larger in response to predation pressures, and predators in turn getting larger
For natural selection to occur there must be A. Two separate organisms B. A costly expenditure C. At least two varieties of a species D. A shared environment
C. At least two varieties of a species. This can be seen in organisms such as the peppered mouth or Darwin's finches.
What is biological evidence that evolution is real? A) People speak different languages B) the existence of vestigial organs C) Embryos from different creatures look really similar D) B and C
D) B and C
Darwin proposed that the finches on the Galapagos Islands came from one original species and diverged because of different environmental pressures. This is the idea of __________ A) Sexual Selection B) Costly Signaling C) Coevolution D) Common Ancestry
D) Common Ancestry
5. Which of the following is an example of a vestigial organ? A. A kiwi's wings B. A whale's hind leg bones C. A human tailbone D. Both B and C E. All of the above
E) all of the above (kiwi wings, whale hind leg bone, human tailbone) A vestigial organ is a structure or organ that used to be functional in the ancestors of a species but over time have evolved to be useless. Therefore, a flightless bird doesn't actually need their wings, whale's don't have legs and don't need leg bones, and humans don't have tails but still have tailbones.
According to the SSSM
Psychology is a social science which are concerned with how culture and experience produce wide variation in human behavior; therefore, social sciences do not need to consider the role of evolution in the development of behavioral variability Animal behavior is controlled by their biology; human behavior is determined by culture and experience; animal behavior is more appropriately studied by biologists
attributes are...
a mixed bag not good or bad
costly signaling theory
almost all animals signal and the purpose of most animals (including humans) signaling is to signal information about themselves
power
an individual's ability to influence or prevent influence from others • affects conspicuous consumption • low-power consumers prefer conspicuous goods that signal high status to compensate for feelings of powerlessness • also affects social comparison
Consciousness
awareness (self vs. other, accessible vs. inaccessible), wakefulness
women have more empathy
babies; perpetuate gene pool - women who did not have empathy towards their babies are no longer around - the only way to continue your gene pool is to have empathy toward your baby
mate attraction
behavior directed toward attracting a desired mate • men usually use conspicuous consumption for mate attraction
mate guarding
behavior directed toward guarding against rivals to one's intimate relationship • women usually use conspicuous consumption for mate guarding
the irrelevance of biology
biological constraints on human behavior are minor and unimportant • humans have few if any "instincts" and only a few bio drives (hunger, thirst, sex) • genes are broad boundaries
epigenetics
certain genes/gene expression do in fact get turned on/off or even change through environmental circumstances in ones lifetime
most important sense
chemical sensitivity • ALL animals have chemical sensitivity • it appears to have been the first sense for living things to have evolved and some living things did not evolve past this sense • so important in knowing what to eat and what not to eat • pheromones
evolutionary psychology is...
consilient 1. Organizes known facts parsimoniously 2. Provides guidance to important domains 3. Leads to new predictions 4. Unifies psychology with the life sciences
the peppered moth
dark moths increased in England with the industrial revolution because the soot that covered everything created an environment in which they were camouflaged from predators - the environmental change made the dark coloring of dark moths advantageous light moths decreased because they became conspicuous to predators NATURAL SELECTION - best fit to environment leading to increased reproductive success
Adaptations
designs for reproduction • preserved by natural selection because they aid reproduction in some way
low power women are more likely to
do the opposite and compare themselves to themselves • am I better than I was before?
general-purpose learning mechanisms
experience exerts its effects through the process of learning; can handle many different kinds of input information and can generate many kinds of output
Cumulative Selection
eyes, etc. were not built in a day • extremely complex adaptations had to have arisen from accumulation of small improvements
Hawaiian honeycreeper
family of birds in Hawaii that have similar skeletons and muscles, indicating close relation - over time their common ancestor evolved into several species with a specialized bill (like Darwin's finches)
Charles Darwin
founder of evolution; "Origin of Species" 1859; sailed around on HMS Beagle and studied species in Galapagos islands - finches!
Who benefits from adaptations?
four kinds of traits categorized by how they affect the fitness of the individual who has the trait (self) and in terms of how they affect the fitness of neighbors • altruistic • cooperative • spiteful • selfish
pheromones
guide mating - previously thought not to be important for humans but more and more thinking so - unconscious - people prefer the smell of others with opposite immune systems; men prefer the smell of women ovulating; women prefer the smell of men with more symmetrical faces
Perception
has to do with consciousness
EEA (environment of evolutionary adaptedness)
humans evolved in an environment that no longer exists; to understand the function of human behavior, we need to go back to the environment that humans evolved in; the environment to which a particular evolved mechanism is adapted - i.e., preference for fatty/sweet foods -- adapted to environment that no longer exists -- not adapted to current environment, leads to obesity
Pagel humans and social groups
humans keep within their social group or tribe • found in the vast number of distinct human groups that we currently see • at least 7000 distinct languages in the planet • we can readily identify people from different parts of the globe by how they look -- suggests that people tended to stay put and protect their own group and resist infiltration from others
Homologous structures
if animals evolved from a common ancestor, then they should share common structures (and they do!) • human, bat, whale, cat, horse, bird arms/wings • embryos
Common Ancestry
if species evolved from a common ancestor, then they should share common anatomical traits • Hawaiian honeycreeper
proximate causation
immediate, causal forces - development, input, mechanisms
intersexual selection vs. intrasexual selection
intersexual selection - preferential mate choice - opposite sex choosing mates based on preferred qualities intrasexual selection - competing within sex for mates - members of same sex compete for (usually limited quantity) of opposite sex
Vestigial Organs
leftover organs that no longer do anything; holdovers form earlier times when that part served a function • kiwi bird → flightless birds still have wings • whale → have hind leg bone but do not walk • humans → have tailbones and appendix use neither
mating goals differentially affect women's frames of reference for social comparison
mate guarding goal → women who compete for a single mate will tend to compare themselves with their rivals (other-comparison) • high power also stimulates women's other comparison mate attraction → maximizing their attractiveness; leads women to enter the self-comparison frame • low power promotes self-comparison • low power women aiming to attract a mate may engage in more conspicuous consumption than similar high-power women
intrasexual competition
need to be "better" than others of the same sex to attract mate (in addition to being generally attractive to other sex)
"survival of the fittest"
often misrepresented as survival of biggest/strongest BUT meant as survival of best fit to environment • i.e., humans cannot breathe in water but do well in air; survive well on earth, but not if the entire planet was covered in water cannot be used without modifications • reproduction not merely survival is what makes a difference in evolution • fittest must refer to the fit between the organism and the environment • should read "reproduction of those best suited to the prevailing environment"
Natural selection
organisms best adapted to their environment have a better chance of surviving and reproducing key → differential reproductive success because of heritable variants; everyone has ancestors, but not everyone leaves descendants variation, inheritance, differential reproduction
high power women are more likely to compare themselves to...
other rather than themselves • am I better than others
conspicuous consumption
purchasing and displaying costly products to suggest wealth and social status • past research mostly on men • women tend to favor wealthy, high-status men in order to maximize their own future ability to nurture their children • women do though consume large amounts of luxury products - why?
Galapagos
rich diversity of species that were related but had variations because each island had own microclimate and environmental pressures
Fossils
see how species evolved over time - scientists can trace how a species evolved by studying fossils
costly signal
signal that is hard to fake (i.e., big claw, colorful tail feathers); you have it or you don't; it's also hard to produce and costly; takes a lot of bodily energy to have this and it comes with a significant cost • a large portion of what humans spend money on (especially expendable income) is things to signal to others a variety of pieces of information -- health -- fitness -- fertility -- youth -- attractiveness -- intelligence -- certain personality traits (kindness, conscientiousness, humor) • engagement rings, cars, subwoofers
Major Flaws in Darwin's Theories - some features of species do not aid in survival, so why are they selected?
the feathers of a peacock because the male peacock have huge gaudy tail feathers that made it much more likely that the peacocks would die by attracting more predators and being hard to drag around (big and heavy - peacocks don't move well and are easily seen) -- BUT sexual selection → tail feathers make a peacock more likely to die BUT also more likely to attract a mate - tail feathers greatly aid in reproduction (attracting peahens)
the great chain of being
the idea that life forms can be ordered in a ladder of complexity and sophistication (i.e., religious view of creation) • idea that beings share certain similarities with their nearest neighbors and that being higher on the scale means they have a "higher" nature
The Social Science Model (SSM)
the prevailing orthodoxy in anthropology, sociology, and has dominated psychology since the 1940's; "Most cognitive scientists still work in a tradition of empiricism and associationism whose main tenets haven't changed much since Locke and Hume. The human mind is a blank slate at birth. Experience writes on the slate, and association extracts and extrapolates whatever trends there are in the record that experience leaves" - Skinner → learning -- wrong - we come into the world super well equipped for some things (i.e., language) but not others (physics) suggesting that the blank slate model is inaccurate/doesn't fit well with what humans are really like - under challenge by evolutionary psychology -- critique of contemporary psychology bc it has largely ignored the role of evolution in shaping human behavior
Evolution
the theory that organisms today developed from more simple life forms and have changed (evolved) over time - thought to happen really, really slowly BUT new evidence that it happens much more quickly than believed -- i.e., rats in NYC have adapted to changing conditions in the city in the past 20-30 years - rate is dependent upon rate of reproduction/lifespan
for natural selection to occur...
there must be at least *two varieties of a species*
feeling (gut)
unconscious, super-fast, based on intuition, snap-judgments; feed into emotion systems; based on availability/representativeness heuristics - works independently of reason
Evolutionary Psychology
views the mind as a computational system; the mind is massively modular; a lot of mental structure, including a lot of cognitive structure, is innate; a lot of mental structure, including a lot of cognitive structure, is an evolutionary adaptation - in particular, the function of a creature's nervous system is to abet the propagation of its genome
the blank slate
virgin mind with no initial content; human mind is a neutral medium on which experience makes it mark - no natural, inborn inclinations or tendencies
Study 1
women associate conspicuous brands with higher success in mating goals compared to ordinary brands • women believe conspicuous products can maximize their attractiveness and signal their partner's loyalty, thereby facilitating mate attraction or mate guarding respectively • perceptions about mate attraction and guarding affect women's conspicuous consumptions
reason (head)
works fairly slowly; might take several seconds; tends to be evidence, language-based; complex thoughts
the great chain of being - two reasons this is mistaken
• implies that evolution occurs in a linear fashion -- evolution is instead branching like a bush • implies progress - the higher creature is better -- evolution sometimes builds complexity but also builds simplicity; rather evolution builds the latest model -- evolution means change NOT progress
reasons why natural selection is not a weak force
• it has all the time in the world literally to do its work • most natural populations consist of many millions of individuals • to be favored by natural selection a trait does not have to fully solve some environment problem, it just has to help
what causes sexual selection?
• males are usually the bearers of ecologically harmful adornments • reproductive rate → sex differences in reproductive rates affect the availability of mates for males and females • sexually selected traits are costly but provide a net benefit because they confer advantages in the competition for mates • sex differences in reproductive rate cause sexual selection by making mates scarce for just one sex • sexual selection favors traits that increase mate quantity for the fast sex and traits that increase mate quality for the slow sex
Some traits are not adaptations
• non-adaptive features could arise simply by chance or they could be incidental side effects of other traits that are adaptations • adaptations are usually complex and integrated and they show design for a function that contributes to reproduction
we have two parallel systems of thinking
• reason (head) • feeling (gut)
3 assumptions of SSSM
• the blank slate • the irrelevance of biology • general-purpose learning mechanisms
for social learning to take place, need...
• to copy, imitate someone in a sophisticated way -- a lot of primates can copy others • selectively copying (choosing what to copy) and being able to improve upon what you have copied -- humans may have a monopoly on picking and choosing what do copy and to make improvements on what they have copies
if a tree falls with no one around, did it make a sound?
• tree always displaces air • BUT depending on your sensory apparatus you may or may not detect it OR detect it in different ways
Dewal? Article - "we'd rather blame nature for what we don't like in ourselves than credit it for what we do like"
• we recognize that some human behavior is instinctual and similar to what other animals would do (bad things, reproduction) • morality is "another kind of thing" -- some things we do do not result in immediate gratification (i.e., sharing) BUT animals also act altruistically (i.e., sharing, sacrificing for the greater good); not called an animal instinct, but clearly other animals do these things • the majority of bees and ants work for the benefit of others (some really simple creatures share which is something humans also do)
