18. Social, sexual and communication

Question 1

What is social organisation? (Social communication psychobiology)

Answer 1

How animals interact with one another and space themselves

Question 2

What were the 4 main question topics Tinbergens proposed? (Social communication psychobiology)

Answer 2

• Mechanistic
• Ontogenetic
• Functional
• Evolutionary

Question 3

What did Tinbergen mean with his mechanistic question? (Social communication psychobiology)

Answer 3

mechanisms by which trait is achieved

Question 4

What did Tinbergen mean with his ontogenetic question? (Social communication psychobiology)

Answer 4

development of behavioural traits

Question 5

What did Tinbergen mean with his functional question? (Social communication psychobiology)

Answer 5

fitness consequence of the trait

Question 6

What did Tinbergen mean with his evolutionary question? (Social communication psychobiology)

Answer 6

evolutionary history of the trait

Question 7

In terms of Darwinian theory, what is the evolutionary fitness of an individual? (Social communication psychobiology)

Answer 7

The contribution of an individual to the gene pool in the next generation

Question 8

What is altruism? (Social communication psychobiology)

Answer 8

Behaviour which increases the fitness of the recipient at some loss of the donor

Question 9

Wha is reproductive altruism? (Social communication psychobiology)

Answer 9

The most extreme form of increasing the fitness of another, while decreasing the fitness of oneself

Question 10

What is solution? (Social communication psychobiology)

Answer 10

Consider indirect genetic benefits as well as direct benefits

Question 11

What is inclusive fitness? (Social communication psychobiology)

Answer 11

The total fitness that an individual gains by breeding itself and by helping close relatives to breed

Question 12

What is kin selection? (Social communication psychobiology)

Answer 12

Process by which characteristics are favoured due to their beneficial effects on survival

Question 13

What is Hamilton’s rule? (Social communication psychobiology)

Answer 13

It defines the conditions under which we would expect genes causing an increase in altruistic behaviour to spread

Question 14

What is the equation for Hamilton’s rule? (Social communication psychobiology)

Answer 14

B/C > 1/r

B = benefits
C = costs
r = coefficient of relatedness

Question 15

What are the values of r in diploid organisms? (Social communication psychobiology)

Answer 15

Mother - offspring = 0.5
Full siblings = 0.5
Niece/nephews = 0.25

Question 16

What is reciprocal altruism? (Social communication psychobiology)

Answer 16

Benefit is greater to the recipient than the cost to the donor