21 Evolutionary Psychology & Personality: From Darwin to Pinker

Question 1

Who was Jean-Baptiste Lamarck?

Answer 1

A French naturalist (1744-1829) who developed the first coherent theory of evolution.

Question 2

What are the two forces driving evolution, according to Lamarck?

Answer 2

1. The complexifying force –a force driving animals from simple to complex forms;
2. The adaptive force – a force adapting animals to their local environments and differentiating them from each other.

He believed that these forces must be explained as a necessary consequence of basic physical principles, favoring a materialistic attitude toward biology.

Question 3

How was the adaptive force realised?

Answer 3

In two stages. 1. More frequent use of an organ strengthens and enlarges that organ. Disuse leads to atrophy. (This is main idea now called Lamarckian)

2. These changes are preserved in reproduction (provided adaptation is common to both sexes)

Question 4

How did simple organisms emerge, according to Lamarck?

Answer 4

Through spontaneous generation.

Question 5

When was On the Origin of Species published?

Answer 5

1859

Question 6

What are the three conditions necessary for evolution to occur?

Answer 6

1. A species must show DIVERSITY. For example, some people are taller than others.
2. There must be a SELECTIVE PRESSURE working on this trait. If people live among trees, and tall people whack their heads on branches and kill themselves more frequently than their shorter fellows, then short people will have a survival advantage.
3. The trait must be INHERITABLE. On average, short people have shorter children than tall people, so evolution favors short people in this example. Within a few generations, our species would become shorter, and it would also become better at evading low branches.

Question 7

What is evolutionary psychology?

Answer 7

A particular way of applying evolutionary theory to the mind, with an emphasis on adaptation, gene-level selection and modularity.

Question 8

What does Stephen Pinker have to say about modularity?

Answer 8

The mind is organised into modules or mental organs, each with a specialised design.

Question 9

What do evolutionary psychologists have to say about modules?

Answer 9

The mind is made up of genetically influenced and domain-specific mental algorithms or computational modules, designed to solve specific evolutionary problems of the past. Modules are units of mental processing that evolved in response to selection pressures.

Question 10

What is the mind, according to evolutionary psychologists?

Answer 10

The mind is a set of information-processing machines that were designed by natural selection to solve adaptive problems faced by our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

Question 11

What are exaptations?

Answer 11

Those characteristics that enhance fitness in their present role but were not built for this role by natural selection.

Question 12

What are the two categories of exaptation?

Answer 12

Exaptations may be divided into two subcategories: preadaptation and spandrels. Spandrels are characteristics that did not originate by the direct action of natural selection and that were later co-opted for a current use. Blood is red not because it’s adaptive for blood to be red - now forms danger signal.

Question 13

How does Pinker explain how humans can read, despite not having adapted for it?

Answer 13

We have evolved to distinguish between plants, but use this skill to distinguish b/w letters.

“We pry our faculties loose from the domains they were designed to work in, and use their machinery to make sense of new domains that abstractly resemble old ones”

Question 14

What is the challenge of evolutionary psychology?

Answer 14

To find how psychological components are reproductively selective

Question 15

Are our brains adapted to modernity, selon Pinqueur?

Answer 15

No, we’re not wired to cope with “anonymous crowds, schooling, written language, governments, police courts, armies, modern medicine, formal social institutions, high technology and other newcomers to the human experience”

Question 16

What are the three reasons Pinker gives for “the modern denial of human nature”?

Answer 16

1. The Blank Slate (empiricism)
2. The Noble Savage (romanticism)
3. The Ghost in the Machine (dualism)

Question 17

How does David Buss explain personality via evolution?

Answer 17

Stable personality traits can create adaptive problems (e.g. narcissist alienating people) as well as solutions (e.g. agreeable person attracting supporters)

Question 18

Buss: If personality has consequences for the creation or solution of adaptive problems, what may have evolved as a result?

Answer 18

Adaptations designed to detect, evaluate and act on those stable differences

Question 19

Buss: What adaptations might the trait of psychopathy have given rise to?

Answer 19

For women (or other victims) –suspicion, aligning with kin

For psychopaths - identifying gullibility

Question 20

What is a Welfare Tradeoff Ratio?

Answer 20

A ratio of how much weight an individual believes should be placed on the welfare on one’s self compared to that of another

Question 21

What is a high WTR for me?

Answer 21

A Welfare Tradeoff Ratio that brings more benefit to me than to another/s.

Question 22

How do narcissists dress?

Answer 22

More stylishly than normals. Women show more cleavage.

Question 23

Who cheats more, narcissists or normals?

Answer 23

Narcissists cheat more.

Question 24

What is a coalition?

Answer 24

A coalition is an alliance among individuals, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest.

Question 25

What qualities are desired in a coalitional ally by both sexes?

Answer 25

Hardworking, intelligent, motivator, knowledgeable, sense of humour

Question 26

What qualities in a coalitional ally do women value more than men?

Answer 26

Conscientious, socially perceptive, not sexually promiscuous

Question 27

What qualities in a coalitional ally do men value more than women?

Answer 27

Bravery, physical prowess, not athletically challenged

Question 28

What did Sell et al. (2009) demonstrate could be accurately assessed by viewing the face of a person?

Answer 28

Their strength –and more significant results for men than for women.

Question 29

What three factors were isolated as commonly desirable in the Buss et al. 1991 study of mate selection across 37 cultures?

Answer 29

1. Dependable character
2. Emotional stability and maturity
3. Pleasing disposition

Question 30

Which differences, revealed by Buss, are there in what physical aspects of women are considered by men to be important when they are interested in short vs long-term relations?

Answer 30

If men focussed on short-term, look at body; if long-term, look at face.

Question 31

What did Fetchenhauer et al. (2012) demonstrate about our ability to detect agreeableness?

Answer 31

Level of agreeableness is easily identified. 20-second videos were enough.

Question 32

Why is agreeableness an important quality in a mate?

Answer 32

People low on agreeableness are more likely to be:
Abusive
Self-absorbed and, crucially,
Sexually unfaithful

Question 33

Why are modules to detect probability of sexual unfaithfulness likely to have evolved?

Answer 33

If mate is sexual unfaithful…
For males it means their paternity is uncertain –may not pass on genes;

For females this means resources may be diverted away from offspring –less likely to survive and pass on genes

Question 34

How might conscientiousness of a mate answer adaptive concerns?

Answer 34

High C people are hardworking (more resources) and dependable
Low C people are:

Less faithful
More impulsive
Lazier
Die younger on average

Question 35

How might neuroticism of a mate be maladaptive?

Answer 35

People with high N are:
Dependent and resource draining
Socially anxious, making it harder to form coalitions

Question 36

Why have intellect and openness been shown to be preferable in mates?

Answer 36

Smarter people are better at getting resources

Open people are better at forming coalitions

Question 37

What is Schaller’s theory of the Behavioural Immune System?

Answer 37

The theory we have inbuilt behaviours designed to ward off disease. In Schaller’s words: “A suite of psychological mechanisms to detect the potential presence of disease-causing parasites in the immediate environment, and to engage in behaviours that prevent contact with those individuals” Schaller, 2006

Question 38

What are some examples of the Behavioural Immune System in action?

Answer 38

Ostracism or prejudice based on visual or auditory cue, eg. sneeze, take step back.

People who don’t look healthy - eg. people have visceral reactions to birthmarks, even if they know they’re innocuous.

Question 39

What did Schaller and Murray (2008) find when they mapped the Big 5 against presence of pathogens in environment?

Answer 39

Societies with more pathogens in environment scored lower on Extraversion and Openness. The fun outgoing people are all dead. LOL!

Question 40

What is the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory?

Answer 40

A 7-question survey designed to measure the tendency to engage in sexual relationships without deeper emotional commitment

Question 41

How does disease prevalence correlate with scores on the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory?

Answer 41

Disease prevalence was strongly negatively correlated with female SOI (r = .62, p = 0.001). There was a weaker correlation for men (r = -.27, p = 0.066) of marginal significance. Basically, women fuck less if there’s disease, men don’t care, as long as they spread their genetic material.