3a. Human Evolutionary History

Question 1

What does SSSM stand for?

Answer 1

The Standard Social Science Model

Question 2

What does the SSSM assume?

Answer 2

Humans are blank slates
Human behaviour is malleable
Behaviour is shaped by social and cultural learning

Question 3

What is the evolutionary approach to human behaviour?

Answer 3

Behaviour is the result of interactions between EVOLVED PREDISPOSITIONS and ENVIRONMENTAL CONTINGENCIES.

Question 4

What did Tooby and Cosmides argue about the SSSM?

Answer 4

They argued that the SSSM stifled other approaches to human behaviour

Question 5

What does Ellis (1996) say about sociology’s decline?

Answer 5

It is due to biophobia (yet Darwinism is strong in biology and animal behaviour)

Question 6

‘Sociobiology’ (the book)

Answer 6

• 1975
• E. O. Wilson
• First serious attempt to challenge SSSM
• Evolutionary principles applied to human behaviour

Question 7

Sociobiology (the subject)

Answer 7

instantly controversial

Question 8

What was sociobiology criticised for?

Answer 8

Suggesting unique human traits have biological origins
Equating humans with insects
Being racist & sexist
Confrontational language and lack of evidence discredited it

Question 9

The roots of evolutionary psychology lie in…

Answer 9

sociobiology

Question 10

Why is evolutionary psychology unpopular?

Answer 10

Due to its history

Question 11

Who first proposed evolutionary psychology?

Answer 11

Cosmides & Tooby

Question 12

How does evolutionary psychology differ from sociobiology?

Answer 12

Its focus on cognition

Question 13

TRUE OR FALSE: The brain is a general problem solver.

Answer 13

False: there were no general problems that our ancestors faces (only specific)

Question 14

Problems are domain-specific. For example…

Answer 14

Avoiding predators

Finding mates

Question 15

What analogy for the brain is used in evolutionary psychology?

Answer 15

Brain as a Swiss Army Knife (not computer)

Question 16

What kind of behaviour does the brain generate?

Answer 16

environment-appropriate

Question 17

The brain is shaped by natural selection to…

Answer 17

solve adaptive problems

Question 18

Brain processes

Answer 18

Brain’s processes are not conscious
Brain is modular
Modules adapted to solve problems faced by our ancestors

Question 19

How many years ago did mammals evolve?

Answer 19

Approximately 120 million years ago

Question 20

How many years ago did primates evolve?

Answer 20

Approximately 85 million years ago

Question 21

How many years ago did the first apes evolve?

Answer 21

Approximately 20 million years ago

Question 22

How many years ago did hominids evolve?

Answer 22

Approximately 6-8 million years ago

Question 23

What does EEA stand for?

Answer 23

Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness

Question 24

EEA is a…

Answer 24

hypothetical concept

Question 25

What shaped our minds and bodies?

Answer 25

Selection pressures operating over 2.5 to 3 million years

Question 26

What characterises us as humans?

Answer 26

``` Intelligence Language Theory of Mind Bipedalism Hairlessness ```

Question 27

Who coined the term 'EEA'

Answer 27

Early evolutionary psychologist, Bowlby (1969)

Question 28

What are selected for in the EEA?

Answer 28

Unique physical and psychological traits of humans

Question 29

When and where was the EEA?

Answer 29

No particular time or place

Question 30

Where did humans live 4 million years ago? How did they live? How do we know this?

Answer 30

Grassland savannahs in Eastern Africa They had a hunter gatherer existence We know due to archaeological evidence

Question 31

Two competing views as to where and when modern Homo sapiens emerged

Answer 31

The out of Africa hypothesis | The multi-regional hypothesis

Question 32

The out of Africa hypothesis

Answer 32

A later African population of Homo erectus led to modern Homo sapiens and these then gradually spread out of Africa displacing earlier hominids

Question 33

The multi-regional hypothesis

Answer 33

Homo erectus migrated out of Africa into Europe & Asia about 2 m.y.a and evolved to locan environments Homo sapiens arose from Homo erectus, with regional adaptations explaining racial differences No clear difference between Homo sapiens and Homo erectus - part of same species lineage

Question 34

Support for the out of Africa hypothesis

Answer 34

Lack of transitional fossils between H. erectus & H. sapiens in Europe & Asia DNA evidence - Neanderthals are distinct Mitochondrial DNA - we all share a more recent ancestor (about 70,000 years) than multi-regional hypothesis would predict Human DNA very similar - suggests modern humans didn't evolve in separate areas

Question 35

What characteristics are unique to humans?

Answer 35

``` Intelligence Language Theory of mind Bipedalism Carnivorous Highly social ```

Question 36

What are human universals?

Answer 36

Aspects of human behaviour which are universal

Question 37

Aspects of human culture that are universal:

Answer 37

Pair bonding Incest taboo Sexual jealousy Childhood fears

Question 38

Human universals relate to conditions in the...

Answer 38

EEA

Question 39

Traits can be...

Answer 39

Adaptations (provide fitness benefits) By-products Random variation Disease

Question 40

Theory-driven (top down) approach to generating hypotheses in evolutionary psychology

Answer 40

make hypothesis based on theory and test it

Question 41

Observation-driven (bottom up) approach to generating hypotheses in evolutionary psychology

Answer 41

observe a phenomenon, hypothesise an adaptive function and test this

Question 42

How do we test evolutionary hypotheses?

Answer 42

``` Comparative methods Cross-cultural research Studying modern hunter-gatherers Comparing men and women Comparing behaviour across contexts Experimental methods ```

Question 43

How important are evolutionary explanations of behaviour?

Answer 43

Impossible to understand human behaviour without evolutionary perspective Not an area of psychology, but an APPROACH