Chap 3 (Book) Flashcards
Human Nature: Definition
Refers to the behavioral, motivational, and emotional similarity among people that results from their common evolutionary history
Human Nature: What shapes it/How it’s transmitted
Shaped by natural selection or sexual selection and is genetically transmitted from one generation to the next
Human Nature: Universal
It is universal, which means it is the same in societies all over the world
Evolutionary History
Evolutionary history as a source of motivation focuses on what behaviors humans have in common in spite of vast social and cultural differences.
-Example: all humans have brains and faces, but the brains and faces of all individuals are different.
Evolutionary and Personal History Interact: General
Evolutionary history created human nature, which in turn interacts with our persona history.
- Example: the fall of later dominoes depend on the fall of earlier ones.
- The interaction between heredity (nature) and environment (nature) motivates behavior.
Evolutionary and Personal History Interact: Sir Francis Galton (1883)
-Claimed it was difficult to distinguish between that part of human character that results from education and circumstances and that which results from human constitution.
Evolutionary and Personal History Interact: Heredity vs Environment
The relative contribution of heredity and environment is different for various behaviors.
- Some behaviors are genetically disposed to occur thus require little environments experience.
- Other behaviors are genetically neutral and require much environmental experience to occur.
- Behaviors that are strongly influenced by heredity are known as INNATE, which means not taught/from experience.
Innate (def)
Behaviors that are strongly influenced by heredity. Not taught or learned from experience.
Two ways heredity can influence behavior
- Inherited physical features affect a person’s behaviors
- Example: the relationship between the thumb and fingers - The hereditary nature, or innateness, of certain feelings or motives disposed humans to react in one way rather than another to various stimuli. (Innate feelings)
- Example: Become apparent in the prevalence of sexual behavior, certain fears, a baby’s taste preferences, and the universal pleasure of music.
Persona History
An individuals experience from conception to the present
Experience and Motives
- Even behaviors that appear to be totally innate may actually require at least some minimal environmental experience in order to occur
- Example: Baby’s crying for food
- Other behaviors require the benefit of additional experiences
- Example: Walking seems innate but you first must learn to crawl and sit up.
Evolutionary Psychology (def)
- Evolutionary past interacts with people’s experiences to determine current motivation.
- Analyzes universal motives in the context of evolution.
Psychological Mechanisms
-Have evolved through natural selection to solve specific problems of adaption to the environment.
Universal Motives (def)
-Particular type of psychological mechanism and will be reserved for the commonality of motives among humans that has evolved over their evolutionary history.
Universal Motives: Requirement
- It must occur in all countries and cultures of the world even though it might be expressed differently.
- Examples: motivation and behavior same for food, customs, and learning.
