Chapter 1 - Reading Flashcards
How is personality compared to human nature?
Personality is a variation of the general design for human nature.
It is as if evolution said “what if I try this?”
What did natural selection make humans?
Bipedal, brainy and live together in social groups
Genesis story (Adam and Eve)
Adam lived in isolation and wasn’t happy (needs to be social)
Eve made
Intellectual curiosity is what got them in trouble - tree of knowledge
When banished from Eden, it was their social need for each other and their brains that helped them
Are humans smarter than other animals?
Humans are smarter than other animals - other animals have at best a 4 year old human capacity
Do humans live in groups?
How does this relate to individual differences?
We all live in groups and use groups for everything
Individual differences most readily express themselves in social interaction between people
Pair bonding and intellect
Pair bonding requires brainpower - you have to monitor and adapt to the other person
Mammals and birds with big brains:mass ratios pair bond
Social brain hypothesis
Neocortex:group size
Humans may have evolved to deal with the complexities of social life: Who is in the group and how to behave with them.
There is a strong correlation between the size of the neocortex and the size of social groups the animal has.
Humans are the biggest
Eusocial creatures
Live in intricately coordinated, multi generational groups
Individuals will sacrifice for these groups, even at a cost tot themselves
Homo Habilus
When
Creatures first evolved bipedalism which allowed them to use their hands for food and objects
2.3 million years ago
half the brain size of us
Made stone tools for scavenging and scraping meat off bones
Eventually developed tools for hunting
Meat is more nutritious than plants
Meat became a staple
Scavenging and hunting require coordinated activity and therefore social groups
Home erectus
1 million years ago Learned about FIRE More brains Cooking made meat better tasting and more nutritious Cooking lead to campsites (Wilson 2012) Group members would use these as bases and divide jobs up between hunters, scavengers and women Is a proto human nest ALL Eusocial species have a nest Over time = home
Shared intentionality
If I want to work with you to accomplish a task, it is good for both of us if I know your intentions
Evolution has therefore provided my ability to imagine what might happen in others minds
We may also have evolved codes, laws and governments to facilitate working together
Homo sapians
Africa, 200000 years ago
Huge neocortex
Lived in hunter gatherer groups
Developed language and so everyone could articulate their feelings, thoughts and intentions which made them more eusocial
About 50000 years ago there was a big increase in culture including tools and tech which was passed down
10000 years ago this lead to agriculture and from this a further increased group size and more trade between groups etc
this all selects for social attributes
Weston Autrey
William Kyle Carpenter
Saved a man having a seizure when he fell onto subway tracks
held him in a ditch and pushed down while the train went over them
Said he did not think, just did
W. K. Carpenter threw himself on a grenade in afgan
Altruism
Can be confusing given natural selection
Reciprocal altruism
As humans evolved in groups, helping someone else might have given them the chance to pay you back later
This might improve your chances to reproduce
This likely doesn’t happen but could explain why the natural urge to help someone in distress has been selected for
Multi level/Group selection
Also accounts for altruism
Within groups, nice guys lose
But between groups, the one with more pro social members wins
When one group wins maybe all of its members benefit
Thus select for altruism
Need to belong
Wilson, 2015
We need this
It demands social prosocial behaviour
Minimal group paradim
AM/PM groups
Or groups with minimal differences
Start strongly preferring members of your groups and being prejudice against members of the other group
Allegiance to sports teams
Social identity
When we join a group that groups becomes a part of our self concept
This also distances us from other groups
ESPECIALLY when your group is in danger
Culture
Humans are very different genetically
How do you make a group into a whole? Culture
Makes the people in the group more similar than they would otherwise be
Group members must learn this
Prime socialisers include teachers and parents
Johnathon hardt
5 things
Group norms ahve existed for 50000 years
Hardt thinks there are 5 things we have evolved to have strong rules on
1) Physical harm
2) Fairness and reciprocity
3) repeat for legitimate authority
4) Loyalty to in-groups
5) Purity or chastity
History of Darwin
After college went on the HMS beagle
Kept natural selection secret for 21 years
Great reputation for being self-effacing and brilliant
Worked for 20 years to get evidence for his theory
Wallace, another botanist found the same thing independently
Big daddy D wanted to give him credit
His bros, Lagell and Hooker were having none of that crap
Read the letter Wallace had sent darwin about his discovery and Darwin’s old manuscript at the linnean society
Hence got credit
Cashed in on his reputation and hence, is the big dude
Got along and got ahead
How to get along and get ahead - 1
Basic ideas and researcher
Robert Hogan thinks this is a big deal
We are wired to live in groups
The advantages of these lead to repro success
Within these, we want the best chances possible
So we want to be popular and powerful
Hogan sees us as social actors on lifes stage, [playing our roles and managing the expectations of the group
How to get on and get ahead - 2
Reputation
Of prime importance in managing the group is ones reputation within it
This is transmitted from member to member after one has observed you and made attributions
Gossip
Super important
Polices reputation
People know that folk will talk behind their backs and so modify their behavior
The quality of your reputation has a big influence
Personality begins with
the different reputations that human actors have as they strive to get along and get ahead in social groups
They are variations on the design for human nature and they matter for getting along, ahead and passing on genes
Robin Dunbar and group numbers
150 is the max we can keep track of
This used to constitute a clan
Clans came together for trade etc with similar clans to make a tribe (2500 ppl)
In groups, what is it useful to kow?
In these groups it is useful to know who is nice, dominant, conscientiousness etc
Knowing this about others helps you, You also need to know what they think of you.
We evolved to see these differences and so they are of importance (because we are eusocial)
