Chapter 10 - Evolution and Individual Differences Flashcards
Evolution
Process by which the heritable traits of a species change over time
What is evolution driven by?
Natural selection
Natural selection
Process by which species come to possess traits because these traits enable them to effectively adapt to their environment (i.e., to survive and reproduce)
What did early evolutionists (e.g., 1700s) recognize?
Species change and progress towards a “higher” form
Characteristics are inherited
Species evolve through a struggle to survive
Species evolve from a common ancestor
Characteristics serve a purpose
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck theoretical orientation
Philosophie Zoologique
Philosophie Zoologique
Fossil evidence shows that species change over time –> become closer to form that makes is easier to survive
What are changes visible in fossil evidence due to?
Environmental changes
Lamarck’s main contribution
Inheritance of acquired characteristics
Example of inheritance of acquired characteristics
Scarcity of prey causes more muscle development, which is then passed down
Herbert Spencer claim to fame
Applied evolution to the human mind and society
Give an example of how Spencer applied evolution to the human mind
Complexity/differentiation of the NS allows us to make more complex associations (i.e., be more intelligent)
What term did Spencer introduce into modern psychology?
Intelligence
Spencer-Bain principle
Frequency of behaviour increases if followed by a pleasurable event and decreases if followed by a painful event
Application of Spencer-Bain principle
We learn associations in order to engage in behaviours that encourage our survival
What does the Spencer-Bain principle believe about instincts?
They are habits/associations inherited from ancestors
What is the colloquial term that stemmed from social Darwinism?
Survival of the fittest
Social Darwinism
Spencer believed that humans and societies are progressing towards a pre-destined goal of “perfection”
Believed that governments should encourage free competition among citizens, rather than help the “weak” and “poor”
How did Social Darwinism manifest in society?
American capitalism and individualism
Who said the following quote: “If they are sufficiently complete to live, they do live, and it is well they should live. If they are not sufficiently complete to live, they die, and it is best they should die.”
Herbert Spencer
Charles Darwin’s trip
The Voyage of the Beagle
What happened on the Voyage of the Beagle?
Observed that species on the Galapagos Islands differed somewhat from island to island (e.g., finches and their beaks)
What were Darwin’s 2 main books?
On the Origins of Species by Means of Natural Selection
The Descent of Man
What is important for evolution to occur?
There is natural variation in individual traits –> need competition
Through a __________________, traits that enable ________ are ___________
Struggle for survival
Fitness
Naturally selected
Fitness
Ability to survive and reproduce
How are certain traits adaptive features?
Because they enable an organism to survive and reproduce
Are adaptive features inherently strength, aggression, or competitiveness?
Not necessarily
Did Darwin believe that evolution had a goal?
No, he said nothing about evolution as “progress” or “perfection”
Evolution “just happens”
Time span for evolution according to Darwin
Argued that evolution occurred over millions of years
What did Darwin believe humans and the great apes descended from?
A common ancestor
According to Darwin, why do humans have emotions?
Remnants once necessary for survival (e.g., anger for aggression)
What do traits that may not be adaptive now reflect?
Evolutionary pressures from 12,000 years ago
Are emotions culturally universal? Explain.
Yes, e.g., fear, disgust, sadness, joy, surprise, anger are primary emotions and are expressed and interpreted universally in the same ways
Darwin’s main influence
Sparked interest in functionalism, behaviourism, developmental psychology, and individual differences in intelligence and personality, etc.
Who did Darwin influence?
Edward Wilson
Edward Wilson
Sociobiology: The new Synthesis (1975)
Sociobiology
The study of how natural selection shapes social behaviour
E.g., love, altruism, warfare, morality, mating behaviours, parenting behaviours
What does sociobiology emphasize?
Success in perpetuating one’s genes rather than emphasizing success in reproducing
Example of sociobiology
Inclusive fitness
We are driven to perpetuate genes of our kin
Give real-world example of inclusive fitness
Even if someone hates their brother, they are more likely to save him over their best friend from a burning building
What is sociobiology now known as?
Evolutionary psychology
What is Sir Francis Galton’s main claim to fame?
Father of eugenics
Was Galton on Nature or Nurture side? Explain.
Nature; extreme nativism
Originally proposed that intelligence is inherited through sensory acuity (e.g., better vision/hearing = greater intelligence)
What term did Galton coin?
Eugenics
Eugenics
Beliefs and practices aimed at improving the genetics of a human population
Example of eugenics
Through selective breeding
What was Galton the first to do?
What did he conclude from this?
Administer a questionnaire in psychology
Eventually concluded that potential for intelligence is inherited but must be “nurtured by a proper environment”
What was Galton among the first to study?
Twins and the nature-nurture question
What did Galton find from his twin studies?
Found that identical twins were very similar, even when raised apart; fraternal twins were dissimilar, even when raised together
What concept did Galton develop?
Correlation
Galton’s correlation
Recognized that two variables are co-related when “the variation on one is accompanied on the average by more or less variation on the other”
Examples of Galton’s study of correlation
Study on peas, height, “eminence” as an indicator of intelligence
Sub-concept of Galton’s correlation
Regression toward the mean
E.g., very tall parents tend to have more moderately tall children
James McKeen Cattell interest
Individual differences (e.g., reaction time, intelligence)
What was Cattell the first to do?
Opened the first undergraduate psychology lab in the U.S.
The first to use the term “mental test” in a publication
What did Cattell develop? Examples?
Developed 50 mental tests for uni students at Columbia, most measuring sensory acuity and reaction time
E.g., grip-strength, ability to discriminate weight, ability to remember a series of letters
How did Cattell use his mental tests?
Administered test to 1st year students at Columbia University
Correlations of Cattell’s mental tests
One of his grad students found that:
Correlations between the tests were very low (low/no reliability)
Correlations between some tests and university success were nearly zero (low/no validity)
What did intelligence tests form the basis of?
Eugenics
Alfred Binet assumption
IQ was largely inherited/genetic
Alfred Binet book
Premise?
The Experimental Study of Intelligence
Tested, observed, and reported on his daughters’ intellectual development
Binet invention
1st IQ test: Binet-Simon scale of intelligence
How did Binet differ from Galton and Cattell?
Emphasized developmental differences and tested cognitive abilities more directly
E.g., memory, attention, visual space, comprehension, moral judgment
Why was Binet’s 1905 test developed?
To distinguish children with mental deficiencies
E.g., blind or deaf children were previously being falsely classified as having mental deficiencies
What did Binet’s scale reflect?
Intelligence is a collection of abilities that develop with age and can be improved
Main change in Binet’s 1908 test
Standardized to determine levels of intelligence among “normal” children aged 3-13
E.g., if 75% of “normal” children of a certain age could pass a test, the test was assigned to that age group
Henry Herbert Goddard’s 1st claim to fame?
Translated Binet-Simon into English
Goddard’s 2nd claim to fame
The Kallikak Family: A study in the heredity of feeble-mindedness
What term did Goddard’s Kallikak family study coin?
Moron
Explain the beginning of the Kallikak family lore
Deborah (22) shown to have a mental age of 9 and an IQ of 41
Traced ancestry back to 1700s when a male relative (Martin Sr.) had a child (Martin Jr.) with a feeble-minded barmaid
Martin Sr.’s lore after barmaid
Had 7 children with a “worthy” girl, none of whom were “feeble-minded”
However, 5 of Martin Jr.’s 10 children were “feeble-minded”
Descendants shown to be much more likely to be “criminal, immoral, and antisocial”
What did the Kallikak Family study serve as?
Early support for eugenics; “It is perfectly clear that no feeble-minded person should ever be allowed to marry or become a parent”
Kallikak family study political implications
20 states passed sterilization laws; thousands were sterilized until the 1970s
Lewis Madison Terman
Developed Stanford-Binet tests (1912/1916)
How did Terman adjust Binet’s tests?
Adjusted and further standardized until average for each age group was 100
Terman’s big study
Longitudinal study to demonstrate that gifted children are not “freaks” (i.e., early ripe, early rot)
1528 children with average IQ of 151 (135 or higher)
High intelligence doesn’t “deteriorate” into adulthood
What did Terman strongly believe about IQ?
It is inherited
Who said the following quote: “Not all criminals are feeble-minded, but all feeble-minded persons are at least potential criminals. That every feeble-minded woman is a potential prostitute would hardly be disputed by anyone”
Terman
Who said the following quote: “The least intelligent 15% or 20% are not always useless but always a potential liability”
Terman
How did Terman validate his tests?
By comparing scores to teacher ratings and grades, but schools were measuring the same things
Cultural bias in intelligence tests
Canadian norms are higher than U.S. norms
IQ trends in adoption
IQ scores increase when children move from lower-class to middle-class homes
Example of cultural bias in intelligence tests
Indigenous children in Canada whose first language was not English had below average verbal scores but average or above average nonverbal scores
77% scored less than 70 on verbal items, but only 5.7% scored less than 70 overall
Likely due to difficulty understanding items, and to approaching items differently
Walter Lippmann
A journalist
One of Terman’s harshest critics
Who said the following quote: “I hate the impudence of a claim that in 50 minutes you can judge and classify a human being’s predestined fitness in life. I hate the pretentiousness of that claim. I hate the abuse of scientific method which it involves. I hate the sense of superiority which it creates and the sense of inferiority which it imposes.”
Lippmann
Leta Stetter Hollingworth
Debunked assumption that women are psychologically impaired during menstruation and intellectually inferior to males
What did Hollingworth argue determined differences in prominence between men and women?
Social roles
Woman bear and rear the race… nearly 100% of their energy is consumed in the performance and supervision of domestic and allied tasks, a field where eminence is impossible
We should consider first the most obvious conditioning factors. Otherwise our discussion is futile
What did Hollingworth advocate for?
Better treatment of gifted children
Hollingworth book
Gifted Children (1926)
Became a standard text in schools of education
Hollingworth influence
Likely influenced Edward Thorndike to emphasize nurture more than nature in developmental psychology
