Chapter 2: Evolution of Motivation & Emotion

Question 1

Hunger and risk taking experiment

Answer 1

Individuals who drank a sour drink reported riskier behavior in both cultures (UK/Vietnam), BUT relative time to respond across flavors differed between cultures (Same risk but speed at which they approached differed)

Question 2

Fitness

Answer 2

individual reproductive success as measured by number of offspring

Emphasizes DIRECT offspring as WHOLE number

Question 3

Inclusive Fitness

Answer 3

direct fitness plus summated contributions of individual to reproduction of kin as weighted by relatedness

Emphasizes WEIGHTED ratio of repro success based on coeff of relatedness to kin

Question 4

Kin Selection

Answer 4

evolutionary process by which genes replicate indirectly, via expression that promotes reproduction of kin bearing copies of the gene

Question 5

Nepotism

Answer 5

favouring relatives over others, result of kin selection

Question 6

Wall-sit experiment

Nepotism

Answer 6

o Wall-sits for as long as possible paid by how long they could hold the position
o Money could go to yourself or to a family member (related-factor keeps going down)
o Maintain position longest and gain most money if they were receiving the money
o Second longest: highest relatedness factor of 0.5
o Males and females performed the same

Question 7

Sexual Selection

Answer 7

Mate choices alter trait frequency and saliency over generations in the opposite sex, often reflected in secondary sex characteristics

Question 8

Intersexual

Answer 8

one sex preferentially chooses the other sex to mate w when they have certain characteristics (female choice)

Question 9

Intrasexual

Answer 9

individuals compete w same sex for access to members of opposite sex (male competition)

Question 10

Cuckoldry

Answer 10

males caring for offspring that are not their own

• occurs in many species of fish
• parental males defend territories, attract females to lay their eggs
• cuckolder males (small, look like female) neither defend territories nor attract females but instead sneak in and inseminate female eggs right after she lays them in parental male territory
• parental male often ends up raising fish that are not his own offspring, but those that belong to cuckolder male

Question 11

Inclusive Fitness Maximization

Answer 11

Organisms tend to strive to bring their genes into future generations by:
• Pre-reproductive self-preservation (reach sexual maturity)
• Successful reproduction
• Behaviour that helps kin with survival and reproduction

Question 12

Cultural Evolution

Answer 12

Changes in behaviour that occur over generations and even within generations without genetic change

EX: Learning, imitation, language

Question 13

Evolutionary Lag

Answer 13

Rapid cultural changes have occurred whereas genetic makeup changes very slowly.
Demands of the environment can outpace genetic change.

Question 14

Properties of Emotions:

Answer 14

• culturally universal
• stereotyped (portray emotion same every time)
• seen early in development
• elicited involuntarily
• seen in other species

Question 15

Methods of Studying Emotions

Answer 15

• Cross-species comparisons
• Cross-cultural comparisons
• Expression in infancy and throughout development
• Expression in special populations
• Physiological measures

Question 16

Ekman et al.

Answer 16

Re-vitalized Darwin’s perspective and modern study of facial expressions across cultures

Found broad agreement on the labeling of facial expressions of certain primary emotions: fear, anger, happiness, sadness, disgust, surprise (among diff cultures)

Question 17

Ekman & Friesen

Answer 17

Studied interpretation of emotional faces in Fore of New Guinea, who had never had contact with Western culture

Same labeling of faces as seen in other cultures

Question 18

Many emotions are evident in infancy:

Answer 18

• crying at birth
• crying in response to distress
• smile in response to mother’s care (even blind children, innate)

Preverbal children show rich expression of contentment and discontentment
Disgust expression in reaction to bad tastes (sour/bitter)
Fear, rage easily seen in toddlers