Chapter 3: Problems with Survival

Question 1

Differential Reproduction

Answer 1

idea that those organisms best adapted to a given environment will be most likely to survive to reproductive age and have offspring of their own.

Question 2

______ REPRODUCTION is the bottom line of the evolutionary process that drives natural selection

Answer 2

differential reproductoin

Question 3

Adaptive problems are typically created by :

Answer 3

hostile forces of nature (climate, disease, predators etc)

Question 4

humans from all around the world share a common folk biology. what does this mean

Answer 4

a shared understanding of the world around us. the intuition that living things come in discrete packets that correspond to distinct species, and that each distinct species has an internal “essence.”

All humans regardless of culture typically separate the world into plants and animals.

Question 5

T/F: folk biology is universal across cultures

Answer 5

true. it probably evolved from a cognitive adaptation.

Question 6

Food as an EPM has two factors:

Answer 6

1) acquisition

2) selection

Question 7

why is special food selection so important to omnivores?

Answer 7

because omnivores have such a wide diet and there is higher possibility that they can be poisoned. therefore they need adaptations that reduce the odds of a poison being eaten

Question 8

neophobia

Answer 8

strong taste aversion to new foods

Question 9

an emotion that serves as a hypothesized adaptation to potentially poisonous foods

Answer 9

disgust

Question 10

t/f: the disease-avoidance hypothesis affects one gender more than the other. why or why not?

Answer 10

true. females report higher feelings of disgust because they must remain healthy in order to protect and provide for their children.

Question 11

evidence for adaptive food mechanisms

Answer 11

1) mom feeds young milk
2) taste preferences for sweet and salty
3) taste avoidance for bitter
4) adjust eating behavior in reponse to deficits in water calories or salt.
5) neophobia

Question 12

when would the feelings of disgust in women be suppressed

Answer 12

when the suppression of a disgust mechanism would solve another adaptive problem involving a kin member

ex/ mothers do not find feces of their children as disgusting.

also is suppressed in times of starvation. usually, cannabalism is extremely disgusting, but in times of need,people can still eat other humans.

Question 13

embryo protection hypothesis

Answer 13

morning sickness is an adaptation that prevents mothers from consuming and absorbint toxins and other agents that might be harmful prenatally to her developing embryo.

Question 14

according to the embryo protection hypothesis, what would pregnant women find the most disgusting?

Answer 14

foods that have the most toxins in them. usually meat, which has fungus and rotting flesh and bacteria.

Question 15

benefit of the embryo protection hypothesis

Answer 15

in women that did not exhibit morning sickness, they were 3x more likely to have a miscarriage

Question 16

purpose of a newborns vominal nasal organ. what happens if you destroy the organ in a newborn?

Answer 16

allows infants to smell and detect mothers milk by detecting pheromones. if there is no organ due to defect, they will most likely not suckle.

Question 17

t/f the disgust response is an instinct.

Answer 17

false. it is not an instinct because the disgust reponse can be learned and is MALLEABLE. although there are disgust universalities, different foods are considered gross amoungst different cultures.

Question 18

How can you tell the difference between EPM and instinct?

Answer 18

an instinct is hardwired and does not change given the context. Almost reflexive. ex/ a maternal drive is an instinct because it exists in all humans ( and other species)

an EPM can change its output depending on its input. ex/ Disgust is an EPM because it cahnges dependent on culture.

Question 19

cooking hypothesis

Answer 19

cooking foods released more nutrients and the invention of fire and the ability to cook provided key evolutionary impetus for the evolution of extraordinarily large human brains

Question 20

evidence for the cooking hypothesis

Answer 20

1) cooking is universal among all humans regardless of culture
2) human brains need a large amount of energy and you can’t obtain it just by raw food
3) humans lose the ability to reproduce as effectively with raw food
4) cooking makes food more easily digestible.

Question 21

what is the antimicrobial hypothesis

Answer 21

the idea that we use spices in order to prevent the decay and growth of microorganisms in our food.

Question 22

proof of the antimicrobial hypothesis

Answer 22

1) more spices are used in hotter climates because meat decays faster
2) meat is more spiced than vegetables because toxins are able to accumulate in meat faster
3) food poisoning is more frequent in countries that use fewer spices.
4) onion and garlic is effective at killing pathogens

Question 23

Frugivory By Product hypothesis

Answer 23

the theory that humans enjoy alcohol even though its a toxin because it is a by-product of the adaptive fondess for ripe fruit. low levels of ethanol used to signal good food.

Question 24

t/f: our penchant for drinking alcohol is an adaptation

Answer 24

false. our love of fruit is an adaptation. but our love for alcohol is just a by-product of enjoying fruit. alcohol consumption itself is not an adaptation because it actually is a toxin and high amountswill kill you

Question 25

according to the embryo hypothesis theory, why does the morning sickness settle down after the first 8 week

Answer 25

because the organs of the fetus is more developed and more able to withstand toxins on its own

Question 26

___ and ____ thought of the hunting hypothesis

Answer 26

toobey and devore

Question 27

what is the hunting hypothesis

Answer 27

idea that eating meat was an important part of human development and that eating large game spurred on the develpment of toolmaking and tool use and required larger brain to hunt larger animals.

Question 28

what is thought to be the initial impetus for the human shift to a diet high in meat content?

Answer 28

a diet high in meat may have been spurred by an ice age or global cooling that resulted in a large decrease in plant food sources.

Question 29

evidence of the hunting hypothesis

Answer 29

1) humans eat more meat than any other primate
2) humans have larger small intestines than other primates which is required to digest protein.
3) humans do not make vitamin A or B12 which we get from meat
4) we have different sets of teeth that do not exhibit wear and tear as if we had a fibrous deit.

Question 30

the hunting hypothesis birthed two other hypotheses

Answer 30

1) the provisioning hypothesis

2) the showoff hypothesis

Question 31

the provisioning hypothesis:

Answer 31

hunting was good to take care of society as a whole:

1) males could hunt largercalorie meals to free up time to spend with rearing young in other ways
2) males could join male colitions and soldify bonds between leaders
3) hunters could share resources with one another since they couldn’t preserve food and the game often fed more than one family. caused sharing of social capital –> storing “favours” –> STRONG RECIPROCAL ALTRUISM

4) hunting caused a division of labour in which men and women provided for their young and society in different ways.

Question 32

show off hypothesis

Answer 32

the rival of the provisioning hypothesis, rather than hunting for the good of the group, men hunted because women thought that big game hunting was admirable.

women favored men who hunted large and dangerous game, and men in society who took down dangerous predators (ex/ lions) would be celebrated during bonanzas and gain social prestige

therefore, according to the show off hypothesis, hunting was a method of showing off, becoming dominant, popular, and having more mates and children

Question 33

the gathering hypothesis

Answer 33

theory that humans were mainly gatherers and that hunting didn’t come until much later.

the idea was that tools were not used for hunting, but for digging up and gathering plants.

• belief that gathering provided the primary evolution impetus for the emergence of modern humans.

Question 34

compare the hunting and gathering hypothesis. why was the gathering hypothesis kind of discredited?

Answer 34

the gathering hypothesis does highlight the importances of both females and males in evolutionary history, but it fails to address certain issues on human development:

1) does not address the fact that we are a species that relies on the devision of labor: men hunted and females gathered. if gathering was enough, why did men have to hunt? also, hunting was important because it allowed both types of resources, both animals and plants, to be exploited
2) there are many ancient humans found in areas where gathering would not have permitted them to survive (ex/ eskimos live on entirely animal fat and there are barely any plants where they live)
3) humans have a really long short intestine made for ingesting protein. why did it evolve if it was not needed?

Question 35

what are some human adaptations that suggest that the division of labor is an evolutionary advantage?

Answer 35

1) females have a higher spatial location memory; good at remembering where ripe fruits were
2) males have better navigational abilities; know how to “get back home” in the middle of nowhere, better at tracking in new environments.
3) females ranked colors associated with fruit ripeness as more attractive
4) females tend to know more factual knowledge (which plants are poisonous etc)

Question 36

Scaveging Hypothesis? Evidence?

Answer 36

theory that at least some of the meat out ancestors ate was secured by scaveging.

evidence: both gnaw and cut marks on bones of prey. Very few species are pure predators or scavengers.

Question 37

Savanna Hypothesis

Answer 37

contends that natural selection has favoured preferences, motivations and decision rules to explore and settle environments with abundant resources and avoid resource poor environments.

Question 38

Evidence of savanna hypothesis

Answer 38

humans naturaly prefer savanna-like trees: moderately dense canopies and trunks that separate near the ground.

• humans still prefer natural environments preferred to concrete jungles
• our mood is positively correlated with flowers and sunsets

Question 39

an extension of the savanna hypothesis, what’re the three stages of habitat selection?

Answer 39

1) scouting/selection: exploring the landscape. initial responses are emotional –> “it looks pretty”
2) information gathering. Environment is explored for its resources and potential dangers.
3) exploitation; involves staying in the habitat long enough to reap the benefits that the landscape has to offer.

Question 40

in response to red light, our suprechiasmatic nucleus coordinates with our _____ ___ to secrete _____

Answer 40

in response to red light, our suprechiasmatic nucleus coordinates with our PENIAL GLAND to secrete MELATONIN

Question 41

READ YOUR NOTES ABOUT THE BLUE LIGHT VIDEO

Answer 41

DOOOO IT

Question 42

Fear vs phobia

Answer 42

fear: an unpleasant feeling that arises as a normal response to an actual danger
phobia: fears that are widly out of proportion and normally are not as realistic, or the outcome of the phobia /reaction to the danger is not realistic.

Question 43

6 ways in which fear and anxiety can afford protection

Answer 43

1) freezing (staying still)
2) fleeing
3) fighting
4) submission/appeasement
5) fright (playing dead)
6) faint

Question 44

which mode mode of fear/anxiety response works best with our own species

Answer 44

submission or appeasement.

Question 45

how does fainting work as a fear/anxiety response?

Answer 45

losing conciousness signals to an attacker that you are not a threat and can be safely ignored. Might be advantageous in avoiding violent conflicts.

Question 46

physiological and neurotransmitter involved in fear response

Answer 46

epinephrine and cortisol release, sympathetic nervous system activation

Question 47

T/F: the fear response has a pattern to it

Answer 47

true. most animals freeze first, and then flee, and then fight if they cannot flee, and then “playdead”/fright if they are getting beat in the fight.

Question 48

General trend in what kind of objects are feared?

Answer 48

naturally-occuring threats. humans often have phobias of spiders or snakes or something that evolutionarily may have killed us.

heights, disease (causing hypochondriases), separation, social, stranger and mating anxiety are also large phobias that stemmed from evolutionary problems.

Question 49

agoraphobia

Answer 49

the fear of being in public places or spaces from which escape may be difficult.

Question 50

describe the gender differences in fear

Answer 50

women are more scared of being robbed or assaulted compared to men (fearful of injury). this most likely stems from the fact they need to protect their offspring, whereas men engage in more risky behavior such as fighting in order to main social standing, making certain dangers “routine” for them and making them less afraid.

Question 51

popping effects of fearful stimuli

Answer 51

people are able to locate dangerous stimuli such as snakes and spiders from an image faster than detecting a harmless stimuli

Question 52

how do we react to sounds in terms of danger evaluation? Fat vs fit humans?

Answer 52

humans perceive changes in approaching sounds more readily than receding sounds. Less fit people also react to approaching sounds even faster in order to give them more time to run away

Question 53

cross cultural evidence for evolved memories

Answer 53

1) separation anxiety

2) children and their early and sophisticated knowledge of predator-prey dynamics

Question 54

adaptive conservatism hypothesis

Answer 54

humans tend to over generalize fears and anxiety in attempt to “play it safe” and not die. ex/ people assume things are dangerous when it is really not dangerous.

Question 55

what is the mis match hypothesis? Why do we have so much anxiety in a population today?

Answer 55

because we are now surrounded by humans. we used to have stranger-anxiety, and now that we are surrounded by people we don’t know, we do not know their thoughts and intentions at any given time. we have general heightened anxiety.

Question 56

descent illusion

Answer 56

created by jackson and cormack. we inherently overestimate vertical distances when we are standing at the top because it makes us wary of cliffs and most likely to avoid high drops

Question 57

___ was a usual bodily mechanism of killing internal pathogens. Now that medicine has come out, what is happening?

Answer 57

fever. now that there is fever blocker medication coming out, pathogens are not being killed as readily. studies show that people who take anti-fever medication stay sicker for 2 days longer.

Question 58

why might having iron-poor blood be a benefit? how does our body maintain this condition? What is happening now a days with modern medicine?

Answer 58

iron is routinely taken up by bacteria and pathogens as a source of nourishment.

when we are sick, the body produces and endogenous mediators that reduce our blood iron in order to starve off the bacteria. we also do not eat iron rich foods when we are sick (meats); we tend to eat bland foods.

now that many people are on iron pills for anemia and such, there are higher levels of infection

Question 59

senescence

Answer 59

the deteriotration of all bodily mechanisms as organisms grow older.

Question 60

pleiotropy

Answer 60

phenomenon whereby a gene can have two or more effects.

Question 61

why do men typically die earlier according to the pleiotropic theory of scensence?

Answer 61

the theory states that we select genes that help us (particularly men) mate in the current process at the expense of selecting for genes that could help us survive long term.

the gene for testosterone is a pleiotropic gene which helps with reproduction at earlier ages but then also contribute to prostate cancer risks. men die earlier because the gene is selected for their reproducitve enhancement, with no regard that the gene also kills them earlier.

Question 62

according to evolutionary psychologist Catanzaro, suicide is most likely to happen when an individual has a reduced ability to contribute to his or her own ____ ____

Answer 62

inclusive fitness (ex/ poor future health, being a societal or personal disgrace)

Question 63

a person with low reproductive potential believes:

Answer 63

that they are not attractive to members of the opposite sex

Question 64

T/F: people who have low reproductive potential, and feel that they are lonely or a high burden on their kin have more suicidal thoughts

Answer 64

true

Question 65

T/F women commit suicide more than men

Answer 65

false. men commit more amounts of suicide at every age compared to women

Question 66

Leading cause as to why men commit suicide. Women?

Answer 66

men tend to commit suicide because of loss of status, but women tend to commit suicide because of loss of partnership.