Chapter 5 Flashcards
species problem
problem of the orgins of species
argument for design
explained the great complexity in nature by arguing that it required a superior being (God) to produce it
chain of being
belieft that all species on earth could be placed on a linear scale with reference to their level of complexity
inheritance of acquired charateristics
theory that characteristics developed as a result of experience during ones lifetime could be passed to offspring
catastrophism
theory that geological change occured infrequently and as a consequence of such catastropic events as the biblical flood
uniformitarianism
theory that geological change occured gradually, over a long period of time, and as a consequence of such regular phenomena as erosion
natural selection
in the struggle for existence those organisms with adaptive variations would be most likley to survive and pass there attributes to the next generation
sexual selection
mate selction is influenced by factors , not necessarily relevant for natural selection
functionalism
focused on the study of human conscious experience from evolutionary perspective
evolutionary psychology
propses that virutally all human behavior, especially social behavior must be understood in an evolutionary context
serviceable associated habits
some emotional expressions were initially useful
direct action of the nervous system
emotional expression, stating that some expressions (blushing) are the side effects of the physiological arousal accompanying strongly felt emotions
ethology
the study of animal behavior in its natural surrondings
instinct
some perceptual abilities ( at least in animals) did not result from practice but from instinct
imprinting
instinctive tendency for newly hatched ducklings to follow the first moving object the encounter
critical period
certain instinctive behaviors (imprinting) must develop within a certain time frame
survey method
originated with darwins questionnaires on emotion and Galtons questionnaires on a variety of topics
twin studies
demonstrating the heritablility of intelligance
correlation
statistical tool that asses the degree of relationship between two variables
eugenics
refers to the a variety of methods (selective breeding) for enhancing the quality of a species
anecdotal evidence
research method in which evidence takes the form of an accumilation of examples supporting a principle or theory
anthrophmorphism
tendency to attribute human behaviors to a nonhuman entities
lloyd morgans canon
explanations for animal behavior should be no more complex than observational evidence allowed
word association test
to investigate the nature of associations in the mind, involves responding to a stimuli word and then saying the first thing that comes to mind
