Darwin // Evolutionary thinking (lec 4), Chapter 5

Question 1

what is the species problems ?

Answer 1

= the queastion about where all the diferent species on the earth came from // and why did they go extint a.)the argument from deisgn (nature iscomplex and superior being must be respnsible ( Intelligent design ))

Question 2

what is lamarck’s ‘chain of being’ ?

Answer 2

• species arragnged based on complexity– continually evolving in complexity

Question 3

what is lamarck’s ‘inheritcance of acquired characteristics

Answer 3

= traits dev3loped during lifetime would be passed down to the next generation

Question 4

what is catastrophism

Answer 4

catastrophic events, caused by God, responsble for geological change

Question 5

what is uniformitarianism

Answer 5

• uniform laws create geological changes iver very long periods of time through erosion, weather, volcanoes, earthquakes

Question 6

please define natural selection

Answer 6

• those with the adaptive advantages are best fit for suvival , over time those characteristics become more common, ie Finches w/ varying beak size and shape

Question 7

please define sexual selection

Answer 7

traitss or characterisitics that related to mate competition

Question 8

what is functionalism

Answer 8

• adaptive function of mental process and behaviours (eg. Consciousness and habit formation ) - asked the question as why things developed the way they do

Question 9

What is comparative psychology?

Answer 9

• similarities and differences b/n animals species with respect to mental and emotional processes

Question 10

why is is difficult to studying humans according to Darwin ?

Answer 10

• our emotiona lexpereonces are often inhibited - cannot concurrently have a strong emotuion and rationally think about it —> argued should study chilidren and the insane (less inhibited) —> cross-cultural comparisons of emotional exp – basic emotuions are expressed universally (ie. Smiling) –> studying emotional expression in animals

Question 11

what is serviceable associated habits

Answer 11

• expresion of emotion was functional - they became associated with other similiar situations, these acquired exp were then inherited

Question 12

what is an antithesis

Answer 12

• opposing emotions are expressed in opposing ways in the body (ie. frown vs. smile or bigger=aggressoin vs. smaller=submission )

Question 13

what is ‘direct action of the N.S ‘

Answer 13

• physiological effects of the emotion (ie. flushing of the face, trembling )

Question 14

what is anthropomorphisms:

Answer 14

attribute human characteristics to non-humans

Question 15

please elaborate and explain ‘ Lloyd Morgan’s Canon’

Answer 15

• ‘explaninations for animal behaviour should be no more complex than observational evidence allowed ‘ - if there is a lower psychological explanation, take that over the higher // parsimony ( the ‘suicidal’ scorpion actually died due to reflex)

Question 16

please elaborate on survey method

Answer 16

• developed by Galton -asked elite how nuc they thought their scientific interests appeared innate, got about 100 usable responses - scientific interest innate:people reported having the interest from very young ages - reported findings in ‘English Men of Science:their Nature and Nurture’ (1874)

Question 17

please elaborate on Galton’s Eugenics

Answer 17

• positive eugenices- encouraged partticular people to procreate - ‘better -type females do not avoid pregnancy (anti-feminist mentality )

Question 18

what is the word -association task

Answer 18

• indicate associations that come to mind when word is presented to individual - Galton found that the resutls of associations were repetitive