Evolution Flashcards
From Dichotomies to
Relations and Interactions
There is a tendency to think in simple dichotomies
when explaining behaviour:
* Is it physiological or psychological?
- Is it inherited or is it learned?
- Both questions are common, yet misguided - too simplistic
What is a dictomie?
Descartes and substance dualism
vs
Monism
- Monism: the only thing that exists is the physical world (all physical or all non-physical)
- Materialist or deterministic philosophy
- all observable and predictable by a perfect science
- If I know the state of your brain, I could perfectly predict what you’re going to do
- It’s all set out already and predictable
- Brain is part of physical world mind is a product of the brain (consciousness is physical)
Substance Duolism:
- Two substances in the world, the physical and the non-physical (mind)
- Physical body and brain then there’s the soul (non-physical, it takes up no space)
- Human mind (soul, self, or spirit)
* Cartesian dualism views the mind and brain as separate entities
- The soul pushes on peneal gland control us (hydrolic system)
Issues with Substance dualism:
- Non physical non scientific
- paring problem and princess elizabeth causes issue for Descartes (mind non-physical how can it impact physical?).
- He believes the mind is a difference substance than the body completely non physical
- Unfalsifiable
Pros for descart
- Qualia: what it feels like to experience something
- You don’t know what something is truly like before experiencing (bat paper)
Problems with Traditional
Dichotomies – Mind-brain
dualism
Brain damage has an impact on psychological functioning
- If there’s a dualistic world, then how could brain damage impact personality.
- Oliver Sacks’s case study of a man with asomatognosia (absence of body knowledge)
- He had a stroke and then he couldn’t recognize his own body
- Could still control body and feel it
- Gallup’s research on chimp self-awareness
- Humans aren’t the only self-aware animal
- We are not qualitatively different
- If humans have non-physical minds or souls, then so must chimps
- Monism
Is it inherited or is it
learned?
The “nature-nurture” issue
-Is behaviour determined by environment or genetics?
- Watson – father of behaviourism – believed that all behaviour was the product of learning (nurture)
- Ethology – the study of animal behaviour in the
wild – focused on instinctive behaviours, emphasizing nature - Behaviour is determined by biological phenomena
Problems with Traditional
Dichotomies – Nature-or-
nurture
Many factors have an impact on behavior other
than genetics (nature) or learning (nurture)
* “Nurture” now encompasses learning and
environment
* While it is generally accepted that behavior is a
product of nature and nurture, many still ask how
much is determined by each
* But genetic and experiential factors do not
merely combine in an additive fashion
All behavior is the product of the interaction of what
three factors?
- Genes
- Experience
- Perception of the current situation
What was Darwin’s evidence on Human Evolution?
-direct observation of evolution in progress:
ex. Fossil evidence:
* Noted structural similarities among living species,
suggesting common ancestors
- Impact of selective breeding (example - dogs)
- Grant (1991) – finches of the Galapagos islands
changed dramatically after a single season of
drought
Darwin and natural selection and fitness
Nature selection: mechanism of evolution, organisms that are best suited for environment are more likely to live and reproduce.
Fitness – the ability of an organism to survive and
contribute its genes to the next generation
- Behaviour impacts fitness
- The ability to find food, avoid predation, etc.
* Social dominance and courtship displays
Human Evolution
Evolution does not proceed in a single line.
* Humans have only been around for a brief period
of time.
* Rapid evolutionary changes do occur.
* Fewer than 1% of all known species are still in
existence.
* Not all existing adaptive characteristics evolved
to perform their current function.
* Exaptions – evolved to do one thing, but now do
something else (such as bird wings)
* Similarities among species do not necessarily
mean that the species have common origins. (convergent evolution)
What are spandrels?
- Incidental non-adaptive by-products
Homologous structures
Homologous structures – similar structures due to
a common evolutionary origin
- Analogous structures –
Similar structures without
a common origin
Convergent evolution
- Convergent evolution – the evolution of similar
solutions to the same environmental demands
by unrelated species
Evolution of the human brain
- There is no relationship between brain size and
intelligence. - Brain size is correlated with body size.
- More informative to look at relative size of
different brain regions. - The human brain has increased in size during
evolution. - Most of the increase in size has occurred in the
cerebrum. - Increased convolutions in the cerebrum have
served to increase the volume of the cerebral
cortex
Brain stem
regulates reflex activities that are critical for survival
Cerebrum
- Involved in complex adaptive
processes such as learning, perception, and
motivation.
What is Evolutionary Psychology?
Trying to understand human behaviours through a
consideration of the pressures that led to their
evolution.
Evolutionary analysis can generate insight into
complex psychological processes.
* Humans are related to all other animal species.
