Evolution and Natural Selection Flashcards
What process are our genes said to have come from?
Our genes are said to have come from a process of evolution (how inherited characteristics pass from generation to generation through reproduction).
What does natural selection refer to?
Natural selection refers to how some characteristics are inherited because they aid the survival of an organism so that there can be reproduction and the passing on of genes.
What is survival of the fittest?
All of our inherited characteristics will be those that helped our ancestors to survive and reproduce, such as aggression
Why might aggression aid survival?
Aggression might aid survival (of the genes) if a male is aggressive to protect a female (mate) or their child. Therefore this is not aggression for the sake of it, but aggression that would have benefited the genes, as the genes would survive and be passed on to the offspring.
Why might jealousy and the resulting aggression be see as a survival trait?
For example, if someone is jealous of another male talking to ‘their’ female this makes sense in terms of natural selection. The male needs to reproduce to pass on their genes and so another male competing for a female’s attention would threaten that situation and it makes sense that an evolved response to such as threat is aggression. The male who aggressively defended ‘his’ female would have been the one who reproduced and whose genes survived
What are the strengths/supporting evidence of evolution and natural selection?
Lorenz (1966)
Buss and Shackleton (1997)
Psychology as a science
What are the weaknesses/refuting evidence of evolution and natural selection?
Counter-productive
Unable to explain aggression towards strangers
Reductionism
Why is Lorenz supporting evidence of evolution and natural selection?
Lorenz wrote that aggression is an evolved trait, particularly in males where there is a tendency to fight over limited resources
Why is Buss and Shackleton supporting evidence of evolution and natural selection?
They gathered evidence to find what men do in response to feeling threatened in a relationship
They found men tend to give in to ‘their’ female giving her everything she wanted and were threatening other males around
Supports survival of the fittest theory
Why is psychology as a science a strength of evolution and natural selection?
the theory comes from a scientific study and has scientific credibility, including being widely accepted in the scientific community
Explains aggression in terms of protection of the individuals genes by protecting mate and offspring as well as protecting self
Why is counter-productive in evolution terms a weakness of evolution and natural selection?
Aggression can be seen as counter-productive in evolution terms, because by being aggressive the individual may attract aggression from others and may not survive
Why is evolutionary theory being unable to explain aggression towards strangers a weakness of evolution and natural selection?
This aggression doesn’t link to protecting a mate, offspring or self.
An alternative theory which can explain such aggression is the frustration-aggression hypothesis (Dollard et al 1939)
Why is reductionism a weakness of evolution and natural selection?
This explanation is viewed as a form of genetic reductionism thus the whole behaviour of an organism is not studied
