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Psychology Semester 1 > Evolution & Behaviour Psychology > Flashcards

Evolution & Behaviour Psychology Flashcards

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1
Q

Brain size

A
  • 6 million years ago we have experiences a 3-fold increase in brain size from earliest human ancestors
  • Our brains are around 3 times larger than would expected to be for an animal our size
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2
Q

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

A
  • Changed the way we look at evolution over time
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3
Q

Observations before Darwin

A
  • Change of species took place over time
  • Characteristics have purpose
    > e.g. porcupine spines have spikes to defend against predators
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4
Q

Darwin set out the explain

A
  • Why did changes take place
  • How did new species emerge (speciation)
  • What are the function of the [arts/characteristics
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5
Q

Darwin’s ship journey in 1831

A
  • Visited the Galapagos Island and discovered several species of Finches
  • Seen they had similar characteristics
  • Helping to develop his theory of natural selection
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6
Q

Natural selection

A
  • Basic mechanism of evolution
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7
Q

On the origin of species (Darwin, 1859)

A
  • Competition
    > Populations can grow exponentially, but resources are limited
    > “struggle for existence”
  • Variation
    > Individuals vary in their ability to compete
    > inevitable selection of individuals with the most advantageous variations
    > Individuals best adapted to their environments are more likely to survive
  • Heritability
    > Variation is heritable
    > Differential reproductive success leads to a progressive evolution of particular populations (CHANGES)
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8
Q

Natural selection involves

A
  • Competition
  • Variation
  • Heritability
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9
Q

Co-discovery of natural selection

A
  • Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913)

- Both Darwin and Wallace worked together on natural selection

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10
Q

Natural selection scrutinised

A
  • Do populations really grow exponentially
    > Yes
  • Has there been enough time?
    > Yes
  • Is variation heritable
    > Darwin wasn’t sure as he didn’t know genes existed
    > Discovery of genes/genetic inheritance
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11
Q

Genes

A
  • Contain the information our bodies need to make proteins
  • Influences what we look like on the outside and how we work on the inside
  • Genes contained on strands of DNA
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12
Q

DNA stand for

A
  • Deoxyribonucleic acid
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13
Q

Proteins

A
  • Form the structure of our bodies, as well playing an important role in the processes that keep us alive
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14
Q

Mendel (1856 - 1863)

A
  • First person to describe genetic processes
  • Said organisms contained 2 versions of a gene (1 from each parent)
  • DNA is replicated and passed on to offspring
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15
Q

3 processes that can make genetic variation

A
  • Sexual reproduction
  • Mutation
  • Genetic drift (genes just disappear)
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16
Q

The “selfish” gene

A 
- The gene is the unit of selection
> NOT characteristic
> NOT individual 
- Genes are self-interested
> as there goal is to be passed on
- Fitness
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17
Q

Fitness

A
  • Numbers of copies of genes passed on to future generations
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18
Q

Sexual dimorphism

A
  • When females and males look different including reproduction systems
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19
Q

Sexual selection

A
  • Females and males face the same survival challenges but can look different
  • Mating/reproductive advantage
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20
Q

2 types of sexual selection

A
  • Intersexual selection

- Intrasexual competition

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21
Q

Intersexual selection

A
  • Members of one biological sex choose a member of the opposite sex to mate with
  • Usually ‘female choice’
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22
Q

Intrasexual competition

A
  • Physical combat
  • Status, hierarchy
  • Indicate greater resources
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23
Q

Homo sapiens

A
  • 200,000 years ago
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24
Q

Cognitive revolution

A
  • 70,000 years ago

- Modern language, religion, trade

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25
Q

Agricultural revolution

A
  • 12,000 years ago
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26
Q

Industrial revolution

A
  • 200 years ago
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27
Q

Sapiens lived as

A
  • Foragers
  • Collected wild plants and pursed wild animals
  • Nomads (built in temporary shelters and followed food)
  • High levels of physical activity
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28
Q

Sapiens lived

A
  • In groups that consisted of several families
  • Probably egalitarian social structures (no social hierarchy)
  • Division of labour common
  • High child mortality, bit long life possible
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29
Q

Evolution, genes and psychology intimately linked

A
  • Thinking and behaviour depends on physiology (brain and body)
  • Genes determine physiology and behaviour
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30
Q

Human psychology in the context of evolution: evolutionary psychology:

A
  • Evolved biological and psychological mechanisms influence behaviour (aggression, cooperation, mate choice)
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31
Q

All behaviour is

A
  • Interaction between psychological mechanism and environmental input
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32
Q

Jealousy

A
  • Jealousy is psychological evolved mechanism

- Contextual input (e.g. infidelity) triggers it

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33
Q

Fear of spiders

A
  • Evolved because spiders presented threat to our survival

- No longer likely to kill us, but mechanism still there

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34
Q

Humans are designed to

A
  • Solve adaptive problems in the here and now

- Keeping warm, food, protecting

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35
Q

David M. Buss

A
  • Humans not designed to understand causal (evolutionary) processes that created our psychology (time frame of hundreds of thousands of years)
  • Blind to our own adaptations: that hinder our understanding of our evolutionary processes
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36
Q

Essentialism

A
  • Species are stable and have unchangeable “essences”
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37
Q

Teleology

A
  • Misattributing desires, motives and intentions to inanimate objects and organisms
  • e.g. “the sun is trying to come out”
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38
Q

Evolutionary psychology

A
  • Scientific meta-theory to understand human nature
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39
Q

Adaptations

A
  • Functional products of natural or sexual selection
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40
Q

The physiological and psychological mechanism that make up our behaviour is

A
  • Known as adaptions
41
Q

Physiological mechanism example

A
  • Calluses
  • The fixed skin you get on your body
  • e.g. if you walk a lot you’ll get thicker skin on your feet
42
Q

Principles of evolutionary psychology

A
  • Brain is an information processing device, produces behaviour in response to external and internal inputs
  • Brain’s adaptive mechanism were shaped by natural and sexual selection
  • Different neural mechanisms are specialised for solving problems in humanity’s evolutionary past
  • Brains has evolved specialised neural mechanisms that were designed for solving problems that recurred over deep evolutionary time, giving modern humans stone-age minds
43
Q

Fear adaptations

A
  • Fears and phobias of evolutionary ancient dangers far more common than evolutionary modern dangers
44
Q

Evolutionary ancient dangers

A
  • e.g. Snakes and spiders
45
Q

Evolutionary modern

A
  • e.g. Cars and guns
46
Q

Snakes and spiders (fear)

A
  • Snakes and spiders signal potential threats to survival (poison)
  • So humans had to evolve fear adaptations to survive
  • Well supported by research
  • Automatic and cant be stopped if you see one
  • Shown in infants (physiological arousal) - pupil size increased when seen S & S instead of fish when shown photos
47
Q

Cars and Guns (fear)

A
  • Less common
  • Although more dangerous to survival in modern environment
  • Not enough time for evolution to adapt to modern environment
48
Q

Depression

A
  • More than 300 million people globally suffer from it
  • Serious health condition and disability
  • Symptoms: lasting feelings of unhappiness & hopelessness, losing interest in things usual enjoyed, tired and no appetite
49
Q

Depression - Theories

A
  • Depression as an adaptive response
  • Modern social environment differs from past: greater inequality loneliness
  • Modern populations: overfed, malnourished, sunlight-deficient, sleep-deprived
  • Contributes to poor physical health (chronic disease) and depression
50
Q

Eating behaviour: Unhealthy

A
  • Major contributor to health problems (obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer)
  • Cravings for food that are high in sugar and fat (energy-dense)
51
Q

Eating behaviour: Sugar

A
  • Evolutionary past
  • From fruit or honey
  • Not possible to get too much sugar
52
Q

Eating behaviour: Fat

A
  • Evolutionary past
  • Game animals lean
  • Not possible to get too much fat
53
Q

Modern world on food

A
  • Markey economy produces immense amount of food
    > access to well-fed animals
  • access to all kinds of sugars
54
Q

Ancestral conditions and the modern world (eating behaviour)

A
  • Mismatched

- Adaptions that were reproduction-supporting now cause problems

55
Q

Sex differences

A
  • Evolved sexual differences exists:
    > women and men differ in domains where they recurrently faced different adaptive problem
    > Women and men are expected to be similar in all domains in which they have faced similar adaptive problems during evolution
56
Q

Men and Women sex differences

A
  • SIMILARITIES OUTNUMBER THE DIFFERENCES
57
Q

Sex Differences: Women (adaptive)

A
  • Faced adaptive problems of pregnancy and breastfeeding (metabolically expensive)
58
Q

Sex Differences: Men (adaptive)

A
  • Faced adaptive problems of paternity uncertainty and misdirected parental investment
59
Q

Women ≠ men

sex differences

A
  • Number of offspring that each sex can possibly produce
  • Obligatory parental investment
  • Reproductive uncertainty
60
Q

Both sex

sex differences

A
  • Both face problems of identifying mates who will commit long-term
  • (seeking signs of love as commitment device)
61
Q

Cooperation

A
  • Evolved adaptation to increase reproductive success of social partners
  • Inclusive fitness
  • Driven by reciprocity
    > we will receive benefits in return
62
Q

Inclusive fitness

A
  • Genes of relatives are passed on (including shared genes)
63
Q

Sapiens Cooperation

A
  • Developed large-scale flexible cooperation
  • Potentially made possible through unique language
  • Cooperative breeding
64
Q

Cooperative breeding

A
  • (help) raising offspring of others
65
Q

Human aggression

A
  • Humans have long evolutionary history of violence
  • Adaptive problems of social living
  • Secure resources from others
  • Defend against attack
  • Inflict costs on same-sex rivals (access to females)
  • Physical aggression often form of intra-sexual competition
66
Q

Common criticisms of evolutionary psychology

political and ethical issues

A
  • Eugenics
  • Feminism
  • Naturalistic Fallacy
  • Panglossian
  • Genetic Determinism
  • Ancestral environment
67
Q

Common criticisms of evolutionary psychology

(political and ethical issues): Eugenics

A
  • Improve genetic quality of human population by excluding “less desirable” genetic groups and promoting “superior” genetic groups
  • Selective breeding in humans
68
Q

Common criticisms of evolutionary psychology

(political and ethical issues): Feminism

A
  • Detrimental to achieve gender equality
69
Q

Common criticisms of evolutionary psychology

(political and ethical issues): Naturalistic Fallacy

A
  • “ought cannot be derived from is”

- No connection between what is biologically or naturally selected and what is ethically right or wrong

70
Q

Common criticisms of evolutionary psychology

(political and ethical issues): Panglossian

A
  • Just-so-Stories

- Difficult to verify

71
Q

Common criticisms of evolutionary psychology

(political and ethical issues): Genetic Determinism

A
  • Belief that human behaviour is controlled by an individual’s genes
  • Importance of non-genetic and non-adaptive explanations
72
Q

Common criticisms of evolutionary psychology

(political and ethical issues): Ancestral environment

A
  • Large uncertainty about the ancestral environment
73
Q

Parasite Theory

A
  • Parasites account for more mortality than anything else (Hamilton & Zuk: 1982)
  • Signalling a strong immune system should be attractive
74
Q

Parasite Theory - Swallow example

A
  • Length and symmetry of barn swallow’s tail streamers signals parasite load and immune function
  • Females prefer long tailed males
75
Q

Averageness Hypothesis

A
  • Average/ composite faces rated as more attractive than the originals
  • Due to average-looking people having fewer ‘risks; associated with them
  • Allows you to morph peoples faces into one
76
Q

Parental investment theory created by

A
  • Robert Trivers, 1972
77
Q

Parental investment

A
  • Investment in offspring by the parent that increases the offspring’s chances of surviving and hence reproductive success
  • At the expense of the parent’s ability to invest in other offspring
78
Q

Parental investment theory: Mating investment

A
  • Sexual act

- Sex cells (gametes)

79
Q

Parental investment theory:

Rearing investment

A
  • Time and energy to raise offspring
80
Q

Women’s parental investment

A
  • In both mating and rearing efforts greatly surpasses that of the male
81
Q

Parental investment: 2 categories

A
  • Mating investment

- Rearing investment

82
Q

Size of egg compared to sperm

A
  • Gamete size of egg much larger than sperm
83
Q

Parental investment theory:

Sex that invest more

A
  • Invest more in offspring will be more selective when choosing a mate
    > usually females (but males are pickier in species where males invest more)
84
Q

Parental investment theory:

Sex that invest less

A
  • Invest less will have intra-sexual competition for access to mates
    > usually males (in species where parental investment is bigger for a male, females are more aggressive, brightly coloured, and larger than males)
85
Q

Evolutionary approach to mate preferences

A
  • David Buss, 1989

- Influential article testing predictions from evolutionary psychology in 10,000 people from 33 countries

86
Q

Sex differences in Mate Preferences

A
  • Buss (1989)
  • Males value reproductive capacity more than females
  • Females value resource acquisition more than males
87
Q

Age preferences

A
  • Kenrick & Keefe (1989)
  • Females
    > from 20s up to roughly 60s tend to want someone their same age
    > average 2 years younger and an average of 9 years older
  • Males
    > in their 20s prefer women in the 20s
    > older males prefer younger females
88
Q

Problems with EP approach

A
  • HUGE intra-sexual variation in preferences
  • Biased samples
  • Social desirability
89
Q

Sexual Dimorphism in the Face

A
  • Distinct differences in size or appearance between the sexes of an animal in addition to the sexual organs themselves
90
Q

Masculinity preferences

Perret et al. 1998
Rantala et al. 2012

A
  • Women’s preferences for sexual dimorphism in the male face are complicated
  • High Testosterone:
    > strong immune system
  • Low Testosterone
    > Weak immune response
91
Q

Cycle Shifts

A
  • Menstrual cycle alters face preference
  • People had to rate their preference
  • Women typically prefer feminised faces most of the time, but prefer slightly masculinised faces in the fertile phases
92
Q

MHC

A
  • Major histocompatibility complex
93
Q

MHC compatibility - Species

A
  • Genes that control the immune response and effective resistance against pathogens
  • Involved in mate choice for many species through olfactory cues
  • Preference for MHC-dissimilarity in potential partners
94
Q

MHC compatibility: Humans (wedekind. 1995)

A
  • Women asked to smell T-shirts worn by different males
  • Women that were ovulating rated the odours of MHC-dissimilar men as more pleasant
  • (reversed in women taking contraceptives)
95
Q

Social roles: Evolutionary psychology

A
  • Evolutionary adaptations

> psychological sex differences

96
Q

Social roles: Social psychology

Eagly & Wood, 1999

A
  • Social structure
  • psychological sex difference
  • culture and social structure can influence behaviour
  • individuals seek mate who is likely to be successful in their social role
97
Q

Gender equality

A
  • Gender differences in mate preferences decline with increases in nations’ gender parity (Zentner & Mitura, 2012)
98
Q

Evolutionary vs Social psychology

A

EP: Sex differences in mate preferences stem from sex differences in relative gamete size and parental investment (e.g. Buss 1989)

SP: Sex differences in mate preferences stem from gendered social roles (e.g. Eagly & Wood, 1999)

Psychology Semester 1 (7 decks)

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