Evolution Biology Flashcards

1
Q

Do we tend to have personality characteristics that helped our ancestors reproduce?

A

Yes

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2
Q

How do we select mates?

A

“Inclusive Fitness”

  • look for mates who will increase our chances for survival and the survival of our relatives
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3
Q

What is kin altruism?

A

We are attracted to people who favor relatives b/c promotes successful passing of genes

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4
Q

What is reciprocal altruism

A

Unrelated people help each other; The risk of helping another is less than the benefit of being helped by the social network formed

  • Also promotes successful passing of genes
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5
Q

Who do we scorn?

A

Cheaters and freeloaders

  • people who will not help as much as they are helped
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6
Q

If you live in a family of 600 and there is a disease. Would you choose 200 guaranteed to live or 1/3 chance everyone survives but 2/3 chance everyone dies?

A

200 guarenteed

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7
Q

If you live in a family of 600 and there is a disease. Would you choose 400 guaranteed to die or 2/3 chance everyone survives but 1/3 chance everyone dies?

A

2/3 chance everyone survives but 1/3 chance everyone dies

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8
Q

If you live in a family of 60 and there is a disease. Would you choose 20 guaranteed to live or 1/3 chance everyone survives but 2/3 chance everyone dies?

A

1/3 chance everyone survives but 2/3 chance everyone dies

(clan of reduced numbers has decreased probability of surviving and passing along DNA)

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9
Q

If you live in a family of 60 and there is a disease. Would you choose 40 guaranteed to die or 2/3 chance everyone survives but 1/3 chance everyone dies?

A

2/3 chance everyone survives but 1/3 chance everyone dies

(clan of reduced numbers has decreased probability of surviving and passing along DNA)

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10
Q

What are some examples of traits that have little value (due to environment/society changing)

A

Eating sweets/high calorie foods, aggression, extreme jealousy

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11
Q

What are some examples of functional traits?

A

Negative affect: fear of snakes, heights, strangers

Positive affect: hope, laughing

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12
Q

What are 3 benefits of emotional abilities? (used to solidify social ties)

A
  1. See needs of others; allow us to share out goods and strengths with them
  2. Cooperate to protect against threat
  3. Social support improves immune function
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13
Q

What are evolved psychological mechanisms?

A

Processes which evolved to solve particular problems associated with survival/reproduction

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14
Q

Are are the 5 evolved psychological mechanisms?

A
  1. Sexual jealousy
  2. Sexual attraction based on appearance
  3. Sexual attraction based on male’s ability to provide
  4. Sexual attraction based on youth
  5. Imitation
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15
Q

Why does sexual jealousy exist?

A

It was uncertain whether children biologically resulted from the “father”
- therefore, men would pay more attention to partner’s sexual fidelity
- women more jealous of emotional bonding between partner with other women (ensure father supports family)

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16
Q

Why does sexual attraction based on man’s ability to provide exist?

A

Women only have a limited amount of time to reproduce so they want to ensure offspring are cared for
- Children with father are more likely to survive
- Affluence also predicts survival rate

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17
Q

Why does sexual attraction based on physical appearance exist?

A
  • Good looks are signal of health
  • Men and women prefer symmetrical faces/bodies
  • Men prefer low waist:hip ratio for reproduction
  • Women prefer strong chin/cheekbone structure (indicative of high testosterone levels)
18
Q

Why does sexual attraction based on youth exist?

A

Men prefer young women b/c greater number of reproductive days ahead

19
Q

Why does sexual attraction based on imitation exist?

A

Children, as part of play, imitate adults
- they “practice” and “learn” adult behavior
- allow them to utilize behavioral tendences that have been successful from one generative to the next

20
Q

What is cultural transmission?

A

process by which cultural traits, values, and preferences (“laws”) are passed down through generations
- Not all biological

21
Q

How is cultural passed down?

A
  1. Stories
  2. Religion
  3. Tools
  4. Technologies
  5. Social organizations
22
Q

Is temperament inheritable?

A

Yes - twin studies show its highly heritable and highly consistent across the life span
- Emotionality
- Activity
- Sociability
- Self-regulation

23
Q

What are Thomas and Chess’s child temperament theories?

A

Gave baby new object to play with
1. 40% easy, happy, interactive
2. 15% slower to warm up, withdrew and mildly distressed
3. 10% difficult, withdrew and irritable
4. Rest are variable

24
Q

What was Jerome Kagan’s model?

A

A new person (experimenter) comes into room to offer a new toy to play with. 21 month old and mother are in the room. Either child would play to cling to mother
* inhibited vs uninhibited type

25
Q

What is the inhibited vs uninhibited type?

A

Inhibited: shy, fearful, timid
Uninhibited: bold, sociable, more outgoing

26
Q

What did Kagan find the heribitability of temperament to be?

A

0.5

27
Q

Inhibited children show increased arousal of the ____.

A

Amygdala - the emotional “fear” center of the brain

28
Q

Genotype vs phenotype

A

Genotype: Inherited genetic profile
Phenotype: observed characteristics

29
Q

What are the amygdala, left frontal lobe, and right frontal lobe responsible for in terms of personality?

A

Amygdala: fear
Left frontal lobe: Positive/approach emotion
Right frontal lobe: Negative/withdrawal emotion

30
Q

What did Pavlov say was a strong nervous system?

A

Able to tolerate a very strong stimuli without too much reaction

ie. smell really good food but don’t salivate too much

31
Q

What did Pavlov say was a weak nervous system?

A

React intensely to only a minor stimuli

ie. light smell of food but high salivation

32
Q

Who is Eysenck?

A

psychologist who studied through
1. Questionnaries
2. Ratings by others
3. Physiological
4. Objective (Behavioral)

33
Q

What is the PEN Model?

A

Categorizes individuals into three dimensions of personality:
1. Psychoticism
2. Extraversion
3. Neuroticism
4. Intelligence?

  • It suggests that these traits can be measured and are biologically based
34
Q

What did Eysenck say about psychoticism?

A
  • Tend towards nonconformity/social deviance
  • Habituate to strong emotional stimuli
  • Greater parasympathetic arousal
35
Q

What did Eysenck say about extraversion?

A
  • Strong vs weak nervous system
  • People with little reaction to stimuli seek stimuli more (ie. they act like extraverts)
36
Q

What did Eysenck say about neuroticism?

A

People who are neurotic have a higher baseline arousal (measure heart rate, blood pressure, etc)

37
Q

How can you relate Eysenck’s PEN theory to anxiety and antisocial personality?

A

Anxiety: high neuroticism and introversion
Antisocial: high psychoticism and extroversion

38
Q

What was Eysenck’s hypotheses?

A

Introverts react more strongly to stimuli relative to extroverts

  • After hearing a tone, introverts experience increased brain arousal reactivity
  • Extroverts choose loud background noise relative to introverts
39
Q

What 2 systems did Jeffrey Gray come up with?

A

Behavioral Activation System
Behavioral Inhibition System

40
Q

What is the Behavioral Activation System (BAS)?

A
  1. Left frontal mediation
  2. High BAS –> impulsive behavior
  3. low BAS –> depression

Generally associated with positive affect (reward)

41
Q

What is the Behavioral Inhibition System (BAS)?

A
  1. Right frontal mediation
  2. High BAS –> prone for anxiety disorders
  3. Low BIS –> greater risk-taking

Generally associated with negative affect (punishment)

42
Q

What does it mean if the Behavioral Activation System > Behavioral Inhibition System? (BAS>BIS)

A
  • Have greater left-frontal arousal
  • Tend to experience more positive affect throughout the day
  • Have positive effective bias for neutral information