Evolution Biology Flashcards
Do we tend to have personality characteristics that helped our ancestors reproduce?
Yes
How do we select mates?
“Inclusive Fitness”
- look for mates who will increase our chances for survival and the survival of our relatives
What is kin altruism?
We are attracted to people who favor relatives b/c promotes successful passing of genes
What is reciprocal altruism
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
Who do we scorn?
Cheaters and freeloaders
- people who will not help as much as they are helped
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?
200 guarenteed
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?
2/3 chance everyone survives but 1/3 chance everyone dies
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?
1/3 chance everyone survives but 2/3 chance everyone dies
(clan of reduced numbers has decreased probability of surviving and passing along DNA)
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?
2/3 chance everyone survives but 1/3 chance everyone dies
(clan of reduced numbers has decreased probability of surviving and passing along DNA)
What are some examples of traits that have little value (due to environment/society changing)
Eating sweets/high calorie foods, aggression, extreme jealousy
What are some examples of functional traits?
Negative affect: fear of snakes, heights, strangers
Positive affect: hope, laughing
What are 3 benefits of emotional abilities? (used to solidify social ties)
- See needs of others; allow us to share out goods and strengths with them
- Cooperate to protect against threat
- Social support improves immune function
What are evolved psychological mechanisms?
Processes which evolved to solve particular problems associated with survival/reproduction
What are the 5 evolved psychological mechanisms?
- Sexual jealousy
- Sexual attraction based on appearance
- Sexual attraction based on male’s ability to provide
- Sexual attraction based on youth
- Imitation
Why does sexual jealousy exist?
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)
Why does sexual attraction based on man’s ability to provide exist?
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
Why does sexual attraction based on physical appearance exist?
- 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)
Why does sexual attraction based on youth exist?
Men prefer young women b/c greater number of reproductive days ahead
Why does sexual attraction based on imitation exist?
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
What is cultural transmission?
process by which cultural traits, values, and preferences (“laws”) are passed down through generations
- Not all biological
How is culture passed down?
- Stories
- Religion
- Tools
- Technologies
- Social organizations
Is temperament inheritable?
Yes - twin studies show its highly heritable and highly consistent across the life span
- Emotionality
- Activity
- Sociability
- Self-regulation
What are Thomas and Chess’s child temperament theories?
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
What was Jerome Kagan’s model?
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
What is the inhibited vs uninhibited type?
Inhibited: shy, fearful, timid
Uninhibited: bold, sociable, more outgoing
What did Kagan find the heribitability of temperament to be?
0.5
Inhibited children show increased arousal of the ____.
Amygdala - the emotional “fear” center of the brain
Genotype vs phenotype
Genotype: Inherited genetic profile
Phenotype: observed characteristics
What are the amygdala, left frontal lobe, and right frontal lobe responsible for in terms of personality?
Amygdala: fear
Left frontal lobe: Positive/approach emotion
Right frontal lobe: Negative/withdrawal emotion
What did Pavlov say was a strong nervous system?
Able to tolerate a very strong stimuli without too much reaction
ie. smell really good food but don’t salivate too much
What did Pavlov say was a weak nervous system?
React intensely to only a minor stimuli
ie. light smell of food but high salivation
Who is Eysenck?
psychologist who studied through
1. Questionnaries
2. Ratings by others
3. Physiological
4. Objective (Behavioral)
What is the PEN Model?
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
What did Eysenck say about psychoticism?
- Tend towards nonconformity/social deviance
- Habituate to strong emotional stimuli
- Greater parasympathetic arousal
What did Eysenck say about extraversion?
- Strong vs weak nervous system
- People with little reaction to stimuli seek stimuli more (ie. they act like extraverts)
What did Eysenck say about neuroticism?
People who are neurotic have a higher baseline arousal (measure heart rate, blood pressure, etc)
How can you relate Eysenck’s PEN theory to anxiety and antisocial personality?
Anxiety: high neuroticism and introversion
Antisocial: high psychoticism and extroversion
What was Eysenck’s hypotheses?
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
What 2 systems did Jeffrey Gray come up with?
Behavioral Activation System
Behavioral Inhibition System
What is the Behavioral Activation System (BAS)?
- Left frontal mediation
- High BAS –> impulsive behavior
- low BAS –> depression
Generally associated with positive affect (reward)
What is the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS)?
- Right frontal mediation
- High BAS –> prone for anxiety disorders
- Low BIS –> greater risk-taking
Generally associated with negative affect (punishment)
What does it mean if the Behavioral Activation System > Behavioral Inhibition System? (BAS>BIS)
- Have greater left-frontal arousal
- Tend to experience more positive affect throughout the day
- Have positive effective bias for neutral information
