Evolutionary Approach to Personality

Question 1

what is the evolutionary perspective to personality?

Answer 1

we are biologically programmed to engage in behaviours that facilitate survival and reproduction
goal is to pass down genes

Question 2

what is natural selection

Answer 2

the process by which adaptive behavioura are selected

Question 3

how do you study personality from the evolutionary perspective

Answer 3

adaptiveness of a personality trait in terms of natural selection, sexual selection, and inclusive fitness

Question 4

what is inclusive fitness

Answer 4

traits that influence likelihood that relatives will survive

Question 5

what parts of personality does inclusive fitness explain

Answer 5

altriusm
homosexuality

Question 6

how can we assess whether traits were evolutionarily selected for?

Answer 6

if we see them cross-culturally, they were selected for

Question 7

what is evidence for the evolutionary perspective?

Answer 7

universal emotion expression across cultures

Question 8

why is pride an adaptive expression

Answer 8

occurs after success signalling the individual deserves high status

Question 9

what position is most recoginized as pride?

Answer 9

head tilted up
puffed out chest
small smile

Question 10

what is adaptive about the head tilt in pride?

Answer 10

looking above others
approach oriented

Question 11

what is adaptive about the expanded posture in pride?

Answer 11

high status
draws attention

Question 12

what is adaptive about the slight smile in pride?

Answer 12

social cohesion
individual remains within the group

Question 13

what is the Burkina Faso Study?

Answer 13

studying if pride is a universal expression by testing recognition of pride in an isolated culture

Question 14

what were the results of the Burkina Faso study

Answer 14

village recognized expression of pride beyond chance
pride recognition is comparable to other emotion recognition
recognition was lower than in western samples

Question 15

what could have caused lower recognition of pride in the village versus in western sample

Answer 15

complicated procedure
previous research showed low recognition rates in preliterate cultures

Question 16

what was the Olympic Judo study

Answer 16

photographs of olympic judo winners showed cross cultural expression of pride
shows evolutionary basis to pride

Question 17

what was the paralympic judo study

Answer 17

photographs of blind olympic judo winners showed expresion of pride
showed innate nature of pride

Question 18

what is the main cause of sex differences in adaptive measures

Answer 18

men fertilize externally therefore must invest in their own children
women fertilize internally therefore need to find a mate that will provide resources

Question 19

what was the Buss et al. (1992) study

Answer 19

external fertilization should cause higher rates of sexual jealousy
internal fertilization should cause higher rates of emotional jealousy

Question 20

what were the results of the Buss study?

Answer 20

males show higher rates of sexual jealousy cross-culturally

Question 21

what is further evidence of the jealousy hypothesis

Answer 21

men show higher physiological arousal during imagery of sexual infidelity than emotional infidelity and vice versa
men show better memory of sexual infidelity, women show better for emotional

Question 22

what is the ‘double shot’ theory

Answer 22

women think that for men being in love also means having sex same/vice versa for men

Question 23

what effect does the double shot have on Buss’s results

Answer 23

no effect, sex differences in jealousy still hold

Question 24

what is another way we can explain the sex differences in jealousy?

Answer 24

cognitive load study
distinct emotion findings

Question 25

what is the cognitive load study

Answer 25

women became more like men in terms of jealousy when both are under cognitive load

Question 26

what are the distinct emotion findings in the terms of infidelity

Answer 26

sexual infidelity leads to anger, men find anger more problematic
emotional infidelity leads to sadness, women find sadness more problematic

Question 27

what are other evolved sex differences

Answer 27

men desire more sexual partners in their lifetime
men are more likely to agree to sex with a stranger/ a friend of a friend
women put more importance on financial prospect of their partners

Question 28

what is the survival problem that extraversion is solving

Answer 28

social rank
cooperation

Question 29

what is the survival problem that emotional stability (neuroticism) is solving

Answer 29

resilience to stress
adaptibility

Question 30

what is the survival problem that agreeableness is solving

Answer 30

intimacy/mating
altruism

Question 31

what is the survival problem that conscientiousness is solving

Answer 31

work
trust
dependability

Question 32

what is the survival problem that oppenness is solving

Answer 32

learning
exploration
versatility

Question 33

what is the adaptive value of the big 5

Answer 33

the ability to perceive the Big 5 in others
trade off perspective

Question 34

what is the trade off perspective

Answer 34

all levels of the big 5 traits have costs and benefits, leading to the heritability of the variation of each trait

Question 35

what is the adaptiveness of the opposites of the big 5?

Answer 35

frequency-dependent selection
environmental triggers

Question 36

what is frequency dependent selection?

Answer 36

certain traits are only adaptive if there are people with the opposite trait that exist

Question 37

how do environmental triggers make the opposite of the big 5 adaptive?

Answer 37

it is more adaptive to be the opposite traits in certain environments
e.g. more adaptive to be neurotic in adverse conditions