Evolutionary psychology Flashcards
= survival and reproduction
What is evolutionary psychology?
A paradigm for studying and conceptualizing external and internalized human behaviors which may represent adaptations to problems encountered by the species in the EEA.
OR
EP is an approach to understand human behavior by understanding the evolutionary past.
What is reproductive success?
Reproductive success refers to an individual’s ability to pass on its genes to the next generation by successfully producing offspring that survive and reproduce.
Life forms have evolved a number of traits that facilitate the organism’s ability to reproduce - ORGANISMS THAT EXIST, EXIST BECAUSE THEIR ANCESTORS HAD CHARACTERISTICS THAT LEADED TO RS
What is natural selection?
NATURAL SELECTION is the main mechanism of evolution. It explains how characteristics of a species that are adaptive, help the organism survive and reproduce, are selected and maintained within the species. Some features are more likely to be selected than others. For example, natural selection acts on traits with higher heritability and also on mutations with an adaptive role.
OR
Natural selection occurs when some inherited variations lead to greater RS than other inherited variations.
Natural selection merely acts on variants that happen to exist; evolution is not intentional and cannot look into the future and foresee distant needs. Selection is gradual, at least when evaluated relative to the human life span.
What are the essential ingredients of natural selection?
- Variation
- Inheritance
- Differential reproductive success
Is RS or longevity more important?
Nature favors reproductive success more than longevity.
What is an ecological perspective?
An organism’s environment shapes the nature of the organism and the species.
What is a selfish gene?
Selfish genes are genes that efficiently lead to their replication. They are more likely to be selected to exist in the future.
Genes act selfishly, but they can make organisms act selflessly, especially towards family, because helping family indirectly helps the selfish genes themselves.
Is evolution about species?
No. In evolutionary psychology, the major emphasis is on humans, while species are almost irrelevant. It highlights human adaptation and human characteristics that are products of evolution, looking at how these characteristics helped previous generations to survive and reproduce, not how they helped the species to become successful in itself.
What does fitness mean?
Fitness refers to how well an organism’s characteristics fit the environment it lives in.
What is sexual selection?
Some characteristics cannot be explained by the process of natural selection, therefore SEXUAL SELECTION refers to the selection of traits that facilitate reproduction simply because they do so, even if they hinder survival. Sexual selection operates through two processes: INTERSEXUAL SELECTION between sexes - some characteristics are attractive to potential partners and INTRASEXUAL SELECTION within members of the same sex - helps one individual to be in competition with another for access to the opposite sex .
OR
Sexual selection deals with the evolution of characteristics due to success in mating rather than to success in survival. Sexual selection operates through two processes: intrasexual competition and intersexual selection.
What are some causes of evolutionary change?
- natural selection
- sexual selection
- genetic drift
- founder-effects - occur when a small portion of a population establishes a new colony and the founders of the new colony are not genetically representative of the original population
- genetic bottlenecks - when a population shrinks, perhaps owing to a random catastrophe such as an earthquake
What are some common misunderstandings about evolutionary theory?
- Human Behavior Is Genetically Determined
- If It’s Evolutionary, We Cannot Change It
- Current Mechanisms Are Optimally Designed (the current mechanisms are the result of what have worked the best in the past)
What is EEA?
EEA stands for environment of evolutionary adaptation which refers to past environmental conditions that shaped characteristics.
What does the MISMATCH THEORY states?
MISMATCH THEORY explains how context changes quickly and organisms find themselves in situations for which they are not evolutionarily prepared.
What is a GENETIC DRIFT?
GENETIC DRIFT is an evolutionary mechanism which describes how some genes are more prevalent in the population not because they confer adaptive benefits, but because of chance.
What is a SPRANDEL?
Every adaptation brings with it a series of artefacts that have no reproductive benefits, therefore SPRANDEL is a by-product of evolution.
What is a TRADE-OFF?
In evolutionary psychology, a trade-off arises between natural selection and sexual selection. Often, humans might perceive natural selection as a process that creates perfection in species. However, this is not entirely accurate. The evolutionary process doesn’t aim for perfection but rather selects traits that increase an organism’s likelihood of successful reproduction and survival in a given environment. For instance, consider the human central nervous system. While it may not be deemed perfect, as evidenced by the existence of mental health issues, it has played a crucial role in the survival and reproduction of the species. The trade-off here is that certain imperfections or vulnerabilities in the central nervous system may exist, but these do not prevent the overall success of the species in terms of reproduction and survival.
!EVOLUTION IS ABOUT OPTIMIZATION, NOT PERFECTION AND WORKS IN TRADE-OFFS!
What is the paradox of psychiatric disorders?
Even though psychiatric disorders have heritable risk and are considered maladaptive, they still exist.
Why do mental disorders exist and persist?
- Despite natural selection
Disorders causing mutations arise faster than selection can remove them from population. A high rate of mutation may be due to inherent trait complexity or other environmental and biological factors (autism, bipolar disorder).
Alleles that were neither favored nor disfavored by natural selection interact with modern environments to cause disorder. - Because of natural selection
A small number of risk alleles and a moderate degree of a particular trait are beneficial, but extremes lead to disorder (anxiety disorder).
Alleles that increase risk for disorder have evolved because they also improved fitness in some environments, in only one sex, or when at a particular frequency in the population. They are maladaptive in some contexts and adaptive in others. ( psychopathy)
The trait improved ancestral fitness, but interacts negatively with some aspects of the modern environment (addictions, bipolar disorder)
The trait is an adaptation that is now culturally disfavored. Some conditions may be classified as disorder despite being adaptive and lacking any malfunction in the brain (depressive disorders, tabacco and nicotine adiiction)
What can be a new definition of distress?
Distress can be viewed as something unpleasant which cause suffering, but it is not necessarily an indicative of biological malfunction.
Are humans considered r species or k-species?
Humans are considered a K-type species, as they invest a significant amount of time and resources in raising and educating their offspring, providing them with a better chance of survival and success in their environment.
What does the parental investment theory states?
Parental investment theory refers to the time, energy and resources an organism invests in procreating and raising offspring. It can be done through direct and indirect ways.
Even though males invest more in competition for reproductive access and finding partners, and females have a higher obligatory parental investment, both parents make a significant contribution by investing in their shared children in the context of long-term relationships
What happens when paternity is uncertain for men?
- will allocate more resources to their own children than to stepchildren
- will invest less than those who are certain of paternity (=genetically)
- spend less time together, provide fewer resources for education
- will invest more if the current partner is also the child’s mother than if it is a child from a previous relationship
What is the primary caretaker hypothesis?
Women have a greater preference for viewing images of newborns. Their interest is greatest during adolescence and young adulthood.
Women recognize facial expressions of newborn emotions more readily than men (especially negative emotions), which enhances a secure attachment and avoidance of danger
What is the tend-and-befriend tendency of women?
It is about protecting children and calming them from being noticed by potential predators, on the one hand, and creating and maintaining social support networks, on the other hand
What is the Cinderella Syndrome?
Children living in the same home with a stepparent are at greater risk of being abused, hospitalized with intentionally inflicted injuries, and being victims of intentional or wrongful homicide.
What is KIN SELECTION?
Kin selection is the preference for helping close relatives.
The evolution of susceptibility to diseases is influenced by a complex interplay between genetic factors, natural selection, sexual selection, and the rapid evolution of pathogens. The constant changes in pathogens create challenges for human immune systems to keep up, leading to the persistence of diseases in human populations. Despite the negative impact of some diseases on individual health, the broader process of evolution ensures that populations as a whole continue to adapt over time.
Why are people vulnerable to disease?
- MISMATCH THEORY between our organism and the environment
(our bodies were not “designed” for the modern environment in which we live now - example: Diet rich in certain carbohydrates and fats - leads to atherosclerosis; in the past these substances were difficult to obtain and the individual could consume them in limited quantities +
evolutionary, an organism is prepared to live in the same environment in which it developed - example: Low birth weight associated with insulin resistance (risk of type II diabetes), but not if individuals continued to live in an environment with insufficient resources; diabetes would develop slowly or not at all)
- TRADE-OFF
(the process that is protective can cause problems; protective mechanisms can go wrong through hyper-reactivity - the “smoke detector” principle: it is better to be very sensitive than to miss a fire; example: fever serves a purpose: killing pathogens (warning) BUT very high fever can create other problems (seizures, brain damage))
DEFECT VS DEFENSE
Defect = physiological manifestation that serves no purpose (e.g. convulsions)
Defense = serves an initial purpose (e.g. coughing - removing foreign material from the respiratory tract)
What are some stress coping strategies?
FIGHT OR FLIGHT
- Better descriptor for men’s response rather than women’s
- Fight-or-flight is a critical stress response mechanism
- The problem is that many of the stressors we encounter today do not require a fight-or-flight response
- The flight or fight response was crucial in the EEA, but today, in the different social structure, it can lead to stress-related disorders
TEND-AND-BEFRIEND (GROOM AND BEFRIEND)
- Better descriptor for women
- Throughout evolution, women have selected behaviors that maximize both their survival and that of their offspring
- females respond by caring for their offspring as well as with behaviors to protect them from danger
- Tend: the caregiving response is part of a wider process of mother-infant attachment
- Befriend: involves a wider social group, with women seeking contact with their social group that is protective for survival
What is the evolutionary logic behind stress?
- The automatic nervous system prepares the body for action when a threatened stimulus is perceived.
- Our body convert fats and carbohydrates into energy that can be used immediately.
- The immune system is activated in order to protect the body from injury.
Do men and women want the same thing in a partner?
Both genders value kindness, understanding and intelligence when looking for a partner. However, men value physical appearance and chastity more than women do and women value a partner’s current and potential resources more than men do.
Why are women predominantly attracted to men who have resources?
- They can facilitate parental investment on the part of the man.
- Their possession denotes energy and competitiveness, as such good genetic material.
- Importance of potential
Why are men mostly attracted to young, physically pleasing and chaste women?
- Youth signals high reproductive potential.
- Good looks indicate physical health.
- Historically chaste because it solves the problem of uncertainty about paternity.
What is mate value?
Mate value refers to how attractive a person is to potential partners.
What is psychopathology?
Psychopathology is caused by maladaptive processes which cause distress to the individual. Moreover, it is characterized by a deviation from cultural and statistical norms producing the person to have difficulties in connecting with the environment and himself. The patterns of thinking, the emotions and behaviors are rigid and inflexible, individuals perceiving fewer alternatives which leads to lower freedom.
From an evolutionary standpoint, psychopathology can be perceived as a protection mechanism.
What are some evolutionary models of psychopathology?
- SINGLE EXPOSURE LEARNING
Garcia effect; PTSD - EXAGERATION OF NORMAL PROCESSES
Anxiety disorders - scanning the environment for danger is exaggerated and it limits the individual’s functioning - LOSS OF A SENSE OF AGENCY
Auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia: the result of dysfunction of a mechanism that identifies whether an action was done by self or by others (if we produced something, we can control it) - DEVELOPMENTAL PROBLEMS THAT LEAD TO PROBLEMS LATER
Anxious attachment - anxiety - ARTIFACT OF ANOTHER PROTECTION
Protection against malaria – sickle cell disease - HIGHLY ADAPTIVE TRAITS THAT INCREASE THE LIKELIHOOD OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
Creativity- bipolar disorder, schizophrenia - PREVIOUSLY ADAPTIVE MECHANISMS THAT NOW LEAD TO PATHOLOGY
Depression = extreme stress that activates self-preservation instincts + loss of significant people + loss of social status
Anxiety as a protection mechanism
Anxiety have evolved to protect the individual from other types of threats as pain is the body’s warning system to protect it from tissue destruction.
