Evolutionary Psychology Flashcards
How does evolutionary change happen?
- Differential reproductive success because of heritable variations (mutations).
- Everyone has ancestors, but not everyone leaves descendants.
What are the 3 major theories of the origins of complex psychological mechanisms?
- Creationism
- Seeding Theory
- Evolutionary Psychology
What is the first core tenet of evolutionary psychology?
ALL psychological mechanisms, at some basic level originate from evolutionary processes.
What is the second core tenet of evolutionary psychology?
Natural and sexual selection are the most important evolutionary processes responsible for creating psychological mechanisms.
What is the third core tenet of evolutionary psychology?
Evolved psychological mechanism are instantiated on the brain.
What is the fourth core tenet of evolutionary psychology?
Evolved psychological mechanisms are functional: Designed to solve recurrent adaptive problems.
What can evolutionary psychology explain?
- Our need to belong (Social Brain Theory)
- Impression formation
- Altruism
- Sexual Pleasure
- Gender differences
What is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Basic Needs? Try and name them from in order from bottom to top.
A pyramid where we all have needs that need to be met and where you have to complete one before moving on to the next one.
- Biological Needs (bottom)
- Safety Needs
- Love and Belonging Needs
- Esteem Needs
- Self-actualization Needs (too)
Why do humans feel the need to belong? What do humans feel in addition to belonging?
Humans feel motivated to eat, drink, have sex, and achieve.
We need to belong; to feel connected with others in enduring, close relationships.
Did evolutionary forces shape this?
What aides in survival? What is the result?
- Social bonds boosted our ancestor’s survival rate.
- Those who felt the need to belong survived and reproduced more successfully.
- The inevitable result: an innately social creature.
What is Social Brain Theory?
Being intelligent should represent an evolutionary advantage (so why aren’t more animals intelligent?).
Dunbar (1993, 1996)
•Brains are “biologically expensive”
•They do not help directly with having sex, avoiding predators, and obtaining food.
•Instead, larger brains are linked to more complex social structures
Big brains evolved in humans to enable rich, complex social lives.
How long does it take us to form certain impressions about strangers?
It usually takes just 20 seconds to detect whether a stranger is generically inclined to be trustworthy, kind, or compassionate
What is an example of Altruism and Helping Behavior?
Rats will repeatedly free other rats caught in a restraint.
How does the brain find pleasure?
Almost every area in the brain is activated during orgasm; apart from an epileptic seizure, there is no bigger brain networking event.
What are big sex interaction differences?
Overall, male-male interactions are more cooperative than female-female interactions, but women cooperate more than men in mixed-sex interactions.
