Evolutionary Psychology Flashcards
Evolutionary Psychology
The application of evolutionary biology to the study of the mind of human and non-human animals.
Evolution by Natural Selection
- Evolution happens
• Populations change genetically over time - Evolution usually happens gradually • Populations change over hundreds, thousands,
millions of years; i.e., NOT instantaneous - Speciationoccurs
• One species splits into two or more species
• From single organism 3.5 BYA – to 10-15 million
species on earth
4. Allspeciesshare
common ancestry
– Due to speciation from a single ancestral life form
– Common ancestor is neither of the descendants’ species - Most of evolutionary change is caused by natural selection
– The ONLY process producing adaptations (the appearance of design)
*applies to all living organisms on earth (humans included)
Natural Selection
“Survival of the fittest” -“Survival” = of genes, not individual organisms -“Fitness” = better suited for a specific environment translates into reproductive success
Natural Selection
- Individual trait variation exists
- Some traits are more heritable than others
- Some traits allow for greater reproductive success
Natural Selection
– Propagates (heritable) traits that
• Help you survive (and, therefore, reproduce)
• And allow your offspring to survive (and, therefore, reproduce) • In a specific environment
Sexual Selection
– Propagates traits that help you reproduce (i.e., win in the mating game, but don’t necessarily help you survive!)
• Helps you get chosen by opposite sex (intersexual selection)
• Helps you beat same-sex competitors (intrasexual selection)
Adaptions
– Inherited and reliably developing traits
– Efficient and specialized via natural selection due to their benefits in survival and/or reproduction relative to alternative variations
– Benefits in a specific time and place: environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA)
ex. umbilical cord, nutrients to fetus
By-products
Traits that do NOT solve adaptive problems, just happen to be carried along with adaptive characteristics
ex. belly button
Noise
Random, no cost/benefit.
ex. shape of belly button
Common Misunderstandings
NO: Human behavior is genetically determined
YES: Evolutionary theory is an INTERACTIONIST framework: gene-environment interaction, always!
NO: If it’s evolutionary we can’t / shouldn’t change it
YES: Naturalistic fallacy: cannot get “ought” from “is”
YES: If we want to change things, must study them
NO: Current mechanisms are optimally designed
YES: Constrained by availability, time lags, and costs
YES: Only need to be a little better than alternatives
What is Evolutionary Psychology?
A multidisciplinary
approach to studying psychology which allows us to derive and test hypotheses about the design and operation of the mind.
Because it is an approach, it can be applied to any content area of psychology.
Methods for Testing EP Hypotheses
- Compare across species
- Compare across cultures
- Physiological & brain imaging
- Genetic testing
- Compare across sexes
- Compare across individuals within species
- Compare same individual across contexts
- Experimental methods
Sources of data for testing EP Hypotheses
- Archeological records
- Hunter-Gatherer Societies
- Systematic observations
- Current self-reports
- Life-history data and public records
- Human products
- Overcome limitations of each
- Converging evidence
Survival Problems: Human Adaptive Problems
Food acquisition and selection
ex. solution: prefer sweet, salty, and fatty foods
Finding a Place to Live: Human Adaptive Problems
ex. solution: preference for natural, green landscapes
Combating predators and avoiding dangers: Human Adaptive Problems
ex. solutions: fears, phobias, anxiety, and “adaptive biases”
- Universal responses to attack?
- Universal fears?
Reproduction Problems: Human Adaptive Problems
– Different for men vs. women due to
Parental Investment Theory:
• The sex who invests most in offspring (women) will be most selective in mate choice, and the sex who invests the least (men) will be more competitive for sexual access.
– Different for short vs. long-term mating strategies
• Both sexes engage in short-term and long-term mating
– Some reproduction problems are the same for men and women (but may be prioritized differently)
ex. finding an intelligent partner
Context Matters
Women’s preferences change over the menstrual cycle:
– Fertile: dominance, masculinity
– Non-fertile: commitment, investment
Context Matters
Men’s preferences also sensitive
to women’s menstrual cycle:
– Fertile: men are more attracted
– Non-fertile: men less attracted
• Lap dancers make more money when…
Bottom Line
- Evolution provides a meta-theory for all the life sciences, including psychology
- Evolutionary psychology is a modern, science-based approach to the study of the mind
- Consistent with what we know from biology, and integrates socio-cultural, cognitive, and environmental aspects
