Evolutionary Psychology

Question 0

What is the main evolutionary lag in terms of food neophobia? (If we have an evolutionary drive to not eat harmful foods then why is diabetes and obesity present?)

Answer 0

Access to high caloric foods is way more common now than it was in the past. Its in our evolutionary drive to eat and consume foods with the most amount of caloric uptake because it was so uncommon in our ancestors days. This is the idea of evolutionary lag, where we are more suited for distant or (older contexts) than current contexts

Question 1

What is food neophobia and why can it be beneficial for survival?

Answer 1

when during juvenile or adolescents, animals have the tendency to have a phobia towards new foods (unless they’re forced to it through hunger and do not get sick OR if they’ve seen an adult eat it)

• According to evolutionary psychology, food neophobia is beneficial for survival so we are certain that we do not get poisoned or sick from it.
• As we get older, food neophobia fades

Question 2

What is our typical disgust responses and what 4 things is it displayed towards?

Answer 2

Its an adaptive solution to getting things that might be potential harmful to our body out of our system

Disgust often displays towards:

1. unhygienically prepared food
2. rotten food (meat)
3. bodily fluids/ excrement
4. strangers

Question 3

What is an evolutionary way of why pregnancy sickness occurs?

Answer 3

sickness occurs more predominantly during the critical stages of development for the fetus (first few months).
- Food aversions are more towards foods that contain teratogens (things that harm the baby’s development in the early stages) like meat, caffeine, alcohol… because they might be high in parasites or interfere with the development