Exam 2 original studying

Question 1

Essay on the Principle of Population

Answer 1

written in 1798 by Thomas Malthus; influenced Darwin; because more individuals are born than environmental resources can support, there is a struggle for survival and only the fittest survive

Question 2

Francis Galton

Answer 2

developed first word-association test to measure intelligence systematically; first to define and use concepts like median and correlation; Darwin’s eugenics-loving cousin

Question 3

William Whewell

Answer 3

originated the idea that a scientific theory is considered to be strong when a “conciliation of induction” occurs

Question 4

consiliency

Answer 4

agreement between the approaches to a topic of different academic subjects

Question 5

uniformitarianism

Answer 5

school of geology developed by Charles Lyell that emphasizes slow, gradual changes in the Earth’s development; heavily influenced Darwin because it suggested similar laws regarding changes in organisms over time

Question 6

Alfred Russell Wallace

Answer 6

developed a theory of evolution almost identical to Darwin’s at pretty much the same time - they presented it together and were co-discoverers

Question 7

Lewis M. Terman

Answer 7

revised Binet’s IQ test to be more compatible for US use. Also did longitudinal study on gifted children finding that gifted children tend to be healthy, gifted adults

Question 8

Theodore Simon

Answer 8

collaborated with Binet to develop the first test designed to directly measure intelligence

Question 9

William Stern

Answer 9

coined the term “mental age”; suggested IQ as a way of quantifying intelligence

Question 10

Alfred Binet

Answer 10

didn’t follow Galton’s methods for quantifying intelligence because it classified blind and deaf children as dumb. Instead, Binet attempted to directly measure cognitive abilities that he thought constituted intelligence

Question 11

Carl Linnaeus

Answer 11

developed a taxonomic model for the classification and description of organisms in his attempt to describe and classify all of “God’s Creation”; father of taxonomy

Question 12

What did Darwin deduce would result in competition for scarce resources?

Answer 12

Competition would ensue because populations of organisms increase faster than the resources available in the environment

Question 13

island biogeography

Answer 13

discipline which studies how speciation occurs through organisms becoming geographically isolated on islands

Question 14

William Herschel

Answer 14

an astronomer who argued that one can determine the causes for most events through actual observation and analogy

Question 15

spontaneous generation

Answer 15

the idea that life originates magically and then progresses along a set path [Lamarck]

Question 16

Enlightenment

Answer 16

time in which Newton’s explanations of physical phenomena led to an increasingly scientific worldview

Question 17

natural selection

Answer 17

the nonrandom element to Darwin’s theory of evolution; when there are more organisms than an environment can support, nature selects those with characteristics most conducive to survival under the circumstances

Question 18

social darwinism

Answer 18

a misunderstanding by Herbert Spencer who applied the phrase “survival of the fittest” to culture and ethics

Question 19

blue footed booby

Answer 19

bird living on Galapagos Islands that displays its feet as part of a mating ritual

Question 20

archaeopteryx

Answer 20

an extinct example of a transitional species; part reptile and part bird

Question 21

tiktaalik

Answer 21

another extinct transitional species; part fish and part amphibian

Question 22

intelligence quotient

Answer 22

developed by Stern who suggested a procedure for quantifying intelligence. it is calculated by dividing mental age by chronological age

Question 23

artificial selection

Answer 23

aka selective breeding; practice of intentionally developing particular phenotypic traits in domesticated animals or plants

Question 24

“great chain of being”

Answer 24

scala naturae; a strict, religiously based hierarchical structure for all matter and life. it is a poor metaphor for the process of evolution because 1) it’s wrong and 2) it’s predicated on the idea that life is progressive and has been steadily marching toward the advent of mankind

Question 25

Lamarckian evolution

Answer 25

Lamarck believed that offspring inherit acquired characteristics (like accrued strength) from parents. He also believed in spontaneous generation

Question 26

formal theory of natural selection

Answer 26

A. Populations increase indefinitely at a geometric rate
B. Populations stabilize at a certain level in a natural environment (carrying capacity)
C. Given A and B, there is competition for scarce resources
D. There is natural variation between individuals in every species
E. Given A, B, C, D, there is differential reproductive success and individuals more suited to the environment will pass on their genes

Question 27

eugenics

Answer 27

the misguided idea of using artificial selection to create ideal humans and increase the general intelligence of the population

Question 28

proximate causation

Answer 28

biological function in terms of immediate physiological or environmental factors (e.g.: birds produce song because daylight in spring triggers hormone release which pushes them to sing)

Question 29

ultimate causation

Answer 29

biological traits and functions in terms of evolutionary forces acting on them and how they tie into reproductive fitness (e.g.: birds produce song because its an advantage on evolutionary time scale to sing and be better at communication and mate selection)

Question 30

What does evolutionary theory suggest about humans and other hominids?

Answer 30

Humans and other hominids share a common ancestor and humans did not “come from apes”

Question 31

design [Dawkins]

Answer 31

something that we change, make, or alter to fit an idea that we have; human manipulation (like Mount Rushmore)

Question 32

designoid [Dawkins]

Answer 32

something that occurs naturally but appears to be intentionally designed (like a rocky outcropping that happens to look like JFK)

Question 33

differential reproductive success

Answer 33

individuals with variations that are better adapted to the environment leave behind more offspring than the individuals that are less well-adapted

Question 34

allopatric speciation

Answer 34

speciation resulting from geographic separation of one original population