FINAL Flashcards
Anthropoid
group that includes monkeys, apes, and humans
Difference between monkey and an ape
monkeys have tails while apes do not
Pleistocene
2.6 mya to 11,700 ya
Holocene
11,700 ya to present
Pilocene
5.3 mya to 2.6 mya
Miocene
23 mya to 5.3 mya
What factor influences primates’ slow life history
development and maintenance of large brains
Primate species in increasing order of relatedness
gibbons, orangutans, gorillas, bonobos, chimpanzees
Oldest known species in the human family tree
homo erectus
Hominin species with apelike brain size and bipedality
Australopithecus afarensis
Species nicknamed the Handyman
Homo habilis (used some of the earliest stone tools)
First species to exhibit modern limb proportions
Homo ergaster (African variant)
Homo erectus (Asian variant)
Insular dwarfism
small body sized evolved in response to constrained environments
Insular dwarfism species
homo floreseinsis
Ancestor of both Neanderthals and modern humans
Homo neanderthalensis
When did Neanderthals live
200,000 to 30,000 years ago (Pleistocene)
What environments were Neanderthals adapted to
colder environments
Evidence suggesting Neanderthals interbred with modern humans
non-African human population carry portion of neanderthal DNA
When and where did anatomically modern humans emerge?
200,000 years from Africa
When is there clear evidence of successful migration out of Africa
70,000
Sexual dimorphism increases or decreases from Australopithecus afarensis to modern humans
Decrease
What species migrated out of Africa 2 million years ago
Homo erectus
Which evolved first bipedal locomotion or large brain size?
Bipedal locomotion, answered using Australophithecus
What factor transforms the human environment during the Holocene?
Intensive domestication of plants and animals
Jealousy
state aroused by a perceived threat to a valued relationship
Jealousy function
motivates behavior to counter the threat
What sex difference in jealousy is typically focused on?
sex differences in threats and triggers of mate jealousy
David Buss predict what sex difference
sex differences in jealousy related to sexual infidelity vs emotional infidelity
Methods and results of Buss (1992)
Asked individuals which infidelity would be more distressing. Men reported sexual infidelity as worse, and women reported emotional infidelity as worse.
Methodological difference between study 1 and study 2 in Buss (1992)
study 1 used a survey, study 2 used electrodermal activity, pulse rate, and EMG to measure physiological arousal
Function of male sexual jealousy
combat the costs of unknowingly investing resources in another man’s child
Characteristics of a partner associated with increasing mate retention behaviors
presence or absence of competitors, mate value of potential competitors compared to husband’s, wife’s behavior, wife’s age, husband’s mate value, unfaithfulness, youthfulness, and physical attractiveness.
Characteristics of a partner associated with women increasing mate retention behaviors
income and status striving of the spouse
Male mate retention tactics
conceal partners, use intrasexual threats and violence
Association between spouse’s age and mate retention tactics among men
older their mate, less mate retention tactics
Association between spouse’s status striving and mate retention tactics among women
more status striving, more mate retention tactics
Evolutionary psychologists linked to theory of male sexual proprietariness
Daly and Wilson
Sexual proprietary male psychologies
solutions to adaptive problems of male reproductive competition and potential misdirection of paternal investments
Cross-culture practices of male sexual proprietariness
socially recognized marriage framed as property transfer, adultery laws and norms, legal recognition of infidelity as a special provocation to male violence, valuation of female chastity, reliable emergence of harems, practices such as veiling
Book regarded as beginning of Darwinian medicine
Why we get sick by Randolph Nesse and George C Williams
2 principles of Darwinian medicine
- do not view diseases as adaptations
- symptoms are evolved responses of the body and generally do have a function
6 reasons people have evolved vulnerabilities to disease
mismatch and infection (evolution takes time), constraints and trade-offs (evolution can’t do everything), reproduction and defense responses (evolution doesn’t care if you feel good)
Psychological disorders result of environmental mismatch
Substance abuse disorders, eating disorders, and attention disorders. Diet culture, media, trauma, and weight teasing are all environmental factors that led to psychological disorders.
Smoke detector principle
defense responses, including aversive emotions, evolved to minimize the fitness costs of signal-detection errors. results in selection for over vs under activation.
Wakefield’s definition of mental disorder
harmful dysfunction
4 categories of mental disorders
Genetic-based developmental disorders, disorders brought on by aging (senescence), disorders caused by mismatch, and adaptive responses that are aversive
Genetic based developmental disorder
bipolar disorder, pre-60, low prevalence, high heritability, psychiatric
Disorders brought on by aging (senescence)
Parkinson’s disease, post-60, low prevalence, low heritability, neurological
Disorders caused by mismatch
ADHD, pre-60, high prevalence, low heritability, psychiatric
Adaptive responses that are aversive
PTSD, pre-60, high prevalence, low heritability, psychiatric
Neurological disorder
focused on cognitive and behavioral abnormalities (something wrong in nervous system biology)
Psychiatric disorders
focused on mood and thought (no clear link to biology)
Ed Hagen metaphor
Depression is like going on strike
Negotiating tactics for depression
losing interest in all activities and risking one’s life
PPD not entirely due to hormonal dysfunction
PPD affects both men and women
5 factors that cause PPD
poor infant viability, few resources, low social support, high opportunity costs, social constraints on decision-making
Depression began with what observation
caused by adversity
Prevalence of depression
major depression prevalence much higher than schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, dementia, Parkinson’s. Depression is pathological
depression not solely conceptualized as pathological disorder
not chronic, resolves itself within a few months to a year, symptoms accounted for a normal reaction to psychosocial stressor
Psychological pain hypothesis
the function of psychological pain is analogous to that of physical pain, focuses individual attention on social events causing pain, and promotes evaluation of future courses of action
2 symptoms of depression unaddressed by pain hypothesis
- loss of interest in all activities
- suicidality
Costly signal of need
people with poor fitness prospects, losing interest in activities/risking one’s life is relatively low cost. Only genuinely fitness-poor individuals can afford to send the signal.
Credible sadness
costly to send these signals unless it is true. Social partners will respond to these signals because they are reliable
Depression similar and different from anger
depression similar to anger because they function to inflict a cost on social partners in order to resolve conflict in actor’s favor. Depression is different because it is the tactic of the powerless.
How should partners respond to depression
partners should increase victim support and improve victim circumstances
Sex differences in depression
females are at higher risk of depression. Men tend to bargain with anger and women bargain with depression. 63% of sex differences can be explained
Inclusive fitness model of depression
successful suicide increase the inclusive fitness of low reproductive value individuals who are a burden on kin
Bargaining model
suicide attempts are costly signals of need; successful suicides are a by-product
better supported by data on suicide in the US
Cross-culture test of bargaining and inclusive fitness model
cross cultural data does not support idea that suicide attempts are higher than completions. Bargaining model more supported overall
How does inclusive fitness model relate to environmental conditions
extreme latitudes (artic) increase support for inclusive fitness model due to harsh environments
3 key variables for the bargaining model of depression
fitness threat, powerlessness, and conflict (across culture)
Expedition to the artic reveal about human nature
culture is the secret to success
culture
information that is acquired from other individuals via social transmission mechanisms such as imitation, teaching, or language
Horizontal transmission
transmission via unrelated members of the same generation
Oblique transmission
transmission from unrelated members of the parental generation
Vertical transmission
transmission from biological parents to children
Evidence that chimpanzees exhibited culture
behavior patterns of wild chimpanzees were habitual in some communities, but absent in others where ecological variation could not be the cause
Chimpanzee behaviors that are understood to be cultural
too usage behaviors, grooming, and courtship
Human culture differs from chimpanzee culture
Human culture is cumulative
Individual variation in culture
political and religious belief, socially acquired skills, and learned knowledge
Differential fitness/competition in culture
individual limitations on the amount of knowledge and information retained (constraints of memory and time), extinction of technology (loss of bone tools and fishing)
Inheritance in culture
immigrants pass down values and strong parent-offspring correlation in traits
Examples of loss of culture and technology complexity
changing/disappearance over time of certain words and phrases “gag me with a spoon” “lit”
Examples of convergent evolution
similar nature of the flight/wings of insects, birds, pterosaurs, and bats
2 features of neo-Darwinian evolution
particulate inheritance and non-Lamarckian inheritence
Particulate inheritance
pattern of inheritance showing phenotypic traits can be passed from generation to generation through genes
Meme
discrete unit of cultural inheritance, coined by Richard Dawkins
Lamarckian inheritance
changes to the individual during its lifetime are transmitted to its genotype and passed on
Dual inheritance theory
adaptive behavior derives from both cultural and genetic inheritance
Conformist bias
imitates the most frequent behavior in the local population (imitation = information free-riding)
Prestige bias
imitates models who are locally successful
Selective learning
learn directly from the environment in some cases, imitate in other cases
Prestige
attained by having specialist knowledge or skills that others wish to learn
Dominant
individuals use threat or fear to gain influence over others
Gene-culture coevolution
genes and culture evolve together, each constraining and driving the other, with emphasis on how cultural change can promote genetic change
Pace of evolution and relationship to cultural change
culture drives genetic evolution
4 components of religion
- beliefs pertaining to supernatural
- practices, including rituals
- ultimate concerns: transcendence, spirituality, the sacred
- Practices and beliefs often tie communities or people together
Adaptationist claim
universality: religious belief and behavior reliably characterize virtually all known society
genetics: religiosity may be partly heritable
possible adaptive function: reduction of stress and anxiety, mitigation of existential dread/fear of death, enhancement of in-group cooperation
By-product claim
universality: practices may be universal but not adaptions (ex: sports)
genetics: practice is a by-product
possible adaptive function: religion associated with costly practices that can jeopardize health, may increase dread, fear, or anxiety, in-group enhancement accompanied by out-group derogation, dehumanization along with coalitional conflict
Religion like sports
adaptations involved in soccer by evolved for other purposes (perceptual and spatial skills, bodily coordination, coalitional psychology, status striving, and self-esteem mechanism)
Adaptive systems activated by religion
attachment system, dominance and status, reciprocal altruism and social exchange, and kinship
Cognitive scientists explain emergence of widespread belief in supernatural agents
emerged as by-product of domain-specific cognitive adaptions for understanding distinct aspects of the world
Animism
belief that life force animates objects in nature
Anthropormorphism
theory of mind misapplied to non-human objects
3 characteristics of religions that promote social transmission of ideas and behaviors
- involve costly signals of commitment
- costly displays in the forms of rituals, offerings, sacrifices, and martyrdom help spread commitment
- discount hypocrisy
religious ideas are minimally counterintuitive
credibility-enhancing displays (CREDs) examples in religion
building mosques, temples, and synagogues
Costly signals of commitment examples in religion
participating in rituals
Basic ideas of “Big Gods”
religions marked by powerful moralizing deities promote pro sociality and contribute to rise of large-scale human societies
Link between social complexity and moralizing high gods
social complexity robustly associated with moralizing gods, even after controlling for religion, time, language, and other factors
Beheim challenge the findings of Whitehouse, leading to retraction fo Whitehouse on what grounds
missing outcome data was coded as absent and reanalysis removed unknown outcomes
Religious priming
presenting experimental participants with a stimulus that activates religious cognition, which influences behavior in other domains (explicit, implicit, subliminal, contextual)
Explicit priming
overt presentation, but possible demand effects
Implicit priming
more subtle, presumable no demand
Methods of Shariff experiment on religious priming
participants may transfer sum of money, one group received religious priming and one group did not, proportion of endowment is interpreted as measure of generosity. 2nd study added the activity of descrambling sentences in both religious and nonreligious priming groups which were not present in the first study.
Results of experiment on religious priming
people who are religiously primed give more by substantial amount compared to people who are not religiously primed. Religiously primed group gave more money than neutral priming group.
Shariff (2016) study of religious priming and prosocial behavior
average effect in favor of religiously primed participants to have more prosocial behaviors
Van Elk’s study about religious priming and prosocial behavior
the more people in the study, the more accurate the study. The results converge to zero effect or negative effect so not clear if there is an effect
Billingsley (2018) technique used to prime participants implicitly and explicitly
implicit = scrambled-sentence tasks, explicit = essays
Implicit priming affect on prosocial behavior
implicit priming did not increase prosocial behavior in either religious and non-religious individuals
Explicit priming affect on prosocial behavior
explicit priming did not increase prosocial behavior for non-religious individuals, but it might have increased prosocial behavior for religious individuals
