Hc 1

Question 1

What is Evolutionary Psychology? (4)

Answer 1

• Evolutionary psychology is the study of human behaviour, affect and cognition from an evolutionary perspective
• Using evolutionary theory and related knowledge, such as behavioural ecology, ev bology
• In effect, it means viewing humans as part of the animal kingdom, subject to the same laws of evolution, natural selection, etc.
• This might seem contentious! (but there is really no alternative)

Question 2

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) (2)

Answer 2

1. The inheritance of acquired characteristics
   just by strekking your neck you’ll get longer necks, and your offspring etc.
   The inheritance of acquired characteristics
2. Use and disuse
   → flood: it doesn’t work like this, if you cut the tails of mice the offspring will still have tails.

Question 3

Name 3 components of natural selection, with examples.

Answer 3

1. Variation
Hot, ugly, hair color, size etc
2. Inheritance
Some are inharitable, predisposition
3. Selection
Advantages
→ overtime the giraffe has got a long neck

Question 4

3 components of DNA

Answer 4

1. Mixing parental genes (Mendelian genetics)
2. Recombination
3. Mutation

Question 5

2 forms of sexual selection

Answer 5

1. Inter sexual competition: traits that are passed on because they are good at attracting opposite sex mates
   > For example: pretty feathers of birds
2. Intra sexual competition: traits that are passed on because they are good at winning same sex competitions for mates
   > For example, stag fight

Question 6

Genetic drift (3)

Answer 6

1. Mutations
2. Founder effects
3. Bottle neck effects

Question 7

Why Neanderthals go extinct?

Answer 7

With the brain capacity as big as us?
Their brain was primarily Visual Compex. So no planning etc.
There’s a theory that their not really extinct but they bred with Homosapians.
Humans with a larger prefrontal cortex could outsmart and outcompete the Neanderthals.

Question 8

Adaptations

Answer 8

inherited characteristics that are naturally selected because they helped to solve a problem of survival or reproduction

Question 9

By-products

Answer 9

carried along with adaptions but without function

> Belly button

Question 10

Noise

Answer 10

Noise: random effects, no function

> Eye color?

Question 11

5 misunderstandings in Evolutionary Psychology

Answer 11

1. Human behaviour is only genetically determined
2. Human nature is unchangeable
3. Everything is an adaptation
4. Adaptations are optimally designed
5. It is an adaptation, thus it is good

Question 12

If you think about the theories of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829), how would you explain what is actually true on Inheritance?

Answer 12

EPIGENETICS
Stress: this is inheritable. Children of mice with stress will have a higher level of stress than mice who didn’t have a scary snake experience.
DNA isn’t your destiny, but experiences are inherited. If a gene is switched on, that sceptibility will be there in the genes of the offspring.

Question 13

What’s the difference between natural selection and inheritance?

Answer 13

Natural selection:
More species are born than can possible survive
Some have a better change of surviving under varying circumstances

Inheritance: these traits will be passed of to offspring, the whole population will be fitter and better adapted to the environment.

Question 14

Founder Effects

Answer 14

Small portion of population establishes a new colony and the founders are not genetically representative of the original population
» EG redheads community

Question 15

Bottle neck effects

Answer 15

The population shrinks, for example because of an earth quack or natural dissaster.
Survivers only carry a subset genes of the original population