Lecture 10 Flashcards
Guppie experiment: guppies were distributed over 10 ponds. 5 ponds had fine sand bottoms, and 5 ponds had big stone bottoms. In some ponds, a pike (predator), would be present.
Results:
Ponds with predator
Fine sand: guppies had developed little dots (camouflage)
Big stones: guppies had developed big dots (camouflage)
In predator ponds, guppies reached sexual maturity very early on
Ponds without predator
Male guppies had developed bright colours (in both bottom ponds), due to the absence of a predator, the guppies evolved further via sexual selection (becoming as attractive as possible to a mate instead of camouflage to survive). These guppies also reached sexual maturity later.
Study by Patterson et al. (2006) on cultural norms about eye contact. The study included both Japanese and American subjects. A confederate would either look straight ahead, look at the passer-by briefly, or look at them and smiled.
Results: American participants were much more likely to greet or smile at the confederate in all conditions than the Japanese were.
Study by Vohs (2008) on women and sexual advertisement. Participants were asked to evaluate an ad photograph. The ad was about a women’s watch given by a man as a present, the participant would be told the watch was either cheap or expensive and they were shown a sexual ad or a non-sexual ad.
Female participants had a much more negative attitude toward the watch in the cheap and sexual condition than in the expensive and sexual condition (for men, it basically made no difference). Thus, for women the association between sex and a cheap gift is negative/uncomfortable.
