Lecture 10 (Culture) - Slides

Question 1

Culture

and 2 types

Answer 1

• Rests on foundation of psychological mechanisms.
• Social learning in particular which allows us to transfer things besides genes across time/generations
• Can create selection pressures and influence biological/psychological adaptations

1) Evoked Culture: Result of psychological mechanism differently activated across groups due to ecological variation (ex parasite stress, cultures of honor)
2) Transmitted Culture: Ideas that are transferred from one mind to another, across generations (cooking practices, HBC use)

Question 2

Parasite Stress

Answer 2

• Parasite-borne illness is a major cause of death and varies across countries.
• Resources being taken up by resisting disease may influence our strategies
• A lot of parasites are transmitted person to person and may influence how we socialize with each other.
• Gangestad & Bus 1993, Thornill et al 2009, Eppig et al. 2011

Question 3

Gangestad & Buss 1993

Does underlying health influence attractiveness?

Answer 3

• Asked how important good looks in a mate are across cultures
• Measured pathogen index in the country
• Controlled for latitude, income and world region

Results

• The more pathogens you are exposed to, the more important looks are in your mate preferences
• Finding an attractive mate so you can have healthy offspring
• Effect occurred for both sexes

Question 4

Thornhill et al. (2009)

Answer 4

• Defense against disease includes anti-pathogen psychological adpatations - Behavioural immune system
• Immunity tends to follow ‘herd immunity’ patterns (if everyone has acquired immunity you may have more immunity to it.
• Democratic nations tend to have higher levels of health
• Does BIS extend to political attitudes?
• Yes, and in high-parasite stress situations, autocracy traits are more preferred
• Low parasite stress associated with xenophilia and related values.

Question 5

Eppig et al. 2011

Answer 5

• Human brain is metabolically expensive (2% of our body, 20% of our energy)
• Infectious disease inhibits development
• PArasite stress may lead to a trade-off between neural development and current health

Results
- Parasite stress is inversely related to IQ

Question 6

Hormonal Birth Control

(how many use and what does it disrupt preferences for

Answer 6

• 18% of BC users use HBC
• Combined method (supressing ovulation and thickening of cervical mucus) most common
• Creates a pregnancy like hormone profile
• Male face/voice masc, correlated masc preferences, context dependent preferences.
• Influences: mate preference, partner selection, relationship outcome
• Little et al 2013

Question 7

Little et al. 2013

HBC and Partner selection experiments

Answer 7

HBC

• Face masculinity preferences tested 3 months apart after asking participants to come in just before starting a HBC regiment
• Timed initiation of BCP to study, had a control not taking anything.

Results

• Experimental group prefer feminine male faces
• Also looked at same sex faces, no effect
• Influence on HBC is specific to potential mates

Partner Selection

• 85 couples using HC, 85 not
• Male partner photographed and masculinity measured
• Morphs created based on partner HBC use

Results

• Male partners of non-HBC users look more masculine that HBC users
• They can only see the difference in masc depending if they use HBC

Question 8

Relationship Outcomes

Roberts 2012

Answer 8

• 2000 using and not using HBC when they met their partner (and now no longer using)
• Groups = met their partner using HBC (not now) and Met their partner not using HBC and not now
• Also measured sexual satisfaction, general satisfaction, and partner attractiveness

Results

• Using HBC have higher general satisfaction
• Not using HBC have higher sexual satisfaction and partner attractivness
• Because women are selecting their partners based on the kind of relationship they want.
• Might be looking for different types of men satisfying different needs
• Remember: masc. men better for ST relationship and are not good investors

Question 9

Cooking

When did it happen, how much is metabolized and what changed about us

Answer 9

• Control of fire = 1.6 mya
• Cooking 1st started 800 years ago
• Once discovered, it spread rapidly
• Cooking food increases our ability to extract nutrients by 76%
• Especially useful for meat (100% meat metabolized vs. 30-40% and easier to chew)
• Food bands in cultures might exists because they werent able to effectively kill meat parasites
• Reduces chewing meats from 50%-10% in a day
• Our jaws got smaller due to cooking than our distant relatives
• May account for early weaning, more time for social activity and bonds, and encephalization of skull.

Question 10

Raw Diet

Answer 10

• Nothing heated above 40F
• Increases risk of chronic energy deficiency
• 50% of women experience loss of menstruation
• To reach average caloric intake for a woman, she would need to eat more than she could chew (5kg of food)
• Would take most of the day and we would need a larger jaw.

Question 11

Benefits of cooking

Answer 11

Benefits

1) Opening/destroying thick skins/husks
2) Modifying molecules into more accessible/digestible form
3) Denaturing toxins
4) Killing parasites

Question 12

Culture Summary

Answer 12

• Cultural differences as a result of differently activated psychological adaptations (parasite stress)
• Transmitted culture influences psychological/biological adaptations