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PSYC3015 Personality & Intelligence > Lecture 12 > Flashcards

Lecture 12 Flashcards

1
Q

Summarise Darwin’s original Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection - what are the 5 main points?

A
  • Variation: Individuals within a species are variable in terms of their morphology, physiology and behaviour
  • Heritability: Some of the variation within the species is heritable
  • Competition: Individual within species compete for resources (e.g. food, mates, shelter)
  • Natural selection: As a result of competition and variation, some individuals will leave more (viable) offspring than other (biological fitness – cf. social standing)
  • Adaptation: Consequently, the individuals that survive are (more) adapted to the environment
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2
Q

What are the 3 parts of Darwin’s ‘adaptation’ in his Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection?

A

o Functionality: Serve a purpose
o Domain specific: Designed to solve particular problems
o Numerous: Development of a variety of adaptive (and differential) mechanisms

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3
Q

What is sexual selection?

A
  • Sexual selection: The result of the competition between members of the same species for mates
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4
Q

Summarise Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by Sexual Selection

A

o Adaptive traits: Characteristics (both physical and psychological) of one sex that are preferred (on average) by members of the other sex (Buss et al., 1990)
o Individuals that possess (more) adaptive traits have a mating advantage and thus a higher chance of reproducing
o Sexual Strategy Theory (SST; Buss & Schmitt, 1993): Mating strategies differ due to sex (or sexual dimorphism) and whether a short-term or long-term relationship is sough

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5
Q

What are the different sex preferences in Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by Sexual Selection?

A

♣ Female preferences: e.g. Ambition, high-status profession, good health, older, physically strong
♣ Male preferences: e.g. Lustrous hair, smooth skin, clear eyes, WHR (.67-.80), fidelity, and faithfulness
♣ For both sexes: Healthy, loving, emotionally stable, understanding, committed, dependable, intelligent

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6
Q

What are 3 strategies of Sexual Strategy Theory (SST) to obtain mates?

A

♣ Competitor derogation
• Put down a competitor in front of a potential mate by saying/showing competitor’s weaknesses
♣ Deception or self-promotion
• Promote the traits you think are desirable
♣ Coercion
• E.g. Rape, stalking

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7
Q

What is Evolutionary Personality Psychology?

A
  • The academic study of how evolutionary (personality) psychology and adaptation can be used to explain the evolution of human personality
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8
Q

What are Buss’ premises for the Theory of Personality and Adaptation?

A

o Evolutionary theory can provide a framework for the central concepts of personality through:
♣ Providing an understanding of the major goals of humans and the problems related to survival and reproduction
♣ Describing the psychological mechanisms that have evolved to enable humans to reach these goals and solve these problems
♣ Identifying the personality and individual differences components utilized to reach these goals and overcome these problems

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9
Q

Which personality traits have evolved to help with human survival?

A

o Emotional stability (low Neuroticism)
o Activity, socialization (Extraversion)
o Co-operation, trustfulness, reliability, organisation (low P)
o Knowledge, curiosity, intelligence (Openness)

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10
Q

What are dysfunctional traits (e.g. mental illness)?

A
  • Dysfunctional traits (e.g. mental illness) are a result of context failure, i.e. the activation of adaptive traits in response to stimuli or contexts other than those for which they are (currently) adaptive (Buss, 2006)
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11
Q

How can dysfunctional domain-specific traits be activated for other contexts that they were not evolved for?

A

♣ Traits can be fooled by dishonest stimuli (e.g. artificially aroused by drugs)
• No fitness reward (as would be case in real activation) – only fake reward (an illusion of reward)

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12
Q

What is the ‘K-factor’?

A
  • K-factor: The ratio of parental investment over mating effort (Rushton, 1985)
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13
Q

What is ‘parental investment’?

A

o Parental investment: Spending time with offspring (e.g. feeding, protecting) to ensure their survival

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14
Q

What is ‘mating effort’?

A

o Mating effort: Creating more offspring

♣ The Coolidge effect (Kenrick, 1989)

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15
Q

Which directions do both sexes lean towards in the K-factor?

A

o Evolutionarily speaking, women are more towards the parental investment (can’t copulate all the time – each reproductive cycle lasts about 9 months) and males toward mating effort (can copulate constantly)

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16
Q

What is ‘kin selection’?

A
  • Kin selection: Helping (close) relatives to survive, can result in an increase in the inclusive fitness of the individual
17
Q

What is ‘direct fitness’, in relation to kin selection?

A

o Direct fitness: Viable offspring

18
Q

What is ‘indirect fitness’, in relation to kin selection?

A

o Indirect fitness: Viable (biological) relatives

19
Q

How can within-species variations of the K-factor and kin selection be explained?

A
  • Within-species variations of the K-factor and kin selection can be explained (in part) through variations in personality traits
    o Can be determined by personality in humans, not biology
20
Q

What does Gosling (2001) argue about the relationship of natural (or sexual) selection in creating psychological traits in humans and non-human animals?

A
  • Argues that if natural (or sexual) selection creates psychological traits in humans, there is no reason to assume that it only creates physical traits in non-human animals
    o Also capable of creating emotional, motivational and behavioural traits
  • Suggests that the Big-5 can provide adequate context to consider animal personality
    o BUT uses the lexical approach to study animals!
    ♣ Big-5 may not be an accurate tool as it is based on language (animals’ language skills are different/less compared to humans’)
  • Showed that certain personality traits (e.g. aspects of extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism) are evident in many animal species (from chimpanzees to butterflies)
21
Q

What are the 3 aspects of Gosling’s (2001) thesis about the evolution of psychological traits in human and non-human animals?

A
  • Within-species traits variations help us understand the nature of the evolution of personality traits
    o Similar to research in humans
  • Cross-species traits variations help us examine the adaptations of particular traits
    o We share niches with other species (similar stressors similar traits to cope)
  • The study of both of the above is necessary in understanding (animal) personality
22
Q

What is the coding method in animal personality research?

A
  • Coding: How animals respond to particular behavioural tests (states vs. events)
    o E.g. The three personality dimensions found in octopuses are activity, reactivity, and avoidance
23
Q

What is the rating method in animal personality research?

A

o Raters asked to assess animals among the personality traits – same as human peer review

24
Q

Give an example of an animal’s personality dimensions using the rating method in animal personality research

A

o E.g. Five personality dimensions in hyenas:

1. Assertiveness (confident)
2. Excitability (fearful)
3. Agreeableness with humans (tame)
4. Sociability (friendly)
5. Curiosity (impulsive)
25
Q

What is an issue with the methods in animal personality research?

A
  • Issue – could be: Traits States (condition animal is in for x time) events (short-term condition)
    o Can’t observe a lot of personality in animals so “traits” may get skipped
26
Q

What is the most basic, easily identifiable (obvious) trait observed amongst species?

A

Anxiety

27
Q

Does deceit exist in non-human animals?

A
  • Elements of deceit probably exist in non-human animals but are hard to identify
28
Q

What are the two considerations in animal personality research?

A
  • Validity

- Reliability

29
Q

Summarise the validity considerations in animal personality research?

A
  • Validity, especially predictive validity, appears to be rather high
    o E.g. Rhesus monkeys rated high in sociability early in life were less likely to become antagonistic in the future
30
Q

What are the two reliability considerations in animal personality research?

A
  • Inter-observer reliability

- Within-subjects reliability

31
Q

What is inter-observer reliability in animal personality research?

A

o Inter-observer: Two or more observers comparatively assessing two or more animals
♣ Laziness in horses: r = .11
♣ Willingness in dogs: r = .001

32
Q

What is within-subjects reliability in animal personality research?

A

o Within-subjects: Two or more observers assessing one animal on multiple traits
♣ Chimpanzees: r = .20
♣ Macaque monkeys: r = .14

33
Q

Summarise the reliability considerations in animal personality research?

A

o Very low reliability in the observer ratings
♣ Issue with measurement (unreliability)
• It may be that the Big-5 doesn’t apply to animals

34
Q

What are the 6 issues that can influence reliability levels in animal personality research?

A
  1. Acquaintance with the animal
  2. Observer (prior) communication
  3. Differential interactions
  4. The animal’s age
  5. Personality-based sampling bias
  6. Trait accessibility in different species
35
Q

What is anthropomorphism?

A
  • Anthropomorphic projections are attributions of human characteristics to animals
36
Q

What is the issue with anthropomorphism in animal personality research?

A

o Observers may be simply attributing human personality characteristics to animals rather than actually rating them
♣ Nagel (1980): “It is impossible for humans to know what it is like to be an animal, and thus it is impossible to measure or compare the two”

37
Q

Why might animals not be good models for understanding human personality?

A

♣ Humans’ unique abilities and social structures (e.g. culture)
• Humans have complex social networks (animals either have no social network or one much more limited compared to ours)
• Language and the Big-5
• The complexity of the Interpersonality of traits
♣ Humans’ advanced anatomies and physiologies (e.g. opposable thumbs)
• Psychobiology and the Big-3

PSYC3015 Personality & Intelligence (25 decks)

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