Lecture 12 - Evolutionary Social Psychology Flashcards
When it comes to theories of evolution, what is INCLUSIVE FITNESS?
Inclusive fitness refers to the idea that we do not just care about having offspring, we care about our genetic information being passed on to the next generation.
This can be achieved through our survival and the survival of our offspring and it can also be achieved by ensuring the survival of our relatives.
These are termed DIRECT FITNESS and iNDIRECT FITNESS.
What is the idea of the “selfish gene”, as proposed by Richard Dawkins?
The selfish-gene theory suggests that it is genes that are working to be passed on to the next generation and so if a certain behaviour increases both DIRECT nad iNDIRECT fitness then that behaviour will be preserved.
In Belding’s work on ground squirrels, when are ground sqirrels more likely to scream as an alarm when predators are around and what does this show for the idea of helping as a means to evolutionary fitness?
The ground squirrels are more likely to scream/sound an alarm when their family is near than when they are not.
This is understood as evidence for the idea that helping is a means to evolutionary fitness.
What is the single largest predictor of child abuse and homicide in the home according to Daly and Wilson (1988)?
Having a step-parent in the home.
This is taken as evidence that when the child is not genetically related to the parent (in the case of a step parent) they are less likely to care for the child.
What is an evolutionary (fucked up) understanding of why fathers tend to care less for their children than mothers?
Mothers (cis-women/trans-men/nonbinary folk who give birth) can be certain that the child is theirs. The inseminating figure, generally the father, cannot be as certain that the child is theirs. This is termed PATERNITY UNCERTAINTY.
Given this uncertainty the potential inseminating partner is less likely to care and devote themselves to the child.
In a study by Laham et al. (2005) that looked at how close people were to their grandparents, what did they find about how close people felt toward their paternal and maternal grandparents?
They found that people felt closest to their maternal grandmother, their maternal grandfather, their paternal grandmother, and then their paternal grandfather (in that order).
What was the theory behind why people felt closer to their maternal grandfather than their paternal grandmother according to Laham et al. (2005) and did they find support for this theory in the data?
Given that there is the same level of “genetic certainty” between the maternal grandfather and the paternal grandmother, Laham et al. theorised that the reason people tend to feel less close to their paternal grandmother is because they tend to have more certain outlets for their care - that is, if they have a daughter with a child they have double the genetic certainty than their son’s child.
This was supported in the data, when the paternal granmother had a daughter with a child then people felt less close to them than they did with their maternal grandfather.
However, if the paternal grandmother did not have a daughter with a child (no outlet to favour the direction of their care in) then people felt a similar level of closeness between their paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather.
What are some of the criticisms of evolutionary psychology?
Pan-adaptationism.
Genetic determinism.
Implications for morality.
What make evolutionary psychology a potentially valuable field?
EP provides a methatheory that allows for novel ways of theorizing about human psychology that seem understandable and seen in the data.
The Human in Humans.
Is Morality a set of rules of what is right and wrong, good and bad.
T or F?
True.
According to Turiel (1987), what is THE SIGNATURE MORAL RESPONSE (SMR) (although this term comes after Turiel) and what is a conventional wrong?
The Signature Moral Response proposed by Turiel (!987) was the response children gave when they found something to be morally wrong. The Signature Moral Response refers to the characterisitics of an action that deem it morally wrong. These are:
The action is:
- seriously wrong,bad
- punishible
- authority independent
- general in scope (universal)
A Signature conventional Response on the other hand refers to a wrong action that is wrong due to time and place, convention and rules.
Did Turiel (1987) do work on morality looking at children’s responses to certain actions and did this work lead to the development of the term SIGNATURE MORAL RESPONSE (SMR) and SIGNATURE CONVENTIONAL RESPONSE (SCR)?
Yes.
According to Turiel, what was the distinguishing feature that distinguished SMR and SCR?
The presence of harm or injustice or violation of human rights.
If there is harm or injustice or violation of rights then actions are considered immoral.
Haidt et al. (1993) looked at how the SMR can be evoked in situations that do not actually cause any harm (see sex with dead chicken example).
What did they conclude?
They concluded that there must be something else occurring with morality that is not just about harm or injustice (or at least not just direct harm or injustice - although one could explain how people could subconsciously see these acts are being exhibited by someone who could be harmful…)
