Lecture 12 - Morality & Evolutionary Psychology

Question 1

Define evolution

Answer 1

change in inherited characteristics within a population over successive generations

Question 2

What are the 3 premises of Darwinian evolution?

Answer 2

1) variation
2) heritability
3) adaptation

Question 3

What is evolutionary psychology?

Answer 3

the application of evolutionary theorizing to understand human psychology & behaviour

Question 4

What does evolutionary psych assume?

Answer 4

that the mind is composed of a collection of evolved psychological mechanisms (many of which are adaptations) that are DOMAIN-specific, and are designed to solve various specific recurrent problems faced by our evolutionary ancestors (disease avoidance, mate selection, kin care, etc.)

Question 5

What is inclusive fitness?

Answer 5

the capacity for genetic info to spread in the population

comprised of:

1) direct (classical) fitness: the number of offspring produced

2) indirect fitness: occurs via increasing the classical fitness of others who also share one’s genes (kin, relatives)

Question 6

Elaborate on the notion of “inclusive fitness”

Answer 6

If we can help kin to survive and reproduce, then, because we share genes with kin, we are indirectly
increasing the chances that shared genes spread in the population. This
account predicts that evolution will have shaped patterns of helping such
that we are more likely to help those more closely related to us.

Question 7

What did Belding’s ground squirrels show?

Answer 7

Belding’s ground squirrels (Sherman, 1977, 1981) investigated alarm calls in
response to predators. Found that squirrels were more likely to call in the presence
of sisters, aunts and nieces (more likely to perform altruistic acts in the presence of
kin).

In humans, Essock-Vitale & McGuire (1985) found that women from LA were far
more likely to give and receive help from those whom the participants is related to more strongly.

Question 8

What is the single largest predictor of child abuse and homicide?

Answer 8

the presence of a step-parent in the home

these are 40-100x more
likely if there is a step-parent at home (vs. both genetic parents). This shows that
relatedness constraints behaviour of this kind.

Question 9

Paternity uncertainty - grandparents

Answer 9

Laham et al. (2005) found that this parental uncertainty extends to grandparents –
maternal grandparents are more likely to be warmer and invest in their
grandchildren versus parental grandparents. Similarly, grandchildren feel the warmest towards their mother’s mother, followed by their mother’s father then
their father’s mother and finally their father’s father. This might be explained by the fact that the father’s mother may have more certain grandkids that she is investing in (grandkids through daughters).

Question 10

What are 3 challenges and criticisms to evolutionary psychology?

Answer 10

1) Pan-adaptationism: evolutionary psychologists claim that all psychological characteristics are an adaptation (which is not true)

2) Genetic determinism: evolutionary psychologists believe that everything is determined by genes, and that nurture (the environment) does not play any role

3) Implications for morality: evolutionary psychology implies that our adaptations are morally good - a criticism based on naturalistic fallacy

Question 11

What is the value of evolutionary psychology?

Answer 11

• acts as a metatheory - providing an organizing framework for understanding the complex aspects of human social behaviour
• addresses questions of function and distal causes - explaining WHY psychological processes occur
• is generative / fruitful - can lead to development of novel hypotheses or explanations or predictions that cannot be easily got to by other theories

Question 12

What is morality?

Answer 12

a code of conduct or set of rules pertaining to right, good, wrong, bad, praiseworthy, punishable, held by an individual or group

Question 13

What is the moral/conventional distinction?

Answer 13

Turiel investigated violations of rule at school

He asked whether the act was wrong/serious, punishable, authority
dependent, general in scope, and how the wrongness was explained

Question 14

How did Turiel describe the signature moral response (SMR)?

Answer 14

consists of a violation being a - constellation of
- serious/wrong/bad
- punishable
- authority dependent
- universal (general in scope)
- this response tends to be given to stimuli / rule violations that involve harm or welfare (also rights + justice)

If there is harm (or injustice or violation of rights) then it is a SMR (the scope of morality)

Question 15

Haidt, Koller, and Dias found that non-harm violations can also evoke the signature moral response. Give 2 examples

Answer 15

cleaning a toilet with an American flag, eating a family dog after it has been killed by a car

This is because some people judge these transgressions as authority independent and general in scope.

Question 16

Systemizing variability in moral response:
Schweder et al. (1997) provided a three-domain descriptive account of morality – suggesting
that violations primarily pertain to:

Answer 16

1) autonomy - To decide whether an action is wrong, you think about things like harm, rights, justice, freedom, fairness, individualism and the importance of individual choice and liberty

2) community (hierarchy) - an action is wrong because a person fails to carry out
his/her duties within a community or social hierarchy. To decide if an action is wrong, you think about things like duty, role-obligation, respect for authority, loyalty, group honour, interdependence, and the preservation of the community.

3) divinity (purity) - violations of divinity/purity. In these cases, the person
disrespects the sacredness of God, or causes impurity or degradation to himself/herself or others. To decide if an action is wrong, you think about things like
sin, the natural order of things, sanctity, and the protection of the soul or the world from degradation and spiritual defilement.

cultural and demographic factors influence SMR to these domains

Question 17

What is the Moral Foundations Theory?

Answer 17

Expanded Schweder’s account of morality to 5 domains. Also a descriptive account of morality.

1) Harm/care

2) Fairness/reciprocity

3) Authority/respect (vertical dimension)

4) Ingroup/loyalty (horizontal dimension)

5) Purity/sanctity

Question 18

Harm / Care (moral foundations theory)

Answer 18

representing concerns about violence and the suffering of others, including compassion and care

Question 19

Fairness / reciprocity

Answer 19

representing the norms of reciprocal relations, equality, rights and justice.

Question 20

Authority / respect (vertical dimension)

Answer 20

representing moral obligations related to
hierarchical relations such as obedience, duty, respect for superiors, and the protection
of subordinates.

Question 21

Ingroup / loyalty (horizontal dimension)

Answer 21

covering moral obligations related to group membership, such as loyalty, betrayal, and expectations of preferential treatment for
ingroup members relative to outgroup members

Question 22

Purity / sanctity

Answer 22

representing the moral ideal of living in an elevated, noble and less carnal way, based on intuitions about divinity, feelings of moral disgust, and purity of body, mind and soul.

Question 23

What is the social instuitionist model?

Answer 23

suggests that moral judgement is a function of affect-laden intuitions. Reasoning is post-hoc rationalization.

Question 24

If one reduces negative affect during dilemma processing, . . .

Answer 24

one should see more utilitarian responding

Valdesolo & DeSteno (2006) found that reducing negative affect during dilemma
processing (by generating positive emotion via showing participants a clip from SNL)
results in more utilitarian responses (more pushing off the footbridge responses).

Question 25

What is the Moral Dyad?

Answer 25

a representation of an agent doing something intentionally to a patient

• The relational model that frames the dyad makes a difference in moral judgement,
  as well as the identity of the patient and the moral circle.

The way we judge an action as being right or wrong depends on the relational
context under which the action takes place (e.g. communal sharing vs authority ranking).

Question 26

What is the moral circle?

Answer 26

the category of entities in the world worthy of moral concern. We deem things within the moral circle to be impermissible to harm or treat unfairly (e.g. human babies are within the moral circle, rocks are not). Some things might sit in-between the moral circle (e.g. certain animals such as cows)

Over time, we have seen a historical expansion of the moral circle (such that we
show concern/care for more things in the world)

Question 27

How does inclusion vs exclusion discrepancy (IED) increase / decrease the size of the moral circle?

Answer 27

Inclusion versus exclusion discrepancy (IED): inclusion mindsets (circling) lead to SMALLER final choice sets than exclusion mindsets (crossing out) - this is because borderline cases are treated differently under these two mindsets - anything that doesn’t have sufficient evidence for exclusion is left in the exclusion mindset

Question 28

What did Laham (2009) find?

Answer 28

Laham (2009) found that for non-human animals and things on the margins of life
(e.g. persistent vegetative state, foetus), those in exclusion mindsets had larger moral circles. This expansion of moral circle accounted for a range of positive
attitudes towards outgroups. Those who adopted inclusion mindsets had smaller
moral circles