lecture 4 Flashcards
PSYC 2130 lecture 4 material
Are personalities based off of evolutionary traits?
- yes
- human behaviours evolved to promote survival
- focus
- identify common behaviour patterns and determine how the behaviour was adaptive
- more behavioural tendency help to survive and reproduce
- behaviours will appear in future generations
- modern environment mismatch for evolutionary histroy evolved that may not be relevant today
Is alturism (self-less ness) found within non-human species?
shared among species
-kin selection (inclusive fitness)
- behaviour that helps a genetic relative is favoured by natural selection
- things are favoured that allows to save majority
- is not inherited; learned
martin et all (1983) examined 1000 randomly selected wills
- more estate to spouse and genetic relatives
- more to close relatives than distant
- more to children than siblings
- they are able to reproduce more; continue to pass on genes
Explain the norm of reciprocity.
- expectation that helping others will increase likelihood they will help us in the furutre
- carter et all (2015) studied vampire bats
- give blood to another bat whos given them blood in the past
- carter et all (2015) studied vampire bats
- infants more likely to hand back a fallen toy to person with helpful intentions, as well as to the one who actually helped
- unwilling condition
- person offered infant the toy and pulled it back
- un able condition
- person offered infant the toy and accidentally dropped it
- many children gave the toy back to the unable condition rather then the unwilling
- the rest started playing with toy
- unwilling condition
How did the behaviour of aggression help our ancestors survive?
- to fight for resources
- defend themselves against predators
- inflict harm on intrasexual rivals
- fighting over a mate in the same group/species
- negotiate status and power
- deter rivals from future aggression
- deter long-term mates from infidelity
How did self-esteem improve our chances of mating?
- sociometer theory
- self esteem evolved to monitor social acceptance
- increase actions that promote acceptance
- decision
- whom to challenge
- whom to submit
- tracking mate value
- self esteem evolved to monitor social acceptance
How did evolution affect our mate selection?
reproductive success
men look for:
- physical attractiveness
- younger mates
- these traits often mean the female is more fertile; more offspring to spread genes
women look for:
- economic security
- older mates
- women invest a lot of time into offspring; need sufficient resources
What are some mating strategies for both men and women?
men
- more partners
why do men commit to a partner
- sexual access
- mate value
- higher mate value partners
- paternity certainty
- survival of children
- more upset over sexual infidelity
women
- stable monogamous relationships
- more upset over emotional infidelity
why do women fall in love with attractive but non comital men
sexy son hypothesis:
- women mate with attractive men with the intention (unconscious intention) to have a son who resembles their father (playboy) to pass on their genes
- women during ovulation find muscular and attractive men more attractive; dress provocatively
Why are certain behaviours are shared throughout a species?
-
if successful behaviours got selected then entire species should be similar
- adaptation
- diversity allows adaptation to changing environment
- different traits are more advantageous in different situations
- neuroticism , high anxiety beneficial in dangerous situations
- can prevent death
- fast and slow life history both effective strategies based on environment
- neuroticism , high anxiety beneficial in dangerous situations
- adaptation
How to behaviour patterns evolve in response to enviornment?
- dangerous environment, Fast Life history
- quickly reproduce to pass on genes
- stable circumstances, slow life history
- no rush because they are stable
Why do people act similar to their characteristics?
big/strong; aggressive style
- ensures their survival
small/weak: agreeableness
- a small person must be submissive/agreable if they do not want to be overtaken
criticsms of evolutionary personality?
5
- methodology
- backward speculation
- hard to empirically test
- “this happened because in the past,,,”
- reproductive instinct
- decline in birth rate
- if everyone is genetically predisposed to reproduce, this wouldn’t be happening
- decline in birth rate
- conservate bias
- are behaviours like infidelity, rape, and child abuse biologically rooted?
- yes - science
- are behaviours like infidelity, rape, and child abuse biologically rooted?
- human flexibility
- do humans fixed patterns of biologically determined behaviours or have ability to plan, foresee, override instinctual behaviours
- ducks when hatched follow the first thing they see thats moving
- essential to survival
- ducks when hatched follow the first thing they see thats moving
- do humans fixed patterns of biologically determined behaviours or have ability to plan, foresee, override instinctual behaviours
- biological determinism/social structure
- societies responded to male/female biological differences differently by assigning different sex roles
- this is changing in modern times
- societies responded to male/female biological differences differently by assigning different sex roles
What is the purpose of behaviour genetics?
- attempts to explain how personality traits are passed from parent to child
- examine how genes influence expression of personality traits
- modern research emphasizes understanding personality in terms of genes as well as environment
- eugenics
How do you calculate heritability?
- to what degree is personality is determined by genes
- comparing personality of those who are and are not related
- identical = monozygotic
- fraternal = dizygotic
- <99% of genetic code is identical in humans
- behavioral genetics concentrates on less than 1% of the human genome that commonly varies across individuals
- twin studies
- (rMonozygotic twins - rDizygotic twins) x 2
- 0.60 - 0.40 = 0.20
- 0.20 x 2 = 0.40
- 40%
- (rMonozygotic twins - rDizygotic twins) x 2
- fraternal/siblings/parents who share 50% of DNA = 50% of the 1% that varies in human
- 50% of that one 1%
What does heritability tell us?
- variations of scores in a particular group
- the variation of the scores in this class; 42% (example) of the variation is because of genetics
- range of this score is because of genetical variance
- no variance = heritability is low
- group statistic
- the variation of the scores in this class; 42% (example) of the variation is because of genetics
- genes matter
- heritability coefficients range
- from 0.42 for agreeableness
- from 0.57 for openness
- heritability coefficients range
- environment matters
- shared family environment is implicated in the development of several psychopathologies during childhood and adolescence
- anxiety and depression
- shared family environment is implicated in the development of several psychopathologies during childhood and adolescence
What does heritability not take into account?
-
nature vs nurture
- heritability is the proportion of variation due to genetic influences
- if there is not variation, then the heritability must approach zero
- trait varies across population (eye colours)
- trait might be determined by the genes that varies between each person
- dependant on the 1%
- trait varies little across population; number of eyes
- trait depends less on 1% varying genes, but on shared 99% genes, biologically determined
- number of eyes
- low heritability coefficient any variation of eyes is dependant on environment and such accidents
- ~0 variation
- low heritability coefficient any variation of eyes is dependant on environment and such accidents
-
you cannot use heritability coefficient to determine what percent of a trait is determined by genetics and by the environment (nature-nurture)
- 40% of variation of trait across population is because of genes
- heritability of biologically determined trait can be 0
- it is a population specific number, not universally generalizable
- 40% of variation of trait across population is because of genes
