Lecture 7: Evolutionary Approach to Personality

Question 1

what is evolutionary theory

Answer 1

• argues that distinctive features of human nature have developed by small increments over many generations because of selective advantages they gave our ancestors

Question 2

what drives evolutionary changes

Answer 2

• natural selection
• sexual selection
• genetic drift

Question 3

what are the assumptions of natural selection

Answer 3

• differential survival/reproductive success is key
• assumes hostile forces of nature
• traits are passed down through conception

Question 4

two types of sexual competition

Answer 4

• intrasexual competition (same sex compete for mating access)
• intersexual competition (members of one sex have some consensus about qualities that are desirable in members of opposite sex, then individuals of opposite sex processing those qualities will be preferentially chosen as mates)

Question 5

genetic drift

Answer 5

• founder effect: a small representative portion of a population establishes a new colony
• genetic bottleneck: when a population shrinks from some random catastrophe

Question 6

what are the three products of evolution

Answer 6

• adaptations
• by products (no functional purpose)
• random effect (mutations or sudden shifts in environment)

Question 7

evolved psych mechanisms must be

Answer 7

• specific (mechanisms that are too general will lead to errors
• are numerous (each mechanisms solves a particular problem)
• are functional (designed to accomplish particular adaptive goals)

Question 8

what is the double shot hypothesis

Answer 8

• what women believe: for men, sex without love is common therefore if he loves another then he’s having sex but not vice versa
• what men believe: for women, sex without love is rare, therefore if she is having sex with another than she also loves him.

Question 9

young male syndrome

Answer 9

• lacking resources and without long term mates, young men disadvantages in challenge of mate-seeking take large risk hoping for big payoff

Question 10

frequency dependent selection

Answer 10

• if the frequency of a personality trait is low in a population, it will blend in and will be more likely to be passed onto the next generation, until that trait is common within the population