lecture 9 - culture

Question 1

what is the evolutionary explanation of social anxiety

Answer 1

fear of social isolation, which can be understood through tribes.

if u didnt do what ur tribe said or u acted different ur life was in danger + u would go to the bottom of the social competence hierarchy. at the bottom, u dont get food or resources, or mates! so being shunned = death in the olden days

hence today ppl r worried abt being judged as they think they will fall down the ranks (and survival chance then decreases)

note that today u wouldnt necessarily die but u would likely have less mates

Question 2

describe the intelligence study regarding evolutionary gender differences. what do the findings of the study mean?

Answer 2

the study asked men and women what their ideal intelligence would be in someone they have sex with

women gave higher IQs than men

evolutionarily, women would want to have sex w smart men bc on the off chance they get preggo the child will have good genes. for men, they dont care bc they wont be sticking around (but for marriage, they would look for someone w high IQ + good gene)

Question 3

describe how cultural transmission works using the in-class example of a zoo-keeper and monkeys

Answer 3

zoo keeper was high on dark tetrad. he starved the money and hung bananas on ropes but pulled it away when they jumped to tease them. the monkeys got creative and tried to climb up for the banana he would spray them with water, and would also spray everyone who didn’t participate as a punishment. eventually monkeys stopped trying.

then zoo keeper died one day and they brought a new guy in. they dont understand why chimps wont eat bananas! even young chimps (who didnt meet the old zoo keeper) wont eat the bananas. why?

the young ones observe that whenever someone goes for a banana they get punished by it from other chimps + shunned (bc they dont want to get sprayed w the imaginary water bc they remember it), and so this young chimp learns and this trend gets passed down thru generations.

this is culture!

Question 4

true or false: despite the niche differences bw men and women, we are more the same than different and our brains are indistinguishable for the most part

Answer 4

true

Question 5

what is proxemics?

Answer 5

the study of spacing between individuals

there is a personal distance zone, social zone, public zone

ppl react negatively when we are too close or too distant, depends on context culture gender etc