Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

PSYC20009 > Lecture 9: evolutionary social psychology > Flashcards

Lecture 9: evolutionary social psychology Flashcards

1
Q

define evolution

A

change in inherited characteristics within a population over successive generations

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

describe darwinian evolution (via natural selecion). 3 premises

A
  1. individuals of a species show variation in traits
  2. some of this variation is heritable
  3. some traits provide benefits in terms of survival and reproductive success (adaption
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

whats the consequence of natural selection?

A

individuals with greater chances of survival and reproductive success (due to positive adaptations) will leave more offspring, and those offspring will inherit their parent’s traits

= certain adaptive traits are selected for over the course of generations
= these adaptive traits increase in frequency in future generations = becoming widespread in the species

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

AAAaaaAAAaaAAA

what is A?
= evolution via natural selection

A

an adaptation: a trait that has been selected for due to its impact on fitness

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

define evolutionary psychology (EP)

what assumptions does it make? (1 main, 3 sub)

A

application of evolutionary theorising to understand human psychology and behaviour

mind is composed of collection of evolved psychological mechanisms

  • adaptations
  • domain specific
  • designed to solve various specific recurrent problems faced by evolutionary ancestors
    e. g. disease avoidance, kin care
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

what is the problem of altruism in light of EP?

A

if evolution tailors organisms to behave in ways that facilitate their own reproductive success, doesn’t this mean that organisms will be selfish?

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

what is taking a ‘gene’s-eye view’?

Q= if you were a gene what would facilitate your reproduction?

A
  • selfish genes vs selfish individuals
  • > its about having selfish genes, not being a selfish individual (its evolutionary)

= if prosocial behaviour happens to increase the likelihood of one’s genetic material being passed = such behaviour will be selected for

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

how is it possible that pro social behaviour might increase the chances that ones genetic material is passed onto future generations?

A

inclusive fitness

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

define inclusive fitness

  • direct (classical)
  • indirect

-> why aren’t all kin equal?

A

Hamilton
-> capacity for genetic information to spread in the population

  • genes can get their host organisms to reproduce = individual has offspring
  • via increasing the classical fitness of others who also share ones genes i.e. kin, relatives = helping kin survive (we share genes with kin = increases them getting spread in the population)
  • > we share different amount of genetic information with our kin = more likely to help those more closely related to us
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What did belding’s ground squirrels show?

how is this alturistic?

A

Sherman
-> alarm calls in response to predators
-> more likely to occur in the presence of sisters, aunts and nieces
(helping scaled as a function of genetic relatedness)

drawing attention to themselves (putting themselves in danger) to benefit others

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

explain a human study consistent with the inclusive fitness account of evolution

A

LA women (Mcguire)

help more likely to be given and received among those who the participants was genetically related more strongly to (r=0.5)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

How do parents treat children?

Daly and Wilson study

A

genetic relatedness constrains negative behaviours

single largest predictor of child abuse/homicide = presence of a step-parent in the home
-> 40-100 x higher if theres a step parent compared to both genetic parents

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

how do mum vs dad treat children?

A

although offspring are theoretically r=0.5 (half mum, half dad)

  • paternity uncertainty
    > mothers more certain = nicer
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Explain Grandparental certainty

  1. grandparent attitudes
  2. grandchild attitudes
A

Lahman

  1. Maternal grandmother = doubly certain

paternal grandfather = doubly uncertain

daughter -> her mother’s father was investing MORE compared to father’s mum
= in theory each equally uncertain

= father’s mother might have a more certain investment outlet (e.g. a daughter with a child)

  1. more warmth from maternal grandmothers relative to father’s father
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

what are the challenged to evolutionary psychology? (4)

are they fair?

A
  1. pan-adaptationism = EP think everything is an adaptation

not true

  1. everything determined by gene (genetic determinism, no nurture)

no, they are actually interactionists genes + environment

  1. implies things about adaptations are always morally good

not true, naturalistic fallacy

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

what’s EPs value? (2)

A
  • metatheory = organising framework for human behaviour
  • function: not just how, but why
    = novel hypotheses
17
Q

define morality

whats the content of morality (overview)

A

code of conduct/set of rules pertaining to “right” or “wrong” held by a group or individual

psychological processes that drive moral judgement

18
Q

describe the moral/conventional distinction task (Turiel)

the different violations
(what were they asked?)

A

study on children

  • > make judgements about rule violations
    1. hits
    2. pushes off swing
    3. boy wearing a dress to school
    4. talks out of turn

-> wrong? punishable?

what if teacher said its okay? (authority dependent)

it’s scope - temporally and geographically

19
Q

whats the signature moral response? (SMR)

found by?

in what context was the SMR given by children in an experiement?

A
  • serious, wrong, bad
  • punishable
  • authority independent
  • general in scope

Turiel

harm, welfare, justice and rights

20
Q

what did haid, kolle and dias do to challenge morality?

3 examples he gave participants

what did they find?

what did they conclude?

A

gave people rule violations that didn’t involve harm or injustice

e.g. clean toilet with american flag, eat family dog after being killed in car accident, sex with dead chicken

= wrong regardless of what an authority figure said at any time/place
-> authority independent, general in scope

morality can be more than harm/justice

21
Q

whats the three domain account of morality (shweder)

what kind of account is it?
what kind of account isn’t it?

A
  1. autonomy = harm, violation of rights (what turiel concluded)
  2. community (hierarchy) = fail to carry out duty
  3. divinity (purity)= disrespect sacredness - sin, protection of soul/world

a descriptive account = observes what people make judgements on/how they do it

NOT normative - whether they should or shouldn’t

22
Q

what’s moral foundations theory (Haidt & Graham)
5 domains

-> what does each domain compare to in shweder’s account (autonomy, community or divinity)

A
  1. harm/care = autonomy
  2. fairness/reciprocity = autonomy
  3. authority/respect = community
  4. in-group/loyalty = community
  5. purity/ sanctity = divinity
23
Q

how relevant to the 5 domains of moral judgements are liberals (democrats) to conservatives (republicans)?

A

liberal = harm and fairness to be more relevant

conservatives = in-group authority and purity to be more relevant

24
Q

what accounts for judgments of right and wrong? (whats in the moral black box (the mind)?)

A

(stimulus -> moral black box -> response)

is it reasoning or emotion/intuition?

25
Q

what is moral reasoning (haidt)

what is moral intuition (haidt)

A
  1. conscious mental activity. Intentional, effortful and controllable
  2. without any conscious awareness. gut reaction, immediate, intuitive response. Largely dependent on emotion
26
Q

Moral dumbfounding study (haidt, koller & dias)

  1. what happened
  2. what was found?
A
  1. brother and sister kiss
  • is this morally wrong?
    = yes
  • what is its impossible for them to have children?
    = yes

why?
= harms reputation

what if this consequence didn’t exist?
= still wrong

  1. participants defended the wrongness of this action even when reasons they gave were diffused

this is called moral dumbfounding
= reasoning processes not accessible

27
Q

Whats the social intuitionist model (SIM, haidt)

A

judging something to be wrong is a function of affect-laden (emotion) intuitions

reasoning is a reaction - a post-hoc rationalisation

stimulus -> intuition -> verbal judgement -> reasoning to justify intuition/judgement

28
Q

whats the dual-process model of moral judgement? (Greene)
-> trolly problem

  1. whats the utilitarian response
  2. whats the deontological response

what happens in the switch condition

what happens in the footbridge condition?

A
  1. controlled, effortful reasoning process
  2. gut-reaction, emotions, intuitions

switch
no direct contact - less emotion = reasoning wins
=utilitarian response overrides deontological (kill 1 person, save many = pull switch)

footbridge
direct contact - more emotion = emotional response wins
= deontological response overides utilitarian (don’t push man)

29
Q

what the deontological option based on?

whats the utilitarian option based on?

A

do not kill innocence (emotion)

greatest good for greatest number (reasoning)

30
Q

manipulating emotion
Valdesolo and desteno study
-> if negative emotion is reduced is a utilitarian response more likely to occur in the footbridge senario?

explain study

A
  1. condition 1 = watched funny show

= more likely to say appropriate compared to control condition

= experiencing positive emotion dampens the emotional adverseness
= allows the utilitarian response to be delivered by controlled reasoning processes

31
Q

whats the moral dyad?

A

structure of a moral action

agent does something to a recipient of an action (patient)

Q - does the relationship between agent and patient make a difference to the moral judgement?

32
Q

what are relational models?

name the 4 types

what’s the implication?

A
  • used to describe human relationships in the context of moral judgements

(relational models influence moral judgements)

= for each relational model there is a moral value attached to it

  1. communal sharing (CS) = unity
  2. authority ranking (AR) = hierarchy
  3. equality matching (EM) = equality
  4. market pricing (MP) = proportionality

the way we judge actions to be right/wrong depends on the relational context under which the action takes place

33
Q

Simpson, Laham and Fiske
-> do people deliver different kinds of moral judgements in different relational contexts?

main findings

A

e.g. siblings = CS = regulated by unity values

LOYALTY
siblings (CS) = judged to be more wrong if violated compared to an MP or AR relationship

RESPECT
student/professor (AR) = more wrong compared to CS relationship

PURITY
student/professor (AR) and customer/salesperson (MP) = more wrong

= we deliver different kinds of moral judgements depending on the relational context

34
Q

what is the moral circle?

give examples for things in the

  1. center
  2. border
  3. outskirts

what has happened to its expansion over time

A

imagine a target. things in the centre = more worthy of moral concern

  1. baby
  2. animal
  3. rock

greater expansion = more care and concern given to entities

35
Q

what does inclusion/exclusion discrepancy (IED) show?
Yaniv and Schul

(circling vs crossing: music festival experimental paradigm)

A

items have greater probability of being retained in the final choice under exclusion mindsets

inclusion mindset = smaller choice list compared to exclusion

36
Q

(inclusion/exclusion discrepancy) IED and the moral circle

Laham study
1. what was the study?

  1. what did exclusion mindsets show
    = what did this account for?
  2. what was concluded
A
  1. 2 conditions
    a) cross - exclude items not deemed of moral consideration

b) circle - include items deemed of moral consideration

THEN -> asked about attitudes towards a range of out-groups = different races, religious beliefs

  1. larger moral circles
    = accounted for a range of positive attitude towards out-groups
  2. subtle manipulation can change what we deem morally considerable and expand our circle = which has consequences for additional judgements

PSYC20009 (10 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions