lesson 2 evolution and psych methods Flashcards
three ingredients for darwinian natural selection
differential reproduction: a process of favoring survival and reproduction of the fittest individuals in a population; individuals with favorable characteristics have a more competitive advantage and are more likely to pass their genes on to the next generation.
variation (mutation and sexual reproduction): no two individuals are exactly alike (not even those we call ‘identical’ twins). Those with advantageous characters have a greater probability of survival, and therefore of reproducing, in the struggle for existence
inheritance of traits: Provided that the advantageous characters that promote survival are inherited by offspring, individuals possessing those characters will become more common in the population over successive generations because they are more likely than individuals not possessing those characters to survive and produce offspring in the next generation.
natural selection
mechanism of evolution that drives biological diversity
evolution
change over time
why does natural selection have high intertia
our brains are basic ape/primate/mammalian/vertebrate brains
how has natural selection optimized us to meet ancestral challenges
our mental traits are often mismatched to modern environments (scared of snakes instead of outlet because our ancestors were scared of snakes, but more likely to die from electrical shock)
what constraints does natural selection have
there’s always a tradeoff; can’t be genius and physically better (like how we have best brains but weak bodies)
what problem does natural selection try to solve
High caloric density of donuts good (like ancestors) and low caloric density of veggies bad, but we have different environments now
pitfalls of evolutionary thinking
1) thinking because some behavior is influenced by evolution it’s inevitable (deterministic fallacy)
2) thinking that because a feature of human behavior is natural it’s right (naturalistic fallacy: evolution is mechanical and provides no moral or ethical guide to life, instead our culture does)
3) we tend to think that evolution is directional and ends with us (like picture of monkey evolution to us)
what do we find attractive?
things that we’re used to (bilateral symmetry, typicality)
why are humans born 3 months early
to accommodate our huge heads
what is jealousy and how it differs in men vs women
a sign that reproductive success is threatened (men worry about raising someone else’s kid, women worry about kid losing a father and resource)
why is attraction and picking the right partner so important
humans have to heavily invest in their offspring so we need to make sure we choose the right person/resource
naturalistic fallacy
attempting to define values as what is natural or not: appeals to how things are done by non-human animals or by groups of humans that we would consider to be “primitive,” and certainly outside of our own tradition (like breastfeeding natural but bottle formula wrong)
deterministic fallacy
The mistaken assertion that genes control behaviour in a manner independent of environmental influences- the belief that all human behaviors flow from genetic or environmental factors that, once they have occurred, are very difficult or impossible to change
critique of determinism
Numerous scientists and political organizations have criticized determinism, claiming that it is scientifically inaccurate and serves to uphold societal norms.
Many scientists now argue that the nature versus nurture debate is dead and that personality is really determined by a combination of nature and nurture. They point out that no single factor can affect human development and that biological determinism is an overly simplistic philosophy. Many scientists also believe that behaviorism—which argues for the primacy of the environment—is also overly simplistic.
The belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observation is the definition of
empiricism
Which of the following is the best definition of a hypothesis?
a falsifiable prediction
If a detector is used to measure the same property twice but produces different measurements, then it
lacks
reliability
If a detector is used to measure the same property twice but produces different measurements, then it
lacks
reliability
Which of the following describes the average value of all the measurements in a particular
distribution
mean
What does the sign of r (the correlation coefficient) show
the direction of a correlation
When two variables are correlated, what keeps us from concluding that one is the cause and the
other is the effect
the third-variable problem
A researcher administers a questionnaire concerning attitudes toward tax increases to people of all
genders and ages who live all across the United States. The dependent variable in the study is the
of the participants
attitude
An experiment that defines variables as they are defined in the real world is
externally valid
