Psychology A4 - concept six - biological

Question 1

survival of the fittest

Answer 1

-evolution = change
-form and behaviour of all living things change over time through natural selection
-when life was hard for ancestors, those who possessed characteristics that helped them to stay alive and reproduce passed on genes
-genes were ‘selected’
-proposed by Darwin (1859), called survival of the fittest

Question 2

environment of evolutionary adaptation (EEA)

Answer 2

-look at living things around us, see outcomes of natural selection, all organisms are what they are, their characteristics have enabled them to survive in a particular environment
-evolution took place in Pleistonce era (ended 10,000 years ago), lived in African savannahs as hunters, changed from apes to humans
-behaviour and minds changd to ensure survival in that habitat
-what we are today is based on evolutionary pressures in that environment = EEA

Question 3

fight, flight, freeze response

Answer 3

-three responses; fight, flight and freeze
-once a threat is perceived, sympathetic division of ANS is activated
-creates physiological arousal in the body that prepared individual to confront threat, run away or stay still
-changes are automatic and rapid, increases speed and strength
-these responses helped our ancestors to cope with threats
-those who responded in this way had advantage, more likely to live and reproduce

Question 3

genome lag

Answer 3

-minds are still adapted to EEA
-takes thousands of years for evolutionary pressures to change the human genome
-genome = collection of genes
-world around us changes more quickly
-most of the population no longer lives in small groups but in cities with others
-still have ‘small group’ mentality
-example, stress response

Question 4

sexual selection

Answer 4

-evolutionary pressures act on reproductive success
-Darwin = some characteristics continue to exist even when they threaten organism’s survival
-realised that such characteristics give out advantages which makes individual attractive to potential mates
-example, peacock’s tail, hard to carry around but is attractive to females

Question 5

evaluation: research support (+)

Answer 5

-support for evolutionary psychology from research into partner preferences
-preferences have changed over last 100 years, women have greater role in workplace and are less dependent on men
-women’s partner preferences are less dictated by resource considerations
-supports genome lag as it shows that a behaviour important to survival has been influenced by cultural changes while genome has hardly changed at all

Question 6

evaluation: problems with EEA concept (-)

Answer 6

-EEA concept implies that significant evolution of human characteristics stopped about 10,000 years ago
-however, some evolved changed suggest it isn’t the case
-example, most humans are lactose intolerant but some aren’t
-gene allows us to digest milk was selected and passed on as it conferred survival advantage
-happened less than 10,000 years ago, other changes are occurring now
-some characteristics may be the outcomes of evolutionary pressures operating more recently than EEA, undermines importance of concept

Question 7

evaluation: gender bias (-)

Answer 7

-there is evidence of gender bias in evolutionary psychology
-example, fight or flight or freeze may explain men’s response to threat, not women’s
-such response would have been disadvantageous for ancestor woman as it would’ve been harder for her to protect her offspring
-Taylor et al., (2000), more adaptive response for women = ‘tend and befriend’ – focus on nurturing offspring rather than confrontation and seeking support
-therefore, evolutionary psychology’s explanation of how we respond to threat may be biased towards men’s behaviour