Relationships Flashcards
What is natural selection?
where species with an advantageous allele are mostly likely to survive & reproduce and past down their advantageous allele to their offspring, so that their offspring are more likely to survive in the environment
what is an adaptation
a physiological, behavioural or anatomical characteristic which allows an organism to survive in a certain environment
In psychology, what do we call the last period of time in which humans were still evolving as a species?
EEA
What does EEA stand for?
era of evolutionary adaptation
define sexual selection
a form of natural selection, where traits that specifically benefit reproductive success are passed on
What is meant by the term ‘anisogamy’?
the differences between male & female sex cells
Why does evolution occur?
there is a change in allele frequency in the gene pool of a population over time
What is meant by genome lag?
because of the slow nature of evolution, adaptations sometimes stick around even if they don’t provide a survival or reproductive advantage
eg. babies getting separation anxiety around 9 months
What is key part of sexual selection?
attracting a mate with the greatest fitness & being ‘fit’ yourself
What is meant by ‘human reproductive behaviour’?
any behaviour associated with humans having sex
eg. mating preferences, being choosy or promiscuous, being monogamous or unfaithful
How does anisogamy explain why men and women may have different reproductive behaviour?
ovums take time to produce so fewer are made over a lifetime, whereas sperm are small and produced in abundance
- women may be more choose about having sex than men
What was the method of Clark & Hatfield’s study (1989)?
- several different students were approached by a opposite sex stranger and given a compliment
- they were then either asked if they wanted to go on a date or have sex.
What were the results of Clark and Hatfield’s study (1989)?
50% of men & women who were asked about the date said yes
75% of men who were asked about the sex said yes, whereas 0% of the women said yes
What is intra-sexual selection?
where members of one sex compete with each other to get with members of the opposite sex
- traits that lead to success (eg. attractiveness) are passed onto the next generation
what is inter-sexual selection?
where successful traits of one sex are determine by the preferences of the other sex
eg. if a woman like a man who is funny, then in her opinion that is a successful trait
