Social behaviour & conflict

Question 1

J.B.S. Haldane said he’d famously risk his life for the sake of 2 (not merely 1) brother. Why is this significant
(ideally would save 8)

Answer 1

From a fitness perspective this is adaptive because there is a greater gain for the continuation of the family line (indirect fitness)

Question 2

W.D termed inclusive fitness (total fitness of an individual) includes which 2 types of fitness/explain them

Answer 2

direct fitness- personal reproduction (your own kids)

indirect fitness- reproduction

Question 3

Outline Hamilton’s rule, what each part of the equation means?

Answer 3

an act has a costs for the actor (donor) and benefits for the recipients

C < R x B

C- Cost to actor (must be less to the donor)

R- Coefficient of relatedness (degree to which two ppl are related)

B= benefit to recipient

(C & B incorporate genetic relatedness between donor and recipient (r)

Question 4

How is relatedness calculated?

What relatedness of child/g parents, sisters/brothers

Answer 4

Via path analysis in which you trace degree of relation between actor and recipinet, with 1/2 of each parent’s genes passed on to offspring.
Probability of sharing gene is product of the independent probabilities and the sum of the separate paths

child-gp r = 0.25
sis/brothers = r = 0.50

Question 5

What does Trivers (1972) parental investment theory entail?

Answer 5

Invest in kids up to a point (trade-offs occur).
Parent’s investment in offspring that increases their child’s chance of survival at the cost of parent’s ability to invest in other offspring

Question 6

What are the 3 fundamental trade-offs in Trivers’ parental investment theory

Answer 6

1) Energy devoted to parenting cannot be used for other functions (e.g. mating, maintenance)
2) level of investment to put into current and future offspring
3) Quantity vs quality

Question 7

Imagine the logistical growth curve of populations, how would it look?

Answer 7

An s-shaped curved, where it levels off at the top is the ‘caring capacity’.
exponential initial growth then levels out

Question 8

Difference between an r-strategy and k-strategy?

Answer 8

R- large families

K- small families (more common today, since investment in kids is far more costly)

Question 9

Study on investment in kin in wills- main findings? which is surprising from an evo persp?

Answer 9

People leave more in will for kin with a higher r - those more closely related to them.

Spouse (non-related)- they can look after you’re kid

Question 10

How does investment from grandparents look

Answer 10

They decrease in their care/investment in young in this order:
maternal g mother, maternal g father, paternal g moth, paternal g fath

Question 11

Adoption

Answer 11

Exception to kin-based investment, behaviour seen in various animals- a special attraction to young and vulnerable

Question 12

What’s adaptive about being cute?

Answer 12

An extended juvenile period draws attraction - acts as a proximate and draws care from elders

looking cute can be exploited ie. cuckoos exploit cues of cuteness

Question 13

What is in utero conflict?

Answer 13

between child-mother there is:
competition for blood, averse to certain smells, hormones, pregnancy sickness (embryo wants to protect itself from averse substances) i.e. teratogens effect i.e. phalidomide effects

Question 14

Further parent-offspring conflict upon birth, quality of child?

Answer 14

Post natal conflict- weaning off from the child

abandonment/killing of child with deformities, evolutionary adaptation to rather have stronger/healthier offspring

Question 15

Effect of parental resources on keeping a kid?

Answer 15

Burden of twin (more resource intensity), widowhood, single/young woman, abortion

Question 16

What’s the cinderella effect?

Answer 16

step-parents invest less into their step-children. crime records show more abuse of step-kids

Question 17

Conflict arising from paternity uncertainty?

Answer 17

Infant appearance- look like the dad = deffo you’re kid, proves relatedness. If you want your dad to look after you, best if you actually look like him

Question 18

Infanticide in animals/humans

Answer 18

Infanticide adaptive strategy for male animals, kill young that arent theres
In humanws-
scheduling investment (have kid at right time), culturally universal (except in africa)

Question 19

What’s selective infanticide? Trivers Willard hypothesis

Answer 19

Investing in the more valuable sex (males)
males- invest in them more when in good condition,
females- invest in them more when in poor condition

Question 20

Fisher’s sex ratio and sexy son hypothesis (1930)

Answer 20

it’s more adaptive to have male offspring, can reproduce and pass on genes more than females can

Question 21

Chastity

Answer 21

Females kept under guard until ready to birth- male domination

Question 22

Non-kin conflict, game theory

Answer 22

Competition results in conflict and resolving occurs through aggression.
Game theory explains this, choosing to fight or retreat dependent on what the other animal involved does

Question 23

Give the types of competition

Answer 23

scramble- most common form, individuals compete for a resource that is spread out
contest- direct conflict over a defendable resource (often for male/female access)
spiteful competition- compete for a resource you can’t even get anymore

Question 24

What 2 theories are proposed for where aggression comes from

Answer 24

one theory says we are socialised, another suggests it has biological basis

Question 25

Provide some adaptive value for aggression-

Answer 25

co-opt resources, defence, intra-sexual competition (mainly male-male), dominance/status, intersexual coercion- men historically rape women, detere aggression from others

Question 26

Why is there sexual aggression?

Answer 26

Because males benefit from polygyny and females monogamoy = jealousy along the line will occur

Question 27

Sex differences in aggression

Answer 27

Women are less physically violent compared to men, women more likely to kill only out of self-defence

Question 28

What’s slip up hypothesis (aggression) ?

Answer 28

Idea that killing is a by product of men’s aggression (and so the act itself isnt always meant for killing sake)
Killing women by men as by product of sexual jealousy.
Young females more likely to be abused and killed (since more of a valuable resource

Question 29

What did Buss (2005) propose there could be

Answer 29

a homicide module in the brain - suggest there could be context-sensitive tendency to kill

Question 30

What does Albert Bandura think the origin of aggression is?

Answer 30

Believes it is learnt- social learning theory proposes we are socialised into aggressive behavioural tendencies i.e. bobo doll study findings

Question 31

What did Cohen & Nisbitt find in their study on conflict and culture?

Answer 31

In the insult condition, northern state p’s had far lower testosterone levels than their southern counterparts

Question 32

What do evolutionary histories (homologies) show regarding aggression?

Answer 32

Rates of violence in chimps comparable to human huntergatherers.
Homicides- humans kill each other as much as chimps.
non-lethal aggression 2-3 times higher in chimps

Question 33

Homologies of aggression are contrary to Rousseau’s theory- what is it?

Answer 33

he believe you can have a society without violence.

state of ‘natural man’ living in harmony with the world

Question 34

Bonobos the ‘hippies’ of the primate world- how do they best mate- theory name?

Answer 34

Not as aggressive as chimps.

They will preferentially mate with a male/female of similar aggression (self-domestication theory

Question 35

Warfare a cultural universal - seen in animal world?

Answer 35

Chimps display war like behaviour- they will monopolise and occoput other groups territory, kill

Question 36

Best predictor of warfare?

Answer 36

High proportion of young males. Men physically fitter, better adapted for war (violence in general).
- needs lots of group cohesion

Question 37

War a cooperative enterprise- are they better adapted?

Answer 37

Yes, groups engaging in war -like behaviour are better able to penetrate opposition and destruct rivals

Question 38

What is parochialism, xenophobia?

Answer 38

Par- in group favouritism

xeno- out group hostility