Sociobiology-Discussion

Question 1

Sociobiology

Answer 1

The scientific study of the factors driving the evolution of social behavior

Question 2

Example of an adaptive, evolved physical trait

Answer 2

Thick fur in animals living in cold regions

Question 3

Examples of adaptive, evolved social behaviors

Answer 3

Mothers protective of their offspring
Altruism
Killing of lions cubs by newly dominant male
Aggression

Question 4

Experimental Evidence: Breeding for behavior

Answer 4

In the Soviet Union/Russia in 1959, a fox breeding project was set up by scientist Dmitri Belyaev
Selectively bred for low fear of humans/high friendliness to humans
Also saw changes in phenotype: coat colors, floppy ears, curled tails

Question 5

History of Sociobiology: Darwin

Answer 5

Charles Darwin, “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals” (1872)

Question 6

What are human universals?

Answer 6

Basic facial expressions

Some are even shared with other primates

Question 7

Facial expressions may be functional

Answer 7

“Raising of eyebrows is necesssary in order that the eyes should be opened quickly and widely;… and we consequently open our eyes fully, so that field of vision may be increased

Question 8

Physiology underlies similarities in expression

Answer 8

Duchenne vs. Non-Duchenne Smiles
Duchenne: where eyes contract/squint along with raising corners of lips, expressed with genuine happiness
Non-Duchenne: lips raised only without eye movement, not genuine
Zygomaticus and orbicularis muscles allow for the Duchenne smile

Question 9

History of Sociobiology: E.O. Wilson

Answer 9

Sociobiology: The New Synthesis (1975)
Argued that we should analyze social behaviors through an evolutionary lens-animals behave in ways that maximize reproductive fitness
Chapters about humans were/are controversial-can our social behaviors really be encoded in our genes?

Question 10

What is important to consider when thinking about our ancestors behavior vs. now

Answer 10

Some behavior may have be an advantage for ancestors, could be maladaptive for us because environments change
Motivation for high sugar/high fat foods could have helped ancestors find high quality foods and survive
Causes health issues when abundance
Due to some behavior being natural and evolving, does not mean it is morally correct

Question 11

Nature interacting with Nurture

Answer 11

Social and cultural factors have huge impact on how humans behave. Also little doubt that biological factors play a significant role
Humans have capacity to regulate behavior in socially acceptable ways
-Phineas Gage’s socially inappropriate behavior after frontal lobe damage supports this idea

Question 12

Evolutionary Psychology Books

Answer 12

“Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and The Generation of Culture (1992)” Barkow, Cosmides, and Tooby
-Focuses on psychological processes-attempts to identify evolved, underlying psychological mechanisms that influence behavior
“Evolutionary psychology: A new paradigm for psychological science (1995)” David Buss
-Humans have emotional, motivational and cognitive adaptations that generally increased fitness in the past

Question 13

David Buss Research (1989)

Answer 13

Evolutionarily, women faced many reproductive challenges: surviving pregnancy, lactating, rearing children
Hypothesis: Due to investment, women tend to seek mates that can devote resources to her and her children
Evolutionarily, the main reproductive challenge men have faced is access to mates
Hypothesis: Men thus tend to seek fertile mates
He conducted survey or more than 10,000 people across 37 cultures
Findings:
Men preferred younger women (interpretation: higher fertility)
Women preferred older men (interpretation: higher resources to care for her and her offspring)

Question 14

3 Basic Tenants of Human Sociobiology Research

Answer 14

1. The human mind and human behavior are/were shaped by natural selection
2. The human mind uses heuristics (strategies) to increase the likelihood of solving problems our ancestors routinely faced
3. There is a shared, and more or less universal, core human nature

Question 15

The Cinderella Effect

Answer 15

Evolution favors ensuring survival and reproduction of genetically related offspring (Inclusive Fitness)
The phenomenon of favoritism for genetically related children and higher incidence of mistreatment by stepparents than by biological parents

Question 16

Ovulation and Attractiveness

Answer 16

Miller et al. (2007) studied the effects of ovulatory cycle phase on tip earnings in exotic dancers
Dancers earn more when fertile
Proposed interpretation:Women have evolved to signal when they are sexually fertile
Criticisms of study:
Small sample size
Couple of cycles
Single city
Has not been replicated
Singh and Bronstad (2001): Female body odor is a potential cue to ovulation
Roberts et al. (2004): Female facial attractiveness (as judged by males) increases during the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle

Question 17

Cheater Detection—> Wason Task

Answer 17

A logic game used to illustrate that humans use evolved “heuristics” to solve problems routinely faced by our ancestors
A puzzle posed in an asocial context is difficulty to solve. When the same puzzle is worded in a social manner (that is evolutionarily relevant), the puzzle is much easier

Question 18

Wason Task

Answer 18

Task were logically identical, but one seemed easier to complete than the other
Superior performance on the second version of the task may be due to the human possession of a specialized cheater detection module
Such a module would presumably benefit individuals in environments where repeated, reciprocal interactions occurred (Cosmides et al. 2005_

Question 19

Why detect cheaters

Answer 19

To punish the cheaters
If you want to support cooperation, you can even use such a module to punish others who neglect to punish cheaters (strong reciprocity)
Simulation from Fehr and Fishbacher (2003)

Question 20

Mate age preference by sex

And Facial symmetry

Answer 20

Consistent across different cultures—– suggest a common, evolved human trait
Facial symmetry is attractive

Question 21

Female waist to hip ratio indicates health

Answer 21

Comparison of Miss America Winners’ percentage ideal weight (A) and waist to hip ratios (B)
Ideal weight changes over time, suggesting cultural
Waist to hip ratio consistent-an indicator of health

Question 22

Controversies and criticisms

Answer 22

Naturalistic Fallacy
Biological determinism
“Just so” stories (unverifiable narrative explanations)
Little is known about humans in ancient times

Question 23

The naturalistic fallacy

Answer 23

The assumption that behavior or consequence is good because it has been favored by natural selection
Evolutionary Psychology and Sociobiology have never proposed that problematic human behaviors are justified, but rather, try to help explain why these behaviors may evolve, as understanding can lead to modification
Example:
Fear/dislike/distrust, of people who look different than you may have provided a survival advantage for hunter-gatherers competing with others for access to food. Nowadays, it is not right and may reuslt in racism

Question 24

Biological Deteriminism

Answer 24

The belief that all behaviors are innate, determined by genes, brain size, or other biological attributes, and that social and cultural forces play little role

Question 25

Objections to socibio

Responses

Answer 25

Objection:
Ignores environmental influences
Response:
Mainstream scientists endorse gene-environment interactions for complex traits
Objection:
Gives too much weight to genes: we are not pre-programmed robots
Response:
Genes get turned on and off constantly; expression is not static

Question 26

“Just so” stories

Answer 26

Some scientists have been/are guilty of “adaptive storytelling”
-an ad hoc evolutionary narrative to explain a behavior that is unverifiable and unfalsifiable
Popularizations vs. journal articles
Still, evolutionary hypotheses can be tested by evaluating predictions that follow from them
-Cross-cultural studies

Question 27

Little known about humans in ancient times

Answer 27

Critics say that too little known about the Pleistocene to provide solid basis for EP hypotheses
Evolutionary psychologists argue that research is confided to certainties about the past:
-Pregnancies occurred in women
-Humans lived in groups