week 1- intro Flashcards
what are the 3 basic principles of the theory of evolution?
- That there is variation among organisms. (In the case
of Evolutionary Psychology, among people.) - That this variation affects organisms’ ability to
survive and reproduce (known as selection). - That the variation is at least partly due to inheritance
how would evolutionary psychology interpret the existence of human organs?
in anatomy, the basic assumption is
that organs exist to do something that improves
the survival or reproduction of the organism
________ of the organs that function more or less
effectively impact the ability of the organism to
which they belong to survive and reproduce
variants
Those who survive and reproduce pass on any
such variations that are ______
heritable
If some characteristics of people’s minds cause
them to survive or reproduce more effectively
than others AND if such characteristics are
heritable, then the evolution (literally, change
over time) of the human mind is ________
inevitable
what are the goals of evolutionary psychology?
To describe, predict, and explain human thoughts, feelings, and behaviour (basically the same goals as society as a whole)
Evolutionary
Psychology does not typically seek to replace,
but to _______ other approaches
complement
is everything that humans do multiply or singularly determined? what does this mean?
Everything humans do is multiply determined.
There is very rarely any one single cause of our
thoughts, feelings, and especially behaviour.
Psychologists study if factor X is ________ cause of
behaviour Y, they are rarely (if ever) trying to claim that
factor X is the ________cause of behaviour Y
one
only
what does multi causality mean in evolutionary psychology?
every thought, feeling, or behaviour has multiple causes
as an example, when psychologists conduct a study and find, for
instance, that mental imagery (visualizing the throw
and imagining taking it before throwing) improves the
chance of success, what would they conclude?
they would claim that mental imagery is ONE OF THE FACTORS that can improve success, but it is not the ONLY factor that can improve success
EXAMPLE: studies show men are more aggressive. but why? is it because of heritable genes passed on, or is it because of cultural influences? how would an evolutionary psychologist approach explaining why?
Evolutionary Psychologists tend to argue that we should add an evolutionary influence for a more COMPLETE THEORY of why men and boys are more
aggressive (that includes cultural influences).
why can cultural influences not fully explain why men and boys are more aggressive than women? explain
because men and boys
are more physically aggressive in every culture so far
studied. If we think that the only reason one sex is more
aggressive than another is cultural, we have to explain why
all cultures would socialize the same way. Why, among all
the cultures so far studied, has there not been one where
women and girls were socialized to be more aggressive?
how would SOLELY an evolutionary psychologist explain why men are more aggressive than girls?
When members of
one sex are, on
average, larger than
members of another,
the larger sex is more
aggressive
in evolutionary psychology, what two things can be found to be correlated with aggression across all species (not just humans)
intra sex competition and sexual dimorphism in body size
how would BOTH an evolutionary and cultural psychology perspective explain why men are more aggressive than women?
-Perhaps human cultures pick up on, cater to, and
thereby increase, an initial genetic/evolutionary
predisposition for men and boys to be more
aggressive.
– That is, from early in life, boys (on average) show a
greater interest in physically aggressive play, and a
greater attraction to displays of aggression. This
leads them to (cultural) experiences that magnify
that tendency.
– So, when looking across cultures, a complete
explanation of men’s aggressiveness might involve a
genetic predisposition, magnified by culture
what is an ultimate cause in evolutionary psychology?
why do we do this thing at all?
what is a proximate cause in evolutionary psychology?
why do we do this thing here, why do we do it
now, and why in this particular way, or with this
particular thing or person?
-we think about what lies behind the ultimate causes
do evolutionary psychologists think about ultimate or proximate causes?
ultimate
name the ultimate vs. proximate cause of sex
Proximate- anticipated pleasure, bonding
Ultimate- Those whose genes made sex feel pleasurable had more offspring than those whose didn’t.
-basically sex is pleasurable (proximate), but why is it pleasurable? because genes that make it pleasurable are more likely to spread (ultimate)
name the ultimate vs. proximate cause of liking certain foods.
Proximate- anticipated pleasure, hunger
Ultimate- Those whose genes prompted them to eat salty, calorific, and protein-rich
foods survived more effectively than those whose didn’t.
name the proximate vs. ultimate cause of disliking certain foods
Proximate- anticipated displeasure, disgust
Ultimate- Those whose genes prompted them to
avoid spoiled or toxic food survived more effectively than those whose didn’t
name the proximate vs. ultimate cause of imitating others
Proximate- feelings of closeness, to learn
Ultimate- Those children whose genes prompted them to pay close attention to other people learned how to survive more
effectively than those whose didn’t
name the proximate vs. ultimate cause of social comparison
Proximate- desires to know ourselves, to improve ourselves, to feel good
Ultimate- Those whose genes prompted social comparisons were better able to learn from, but also compete with, others.
This gave them survival and/or
reproductive benefits
Do Evolutionary
Psychologists think evolution explains all? why?
no, because evolutionary psychologists take into account other perspectives (such as culture) and they think adding evolutionary perspective gives a complete picture to the cause of things
what does it mean for a scientific theory (ex. evolutionary psychology) to be falsifiable?
all scientific theories must be able to be disproven, so if evidence that contradicts it comes to light, the theory is modified or discarded
what is the scientific method?
theory → hypothesis → prediction → observations/experiments → FURTHER observations/experiments to falsify or support the hypothesis
is evolutionary psychology falsifiable? how about compared to other fields of psychology
YES
-the same amount as every other field
how common is it for psychologists to actually falsify their hypotheses?
they rarely do
why is there a misunderstanding that evolutionary psychology is self serving? give an example
Thinking that saying that something is part of
our evolved nature, automatically implies that
you are saying it is therefore okay or natural to do
ex. evolutionary psychologists have argued that things like infidelity, rape,
revenge, aggression, and warfare, may be evolved
aspects of human experience, so people hear that and they think that psychologists are saying that those things are okay or a natural part of the human experience
apply the self serving fallacy to the case about revenge, and explain where revenge came from.
Researchers did a study with undergraduate students about a specific instance in the past year in which someone did something hurtful to you where you felt the urge to “get even” – 64% of participants said yes.
Revenge came from our ancestors not having a proper judicial system to go through when someone wronged them, so they got revenge to protect their family and prevent future wrongdoings.
Just because revenge is in our human nature, doesn’t mean its okay to do
what can excessive revenge lead to? give an example
endless cycles of retaliation (feuds)
ex. the hatfield and mccoy families
our evolved tendencies only evolved to
increase our survival or reproduction. Not to
necessarily make us ______ in the process.
happy
Don’t look to evolutionary psychology for a
guide as to how to ______
behave
If something was selected
for by evolution, does that make it inevitable? why?
no
Evolution may have created predispositions to act
in certain ways, but your behaviour is NEVER COMPLETELY DETERMINED by any one single cause,
including by evolution, genes, and biology, everything is MULTIPLY DETERMINED
Are there really
genetic and biological predispositions for things such as emotions or psychological traits?
Yes
what is ever behavioural trait at least partly influenced by? what does this mean?
genetics
-this means your behavioural traits are heritable
how do we know that one’s behavioural traits are heritable?
by studying…
→ … genetically-identical individuals who are raised in different environments.
→ … genetically-different individuals sharing the same environment
what type of twins/raised where are most alike
identical twins who are raised separately are usually much more alike than adopted siblings who are raised together.
But everything is a combination of ________ predispositions and _________ influences
genetic, environmental
what are the 3 most important things to remember when we consider gender differences?
-There is almost always substantial variability within each sex, and substantial overlap between the sexes.
-These are averages, with no automatic implications for judging or treating individuals.
-Few, if any, are inevitable, even if they are genetically influenced
explain Janet Hyde’s 1986 meta analysis and what it shows
studied differences between men and women in physical aggression
-found that there is SUBSTANTIAL overlap between males and females, however small differences can result in large differences at the extremes
name some good things that evolutionary psychologists have studied and found to be apart of human nature
cooperation, altruism, and love
