Week 1, Lecture 1 - intro Flashcards
Why is Darwins theory of evolution controversial?
Because it contradicts religious views
What is Sociobiology?
An evolutionary approach of ethologists that focussed on function rather that stimuli
What is function in sociobiology?
The ultimate explanation - long term
What is stimuli in sociobiology?
Proximate explanation - immediate
Why was Wilsons book “The New Synthesis” controversial?
- Accused of biological determinism and in conflict with cultural determinism (important for sociologists)
- Accused of enthusiastic “just-so” storytelling was another problem
What is the standard social sciences model?
Everything is learned - biology has no part to play
Why did evolutionary psychology arise from?
arose in response to criticisms of sociobiology
Does evolutionary psychology focus on behaviour or the mechanisms that underlie it?
The mechanisms that underlie it
Does evolutionary psychology believe people are different or the same universally?
Believes in human universals
What school of thought does evolutionary psychology follow? Give some example of what this looks like
A modular and adaptive school of thought
- innate psychological mechanisms
- domain specific “mental organs”
- modularity of the mind
What do evolutionary psychologists believe are some universal characteristics of human nature?
- experience and expression of emotion
- spoken language
- status and roles including division of labour
- incest avoidance
- developmental trajectories (infants learning to walk, talk etc at same time)
What is the environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA)?
An environment (think savanna) that humans learnt to adapt to. traits from this adaptation still exist within us today
When was the term EEA first used?
Bowlby (1950s onwards)
Can maladaptations result from adaptations for the EEA? Give an example
Yes e.g., humans being afraid of spiders despite many living in countries where they are not a threat
What are some criticisms of evolutionary psychology?
- not that different from sociobiology (pan-adaptationism and “just so” storytelling”
- out of date understanding of evolution
What are some limitations of the EEA?
- little is know about what it was like
- there was a long evolutionary history before then
- diverse habitats
- not evident that modern hunter-gatherers are representative
- humans are still evolving
What are some limitations of domain general psychology?
- the ability to learn = adaptation
- cognitive abilities might be by-products of more general abilities
- cognition involves integration across domains
What is a limitation of human universals?
- overlook important variation in individuals
What is the goal of behavioural ecology?
to determine how differences among individuals can be due to optimality and fitness explanations
Does behavioural ecology look at adaptive responses in local environments or a single universal environment?
local environments
Is behavioural ecology interest in proximate mechanism?
no more interested in the evolution behind it
How is behavioural ecology studied?
- small-scale societies are studied
- same approach is used as early ethnographers but a different theoretical background is used –> trying to show how humans have adapted to their environment
- use historical datasets to see how environment influences population level behaviour
What does facultative mean?
flexible in environments
What does obligate mean?
committed to 1 strategy/environment
What is a niche?
An environment and way of life of an organism
Greater overlap leads to greater competition (e.g., prey size)
What is optimality?
- adaptive trade offs for the best possible outcome
What is ecophysiology?
whether to invest in growth or reproduction
What are some criticisms of behavioural ecology?
- focus on adaptive behaviour not adaptations
- focus on behaviour not psychology
- ignores constraints on adaptiveness i.e., simplifying the assumption that natural selection will always favour traits with high fitness
What are the 2 levels of explanation?
Ultimate causation - evolutionary explanation
Proximate causation - immediate circumstances
What are the 4 questions of the LOE?
Function (adaptation) - fitness value of a trait
Evolution (phylogeny) - evolutionary history of a trait
Development (ontogeny) - traits variation throughout development
Causation (mechanism) - immediate circumstances affecting a trait
