Chapter 2: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology Flashcards
evolutionary psychology
infuses the study of human cognition with functional analysis
evolutionary mismatch
cases when an adaptation that was beneficial in the evolutionary past is no longer adaptive in the modern environment
characteristics of adaptations
efficiency - solving the problem in a proficient manner
economy- solving the problem in a cost-effective manner
precision- the component parts are specialized for achieving a particular end
reliability- solves the problem dependably in contact in which an organism encounters the adaptive problem
co-opted adaptation
refers to a process where a trait or feature originally evolved for one purpose gets repurposed or co-opted for a different function. It’s like nature saying, “Hey, this thing we developed for situation A could also be handy in situation B!”
By-products or spandrels
features that do not solve adaptive problems, do not have functional design, but also do not have significant disadvantage
Environment of Evolutionary adaptedness
refers to the environment in which a particular species evolved and adapted over time. It’s like the ancestral “home” where a species’ traits and behaviors developed because they were advantageous for survival and reproduction.
critical developments in our EEA
bipedal locomotion
basic tools made and used
brain expansion
development of agriculture
control and use of fire
evolved psychological mechanisms
exists in the form that it does because it solved a specific problem of survival or reproduction recurrently over evolutionary history
The inputs of an evolved psychological mechanism
are narrow and limited
can include cues from the environment or internal psychological mechanisms
tell an organism the particular adaptive problem it is facing
The output of an evolved psychological mechanism
can be physiological activity, information to other psychological mechanisms, or manifest behavior
is directed toward the solution to a specific adaptive problem
levels of evolutionary analysis
general evolutionary theory
middle-level evolutionary theories
specific evolutionary hypothesis
specific predictions
top down
as existing second level theory drives the hypothesis
bottom up
an observation produces a hypothesis about an adaptive function
methods for testing evolutionary hypotheses
compare different species
cross-cultural methods
physiological and brain imaging methods
genetic methods
data for testing evolutionary hypotheses
archeological records
data from hunter gather societies
observations
self reports
