1.2 Mental Evolution

Question 1

Have living beings evolved or was supernatural creation involved?

Answer 1

Evolution widely accepted

Question 2

What mechanism produces evolution?

Answer 2

Natural selection

Question 3

Define natural selection.

Answer 3

The process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring

Question 4

Did humans evolve in the same way as other species?

Answer 4

Yes, slow acceptance to this.

Question 5

What are the 3 steps in Lamarckian inheritance?

Answer 5

1. The environment changes and produces new habits
2. Law of disuse and use - the new habits produce physical changes
3. Inheritance of acquired characteristics - physical characteristics are heritable

Question 6

When did Darwin develop his ideas about evolution?

Answer 6

On his 5 1/2 year trip around the world

Looked at fossils which showed how animals had changed and died out etc

Question 7

Where did Darwin write about a lot and what did he observe?

Answer 7

Galapagos Islands - different islands have different species

Question 8

What is Darwin’s theory of natural selection?

Answer 8

1. There is variation within populations
2. This variation is inherited
3. Some characteristics are more adaptive than others in the environment
4. Individuals with adaptive characteristics more likely to produce more offspring with the same
5. Adaptive variations become more common in next gen
6. Environmental change and geographical isolation promote divergence between species

Question 9

What topic did Huxley confront that Darwin ignored?

Answer 9

How human beings evolved

Confronted it in his book: Evidence of Man’s Place in Nature (1863)

Question 10

What was Wallace the first to propose?

Answer 10

1. Human selection shifts from physical to psychological

2. Social instincts attenuate natural selection process and prevent further intellectual evolution

Question 11

What was Darwin’s reply to Wallace?

Answer 11

Human evolution occurred the same as other species

Question 12

How did Darwin argue human intellectual and moral abilities evolved?

Answer 12

Human intellect is not unique - animals have minds as well
Used reasoning through apes - can find similarities with human mental characteristics in other animals
Speech through parrots - both humans and parrots learn speech through imitation
Moral sense - some species show altruistic behaviour eg. mother bird distracting predator from her nest of babies
Basic idea: mental evolution takes place like physical evolution and the human mind combines this in a unique way

Question 13

What was Darwin’s basic idea in his reply to Wallace?

Answer 13

Mental evolution takes place the like physical evolution and the human mind combines this in a unique way

Question 14

Romanes: how do we decide if a creature has a mind?

Answer 14

1. It must have a nervous system

2. Its behaviour must be sensitive to past experience - there must be capacity for learning and memory

Question 15

What did Romanes say about Lamarckian inheritance?

Answer 15

It played a role in mental evolution
Physical characteristics passed on as well as skils
Lapsed habits would become instincts

Question 16

What older theory did Romanes emphasise? Describe it.

Answer 16

Recapitulation theory: in physical terms, if you look at the development of an embryo, you can observe the stages of evolutionary production

Question 17

What were Romanes’ hierarchies?

Answer 17

Organised mental abilities into hierarchies

Question 18

What was considered the pinnacle of intellectual development in the Romanes’ hierarchies?

Answer 18

Making tools