Chapter 1 - Reading

Question 1

How is personality compared to human nature?

Answer 1

Personality is a variation of the general design for human nature.

It is as if evolution said “what if I try this?”

Question 2

What did natural selection make humans?

Answer 2

Bipedal, brainy and live together in social groups

Question 3

Genesis story (Adam and Eve)

Answer 3

Adam lived in isolation and wasn’t happy (needs to be social)
Eve made
Intellectual curiosity is what got them in trouble - tree of knowledge
When banished from Eden, it was their social need for each other and their brains that helped them

Question 4

Are humans smarter than other animals?

Answer 4

Humans are smarter than other animals - other animals have at best a 4 year old human capacity

Question 5

Do humans live in groups?

How does this relate to individual differences?

Answer 5

We all live in groups and use groups for everything

Individual differences most readily express themselves in social interaction between people

Question 6

Pair bonding and intellect

Answer 6

Pair bonding requires brainpower - you have to monitor and adapt to the other person
Mammals and birds with big brains:mass ratios pair bond

Question 7

Social brain hypothesis

Neocortex:group size

Answer 7

Humans may have evolved to deal with the complexities of social life: Who is in the group and how to behave with them.

There is a strong correlation between the size of the neocortex and the size of social groups the animal has.

Humans are the biggest

Question 8

Eusocial creatures

Answer 8

Live in intricately coordinated, multi generational groups

Individuals will sacrifice for these groups, even at a cost tot themselves

Question 9

Homo Habilus

When

Answer 9

Creatures first evolved bipedalism which allowed them to use their hands for food and objects
2.3 million years ago
half the brain size of us
Made stone tools for scavenging and scraping meat off bones
Eventually developed tools for hunting
Meat is more nutritious than plants
Meat became a staple
Scavenging and hunting require coordinated activity and therefore social groups

Question 10

Home erectus

Answer 10

1 million years ago
Learned about FIRE
More brains
Cooking made meat better tasting and more nutritious
Cooking lead to campsites (Wilson 2012)
Group members would use these as bases and divide jobs up between hunters, scavengers and women
Is a proto human nest
ALL Eusocial species have a nest
Over time = home

Question 11

Shared intentionality

Answer 11

If I want to work with you to accomplish a task, it is good for both of us if I know your intentions

Evolution has therefore provided my ability to imagine what might happen in others minds

We may also have evolved codes, laws and governments to facilitate working together

Question 12

Homo sapians

Answer 12

Africa, 200000 years ago
Huge neocortex
Lived in hunter gatherer groups
Developed language and so everyone could articulate their feelings, thoughts and intentions which made them more eusocial
About 50000 years ago there was a big increase in culture including tools and tech which was passed down
10000 years ago this lead to agriculture and from this a further increased group size and more trade between groups etc

this all selects for social attributes

Question 13

Weston Autrey

William Kyle Carpenter

Answer 13

Saved a man having a seizure when he fell onto subway tracks
held him in a ditch and pushed down while the train went over them
Said he did not think, just did

W. K. Carpenter threw himself on a grenade in afgan

Question 14

Altruism

Answer 14

Can be confusing given natural selection

Question 15

Reciprocal altruism

Answer 15

As humans evolved in groups, helping someone else might have given them the chance to pay you back later
This might improve your chances to reproduce

This likely doesn’t happen but could explain why the natural urge to help someone in distress has been selected for

Question 16

Multi level/Group selection

Answer 16

Also accounts for altruism
Within groups, nice guys lose
But between groups, the one with more pro social members wins
When one group wins maybe all of its members benefit
Thus select for altruism

Question 17

Need to belong

Answer 17

Wilson, 2015
We need this
It demands social prosocial behaviour

Question 18

Minimal group paradim

Answer 18

AM/PM groups

Or groups with minimal differences
Start strongly preferring members of your groups and being prejudice against members of the other group

Allegiance to sports teams

Question 19

Social identity

Answer 19

When we join a group that groups becomes a part of our self concept

This also distances us from other groups

ESPECIALLY when your group is in danger

Question 20

Culture

Answer 20

Humans are very different genetically

How do you make a group into a whole? Culture
Makes the people in the group more similar than they would otherwise be

Group members must learn this

Prime socialisers include teachers and parents

Question 21

Johnathon hardt

5 things

Answer 21

Group norms ahve existed for 50000 years

Hardt thinks there are 5 things we have evolved to have strong rules on

1) Physical harm
2) Fairness and reciprocity
3) repeat for legitimate authority
4) Loyalty to in-groups
5) Purity or chastity

Question 22

History of Darwin

Answer 22

After college went on the HMS beagle
Kept natural selection secret for 21 years
Great reputation for being self-effacing and brilliant
Worked for 20 years to get evidence for his theory
Wallace, another botanist found the same thing independently
Big daddy D wanted to give him credit
His bros, Lagell and Hooker were having none of that crap
Read the letter Wallace had sent darwin about his discovery and Darwin’s old manuscript at the linnean society

Hence got credit

Cashed in on his reputation and hence, is the big dude

Got along and got ahead

Question 23

How to get along and get ahead - 1

Basic ideas and researcher

Answer 23

Robert Hogan thinks this is a big deal
We are wired to live in groups
The advantages of these lead to repro success
Within these, we want the best chances possible
So we want to be popular and powerful

Hogan sees us as social actors on lifes stage, [playing our roles and managing the expectations of the group

Question 24

How to get on and get ahead - 2

Reputation

Answer 24

Of prime importance in managing the group is ones reputation within it
This is transmitted from member to member after one has observed you and made attributions

Question 25

Gossip

Answer 25

Super important

Polices reputation

People know that folk will talk behind their backs and so modify their behavior

The quality of your reputation has a big influence

Question 26

Personality begins with

Answer 26

the different reputations that human actors have as they strive to get along and get ahead in social groups

They are variations on the design for human nature and they matter for getting along, ahead and passing on genes

Question 27

Robin Dunbar and group numbers

Answer 27

150 is the max we can keep track of

This used to constitute a clan

Clans came together for trade etc with similar clans to make a tribe (2500 ppl)

Question 28

In groups, what is it useful to kow?

Answer 28

In these groups it is useful to know who is nice, dominant, conscientiousness etc

Knowing this about others helps you, You also need to know what they think of you.

We evolved to see these differences and so they are of importance (because we are eusocial)