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Flashcards in Lecture 10 Deck (26)
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1
Q

What is the basic premise of evolutionary psychology?

A

That humans are a product of an evolutionary process and so therefore are our mental and physical characteristics.

2
Q

What are these characteristics considered to be?

A

Adaptations to either our current or previous environments. Physical characteristics remain because they have not been selected out in the time since we last lived in those ancestral environments.

3
Q

What does evolutionary psychology concern itself with?

A

Describing these adaptations and placing them within an evolutionary context.

4
Q

Out of the western, eastern gorrilla, bonobo and chimpanzee - which are grouped together?

A

Western and eastern gorrilla together and bonobo and chimpanzee together

5
Q

Why do we analyse humans next to related species?

A

To try and gain inferences about characteristics of common ancestor. Then we can use this to ‘reverse engineer’

6
Q

What is David Buss’s evolutionary psychology: the new science of the mind composed of?

A

Cutting edge research and features an engaging writing style that draws students into the critical topics.

7
Q

Who is David buss?

A

One of the foremost researchers in evolutionary psychology.

8
Q

What does the text do?

A

It logically progresses by discussing adaptive problems that humans face including those of survival, mating, parenting, kinship and group living (e.g. Cooperation, aggression and status hierarchies)

9
Q

What does it include?

A

More cognitive material integrated throughout
Compelling case stories, media and cultural examples and illustrations and applications to the personal lives of students.

10
Q

What’s the most substantial topic?

A

Sex and mating - makes up about 30% of the book

11
Q

What are typical participation comments in journals?

A

Participants were 170 undergraduates at a university in the Midwestern USA, who received extra credit for their participation.

175 male and 311 female University of Alberta undergraduates participated in this study and received credit toward their introductory psychology class for their participation.

We conducted an act-nomination study of sixty undergraduates (44% male, Mage = 21.66, SDage = 2.52, rangeage = 19 - 35) from a large public university in the south western USA.

One hundred and forty students (89 women and 51 men; mean age ± SD = 19.49 ± 1.15) from a Midwestern liberal arts college.

Eighty undergraduate students at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Participants were 83 students from Miami University who received partial course credit for their participation.

The 633 participants in our study consisted of 198 males (average age 22.1 ± SD 2.7 years) and 435 females (average age 21.5 ± SD 2.7 years) from various universities.

Participants were recruited from introductory level psychology classes at the University at Albany

12
Q

What are most journals based on?

A

80% based on questionnaire studies completed by undergraduate students.

13
Q

What is a typical hypothesis based on?

A

Loosely based on evolutionary principles

14
Q

What is data subject to?

A

Complex analyses. Statistical significance given precedence over other considerations.

15
Q

What are theories related to risk of kissing?

A

Maternal premastication.
Mate assessment
Bonding
Preparation for intercourse.

16
Q

What is Occam’s razor?

A

The principle that where there are two competing explanations, the simplest is usually correct.

17
Q

What does HCMV stand for?

A

Human Cytomegalovirus

18
Q

What are risks from kissing?

A

Exposure to contagious diseases

Exposure to endemic infection

19
Q

What are the two factors that cause lack of insight?

A

No overarching paradigm for psychology
No full zoological description of our species. (We know lots about anatomy, physiology, distribution and genetics but very little about behaviour)

20
Q

What are the four ornament displays?

A

Genetic quality
Current disease state
Damage from earlier infection
Freedom from development adversity

21
Q

What are the morphology signals and what do they give?

A
Rich source of information and they are: 
Sex-differences 
Skin 
Hair 
Eyes 
Nose 
Teeth 
Lips 
Breasts
Waist 
Hips 
Gluteofemoral fat stores 
Fermin length
22
Q

What does breast morphology signal?

A

Future ability to suckle
Age/residual value
Current/previous pregnancies
Current fat stores/previous periods of restricted food availability (stretch marks)
Resistance to disease (asymmetry associated with increased risk of breast cancer)
Fertility and perhaps ovulation

23
Q

What can psychological problems have?

A

Physics explanations
E.g. Peptic ulcers - possible cause of Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s
Autism

24
Q

Adaptations cannot be understand in absence of what?

A

Full zoological description

25
Q

What did best selling textbooks give little consideration to?

A

Providing students with access to material that might change the way evolutionary psychology focused more on the psychology bit

26
Q

What does evolutionary psychology currently discourage?

A

Ethnological approaches and the leading textbooks don’t publish them