week 1- intro Flashcards
(43 cards)
what are the 3 basic principles of the theory of evolution?
- That there is variation among organisms. (In the case
of Evolutionary Psychology, among people.) - That this variation affects organisms’ ability to
survive and reproduce (known as selection). - That the variation is at least partly due to inheritance
how would evolutionary psychology interpret the existence of human organs?
in anatomy, the basic assumption is
that organs exist to do something that improves
the survival or reproduction of the organism
________ of the organs that function more or less
effectively impact the ability of the organism to
which they belong to survive and reproduce
variants
Those who survive and reproduce pass on any
such variations that are ______
heritable
If some characteristics of people’s minds cause
them to survive or reproduce more effectively
than others AND if such characteristics are
heritable, then the evolution (literally, change
over time) of the human mind is ________
inevitable
what are the goals of evolutionary psychology?
To describe, predict, and explain human thoughts, feelings, and behaviour (basically the same goals as society as a whole)
Evolutionary
Psychology does not typically seek to replace,
but to _______ other approaches
complement
is everything that humans do multiply or singularly determined? what does this mean?
Everything humans do is multiply determined.
There is very rarely any one single cause of our
thoughts, feelings, and especially behaviour.
Psychologists study if factor X is ________ cause of
behaviour Y, they are rarely (if ever) trying to claim that
factor X is the ________cause of behaviour Y
one
only
what does multi causality mean in evolutionary psychology?
every thought, feeling, or behaviour has multiple causes
as an example, when psychologists conduct a study and find, for
instance, that mental imagery (visualizing the throw
and imagining taking it before throwing) improves the
chance of success, what would they conclude?
they would claim that mental imagery is ONE OF THE FACTORS that can improve success, but it is not the ONLY factor that can improve success
EXAMPLE: studies show men are more aggressive. but why? is it because of heritable genes passed on, or is it because of cultural influences? how would an evolutionary psychologist approach explaining why?
Evolutionary Psychologists tend to argue that we should add an evolutionary influence for a more COMPLETE THEORY of why men and boys are more
aggressive (that includes cultural influences).
why can cultural influences not fully explain why men and boys are more aggressive than women? explain
because men and boys
are more physically aggressive in every culture so far
studied. If we think that the only reason one sex is more
aggressive than another is cultural, we have to explain why
all cultures would socialize the same way. Why, among all
the cultures so far studied, has there not been one where
women and girls were socialized to be more aggressive?
how would SOLELY an evolutionary psychologist explain why men are more aggressive than girls?
When members of
one sex are, on
average, larger than
members of another,
the larger sex is more
aggressive
in evolutionary psychology, what two things can be found to be correlated with aggression across all species (not just humans)
intra sex competition and sexual dimorphism in body size
how would BOTH an evolutionary and cultural psychology perspective explain why men are more aggressive than women?
-Perhaps human cultures pick up on, cater to, and
thereby increase, an initial genetic/evolutionary
predisposition for men and boys to be more
aggressive.
– That is, from early in life, boys (on average) show a
greater interest in physically aggressive play, and a
greater attraction to displays of aggression. This
leads them to (cultural) experiences that magnify
that tendency.
– So, when looking across cultures, a complete
explanation of men’s aggressiveness might involve a
genetic predisposition, magnified by culture
what is an ultimate cause in evolutionary psychology?
why do we do this thing at all?
what is a proximate cause in evolutionary psychology?
why do we do this thing here, why do we do it
now, and why in this particular way, or with this
particular thing or person?
-we think about what lies behind the ultimate causes
do evolutionary psychologists think about ultimate or proximate causes?
ultimate
name the ultimate vs. proximate cause of sex
Proximate- anticipated pleasure, bonding
Ultimate- Those whose genes made sex feel pleasurable had more offspring than those whose didn’t.
-basically sex is pleasurable (proximate), but why is it pleasurable? because genes that make it pleasurable are more likely to spread (ultimate)
name the ultimate vs. proximate cause of liking certain foods.
Proximate- anticipated pleasure, hunger
Ultimate- Those whose genes prompted them to eat salty, calorific, and protein-rich
foods survived more effectively than those whose didn’t.
name the proximate vs. ultimate cause of disliking certain foods
Proximate- anticipated displeasure, disgust
Ultimate- Those whose genes prompted them to
avoid spoiled or toxic food survived more effectively than those whose didn’t
name the proximate vs. ultimate cause of imitating others
Proximate- feelings of closeness, to learn
Ultimate- Those children whose genes prompted them to pay close attention to other people learned how to survive more
effectively than those whose didn’t
name the proximate vs. ultimate cause of social comparison
Proximate- desires to know ourselves, to improve ourselves, to feel good
Ultimate- Those whose genes prompted social comparisons were better able to learn from, but also compete with, others.
This gave them survival and/or
reproductive benefits
