set 1

Question 1

charles darwin

Answer 1

• rate of change of species on this planet
• “On the Origin of Species” - 1859
• followed up this book a few others that discussed aspects of natural selection
• created a testable, robust theory of evolution

Question 2

alfred russel wallace

Answer 2

• also came up with a version of the “theory of evolution by natural selection” similar/the same as darwin
• communicated with Darwin
• arranged that himself and Darwin would present their joint paper and share credit for the theory

Question 3

pre-darwinian theories

Answer 3

• erasmus darwin (charles darwins grandfather)
• jean baptiste lamarck

Question 4

erasmus darwin

Answer 4

• wrote about evolution in 1794
• vague
• made incorrect statements about how things evolve

Question 5

jean baptiste lamarck

Answer 5

• Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics
• believed that changes in the environment created new needs for organisms and altered behaviours
• he was incorrect but had a mechanism

Question 6

inheritance of acquired characteristics - lamarck

Answer 6

proposed that organisms could pass on physical characteristics they acquired during their lifetime to their offspring, driven by the use or disuse of body parts in response to environmental change

Question 7

lamarck vs. darwin

Answer 7

• lamarck: testable hypothesis, wrong
• darwin: testable hypothesis, repeatedly supported, no evidence to suggest it is incorrect

Question 8

the functionalists

Answer 8

• connection of evolutionary theory and psychology
• understanding the behaviour you are studying combines the 2 fields

Question 9

william james (harvard)

Answer 9

• ‘James Lang Theory of Emotion’
• emotion needs to keep you safe and alive long enough to reproduce

Question 10

‘James Lang Theory of Emotion

Answer 10

• argues that you perceive a stimulus and your body has to decide if the stimulus is relevant or not and what emotion you should feel
• theory is anchored in “what is the function of emotion”

Question 11

james baldwin (uoft)

Answer 11

• open the first psychology laboratory in Canada
• series of evolutionary theories about how modern life (living in cities) was actually reducing evolutionary pressures on humans
• feared we would lose adaptations but would also create new ones in their place

Question 12

WWI and WW2 shift

Answer 12

• shift in psychology away from basic research and into applied research
  
  • wars introduce new problems
  • focus on counselling, clinical and reparative aspects
• psychology as applied to education with research into childhood and children learning
  
  • behaviourism as here and dominant
• associations with eugenics
  
  • idea of genes and psychology had become tainted due to ethnic cleansing (Holocaust)
  • hardly anyone was doing research in evolutionary influences

Question 13

1970s

Answer 13

• resurgence in interest in evolutionary approaches to psychology (psychology departments studying animals)
• edward o. wilson
• theorize more about human behaviour
• robert trivers
• martin daly and margo wilson

Question 14

edward o. wilson

Answer 14

• “Sociobiology” which looks at:
  - culture of animals
  - communication
  - social behaviour
  - emotions and motivations (close to what psychologists were interested in)

Question 15

robert trivers

Answer 15

paper about parental investment theory

Question 16

parental investment theory

Answer 16

• motivated to do behaviours that increase the likelihood your offspring will survive
• e.g. putting effort into finding a mate, keeping a mate, hiding your new mate form first mate, caring for a child that doesn’t look like you, a child that shows lots of potential vs. one that doesn’t

Question 17

criticisms of the field of evolutionary psych

Answer 17

• just-so-stories
• determinism
• naturalistic fallacy
• blank slate models

Question 18

just-so-stories as a criticism

Answer 18

• “how did the giraffe get its long neck?”
• see a difference that exists in the world and assumed it is because we have evolved to do a thing, but do not go about testing whether they are wrong

Question 19

determinism

Answer 19

• if you have the genes for ‘x’, you can do ‘y’
• your destiny is all plotted out in your genes
• predisposition does not mean it will happen, just that it is likely
• e.g. just because you are smart doesn’t mean your children will be

Question 20

naturalistic fallacy

Answer 20

• “if it’s natural, it is good”
• e.g. taking natural supplements to cure you
• lots of natural things are horrible for you or do nothing at all
• medicine has evidentiary support → natural does not
• just because the things we study are natural does not mean we should mess with it

Question 21

blank slate models

Answer 21

• false dichotomy between an evolutionary approach and a blank slate approach
• no such thing as nature vs. nurture, there is always an interaction between those two
• evolutionary approach recognizes that there are predispositions towards things, whereas a blank slate model argues that we come into the world as a ‘blank slate’ and that everything we are is a result of that

Question 22

theoretical framework: evolution by natural selection

Answer 22

• humans are an evolved species
• specialized and adapted for certain behaviours and niches in the environment
• our mental capacities have evolved to do certain thing
• we rely on other disciplines to provide us with evidence
• different culture to things differently
• human study is an interdisciplinary field

Question 23

hypothesis testing

Answer 23

• understand humans are an evolved species and we may have an idea of the selective pressures or why we see differences in groups of people
• within evolutionary psychology, the obvious differences between groups ae sex and race
• hypothesis testing of an EEA - look at modern humans and make direct comparisons

Question 24

hypothesis testing of an EEA

Answer 24

• supporting evidence
• falsify evidence by seeking out information that would disapprove a hypothesis
• cross-cultural work (rule out the influence of culture, learning, practice and experience)

Question 25

Inferences about Environment of Evolutionary Adaptation (EEA)

Answer 25

- the time and place in which our species became the human species - also referred to as “the sum totally of all selective pressures includes climate, availability of resources, other species we are in competition with, competition within own species, etc” - not a single time and place because there are a lot of adaptations within the human species that have occurred over time - e.g. ability to digest lactose in adulthood, hair and eye colour

Question 26

interdisciplinary work

Answer 26

rely on certain disciplines to provide us certain evidence

Question 27

proximate explanation

Answer 27

- close - refer to the specific mechanisms that cause or trigger a behaviour in the individual or in the ‘here and now’ - e.g. shivering/goosebumps: detection of temperature by specific nerves on your skin/cold, fear/adrenaline/arousal

Question 28

ultimate explanation

Answer 28

- evolutionary purpose of a behaviour - e.g. shivering/goosebumps: get warmer, intimidate predators (e.g. cats when scared), increase the likelihood of survival and reproduction