Major Movements in Psychology - Sociobiology and Evolutionary Psychology
13 important questions on Major Movements in Psychology - Sociobiology and Evolutionary Psychology
Who is Edward O. Wilson?
His original speciality was the social life of ants. Wilson's great contribution was to state that the evolutionary explanation of animal behavior could be applied to the study of human behavior. He did not mean that culture and environment had no influence, only that our behavioral repertoire has its origins in our genetics and has been shaped by the processes of natural selection.
How is Darwinian evolution relevant to psychology?
If our behavior is genetically determined, where does learning come in?
For example, with the proper circumstances our genetic make-up allows us to learn to read. In contrast, no amount of training will ever lead a cat, a dog, or a pigeon to read. Likewise, no amount of training will ever allow a human being to fly.
Thus genetics determine the potentiality of our behavior but genetics alone cannot determine the specific outcomes of any given individual.
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How is reproductive success relevant to evolution?
In evolution, success really means survival. If a trait is common in a population, this means that the genes of previous generations with that trait have survived to the present.
What does evolutionary fitness mean?
If there is a larger proportion of gene A in the present generation than in the previous one, then the organism with gene A has demonstrated evolutionary fitness.
Conversely, if the proportion of gene B has decreased across generations, then the organism with gene B has poor fitness.
How does evolution affect behavior?
What does survival of the fittest mean?
What is LaMarckian evolution?
In keeping with the ideas of Charles Darwin's grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, LaMarck believed in the inheritance of acquired characteristics. In other words, an animals adapts to the environment and these changes are then passed onto the animal's offspring via some form of heritability.
Although LaMarckian evolution has a kind of intuitive appeal, there has never been any evidence to support its central promise, that acquired behavior is directly coded into the genes.
How do evolutionary theorists understand altruism?
Although altruistic behavior may cost the individual animal, it may still confer reproductive success if it helps other animals that share the same genes. Thus, we could expect altruistic behavior to be most common among close relatives, which is universally the case.
What is also found is that the cost and risk of altruistic behavior decreases as the biological relationship grows more distant.
Do females compete for males?
When males are monogamous, they are likely to be more selective in their choice of a mate as they invest more in each partner. Hence females may need to compete for males. In these cases, females who show signs of greater reproductive fitness are often more successful in attracting males.
What are the controversies of sociobiology?
The biggest problem with evolutionary explanations of human behavior, however, involves the profound difficulty distinguishing between proximate and ultimate levels of causation.
What is the difference between proximate and ultimate causation?
The proximate cause refers to the immediate cause of a behavior, whether that be hormonal, neurological, cognitive, interpersonal, or cultural.
How do scientists test the evolutionary significance of behavior?
In humans, twin studies have been used to differentiate the effects of genetics from the effect of environment.
Additionally, anthropological studies that compare social behavior across different cultures are also used in an attempt to seperate the effect of genetics and environment. These studies become harder to do with time, however, as globalization leaves fewer cultures truly independent of each other.
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