Evolutionary Psychology

What IS evolutionary psychology? Essential Question: How has our mind/behavior adapted to meet survival problems? Name to know: Charles Darwin

Quick Review: What is Evolution? What is Natural Selection? A change in gene frequencies within a population over many generations…how populations change. What is Natural Selection? In psychology, innate behaviors, capacities that have helped us survive, and have thus been passed down

Guiding Assumption of Evolutionary Psychology The human mind evolved as a collection of specialized and independent “modules” to handle specific survival problems Therefore…some qualities/behaviors are innate in us Meaning…they come to us with no particular effort (like language and walking)

Our Human Heritage Special interests to evolutionary psychologists: Perceptual abilities Emotional expressions A need for sociability and attachment A capacity for language Gender differences in sexual behavior

Innate Human Characteristics What do you think? What did you learn? 1. Infant Reflexes Rooting, sucking, grasping, eyes follow moving light, turn toward familiar sound http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V4x0iQODTk 2. Attraction to Novelty Being interested in new things…babies will even stop nursing is someone new enters range of vision 3. A desire to explore/manipulate objects 4. Impulse to play and fool around Play teaches us how to get along with others and practice motor and linguistic skills 5. Basic Mental Skills Basic physics…babies look longer at impossible events

Sociability and Attachment Because we need others to survive, we are predisposed to form attachments and learn from others Synchrony and Sociability Specific visual cells in brain respond maximally to faces Babies will turn to watch a picture of a face but not of just scribbles (9 minutes old!) People unconsciously adjust their rhythms of speech, gestures, and expressions to be “in sync” with each other from birth Babies adjust movements to sounds of speech but not other sounds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q-1M3-GDz8&feature=related

Contact Comfort Margaret and Harry Harlow experiment with Rhesus monkeys “Discovering Love” Study Summary Time! Failure to thrive…orphanages…

Capacity for Language Throwback to Chomsky and others…. No need to “beat a dead horse” ……enjoy the same meal? Chomsky

Evolution and Sexual behavior Males and Females have faced different kinds of survival and mating problems, so we have evolved to have different levels of aggression and sexual strategies What are some stereotypes for the way men and women: Flirt, “court”, view relationships, view commitment, engage in sexual activities?

Evolutionarily speaking, it makes sense for MEN to: Compete with other males for access to young fertile women Try and impregnate as many women as possible to pass on his genes (record is 899 children) Evolutionarily speaking, it makes sense for WOMEN to: Be picky…they have a limited number of eggs, so we look for the best genetic deal… Gestation is 9 months and child rearing is much longer…can’t afford to make mistakes with a genetic whack job Having intercourse with many different men doesn’t produce more babies than staying with just one…so… Women tend to try and cling to the good ones to make the best genetic offspring

Result? How do these adaptive behaviors show up today? Read pages 96-98 (start on the 4th full paragraph) Think about…. How evolution might’ve effected how we behave sexually/in relationships What critics say about evolutionary explanations and if you agree How long of a leash do you think genes have on culture?

Evolution, Courtship, and Mating The role of evolution and biology in the origins of gender differences in sexual behavior is a heated debate Sociobiologists have influenced the evolutionary viewpoints on mating practices Sociobiology – interdisciplinary field that emphasizes evolutionary explanations of social behavior in animals (including humans) According to Soc.Bio.s, what is the primary motivation for most social actions? Passing on our personal genetic code Evolutionary psychologists differ in that: They don’t think our main motive in behavior is to pass on genes Instead, they see it as a byproduct of natural selection…those that had more offspring producing behaviors…had their genes carry down Also, take into account more human differences (sociobiologists often take animal behaviors as metaphors for human….an insect forcing itself on a female is compared to human rape)….psychologists recognize the many other motives of human rape