BBE 101

the application of evolutionary theory to the study of human behavior and makes the claim that our minds evolved to sold specific problems

the period called Environment of Evolutionary Adaptation - when hunter-gather had to solve specific probles

causes that relate to the goals, knowledge, disposition, or life history of the individual

natural vs supernatural terms, live evolved out of simpler elements with the most basic element- water.

the world was full of bodily organs which occasionally came together and joined up, driven by the impelling force of Love

proposed that each species occupied a particular space in a hierarchical structure known as The Great Chain of being- God occupies the topmost rung of the ladder followed by angels, nobility, ordinary, animals, plants, inanimate objects. Moving rungs not permitted. adopted by Christian religion

1. changes in the environment could lead to changes in animals behavior which may lead to an organ being used more or less
2. these changes are inheritable

Based on Lamarck's laws- ex. a giraffe that uses its neck to reach higher leaves will have longer neck, and therefore pass it on to offspring

Heritable variation- ind. within a population differ
Differential Reproductive Success- as a result of these differences, some ind. leave more surviving offspring than others

some inheritance is particulate (genes don't blend, but one is picked)- crossing white flowered pea plant and red flowered produced one or the other, not pink

the mind is the part of the brain that processes information

there are two fundamental substances: physical matter and an immaterial substance which constitutes the mind or soul

positive eugenics encourages people with high fitness to mater together, negative prohibits reproduction among those who are considered unfit. Attempt to control genes passed on.

humans are born as blank slates, human behavior in infinitely malleable, culture is an independent force of people, human behavior determined by learning, learning processes can be applied to everything

Differences between people were due to differences in their culture and if one wished to understand people one must necessarily understand their culture

Fear of biological explanations of human behavior

Ethology (combine evo. functional explanations with casual explanations-observing behavior), Sociobiology (social behavior), Behavioral ecology

the mind is made up of specific mental "organs or faculties, each being responsible for some aspect of behavior

The brain is a physical system, our neural circuits were designed by natural selection to solve problems, most of what goes on in our minds is hidden from us, different neural circuits are specialized for solving different problems, our mind is adapted to deal with the problems faced by our hunter-gatherer ancestors

also known as fitness- how successful an ind. is at reproducing

1. inheritance is particulate
2. characteristics are influenced by genes occurring in pairs.
3. genes exist in at lest 2 or more alternate forms that are called alleges.
4. dominant alleles override recesseive alleles.
5. only one pair of parental alleles is passed on to offspring.
6. phenotypic features that occur together in the adult will not necessarily appear to ether in the offspring.

genes that have more than one phenotypic effect

characteristics that depend on more than one gene

deocyribonucleic acid

ribonucleic acid

a population moves form one place to another- if the ones that moved have different genetic makeup, the ovulation alters quickly

happens in small populations, a chance change in genes because a gene is neither positive nor negative- happens by chance

a new ovulation started by ind. likely to only have a small proportion of the genes from the population they left behind

cind. competeting with members of their own sex or access to the opposite sex

members of one sex attempting to impress members of the other

the feature a female deems attractive gets away from its original function ad becomes elected purely on the basis of its attractive qualities

since females invest a great deal more effort into producing offspring than do males, they are more choosy about who they allow to fertilize their eggs

males develop ornaments not to look attractive but to demonstrate that they are able to survive despite having that "handicap"

males with the most elaborate ornaments have the least parasites, so females choose males on the basis they are disease resistant and will pass it to their offspring

process of asexual animal splitting in two to reproduce

Genes flowing in- asexual has 100% same genes, which doesn't allow them to evolve and survive

sexual reproduction- having offspring is like have a number of raffle tickets which may or may not lead to survival and reproducing...asexual reprocdution is like having the same number on each ticket

members of your own species

physical

comparing different species in order to ad to our knowledge

the feature a female deems attractive gets away from its original function ad becomes elected purely on the basis of its attractive qualities

since females invest a great deal more effort into producing offspring than do males, they are more choosy about who they allow to fertilize their eggs

males develop ornaments not to look attractive but to demonstrate that they are able to survive despite having that "handicap"

males with the most elaborate ornaments have the least parasites, so females choose males on the basis they are disease resistant and will pass it to their offspring

process of asexual animal splitting in two to reproduce

Genes flowing in- asexual has 100% same genes, which doesn't allow them to evolve and survive

sexual reproduction- having offspring is like have a number of raffle tickets which may or may not lead to survival and reproducing...asexual reprocdution is like having the same number on each ticket

members of your own species

physical

comparing different species in order to ad to our knowledge

financial security, social status, industriousness

youthfulness- low waist to hip ratio, large eyes, good teeth, good hair, full lips

the number of children a person of a given age and sex is likely to have children

benefits such as food/gifts = resource extraction

infants do not understand physics- when we hide an object they just saw, it is "out of sight out of mind"- infants have to learn everything about the physical world, even basic assumptions

imprinting- learn the visual and other characteristics of mother and avoid other adults of their species

the ability of social animals to pin up on cues to understand what others are thinking

for reproduction- the behaviors in childhood are beneficial to the adult that the child will ultimately become

feeding, avoiding predation, learning, growth, maturation

producing offspring and rearing them

an organism has to choose how much of its time and resources it spends engaging in each of the fitness-enhacnin activities

producing many offspring, small percentage survives

small number of offspring produced and parents invest heavily in care

children began interest in sexual activity younger to maximize their inclusive fitness by producing offspring early and at a high rate

genes, shared environment, non-shared environment

Parents are bad role models for how children should behave- they learn from other children.

Younger members are innovators, If children learned everything from parents their skills and ideas would all be the same, children can't count on having parents to learn from, parents and children have different interests.

humans are the only moral animal- we have a sense of right and wrong

it is a system that protects the individual's sense of fairness, hierarchy, and purity and enables us to thrive within our groups

c < rb, where c is cost, r is relatedness, and b is the benefit to the recipient

John Maynard SMith

any investment by the parent in an individual offspring that increases the offspring's chance of surviving at the cost of the parent's ability to invest in other offspring

teaching children appropriate moral code so they behave nicely toward them- parental manipulation

Mark Flinn said that a mother would rather have a baby herself instead of her daughter as a child has 50% of genes, while a grandchild has 25%

examines problems in both simplified and universal ways and finds a solution to the problem that cannot be betered

two criminals in separate chambers- if they talk, they get off free. if they both talk, they get a lighter sentence. if they don't talk and the other does, they get a heavy sentence.

hatred of strangers

crescent-shaped region containing the comparatively moist and fertile land of otherwise arid and semi-arid Western Asia

domesticable animals are all alike. every undomesticable animal is unique (any single thing can go wrong)- things have to be just right to domesticate an animal

unit of cultural inheritance- the idea behind cultural artifacts, practices, events - come from vehicles (our brains,behavior, culture)- altruism, frugality

lots of memes that can't be sorted- like ourselves

conformity, copying high status people, copying friend- much of this is unconscious

when a place gets wealthy, fertility and reporuciton plummets

anything that prevents you from reproducing- birth control, tv, education

band- immediate group you han out with
tribe - sizable group, like an INdian group

lack social emotions, manipulative, selfish, antisocial, lack of conscious

population grows exponetionally, resources grow linearly, causes crisis- poor has to work, restricting breeding

Pandas thumb- its not a thumb, its a wrist bone that doesn't work as well as a real thumb for bamboo. Our primate eyes- receptors in back of retina, have to go thru wiring to adjust to light. Genetically based diseases

knowledge built from senses

some knowledge innate

child builds knowledge from experience

social bonds form easily, we have resistance to breaking these bonds, we are emotionally tied to belonging (ostracism devastating),

it helps us identify with a group- i.e. eating mcdonalds = american, eating sushi- asian

being alone has a negative effect on the immune system, increases our rush is some diseases

commons problem can sometimes be solved by local group?

bats spit blood in other bats mouths that are hungry