Evolutionary Psychology September 26, 2011 Last week: Proximate VS ultimate causation Psychology has been proximate in its

s approach o Doesnt deal with remote/ultimate causes o Ex. Language and family structure o This is negative! o Psych needs to include ultimate causation, the evolution of life forms, the evolution of humans o o Psychologists argument against evolutionary psych: 1. Working with proximate/ultimate causation a matter of preference Argue each approach has its own value BUT: This is false! Not talking about dichotomy between purely proximate approach and ultimate approach o Evolutionary psych argues for both in relation to each other o Ex: why the hypothalamus is the centre of aggressive behaviour but also interested in how the hypothalamus works o Proximate causes are simple concepts Small children: satisfied with proximate explanations, not complex/sophisticated If you explain ultimate explanations- goes over his head! As child grows, ready to grasp ultimate causes If hes a really good student (for ex), he will understand that hormonal sex drive s not the ultimate explanation.goes biggerwhy sex? Why did sex evolve? Psych professor would say: Sex is a primary drive (like sex, hunger and thirst) You can make accurate predictions about sexual behaviour without understanding t he ultimate cause, however you will be limited. Ex. Most prominent reason people go to marital therapy: decrease in sexuality as relationship passes first year First year of relationship: cant get enough (primary drive), then takes a dip Sex therapist: give advice/suggestions to try and bring activity back to prior l evels BUT: If you look into ultimate cause: Diminution of sex drive in a relationship is characteristic of all pair bonding animals WHY? Allows the pair to focus time and energy on caring for offspring Provides for the spacing of offspring (important for genotype to thrive) Without these considerations, species would go extinct 2. Undoubtedly homosapiens evolved, but because of our big brain, culture is the determinant of our behaviour not biology o Problematic: how did brain get there in the first place? o Evolutionary Psych: Axiomatic that form follows function, not the other way around o We didnt become toolmakers because we have a big brain, we have a big bra in because we are good toolmakers o Brain = an adaptation o Saying that something is based on culture is NOT a scientific explanatio n o Theory of culture has no explanatory value unless it includes ultimate q uestion of how culture evolved/came to be o Ex. Inuit leave elderly to fend for themselves, Asians take their elderl y into their homes to care for them o If we believed cultural psych, would believe the inference that one pers on managed old people like this, everyone followed suit o BUT: when resources are scarce, elderly is a burden (Inuit), but in trop

ical climates, more resources/food therefore more adaptive to take in elderly to enhance quality of life o Science is rooted in premise that ALL EVENTS ARE CAUSED No other sciences except the behavioural sciences ignores its ultimate question, ex. Biology Psych will never function at level of bio or physics unless it begins to focus o n ultimate causation Accept evolution as an important aspect of human behaviour Part 2: Mechanisms and Natural Selection Darwin waited 20 years to present the theory, even then he presented it under pr essure Alfred Russel Wallace developed similar theory o Wallace: biology assistant, intimidated by Darwin Went to Darwin and presented his theory first, Darwin agreed they had the same i deas Therefore presented theory jointly Wasnt sure he was correct How a process of natural selection was rigorous enough to transform organisms (h ow can you go from bacteria to people) Seemed like it depended largely on chance events o 2 detrimental beliefs at the time (challenged natural selection) enhance d skepticism: 1. Belief that earth was 6 million years old (1.2 billion) 2. Notion that protoplasm blended with offspring???

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Gregor Mendel (Gregorian Priest) Interested in botany Cross breeding peas that had opposed attributes (round VS wrinkled, long stem VS short stem) o Always got offspring that resembled parent peas o Ratio of 3:1 o 2 Important Components: 1. Developed dominant and recessive genes/traits 2. AND concept of GENE as unit of HEREDITY o Units do not blend, they pass on as intact, discrete entities. CRITICAL CONCEPTS FOR DARWIN

Natural Selection: Synthetic theory of evolution (Darwin and Medel fused) o Difference between: Darwin: Natural selection of characteristics Mendel: can inherit acquired characteristics (unlike Darwins theory) Natural selection requires genetic variation o Are there sufficient sources of genetic variability to account for varia nce in human life o Sources of Variance (what contributes to variance in species) Mutation (occasional random differences in gene structure) Most mutations results in deleterious attributes Process of sexual reproduction Gametes unite, form new combo of chromosomes Variations of genetic material account for differences between sibs, for ex. However: variance = finite in simple act of combining chromosomes o BEST ANSWER: 1930s- discovery Gene shuffling/crossover In meiosis, chromosomes exchange material with each other (dont know if its rando or systematic exchange)

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Change seems to occur in genes that have been linked to adaptive function This produces virtually an infinite degree of variation from one generation to t 101000 (INFINITE variability, more variance than atoms in the universe) crossover is a constant Produces a consistent range of new genotypes from which natural selection can op 3 types Natural Selection: Directional Selection Stabilizing Selection Cause of homogeneity? State of maximum adaptation Disruptive Adaptation Why doesnt all natural selection eventually become stabilizing selection? Why so many species? So many directions? WHY DIRECTIONAL SELECTION?

1. Red Queen theory (Buss uses it in a different way) Lewis Carroll (Alice in wonderland) Alice: Why is everyone running around? Queen: Sometimes you have to keep running stay in the same place? Ex: Lions and antelopes Antelopes will evolve to be faster, Lions will evolve to be faster, more cunning ? Why have we humans evolved in a directional way o Viruses (part of the answer) o BETTER ANSWER: Most of human directional selection based on our inclinat ion to prey upon each other (INTERNAL CONFLICT) o Form groups and compete o Palentological evidence of inter-individual, inter-group conflict o One group wanting the resources of another (ex. Mates, food) o Theory that humans big brain developed as a function of this competition 2. Natural selection: less gradual then Darwin presented it Based more on sudden ecological change 2 Theories: ALLOPATRIC theory (in another place): o Myers o Directional Natural selection happens when one segment of population bec omes separated from the mail o Separated pop: must undergo intense period of directional natural select ion to adapt to new environment PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM o Eldridge and Goul o The most significant evolutionary features are episodic, take place in r esponse to large scale environmental upheavals. Cambrian Explosion Permian Extinction 50% of all species became extinct Fusion of land masses under seas created shallower waters, increased competition , extinction of other species, lead way for development of land species Cretaceous Extinction 25% of species eliminated (dinosaurs, etc) Gave rise to mammals Explains why there is no fossil evidence of links between earlier species and cu rrent (fossils generally stayed the same) o NOTE about equilibrium theory: These Environmental upheavals are the bes

t known (more than 60 identified, but the expectation that there have been many many more that have accounted for rapid evolutionary change/speciation)