Midterm Review Mark 493 Chapter 1 (2007) Four Revolutionary Thinkers: - Copernicus: Earth was not at the center of the universe Newton: Explained orbital path of the moon around the earth Einstein: time elapsed and the length of an object are relative metrics Darwin: natural and sexual selection, biological diversity 3 Steps of Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection: - Variation: random mutations result in variations within a species. Mutation is beneficial for survival. Inheritance: Species will eventually inherit the mutation Selection: The mutation is selected for survival purposes Ethologists: - Behavioural biology Interested in causation Explores the manner by which species-specific behaviour develops Addresses phylogenetic roots of a behaviour Explores survival values (ABCDEF- Animal Behaviour, Causation, Development, Evolution Function)- explains animal behaviour Observe behaviour in a naturalistic environment Behavioral Ecologists: - Investigate interspecies (different species) adaptations and intraspecies (same species) variations as adaptive solutions to local environments Optimal Foraging Theory: - How animals choose their food acquisition strategies Inclusive Fitness: - Measures ones reproductive success in terms of number of offspring and number of their offspring (Hamilton) Kin Selection: - Operates at the gene level Inclusive fitness can be heightened by engaging in behaviours that promote reproductive fitness Blood is thicker than water - Reciprocal altruism: improves ones chances of survival Sociobiology: - Explain the evolution of social behaviour (ex: kin selection and reciprocal altruism) What is Evolutionary Psychology: - - Human Mind has evolved via natural and sexual selection Based on Darwinian principles Ex: our kidneys and liver have evolved to solve specific survival problems Our mind had adopted an evolved set of domain-specific Darwinian modules that provide solutions to survival problems Cognitive mechanisms that we apply today are due to adaptations that humans have dealt with for survival in our evolutionary past We have adopted behavioural plasticity in order to adapt to local environments We’ve adopted certain behavioural and cognitive characteristics based on adaptations that were relevant during our ancestors time (Ex: we like fatty foods due to our ancestors adapting to their environment where caloric scarcity and uncertainty were normal) Sociology, anthropology and psychology argue that culture cannot be broadened and social phenomena have to be explained at the social level It rejects biology as an explanation They believe in tabula rasa (social constructivists) Evolutionary psychologists believe that the human mind is comprised domain-specific modules SSSM believes in domain-general processes EP provides ultimate explanations for specific contents of cultural learning and evolutionary constraints on learning processes EP explains things that normally would only be explained through learning, culture and socialization (this is incomplete) We need both nature and nurture (nurture exists because of nature Epigenetic mechanisms: affect how genes are expressed without changing their genetic code. Can turn on or off particular genes to adapt to environment Proximate Vs Ultimate Explanations - - Proximate questions address how and what questions Mechanistic descriptions of how something operates and which factors affect its inner workings. Ultimate factors seek to identify why a behaviour, cognition, emotion, or morphological trait came to be Ex: pregnant people and morning sickness - Proximate level reasoning: how do hormonal levels affect likelihood to suffer and what triggers increase the likelihood of morning sickness Ultimate level: pregnancy sickness is an adaptation of possible ingestion of toxins during child formation therefore our body throws up to protect the fetus Medicine in general has focused on proximate issues instead of ultimate Proximate and ultimate explanations can coexist together Men vs Women - Men produce all kinds of sperm while women produce max 400 eggs in her lifetime Men can get multiple females pregnant while women can carry a certain about of babies This means women have to be more critical when choosing a mate Women bear more when in comes to child birth In general the sex that bears the greater parental responsibility will be the choosier one when it comes to mate selection Females lose more by choosing a mate that is inferior Paternity Uncertainty: - - Men are more jealous if women physically cheat Proximate reasoning: men have more testosterone and therefore experience more rage Ultimate reasoning: paternity uncertainty Men don’t want to raise a kid that isn’t theirs Men have developed trait to try and avoid this (choosing non-promiscuous mates, jealousy) Maternity uncertainty does not exist Domain-Specific VS General-Purpose Modules - - Domain-specific: evolved to solve precise survival problems General-purpose: SSSM sees the mind as a combination of domain-general context independent algorithms and mental processes Ex: learning and behaviorism is said to be acquired through operant conditioning or classical conditioning Enforces tabula rasa Cost-benefit framework explains countless decisional processes in many domains Both domain-specific and domain-general modules exist within the human mind Our gustatory preferences for fatty and sweet foods constitute domain-specific adaptation 4 Darwinian Pursuits in Evolutionary Psychology - Survival: preference for fatty and sweet food Reproduction: attracting and retaining a mate (ferraris) Kin selection: investing in one’s kin. (buying gift for your nephew) - Reciprocity: forming and building friendships (organizing bacheleor party) Chapter 1 (2011) Homologous VS Analogous - - Homologous: Similarities between species that demonstrate that two species share a common ancestry ex: DNA sequences, morphological traits, behavioural patterns Analogous : two species evolved the same adaptation as a result of having faced similar selection pressures. Does not imply shared ancestry Ex: flight in birds and bats Evolutionary Psychology : - Understanding the evolutionary and biological roots of human behaviour Gene-culture coevolution: biological and cultural processes shape evolution of humans Memetic theory: applying Darwinian theory in understanding cultural content EP evolved via the dual forces of natural and sexual selection, namely survival and reproductive advantages Sexual Dimorphisms : - The pattern of observable differences between the sexes Marketing Takeaways : - Marketing has operated outside of biology and evolutionary theory making it incomplete Consumers display many human universals Natural selection is the most prolific and successful of all product designers Natural selection contributes to the design of new products or improving existing ones Policy Maker Takeaways : - Social marketers use tabula rasa Assume that if people behave irrationally then it is due to incomplete information Lecture 1: - a step parent is the highest predictor of child abuse (100-fold greater predictor of anything else) both parents invest in their children, not willing to take care of children who are not theres (Cinderella effect) culture operates in the confines of what our biological heritage permits most dangerous person in a woman’s life is their male partner due to suspected or realized infidelity - - - Beauty standards are universal and culturally decided Symmetry in universal Natural selection: explains how traits evolve that denote survival advantage (ex: Darwinian finches) Survival problems: get food and not be food How does evolution work: mutation randomly happens (blue dot theory) Sexual selection: intersexual wooing (peacock tail) and intrasexual competition (rams) Important Tenets of EP: Precursors: ethology: evolution of instincts (ex: imprinting) Behavioral ecology: why do cultures have different traditions (ex: spicy food) Sociobiology: biological basis of social behaviour (killing of cubs) Theory of acquired traits=false Adaptation vs adaptibility To be adaptable is an adaptation Immune system is adaptable Humans have behavioral plasticity Domain specific modules (ex: children liking facially symmetric people) Intelligence is a domain general ability Domain specific mechanisms are those that solve a specific evolutionary important problem Mind is not tabula rasa Proximate vs ultimate explanations Ex: why do we have sex Proximate: because its pleasurable Ultimate: to extend genes Nomological Network of Cumulative Evidence Creating arguments by pulling from different methodologies et disciplines Ex: men preference for hourglass shape Medical data: hourglass=fertile Cross cultural studies: study across many cultures Fmri machine Art history Blind men touch mannequins Ex: toy preferences Pre socialization stage Digit ratios Urine analyses Arguments against EP 1. Darwinian theory is dangerous People are misusing Darwinism and eugenics 2. Evolutionist believe our genes take over free will - We can turn on and off our genes 3. We aren’t animals We are 4. Ep is concerned with human universals instead of differences Ep studies differences also 5. Ep consists of unfalsifiable They do a lot of research 6. Ep is godless Yeah and? 7. Ep is morally dangerous Scientific explanations does not mean you condone it 8. Ep posits that humans are selfish Ep does not only study bad human things 9. Population level Individual level says nothing about the population level Chapter 2 (2007) Domain-Specific : - - In consumer behaviour: affect or information processing are examples od domainspecific research Similar to general purpose domain Sexual jealousy is a domain-specific adaptive emotion and is triggered by the mating module Learning : - - - Typical focus questions : 1. How does a consumer learn 2. What are some factors the facilitate ability to learn 3. How is consumer learning measures This has typically been treated through domain general theories when domain specific module should be used The brain could not have evolved in a way general machinery can be applied across all human settings Ex: dogs are quick to learn aversion association between two stimuli when they use their sense of smell. This is domain specific Homo Sapiens place greater reliance on their vision When targeting men, the use of attractive females as unconditioned stimuli yields predictable effects Operant conditioning is an example of general-purpose domain-independent theory - Lacks domain-specificity We need to explain why certain rewards are important, which are universal Rewards and punishments should be understood biologically Ex: demotion of one’s social status is more drastic punishment for men than women Universal rewards and punishments display universal patterns because they are associated to domain-specific Darwinian modules Motivation : - - Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: 5 sets of hierarchical needs, physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization needs Little scientific support Humans possess universal motives, goals, needs, and drives Culture : - Has typically been researched to seek cross-cultural differences instead of similarities that would prove human universals. Etic: cross-cultural differences and can be compared along specific universal cultural traits Emic: studies one culture with no cross-cultural focus and cannot be compared One can identify domain-specific modules that have evolved via natural selection to solve specific survival problems that can be found across all cultures Not all cross-cultural similarities have a Darwinian etiology Standardization VS Adaptation: - Comparative marketing: seek to identify similarities and differences between national marketing systems Standardized marketing works for countries with similar marketing systems and environments Decision Making: - - 4 research streams: Economic perspective: utility of maximization Behavioral decision theory (BDT): Search behaviour Bounded-rationality tradition: individuals are bounded by cognitive and environmental constraints (humans satisfice) A woman’s decision to choose a mate whether short term or long term is the same For men, promiscuous women are more desirable for short term relationships (men are also less choosy) The extent to which men and women will be choosy is intimately linked to this specific domain (mating) - Individuals are unlikely to acquire all information prior to making a choice as would be postulated by a normative rule They use heuristics to help them make a decision Rules of Decision Making: - Normative rule aka Weighted Additive Rule (WADD): all information be used in choosing a winning alternative Lexicographic rule: The alternative that scores highest on the most important attributes are chosen Conjunctive rule: winning alternative is the one that passes all of the aspired cutoffs. (more effortful to use) Disjunctive rule: the first alternative that passes a single cutoff is chosen (order mat change your decision) Individual-level variables and social characteristics affect which decision rule will be chosen Ex: a man looking for something short term may use the lexicographic rule with “physical attractiveness” as the most important attribute He may use the normative rule when looking for something long term These 4 rules are domain-independent Ecological Rationality: - Survive and reproduce Recognizes that cognitive processes should be domain-specific Examples of domain-specific processes that relate to ecological rationality: mate search, parental investments, and predator avoidance Perception: - - Ex: dolphins and bats use species-specific sonar apparatuses to have evolved via natural selection Mole rats don’t use sight Advertisers use universal perceptual cues in their ads Testosterone was correlated to the use of a male-biased route-learning strategy (north, south, east, west) for men but not women (only true for women who are ovulating) Special navigation is influenced by sex-specific hormones Women smelled random t shirts worn by different men and preferred the smell of men who were more symmetrical (greater symmetry implies lesser pathogenic infestation and lesser development problems) Women have a multisensorial system for identifying desirable suitors The manner by which humans perceive social cues is an integral element of the evolution of the human mind - Beauty in women have a waist to hip ratio that is close to 0.7 (the same across all cultures) Woman see height as a perceptual cue for physical attractiveness Our perceptual apparatus is a product of natural and sexual selection Prospect Refuge theory: - Humans have an evolved preference for natural environments that permit scanning of hazards Attitude Formation and Attitude Change - Proximate level: theory of reasoned action and the elaboration likelihood model Many held attitudes exist in their particular form because they are linked to a domain specific adaptive problem (ex: men are cool with paternity testing) Emotions: - Emotions are adaptive solutions to specific survival problems Ex: males get jealous because of paternity uncertainty Emotional states serve both as antecedents and as outcomes of countless consumption phenomena Schadenfreude: pleasure from others misfortune Emotional infidelity is more serious for women because it’s a threat on their investment Women are more envious of physical looks while men are more envious of traits that correspond to high status Each sex is envious of those items that are threats if intrasexual rivals possess them Personality: - The tendency to engage in unselfish behaviour is in part determined by one’s personality Men score higher on sensation seeking traits Machiavellianism: personality trait the denotes the ability to manipulate Chapter 2 (2011) What is natural selection?: - Selects for traits and behaviors that augment an organisms likelihood of surviving and reproducing Survival related adaptations are linked to food foraging and predator avoidance (get food and avoid being food) Humans are obsessed with food Darwinian Gastronomy: - Definition: Many culinary traditions are adaptations to local conditions - Food preferences are innate Environment plays a role in shaping our culinary tastes Warmer climates are more likely to use spices The spices combat food pathogens People who live closer to the equator possess the gene polymorphisms that accentuate water retention Variety: - Buffets cater to our innate feeling to hoard food Variety effect: increase in food varieties equals an increase in total amount eaten Our attraction to the variety effects stems from the fact that we are omnivores The tendency to variety seek is universal Moods: - Sad moods increased consumption of hedonic foods and decreases for healthy options Happy individuals are more likely to seek healthier options Food Availability: - Big portions triggers our innate capacity to hoard food Situational Hunger: - Hunger clouds our judgement Our attitude for high fat foods increases when hungry When hungry men prefer heavier women Being hungry makes us desire money more Menstrual Cycle: - Luteal phase: women craved high calorie food Food disgust: - Food related disgust is an adaptation against possible exposure to harmful contagions Facial feature for disgust in universal Landscape Preferences: - We have an evolved preference for landscapes that provide is with good prospect and safe refuge Preferred habitats are visually stimulating Humans prefer savannalike habitats We have an innate love for living things and innate fears of particular aspects of nature Daylight indoors aids retail sales, employee productivity and test scores - Feeling safe in urban settings is linked to prospect refuge theory We like walkability Lecture 2: Perceptual selectivity: - - - Absolute threshold: the point at which the stimulus is too weak to be consciously detected Ex: subliminal messages in a store and music in a store Differential threshold: the minimum difference that a person can detect between two stimuli Ex: turning down music a bit Marketing application: just noticeable difference Ex: decreasing volume of product but keeping price same Sight: - Dominate sense for humans facial symmetry waist to hip ratios facial grimaces genuine vs non genuine smile marketing: facial expression for ratings (happy neutral sad) Smell: - - mate choice MHC major histocompatibility complex Ex: we choose people with different mhc than us Why? Different mhc maximizes immunological defence Marketing: perfumes emphasizes your mhc (different for everyone) Touch: - Babies learn communication through touch (crucial for development) Silk products Marketing: massage services Handshakes in social interactions Touching= better tips for waitresses Hearing: Taste: james earl jones deep voices serves as a marker of phenotypic quality - preference for high caloric foods caloric scarcity and uncertainty Learning: - behaviourism: classical and operant conditioning cognitive: learning occurs as a result of higher order mental processes these are domain general and context independent ep uses domain specific context dependent systems (ex: swiss army knife) Adaptive Memory: - ex: cheaters faces are more recalled ex: adolescents better recall for survival related information regarding fruits ex: greater special recall of high caloric foods by women greater special recall of beautiful womens faces for both sexes Two-factor theory: - positive learning negative tedium Motivations: - Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is wrong Affect/emotions - Moods are antecedents: I put you in a good or bad mood and see how that affects your ability to remember ads Moods are outcomes: fear based Mood congruence effect: if sad, I am more likely to remember sad stimuli Root of bad mood impacts behaviour Attitudes: - - An attitude shaped by Cognitive: measures beliefs about product/service attributes Affective: measures feelings Conative: measures actions Attitudes and reaction time= faster= stronger feelings Elaboration likelihood model: - Central route: high involvement processing (mutual funds) Peripheral route: low involvement (perfume) Personality: - - Original position: you can change your personality Radical situationism: one’s personality is an illusion Actually: it’s a bit of both Why is there no fixed personality type: there is no optimal personality type for every situation 50% of personality is heritable Dogmatism: more resistant to ads More resistant to new marketing approaches Sensation seeking Greater propensity to engage in risky behaviour Variety seeking Locus of control Need for cognition: positively correlated to informational search Maximizing vs satisficing (good enough) Affects how much information we search for We choose products related to how we think our personality is Chapter 3 (2007) 4 modules of Evolutionary psychology: - Reproductive Survival Kin selection Reciprocation Reproduction Module - People advertise themselves for mating purposes (like comparative marketing) They experience postchoice satisfaction or dissatisfaction Mating has the most differences when it comes to men and women Parental investment model: the sex that provides the greater parental investment will be more sexually choosy and restrained Females generally provide more parental investment leading women to be sexually coy and physically smaller than men Physical attractiveness mattered more for short term mating for men Women desire bad boys in the short term Men in committed relationships have lower testosterone than unmarried men Parental investment varies more for men than women Women find partners that will be able to provide long term investment Human Mating as a Consumption Choice - Universal finding: - Men put higher value on youth and beauty Women place higher importance on social status and providement and have a universal preference for dominant, powerful and wealthy men. (higher chance of babies) Why is it different? Mating preferences cater to sex-specific evolutionary problems Men pursue status: definition of status varies across culture Information Search in Mate Selection - one must utilize a stopping rule in deciding when sufficient information has been acquired to justify being with someone men acquire more attributes before rejecting someone compared to women long term mates acquired more information before rejecting mates compared to short term Selectivity hypothesis: women are comprehensive information processors and men are selective and rely on heuristics EP believes that sex specific mental modules are adaptive solutions to sex specific problems Gift Giving as a Courtship Ritual - Males woo females with gifts Men have to typically engage in behaviors that signal long term commitment Men are more likely to have tactical reasons for gift giving Women are good at reading courtship signs Men are more likely to think that a woman is into them (ex: fake smile from strippers) Human mate choice can be seen as the ultimate of all consumption acts Sex Differences in Aggregate Consumption Patterns - Consumption choices are sexual signals meant to advertise yourself to mates Ex: men are more likely to purchase expensive cars to show social status Women wear provocative clothes to show beauty Appearance Enhancing Products and Services: Cosmetic and Plastic Procedures: - Women have more plastic surgery than men Accentuates youth Ex: clear skin = youthful and healthy High Heels, Haircuts and Provocative Attire - High heels accentuate curve and raises butt High heels create the visual illusion of lordosis Worn during bedroom fantasies - Women are willing to be in pain in order to appear attractive to potential mates Hair length is negatively correlated with both and health Hair is an intersexual cue to signal fitness When women are maximally fertile they engage in self advertisement Myth Behind the Beauty Myth - Women have more interest in appearance enhancing products symmetry is beautiful hourglass form is a universal preference for men as it’s a cue for fertility Risk Related Consumption Phenomena Financial Risk Taking: - women are more risk aversive than are men men are more risk seeking when it comes to physical activities Evolutionary reason for this: patterns of intrasexual rivalry and differential parental investment Women are more comprehensive in their information processing so they will acquire a more complete set of investment information Girls are more conservative with their money Men are more motivated by money, power, and hierarchical power compared to women Physical Risk Taking: - Physical risk taking is more common in men Ex: frat pledges Honest signal: jumping off a cliff Women are drawn to men in uniform due to honest signaling Evolutionary Roots of Conspicuous Consumption: - Little research because people don’t want to be honest Ultimate explanation for conspicuous consumption: sexual selection and Zahavian signaling Zahavian signal: handicap principle Ex: peacocks tail Eliminates cheaters To ensure status signal is honest, that which appears wasteful as the societal level needs to be so at the individual level Handicap principle: relevant in explaining the purchases of exclusive and expensive products Signals are honest only if they are costly at the evolutionary equilibrium Ex: people buy Mercedes as an act to appear of high status - Extravagant architecture Extended self: men are more likely to associate expensive cars as an extension on themselves due their extended phenotype for high social status Conspicuous Consumption in Religious Settings: - Religious donations are public The Universality and Innateness of Conspicuous Consumption: - - One’s social status caters to an innate Darwinian goal that is at times important as satiating one’s hunger Ex: the poor spend money on status items The demand for counterfeit products All cultures display hierarchical structures (universal) This can lead to personal bankruptcies Advertisers create status wants BUT advertisers do not create the need to signal status Specific cues that are used to signal status might vary across cultures Philanthropy: - Countless consumption acts are forms of sexual signaling Survival Module - Humans prefer fatty and sweet foods due to our ancestors experiencing caloric scarcity and uncertainty Indulging comes from our innate feeling to hoard food This is misaligned with todays reality as obesity is on the rise Hotter places have spicier food in order to preserve it Appetite can be linked to the menstrual cycle Lecture 3: - Survival: avoid being food and find food Reproduction: intersexual and intrasexual Humans have a desire for sexual variety Survival: Food: - - All you can eat buffet= variety effect Why? Diversification and assurance policy Ex: different colour m &ms and different shape pastas Food availability increases caloric consumption Gene culture coevolution (lactose intolerance) - Food and mood food disgust Nature: - our bodies crave biophilia ex: natural light prospect refuge theory Mating: - homology vs analogy traits homologous traits: between two species that suggests that they come from a common ancestor (ex: cats and humans) analogous traits: given trait has evolved independently (ex: bats flying) dancing as a mating tool Bower: sexual not survival Gift giving: engagement ring, food Colour red: erogenous zones (red is vivid during sexual arousal) Strippers get more tips when theyre ovulating Testosterone and conspicuous consumption: Porsche study Lek: place where make go to impress females High status experiment Questions asked by a man or woman where another guy was one upping the other guy Women aren’t threatened by supermodels but care about females in their social circle Men with more testosterones are more risk takers Deceptive signaling: counterfeits, snakes mimicking venomous traits Criterion Dependent Choice Model - Binary sequential model: how many attributes does it take to decide between A and B Will look at enough information Alternative-Based Sequential Choice: - Acquire information on one alternative at a time 4 stopping strategies: 1. 2. 3. 4. Constance sum Non-constance sum techinique: giving an attribute a weight independently Q-sort technique: very important to not important Conjoint analysis
