Evo Psyc Study Guide 1
Creation myths: purposes, lessons
Algonquin
Greek (ages of man)
Babylonian
Genesis creation myth (historical context)
Common themes of creation myths
Unique qualities of Genesis myth
Evolution
Definition
Historical background
Anaximander
Aristotle (fixity of species)
Augustine of Hippo (rationes seminales)
Thomas Aquinas (ideas foreshadowing evolution)
Georges de Buffon
Darwin and Russel (major contribution)
Natural selection: Basic principles
Evolutionary Psychology (EP): Historical background
Wundt
James
Watson
Equipotentiality vs. prepared learning
European ethology: major figures and concepts
E.O. Wilson and sociobiology
Tooby & Cosmides and The Adapted Mind
Buss and Mating Universals
Basic Assumptions of EP
History
EEA
Proximate and ultimate explanations
Domain specificity
Interactionism (evolved mechanisms activated by experience-expectant
environmental inputs)
Unconscious processes
Mismatch theory
Cross-disciplinary approach
Reverse engineering
Testing evolutionary hypotheses
Define: evolutionary hypothesis
Galperin et. al (2012) example: sex differences in sexual regret
Hypotheses; tests, results, conclusions
Evolution: Terms and concepts
Variability
Heritability
Competition
Selection
Mutation
Fitness and Inclusive fitness
Blindness
Chance and law
Pre-adaptation
Exaptation
Modern synthesis
Adaptation
By-product
Noise
Sexual selection: intra- and inter-sexual competition
Gamete size
Parental investment
Parental certainty
Social selection
Traits
Homologous
Analogous
Derived
Ancestral
Convergent evolution
Limitations of Evo Psych
Unresolved issues: Homosexuality, suicide
Incomplete understanding of past selection pressures
Within-species or within groups variability