Studyguide 1, Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary Theory
1. Understand how natural selection works. What are the three essential ingredients? (Buss 5,
lecture)
2. Be able to describe the changes that took place in the Grant’s study of the medium ground finch
(lecture), and how this example illustrates natural selection.
3. What is sexual selection? (Buss 6-7). Recommended: see Gaulin and McBurney reading (on
reserve, assigned for Feb 11)
4. Is natural selection the only cause of evolutionary change? (p. 8)
5. Mendel showed that inheritance is particulate. Why is this important for natural selection? (p.
10)
6. Understand the concepts of kin selection and inclusive fitness (p. 13 and lecture); this will be
discussed in more depth later in the course).
7. Why are altruistic traits unlikely to evolve through group selection? (this may not apply to
cultural evolution). p. 14 and lecture
8. Natural selection does not produce perfect adaptation. Be able to give at least three different
reasons why, and at least one example of each. p. 18–19, Rogers’ lecture.
9. Sexual selection gives rise to sexual dimorphism (morphological and behavioral differences be-
tween the sexes). Give some examples of traits likely to arise from (a) “male-male competition”
(i.e., excluding your same-sex competitiors from mating by force or threat of force) and (b) “mate
choice”/”epigamic” selection (i.e., being so attractive that your potential mates choose you rather
than your competitors). (lecture 1-23 (no slides))
10. To a biologist, an altruistic trait is one that favors another individual at the expense of the
altruist. We reviewed several ways seemingly altrustic traits could evolve. What are they? (lecture).
11. Evolution of social behavior is usually frequency-dependent. What does that mean? Why does
it sometimes lead to lower mean fitness for the population? (from Rogers’ lecture).
12. Know what a “norm of reaction” is, and what it implies for the nature-nurture debate. (’from
genes to behaviour’ lecture). Important. Think of a plausible human example NOT discussed in
class or lecture.
13. Garcia studied conditioning in rats by pairing a stimulus (lights or tasty water) with a pun-
ishment (electric shock or x-ray induced nausea). What were the rats able to learn? (lecture and
text). Why general inference can you draw from the result (i.e., why did I bother to talk about
this?). How does it refute the assumptions of early behaviorism? (p. 28-9).
14 What do studies of attention in newborns tell us about the interaction between “nature” and
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