Understanding Altruism & Sex Differences: Evolutionary & Personality Psychology, Study notes of Personality Psychology

Download Understanding Altruism & Sex Differences: Evolutionary & Personality Psychology and more Study notes Personality Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! 1 Listen to the audio lecture while viewing these slides Psychology 310 Psychology of Personality 1 Evolutionary Psychology 2 Psyc 310 – Psychology of Personality Natural Selection • Is the engine of evolution • Selects genes not individuals • To understand natural selection you must imagine you are a gene in a sperm or egg Your vessel (or host person) is a transient tool designed to transmit genes not necessarily live long & prosper & be happy… 3 Psyc 310 – Psychology of Personality Natural Selection Is a process without a purpose Therefore it may select for all of the following aggression and cooperation lust and resignation selfishness and altruism and so on As one example, consider altruism… 4 Psyc 310 – Psychology of Personality Why might "Altruism" be selected? • Given the rate at which selection occurs, the environments to consider are Not those of the last ten thousand years But those of the last several hundred thousand years at least Typically, hunter-gatherer bands of ≈50 individuals 5 Psyc 310 – Psychology of Personality Why might "Altruism" be selected? • In these small bands people genetically predisposed to respond to a "HELP!" often directly or indirectly helped genetically related individuals (i.e., who shared that "helper" gene) • Thus, Genetic Fitness = Inclusive Fitness Success of all genetic relatives (including yourself) weighted by their fertility x relatedness 6 Psyc 310 – Psychology of Personality Evolutionary Psychology Predicts a Universal Human Nature • Certain challenges were universal during our evolutionary history getting along, self-protection, mating… • Genes that helped their hosts to respond to these challenges in ways that increased inclusive fitness were selected genes for cooperation, aggression, desire… these capacities constitute a universal human nature