Psyc 170 lecture 1 - Professor Coren Apicella PDF

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Professor Coren Apicella...

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1st lecture What was our brain designed to do? What is its purpose Why? Questions - ultimate questions Psychology and humans are not exempt from natural selection Not just the how- why Proximate- how? What are the more immediate inputs and mechanisms Ultimate- why? How come? What for? Evolutionary approach - Natural selection - Indivs produce more offspring than can survive - Indivs in a population vary in form, function and behavior. Some of that variation is heritable - Some forms of these heritable traits improve and indivs chance of survival and reproduction Behavior - psychology - anatomy/ physiology - genes - evolution We are a cultural species Gene-culture coevoltion. Lactase persistence. Lactose tolerance more common in cultures reliant on herding Why are we the way that we are? Using variation to test evolutionary hypotheses Religion as an adaptation -

Moral omniscient god - Evolved - Encouraged cooperation between people

Powerful omniscient god with moral concerns - Does it affect behavior? WeirdSmall group behavior unlike ancestor behavior \...