Evolutionary Psych

Front 1

replicator

Back 1

-any entity in the universe of which copies can be made, e.g. DNA

Front 2

vehicle

Back 2

-discrete entities that contain replicators and have been designed by selection to preserve and propagate the replicators inside it. example: individuals or phenotypes are vehicles for gene replication

Front 3

ontogeny

Back 3

-effects of the developmental environment on the behavior.
-development and experience

Front 4

phylogeny

Back 4

-evolutionary history of the trait.
-ancestry

Front 5

cost of meiosis

Back 5

-offspring only carries 50% of genes

Front 6

sexual selection

Back 6

-applies to those characteristics that provide individuals with advantages in gainings access to mates
-"survival of the sexiest"

Front 7

At what level is natural selection most potent? why?

Back 7

-where the rate of differential reproduction is highest--individual level

Front 8

Senescence

Back 8

process of growing old, aging

Front 9

what are the observations (facts) and inferences that form the basis for Darwin's theory of evolution?

Back 9

Fact 1: all species have such high potential fertility that population would increase exponentially
Fact 2:except for minor annual and rare major fluctuations, population size is normally stable
Fact 3:natural resources are limited. In a stable environment they remain constant
Fact 4: No two individuals are exactly the same; populations have great variability
Fact 5: Much of this variation is heritable

Inerence 1: More individuals are produced than can be supported by available resources, resulting in competition for survival
Inference 2: Survival is not random and depends on the heritable constitution (genetics) of the indivudals. This differential survival is natural selection
Inference 3: over generations, natural selection leads to gradual change in the population (=evolution) and production of new species (speciation)

Front 10

What is the difference between proximate cause and an ultimate fucntion of a trait?

Back 10

prox: physiology and morphological mechanisms underlying behavior

Ult: adaptive significance of behavior

Front 11

Why is it difficult to evolve adaptations that are advantageous for species survival ("group selection"), but detrimental to individual reproductive competition?

Back 11

group selection: natural selection of traits that benefit the survival and reproduction of groups or species at the expense of some individuals. unlikely to occur

Individual selection: the natural selection of traits as a consequence of differential reproduction of individuals

Front 12

what are apparent functions of infanticide? how do we know (what kinds of data)?

Back 12

infanticide is primarily occuring in clan like groups of animals. (lions and apes/gorillas). they kill the offspring in the clan if they don't believe it is theirs so that their genes can spread.