Download Psyc 210- Tutorial #4

Answer Key: 1)c 2)b 3)a 4)b 5)a 6)b 7)a 8)c 9)b 10)c 11)d 12)a
Psychology 210: Tutorial 4!
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1. Before Darwin, variation in biological populations was based on which assumption? Describe
and use the idea of interfering forces in your answer.!
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For every species there is a natural state or ideal type beneath the diversity that exists between individuals.
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Any object is either in its natural state (coded as info during reproduction) or altered by one or more interfering forces
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2. List a couple factors that influence the true/natural state of the organism. Why is this flawed?!
Trauma during development, suboptimal intrauterine environment, prior abnormalities, etc.
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This is flawed as Aristotle would believe that the difference between members of a species lay only in deviations from a
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true type that the different members were unable to fully express due to interfering forces
3. Peculiarities differentiating individual members of a species can be considered ‘accidental’
and that there are ‘distinctive traits’ that species preserve forever. Explain this statement.!
Accidental traits are produced by interfering forces while distinctive traits are the
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natural state of the species. There is a genuine essence to a species (natural state)
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which does not change regardless of variation between individual members.
4. Lamarck emphasized the importance of behaviour itself as the agent of evolutionary change.
He also argued that it is a biological need rather than will or volition that leads to behavioural
and ultimately physical changes. Why is this true?!
Lamarck argued that behaviour is responsible for evolutionary changes AND that
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biological need is ultimately responsible for evolutionary changes (not contradictory).
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The acquired behavioral patterns produced small physical and cognitive changes
that were accumulated over generations. Ex. an animal experiences biological need for food,
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this biological need leads to changes in behaviour in order to fulfill this need. The behavior
leads to physical and neurological changes that are passed on to the offspring
5. What was Darwin’s theory of how instincts develop? Is this similar to the Baldwin Effect? Is
there a problem with this?!
Instinctual
development according to Darwin was based on the notion that any learned action will become habitual with enough practice.
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The Baldwin effect was designed to explain the mechanism by which experience lead to changes in behaviour that eventually becomes innate.
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Baldwin
was specifically interested in explaining how genetic variation within a species enables instinctive behaviour that is innate (see page 62).
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6. Darwin viewed our moral sense as grounded in the kind of instincts that animals display, such
raising their offspring, seeking and interacting with a mate, and dealing with other members of the group
as:___________________________________________________________________________
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7. Is it possible for instincts to compete with each other? Explain.!
An ______________________________________________________________________________
instinct for self preservation can compete with the instinct to protect
one’s young.
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8. How does artificial selection enhance the survival of the whole community? Refer to the
instincts of worker bees in your answer.!
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Selection could be applied to the entire family rather than to an individual.
In regards to worker bees, they instinctively know how to behave to ensure a
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succession of queens even though they are unable to pass this behaviour onto offspring
(sterile).
9. Darwin used 3 principles to explain the origin of emotional expressions. Define and provide an
example of each.!
The principle of associated habits: Actions intentionally carried out, especially to stop an unpleasant
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1. ______________________________________________________________________!
sensation, may become routinely associated with an emotional state.
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Person closing their eyes before an awful sight might close their eyes again when recalling or
Example:______________________________________________________________!
having a similar experience
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The principle of antithesis: when certain actions were linked to a particular internal state, the contrasting
2. ______________________________________________________________________!
mental state would tend to evoke behaviour that was also opposite
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Angry cat will hair bristling and a raised back while the opposite emotion would be smooth hair and
Example:______________________________________________________________!
a flattened back.
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Spilling over: certain emotional expressions are the result of powerful nervous energy overflowing into and
3. ______________________________________________________________________!
thereby influencing the activity of other neural pathways.
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trembling produced by fear, shaking voice produced by anxiousness/nervousness
Example:______________________________________________________________!
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!10. What are examples of culturally learned behaviours and innate behaviours?!
culturally learned: Monkeys cracking nuts, memes
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innate behaviours: strawberry dart frog caring for tadpoles,
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bird building a nest
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11. Selfish creatures in altruistic group will pass on its genes, which increase in frequency, until
altruistic creatures vanish. True or False? Why?!
False because in certain cases, the group with altruistic behaviour does
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better than group without. In particular, altruistic behaviour benefits not group as
whole but family of altruistic individual
12. According to Dawkins, is a body considered a “replicator" and/or a “vehicle”? Why/why not?!
Body is not a replicator because it is defined as "anything of which copies are made",
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and acquired features on the body are not passed on. Body is a vehicle because it is
a named unit which houses collection of replicators, and works as a unit to preserve and
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propagate these replicators
14. What is Dawkins' theory of the cultural “meme"and why was it criticized? Consider the
definitions of replicator and vehicle.!
It’s a learned behaviour which he called a "virus of the mind" and he claimed was
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passed on like a gene. It was criticized because the human vehicle,through the
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developmental process of learning, improperly replicates the meme and causes
variations of the meme.The meme is not isolated from its vehicle as a gene is.
15. Either environmental dangers or sexual selection must be present in order for a learned
behaviour like that of Crusoe'sparrot’s
parents to become innate though natural selection: True or False?
15) Spalding’s account of how parrots acquire the “instinct” of saying “How do you
Why?!
False,
both must be sexual
present,selection,
because learning
of behaviour
will occur quicker
andFalse?
quicker with succeeding generations
do,
Sir”,included
a Darwinian
mechanism.
True or
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True: female parrots were assumed to develop a preference for males who could
articulate the phrase accurately.
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16. Could a learned behaviour like that of Crusoe's parrots become innate through natural
selection?
How?!
Yes, if environmental pressures make learning said behaviour dangerous because
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learning takes an extended period of time (for example, if the behaviour attracts
the attention of predators), then selection pressure would favour individuals who learn
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very quickly because they are innately capable of much of the behavior.
Yes, Crusoe chooses the birds with the best speaking
Is the thought experiment of Crusoe's parrots teleological?_________________________!
skill, fastest learners . Note: Assume the question reads”
Is SOME PART of the thought experiment teleological?
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17. An instinctive fear response can develop from quick learning during exposure to danger: True
or False? How?!
True, fastest learners more likely to survive, if ability is heritable, fear-avoidance response may require so little learning
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as to appear instinctive
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Multiple Choice!
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Question 1. According to evidence discussed in our textbook, the size of the beak of a finch is
determined by!
a) Natural selection!
b) Sexual selection!
c) Both of the above!
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Question 2. Erasmus Darwin argued that the behaviour of insects was determined !
a) By mechanical instinct!
b) By experience and learning!
c) Both of the above!
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Question 3. Very young animals -- for example, a chick that is newly hatched -- are capable of
complex behaviour like locomotion and pecking (in the case of chicks).!
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According to Erasmus Darwin, this kind of behaviour !
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a)
b)
c)
d)
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Was learned before birth!
Could not have been learned before birth!
Was innate!
b and c!
Question 4. Which of the following, according to Lamarck, was responsible for inducing
physical changes in animals over generations?!
a) Will or volition!
b) Biological need!
c) Both of the above!
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Question 5. According to Richard Dawkins, evolution is a competition between:!
a) Rival genes!
b) Between individuals!
c) Between groups!
d) Between species
Question 6. According to the Case Study labelled “Selfish Genes”, the development of the figure
of Mickey Mouse over generations!
a) can simply be understood in terms of an ability of a meme to replicate over generations better
than other competing memes that have disappeared.!
b) has to do with complex societal interactions (including the advent of television) that
combined to produce a form appealing to both adults and children.!
c) Neither of the above.!
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Question 7. Which one of the following issues particularly concerned Darwin and his
contemporaries.!
a) Are elements of human moral reasoning instinctive?!
b) Does animal cognition resemble human cognitive abilities?!
c) Are human cognitive abilities gradually acquired as innate structures?!
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Question 8. Complete the following statement made by Darwin:!
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Therefore I say, grant reason to any animal with social and sexual instincts and yet with passion
(..then...) he must have....!
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a) an urge to care for his children!
b) an ability to judge right from wrong!
c) conscience!
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Question 9. Darwin assumed that emotional expressions!
a) Confer a definite advantage to the survival of an animal or its community. !
b) Confer no advantage to the survival of an animal or its community.!
c) Evolved by a process of natural selection.!
d) Both a and c.!
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Question 10. An angry cat might stand with hair bristling and raised back while a friendly cat
will exhibit smooth hair and a flattened back. According to Darwin these two different
expressions of emotion reflect,!
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a) Spilling over.!
b) The principle of associated habits.!
c) The principle of antithesis.!
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Question 11. Sentiment interior,!
a) is sensations of unease or need which motivated behaviour!
b) is an action based on internal needs!
c) results in only a beneficial outcome!
d) Both a and b!
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Question 12. According to Dawkins, evolution is the competition between rival genes, rather
than between individual or group or species.!
a) True b) False