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War and Science
Artificial Intelligence
• Is the intelligence of the computer
the same as that of the human?
• Initially, idea eagerly accepted
• 1950 Turing test: can a subject
interacting with a computer be
persuaded that he/she is
communicating instead with a
human?
Alan Turing (1912-1954)
• Chinese Room Problem
• Deep Blue vs. Kasparov
Donald Hebb (1949)
Canadian Neuropsychologist who mediated between the
Gestalt and atomist-localizating points of view.
The Organization of Behavior (1949)
• Opposed to the behaviorist “Black Box”
• It is impossible to describe behavior as interaction
directly between sensory and motor processes
• Impossible to describe behavior as an interaction
between sensory and motor processors, thinking
intervenes
• Unlike M&P, Hebb proposed a Dynamic Network
Properties of a Hebb Synapse
Advances in Electronics
• The Brain is an Electrical System
– Neurons fire in an all-or-none fashion
– Neurons may either increase or decrease
another neuron’s chances of firing
• Neuroscientists had equipment that
could amplify and record neural
signals
Hodgkin and Huxley
• Alan Lloyd Hodgkin and Andrew
Huxley explain the mathematics
and chemistry in the squid giant
axon in 1952
• If one neuron can be explained
with math, perhaps the same is
true for the whole system (brain)?
• This discovery corresponded with
advances in computer technology
Rosenblatt Perceptron (1958)
• Learned to categorize
– The perceptron had to be trained
• If it was wrong, connections were adjusted
The Founding of Cognitive Psychology
• No single founder
• George Miller: Seven +/- 2
• The computer and brain
– Both electric
– Process information in stages
– Software can be modified (like
synapses)
Computers
• Made it possible to tightly control
stimulus presentation and measure
reaction times
• Offered a way to create and test
theoretical models
Darwin’s Theory
• Variations in traits are the norm
– They are inherited (through
genes)
– New variations appear
spontaneously (genes mutate)
• Changes in the environment will
put selective pressures on these
traits. Some will survive, some
won’t
Psychology already accepted it
• Freud’s original theory of
psychoanalysis proposed
The instinctual System.
1. Life-Preservative Instincts
(preserving the genes)
• Biological needs
• Fears (snakes, heights,
dangerous humans).
2. Sexual Instincts (passing the
genes on)
Psychology already accepted it
•
•
William James and the
Psychology of Instincts
They emerged in phases
over a lifetime
1. Sucking, crying, sneezing
2. Biting, clasping, standing
3. Hunting, sex, parenting
•
They were inherited for
the sake of survival
Some Sociologists Did Not
• Looking for Utopia
– Margaret Mead in Samoa
– Described a culture in which
• Gender roles were reversed
• No sexual jealousy
• No rape, murder or war
• Results were appealing to those
who were concerned about trends
in Western societies
• Results were later challenged
Common Misunderstandings about Evolution
1. Human behavior is genetically determined
–
Environment plays a large role
2. If it is evolutionary, we can’t change it
–
We have the power
3. Current mechanisms are optimally designed
–
–
Environments change faster than genes. We
are stone -age people in a modern world
(McDonalds Effect)
Every adaptation has a cost and perfecting one
system will probably compromise another
Limitations of Evolutionary
Psychology
• You can explain the physical properties of an
animal with fossils, but behavior can only be
inferred.
• Physical properties often evolve to facilitate
behavior, so we can take some guesses
• Evolutionary psychology relies on genetics and the
assumption that all current behaviors served a
survival-based purpose in the past, if not currently.
• So what do you do…?
Observe, Hypothesize and Test
• Phobias
– Behaviorist approach (Everything is learned)
• If you fear snakes, you must have been bitten
– Evolutionary approach
• Phobias represent an exaggeration of a useful survival tool
• An inborn fear of snakes provides a survival advantage
• Most phobias have a legitimate basis (spiders, snakes,
heights, strangers, closed spaces, open spaces)
• Phobias to modern threats (guns, electrical outlets) are rare
Observe, Hypothesize and Test
• Conditioned taste aversions
– Behaviorist approach (Everything is learned)
• We develop aversions when the US is closely paired with
the CS
• You can learn to hate a food even if you get sick hours
after eating it
– Evolutionary approach
• Human diets were once based on foraging and new foods
were encountered daily
• A tasty treat might be poisonous, but you won’t get sick
for a few hours
• CTA is special learning system keeps you away from the
stuff that might have made you sick
Choosing a Mate
• Observe behavior and look for an
explanation
– Men and women both get jealous, but men
are much more likely to get violent about it
– An evolutionary explanation:
• Men face the problem of paternity uncertainty
• It is important to defend the “genetic territory”
• Men are, of course, generally more aggressive
Choosing a Mate
• Look to related species and
compare/contrast
– Chimpanzee females go into estrus when
ovulating
• Visible signs of sexual receptivity
• Little interest in sex when there is little chance of
conception
– If we’re related, why don’t humans do this?
– There is a selective advantage for males in
knowing when a female is fertile
Choosing a Mate
• Studies show that, when ovulating, women
– Dress more carefully
• Haselton, 2006
– Have more interest in sex
• Stanislaw and Rice, (1988)
– Have more attractive faces (as judged by
men)
– Smell differently
• Marlowe, 2004
– Favor “manly” faces
Who’s Manlier?
Who’s Ovulating?
What about this?
Evolutionary Psychology may
be the Unifying Principle
• It has tackled
– Law
– War
– Religion
– Economics
– Advertising
– Architecture
– Cognition, Education, Sociology, etc.