PSYCH 3F03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Reciprocal Altruism, Robert Trivers, Group Selection
13 Sep 2016
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Psych 3f03 - lecture 4 evolution and human behaviour. Most researchers have figured out this is a failed endeavor: just this one particular perspective. Description: often combines sociobiology with the idea that there are cognitive modules that evolved to solve evolutionarily relevant problems. Approach people take is experimental: emperiments, naturalistic data, testing theories about evolved psychological mechanisms. Key figures: leda cosmides, john tooby, david buss, robert kurzban, steven pinker. Domain specificity, modules only operate on certain kinds of inputs they are specialised. Informational encapsulation, modules need not refer to other psychological systems in order to operate. Each part of your brain is a module, can take inputs from only a certain type of input: this is theory of modularity, not how the brain works. Obligatory firing, modules process in a mandatory manner. Can"t take info from other modules and use that to help them.
