PSYC14H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Pastoralism, Australopithecine, Vertically Transmitted Infection
Document Summary
When we think of evolution, we"re usually thinking of small animals and plants with short reproductive cycles. We don"t tend to automatically link low level biological evolution with us humans. Darwin"s theory grew along with mendel"s pea theory that there is a heritable unit that"s passed across generations. In the 20th century, dawkins wrote a book called the selfish gene. He talked about evolution at the unit of the gene. He also spoke about sociobiology ! he argued that psychological traits, much like physical traits of any species, are adaptive and they serve a function and have evolved over time to serve that specific function. Wilson also did sociobiology, similar to dawkins and claimed that we can understand human psychological functioning through the lens of evolutionary theory. Much like how biological evolution occurs due to genetic replication, so too does cultural evolution which is the sharing and copying of ideas, beliefs or behaviors.
