Psychology 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Scandinavia, Political Correctness, Physical Attractiveness

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Tamsen Taylor

Document Summary

Note: this was probably the most politically incorrect lecture yet. Evolutionary psychology: how behaviour and tendencies have evolved in response to environmental demands. What is evolution: change over time in frequency with which genes, and characteristics they produce occur within an interbreeding population. Mutations: create genetic variations, making evolution possible, can be passed to offspring. Allows organisms to meet environmental challenges to their survival. Another example: humans growing taller with time - increased survivability. Yay for being taller than average! (well, to be honest, taller than most male averages - other than in scandinavia. Damn scandinavians with their socialist policies and tall people. ) Greatest growth in areas concerned with higher mental processes - attention, memory, thought, language. Important=role of culture: environmental input to evolutionary mechanisms. Avoiding certain environmental hazards: suggest mind is composed of specialized & independent modules. Common aspects of human behaviour innate ability to acquire language.