PSYCH 15 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Intellectual Disability, Convergent Evolution, Osteichthyes
Chapter 2: Evolution, Genetics, and Experience
- Think about Biology of Behavior in dichotomies
o Is it inherited or learned (nature v nurture)
o Bad bc things in life are very rarely black and white
- Cartesian Dualism (Rene Descartes)
o Universe:
▪ Universe consists of 2 elements: physical matter and human mind (soul, self, or spirit)
o Human mind:
▪ Mind and brain viewed as separate entities
o Today → monoism
- John Locke: believed that behavior was the product of learning (nurture)
o Whe ou are or ou hae a lak slate so our ehaior a e traied the
environment
- Descartes: some ideas are innate (natue)
o There is some genetic material that makes us who we end up to be
- Problems of traditional dichotomies:
o Brain damage has an impact on psychological functioning
▪ Brain and body ARE connected
▪ E: Olier “aks’ ase stud of a a /asoatogosia
• A- lack of
• Somato- body
• Gnosia- from gnosis; greek for knowledge
• Lack of body knowledge
• Fail to recognize their own body parts
• This condition typically involves damage to the right parietal lobe so they only
tend to recognize one side of their body
o Chips sho pshologial hua ailities
▪ If they are given a mirror, they will spontaneously/without any training, look in a mirror
and groom themselves → you have to recognize that the thing in the mirror is you,
proving that chimps have self-awareness
• Touch the red marks on their own faces seen in the mirror
• Gallup’s researh o hip self-awareness
- Problems of traditional dichotomies: nature or nurture
o Many factors have an impact on behavior other than genetics (nature) or learning (nurture)
- Human evolution: evidence for evolution
o 4 kinds of evidence supporting the theory that species evolve
▪ Dari as the oe ho ae up ith eidee to support eolutio, as’t the first to
discover it tho
o There are siilarities etee a hua ar ad a at’s ig → we had similar structure
before but because of different environments and how to survive, we have different structures
now
o Breeding is artificial evolution
o Physical features and also BEHAVIORS otriute to fitess
▪ Ex: ability to find food, avoid predation, social dominance, courtship displays
o Fitess i part of surial of the fittest does’t eessaril ea phsial size or poer, it
means anything that can most successfully pass on its genes
- Course of human evolution
o Do’t eed to ko the eat uers ut DO eed to ko the order of it
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Document Summary
Think about biology of behavior in dichotomies. Is it inherited or learned (nature v nurture: bad bc things in life are very rarely black and white. Cartesian dualism (rene descartes: universe, universe consists of 2 elements: physical matter and human mind (soul, self, or spirit, human mind, mind and brain viewed as separate entities, today monoism. John locke: believed that behavior was the product of learning (nurture: whe(cid:374) (cid:455)ou are (cid:271)or(cid:374) (cid:455)ou ha(cid:448)e a (cid:862)(cid:271)la(cid:374)k slate(cid:863) so (cid:455)our (cid:271)eha(cid:448)ior (cid:272)a(cid:374) (cid:271)e (cid:862)trai(cid:374)ed(cid:863) (cid:271)(cid:455) the environment. Descartes: some ideas are innate (natue: there is some genetic material that makes us who we end up to be. Problems of traditional dichotomies: nature or nurture: many factors have an impact on behavior other than genetics (nature) or learning (nurture) Homologous structures: similar structures due to a common evolutionary origin: started off with a common ancestor but over time, each species has developed to try to solce their own problems different shapes.
