SOC 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Santa Barbara City College
Document Summary
Evolutionary adaptation and human characteristics: the entity refers to the characteristics of the individual human being in lewin"s equation. In their social world, people are born with skills that help them to communicate effectively with others. The genetic code defining humans has given us specialized social skills that are important for survival. Just as sharp eyesight, physical strength, and disease resistance helped our ancestors survive, so did the propensity to engage in social behaviors. Benefit costs: help-refusals illustrate key social life trade-offs. While our biological make-up prepares us to be human, it"s important to remember that our genes don"t really decide who we are. Actually, genes give us our human traits, and these traits give us a propensity to act in a "normal" way. And yet every individual is different from every other human being. Evolutionary adaptation has given us two fundamental reasons to direct us and to help us lead successful and meaningful lives.
