ANT 3541 Lecture Notes - Fall 2018 Lecture 5 - The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, Richard Dawkins
Document Summary
Biobehavioral anthropology - lecture 5 - ant 3541-0001. Richard dawkins - british biologist, excellent writer, the selfish gene - the blind watchmaker - explores the idea that the evolutionary process. Looked at behavior gene feedback, realized that they needed a set of simplifying assumptions . The selfish gene - the idea of a gene having a brain and a personality. He was expressing the gene-centred view of evolution. From the gene-centred view, it follows that the more two individuals are genetically related, the more sense (at the genetic level) it makes for them to behave selflessly with each other. Inclusive fitness - the survival chances of individual animal and closest biological relatives. Central theorem of biological psychology - animals behave to maximize inclusive fitness. K selection is having a smaller number of offspring - k selected species utilize high parental investment. Parental investment being the time, energy, and resources that parents devote to children.
