PSYC12H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4.1: Evolutionary Psychology, Institute For Operations Research And The Management Sciences, List Of Compositions By Johann Sebastian Bach
Document Summary
Evolutionary psychology as a tool for conceptual discovery. In general, people have the capacity to experience fear when they perceive information indicating the proximity of some imminent danger. There are vast individual differences in fear responses that result from the many additional, more proximal, influences on individual information processing. These influences include additional biological processes that promote genetic diversity within human populations, as well as the effects of local environments and social learning processes. While there may be an evolved, pan-human tendency to respond with fear to cues connoting imminent danger, individuals must learn many of the specific stimulus cues that connote danger. Many evolutionary psychological theories yield hypotheses implying relations between specific individual difference variables and the strength of specific psychological responses. A fearful reaction to loud noises, for example, is especially pronounced under conditions of ambient darkness, a contextual cue that heuristically connotes vulnerability to harm.
