Evolutionary Perspective: Natural Selection and Adaptive Behavior
Chapter 2: Biological Beginnings
2.1 The Evolutionary Perspective
Natural Selection & Adaptive Behavior
Natural Selection: the evolutionary process by which individuals of a species that are best adapted are the ones that survive and reproduce
Charles Darwin wrote On the Origins of Species explaining how those who survive are better adapted to the world than the nonsurvivors
Adaptive Behavior: behavior that promotes an organism’s survival in the natural habitat
Example: the attachment between a caregiver and a baby ensures the infant’s closeness to a caregiver for feeding and protection from danger; thus increasing the infant’s chances of survival
Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary psychology: emphasizes the importance of adaptation, reproduction, and “survival of the fitness” in shaping behavior
Basic Ideas about human development proposed by evolutionary psychologists :
Extended childhood period may of evolved because humans require time to develop a brain and learn human societies
Ancestors dealt with reoccurring problems with specialized modules that evolved the processed information related to their problems
Example: module might be physical knowledge for tracking animals, for mathematical knowledge for trading, a module for language
Evolutionary Psychology has limitations
Banduea rejects “one-sided evolutionism” and argues for a bidirectional link between biology and environment
Biology allows for a broad range of cultural possibilities
Genetic Foundations of Development
The Collaborative Gene
Chromosomes: threadlike structures made up of deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA
DNA: complex molecule that has a double helix shape and cpntaons genetic information
Genes: units of hereditary information, short segments of DNA
1,000 Human Genome Project
Genome-wide association method
Linkage analysis
Next-generation sequencing
Genes & Chromosomes
Mitosis, Meiosis, & Fertilization
46 Chromosomes in 23 pairs
2.1 The Evolutionary Perspective
Natural Selection & Adaptive Behavior
Natural Selection: the evolutionary process by which individuals of a species that are best adapted are the ones that survive and reproduce
Charles Darwin wrote On the Origins of Species explaining how those who survive are better adapted to the world than the nonsurvivors
Adaptive Behavior: behavior that promotes an organism’s survival in the natural habitat
Example: the attachment between a caregiver and a baby ensures the infant’s closeness to a caregiver for feeding and protection from danger; thus increasing the infant’s chances of survival
Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary psychology: emphasizes the importance of adaptation, reproduction, and “survival of the fitness” in shaping behavior
Basic Ideas about human development proposed by evolutionary psychologists :
Extended childhood period may of evolved because humans require time to develop a brain and learn human societies
Ancestors dealt with reoccurring problems with specialized modules that evolved the processed information related to their problems
Example: module might be physical knowledge for tracking animals, for mathematical knowledge for trading, a module for language
Evolutionary Psychology has limitations
Banduea rejects “one-sided evolutionism” and argues for a bidirectional link between biology and environment
Biology allows for a broad range of cultural possibilities
Genetic Foundations of Development
The Collaborative Gene
Chromosomes: threadlike structures made up of deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA
DNA: complex molecule that has a double helix shape and cpntaons genetic information
Genes: units of hereditary information, short segments of DNA
1,000 Human Genome Project
Genome-wide association method
Linkage analysis
Next-generation sequencing
Genes & Chromosomes
Mitosis, Meiosis, & Fertilization
46 Chromosomes in 23 pairs