Deck 15: Evolution and Human Behavior

Question 1

According to evolutionary psychologists, the environment of evolutionary adaptedness

A) is long gone.
B) has not yet arrived.
C) is here now.
D) never existed.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The expression of ________ traits is most sensitive to environmental conditions.

A) hormonal
B) behavioral
C) morphological
D) physiological

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Evolutionary psychologists argue specifically that human brains are designed to solve problems involving

A) living things.
B) reciprocal altruism between people.
C) selective arguments.
D) science and technology.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

It is generally agreed that complex adaptations

A) evolve slowly.
B) can evolve in short amounts of time.
C) do not evolve by natural selection.
D) arise in ways we cannot understand.

Question 5

Opposition to the use of evolutionary theory is most intense when it is applied to

A) nonhuman primates.
B) early hominins.
C) the physiology of modern humans.
D) the behavior of modern humans.

Question 6

The way genes are expressed-in the phenotype-is influenced by which of the following?

A) the genes of the parents
B) the local environment
C) the age of the organism
D) the culture

Question 7

Offspring of outbred matings have ________ offspring of inbred matings.

A) lower fitness than
B) the same fitness as
C) higher fitness than
D) more variable fitness than

Question 8

Phenotypic traits result from

A) learning.
B) genes.
C) an interaction of genes and environment.
D) the environment.

Question 9

An evolutionary approach to human behavior

A) implies that differences in behavior among humans are the product of genetic differences between individuals.
B) does not imply that differences in behavior among humans are the product of genetic differences between individuals.
C) is possible only because humans have a fossil record.
D) could not be done prior to the discovery of genetics and DNA.

Question 10

The logic of evolutionary psychology is based on which of the following precepts?

A) Brains are made up of many special-purpose subcomponents adapted to solve specific real-life problems.
B) Brains are general-purpose machines adapted to solve many different problems.
C) Brains evolved through drift-like processes.
D) Brains of humans are capable of solving problems faced by all species of mammal.

Question 11

Which of the following statements about flexible behavioral traits is true?

A) They cannot be shaped by natural selection because they are too sensitive to environmental conditions.
B) They can be shaped by natural selection because they are sensitive to environmental conditions.
C) They can be shaped by natural selection only if they are canalized.
D) They are not under natural selection; genetic drift determines behavioral traits.

Question 12

The "nature-nurture question" proposes that

A) people vary simply because they have different genes and live in different environments.
B) there is a clear distinction between the effects of genes (nature) and the effects of the environment (nurture).
C) the expression of genes is dependent upon the local environment.
D) all of human behavior is determined by genes.

Question 13

Evolutionary psychologists believe the human mind evolved to solve the challenges that confront food foragers because

A) foraging is more time-consuming than agriculture.
B) humans have practiced foraging for most of our evolutionary history.
C) sexual division of labor is clearly evident in the fossil record.
D) foraging requires greater skill compared with agriculture.

Question 14

The logic of evolutionary psychology begins with the precept that

A) people are adapted to modern ways of life.
B) complex adaptations evolve quickly.
C) natural selection creates psychologies in animals in such a way as to solve specific adaptive problems.
D) humans evolved in stratified societies and high population density.

Question 15

Behavioral traits are ________ morphological traits.

A) less genetic than
B) more canalized than
C) less canalized than
D) determined in the same manner as

Question 16

Which of the following statements is true?

A) Phenotypic traits result from either an individual's genes or from the impact of the environment, but not from both factors.
B) Kristaps is tall because his genes specified that he'd be tall.
C) The expression of any genotype depends on the environment.
D) Genes are like blueprints specifying an individual's phenotype.

Question 17

Evolutionary psychologists believe that the human mind evolved to

A) deal with the pressures of living in densely populated urban areas.
B) allow humans to create increasingly more complicated technology.
C) solve the challenges of a foraging lifestyle.
D) avoid predators.

Question 18

Which of the following statements correctly describes inbreeding?

A) It increases the chances of deleterious recessive alleles coming together in one individual.
B) It is bad because individuals with families have more defects than individuals without families.
C) It decreases the chances of deleterious recessives coming together in one individual.
D) It is good because it removes deleterious alleles from the population.

Question 19

Which of the following statements is true?

A) Genes are like blueprints that specify phenotypes.
B) The expression of any genotype always depends on the environment.
C) There is a clear distinction between the effects of genes and the effects of the environment.
D) People vary only because their genes carry different specifications.

Question 20

One problem with the concept of the environment of evolutionary adaptedness is that

A) there is little fossil evidence from 240-40 ka.
B) some scientists believe that small-scale agricultural communities would make a better model.
C) our ancestors did not practice inbreeding avoidance.
D) modern hunter-gatherers are different from our ancestors in many ways.

Question 21

Evolutionary theory predicts that human males should choose females who

A) are older than they are.
B) have high reproductive value.
C) have had many sexual partners.
D) are not symmetrical.

Question 22

Humans rarely mate with close relatives because

A) culture stops us from doing what we really desire.
B) childhood propinquity stifles desire.
C) natural selection cannot stop the power of culture.
D) it is prohibited in most religions.

Question 23

In Buss's cross-cultural survey, which of the following traits did males value more than females?

A) ambition and industriousness
B) good looks
C) virginity
D) sexual experience

Question 24

The advantage of outbreeding over inbreeding, and why inbreeding is avoided in humans and other primates, is that it

A) reduces the risk of the expression of deleterious alleles.
B) reduces the risk of heterozygosity.
C) increases the likelihood of the expression of deleterious alleles.
D) increases the likelihood of homozygosity.

Question 25

Which of the following statements is true?

A) There are no gender differences related to preferred age of mates and preferred number of partners.
B) Men tend to marry younger women, but this difference decreases as men age; in comparison, there is a greater age difference between women and their husbands.
C) Regarding new relationships, it seems that men tend to underestimate women's sexual interest, while women tend to overestimate men's interest in commitment.
D) Regarding new relationships, it seems that men tend to overestimate women's sexual interest, while women tend to underestimate men's interest in commitment.

Question 26

If you have one deleterious recessive allele that causes early death in its homozygous state, what is the probability that an offspring by you and your full sibling would acquire the lethal disease?

A) 1:1
B) 1:2
C) 1:4
D) 1:8

Question 27

Natural selection should favor behaviors that

A) reduce mating with relatives.
B) increase mating with relatives.
C) increase mating with siblings but not parents.
D) decrease the chances of outbred matings.

Question 28

In Buss's cross-cultural survey, which of the following traits did females value more than males?

A) ambition and industriousness
B) good looks
C) virginity
D) youth

Question 29

Taboos about who is an eligible marriage partner can be

A) examples of inbreeding avoidance mechanisms.
B) so important that they are genetically determined.
C) found in only a few cultures.
D) cultural constructs that rarely address the genetic requirement to avoid inbreeding.

Question 30

Third-party attitudes toward incest arise when individuals extend their own aversion to incest to others in the society in which they live, viewing incest by others with disdain. What else is true of this phenomenon?

A) Individuals who grew up with only same-sex siblings have the greatest aversion to incest by other adults.
B) Individuals who grew up only with opposite-sex siblings have the greatest aversion to incest by other adults.
C) Third-party attitudes are genetically coded, so they vary little with the individual's particular history.
D) Third-party aversion is a discredited concept replaced by recent research in evolutionary psychology.

Question 31

Nonhuman primates avoid close inbreeding by

A) not recognizing closely related individuals as members of the opposite sex.
B) the transfer of one sex at sexual maturity to distant groups.
C) coercion by other group members who alarm call if a mating attempt happens.
D) preventing the female from ovulating if a closely related male is in the vicinity.

Question 32

Evolutionary theory predicts that human females should choose males who

A) can provide the most resources.
B) are younger than they are.
C) have had many sexual partners.
D) are not symmetrical.

Question 33

Among nonhuman primates, which of the following statements about inbreeding is true?

A) It is common.
B) It is rare.
C) It occurs when animals are bored.
D) It is avoided only with siblings.

Question 34

Which of the following is evidence that psychological mechanisms reduce the chance of close inbreeding?

A) Taiwanese minor marriages
B) first-party attitudes toward incest
C) people who move to a kibbutz in their teens
D) domestic situations where the wife moves to the husband's group after marriage

Question 35

Generally, Buss's cross-cultural data show that

A) only females value traits in a mate that facilitate a long-term relationship.
B) males and females do not differ from each other in ways consistent with evolutionary theory.
C) males value female promiscuity more than females value male promiscuity.
D) cultural differences and gender differences both contribute to mate preferences.

Question 36

When a sister mates with her brother, there is a ________ chance that he will carry the same deleterious recessive gene that she does.

A) 50%
B) 25%
C) 100%
D) 75%

Question 37

Which of the following statements correctly describes incest prohibitions?

A) They exist in 50% of societies for brothers and sisters.
B) They do not exist for distant kin.
C) They conform to genetic categories.
D) They do not always conform to genetic categories.

Question 38

If the coefficient of relatedness between mates is 50%, and both are heterozygous for a deleterious recessive allele, Mendel's laws predict that ________ of their offspring will be homozygous recessive and die.

A) 25%
B) 50%
C) 75%
D) 100%

Question 39

Which of the following statements about Taiwanese minor marriages is true?

A) They produce about 80% fewer children than other arranged marriages.
B) They are much less likely to end in separation or divorce.
C) They rarely result in infidelity.
D) They were possible when parents had greater control over their children's actions.

Question 40

In Buss's cross-cultural survey of mate preferences, he found that males and females cared most about

A) chastity.
B) good health.
C) mutual attraction and love.
D) good sex.

Question 41

A woman's ________ peaks in her twenties and then steadily declines until she reaches menopause, when it drops to zero.

A) fertility
B) sexuality
C) reproductive value
D) fecundity

Question 42

Discuss the evidence supporting incest avoidance in nonhuman primates. Please give examples.

Question 43

Although men typically prefer a larger number of sexual partners than women do, which of the following is true?

A) Men are less open to mating opportunities that do not involve long-term commitments.
B) This result is almost identical in all cultures.
C) In some cultures, men and women differed more greatly than in others.
D) Men prefer women who are older than they are.

Question 44

Why is evolutionary theory relevant to behavior even though behavior is sensitive to environmental conditions?

Question 45

Discuss the effect of arranged marriages between minors in Taiwanese societies and whether those unions are more or less successful than more modern-style unions.

Question 46

Kipsigis women who reach menarche early

A) have longer reproductive life spans.
B) have decreased fertility.
C) have lower offspring survivorship.
D) increase their chances of having pregnancies end in spontaneous abortions.

Question 47

According to research by David Buss, when individuals first meet someone to whom they are attracted, women are more likely than men to

A) be cautious about their partner's intentions.
B) make more false-positive errors.
C) overestimate men's commitment.
D) minimize the chance of missing sexual opportunities.

Question 48

Kipsigis men may assess the reproductive potential of prospective brides by

A) counting a woman's number of previous sexual partners.
B) calculating their age at menarche.
C) their weight.
D) their height.

Question 49

Bridewealth payment among the Kipsigis is dependent on the

A) wealth of the groom.
B) size of the groom's father's herd of cattle and goats.
C) age of menarche of the bride.
D) groom's father's wealth.

Question 50

What is bridewealth?

A) the monetary worth of a bride
B) the reproductive value of a bride
C) the wealth of a bride immediately after marriage
D) a payment to the bride's family at the time of marriage

Question 51

Women who fetched the highest bridewealth payments among the Kipsigis were those

A) with the richest fathers.
B) with the poorest fathers.
C) who experienced menarche at a later age.
D) who experienced menarche at an earlier age.

Question 52

The Kipsigis are

A) polygynous pastoralists who require bridewealth payments upon marriage.
B) polyandrous pastoralists who require groomwealth payments upon marriage.
C) monogamous pastoralists who require both bridewealth and groomwealth payments upon marriage.
D) monogamous pastoralists who require only a bridewealth payment upon marriage.

Question 53

Menarche refers to

A) societies controlled by men.
B) societies where men essentially purchase wives by paying a bride price.
C) the time of a woman's first menstruation.
D) the time of a woman's first coitus.

Question 54

Freud argued that we each have a biological desire to mate with our parents but that cultural taboos stop us from doing so. Argue that Freud was wrong.

Question 55

Kipsigis bridewealth is associated with

A) polyandry.
B) competition over the most eligible women.
C) marriage decisions made by brides and grooms.
D) periods of food shortage.

Question 56

Bridewealth among the Kipsigis

A) is tendered in cattle.
B) compensates the bride's family for the cost of her move.
C) gives the groom rights to her labor and the children she bears during their marriage.
D) is higher for higher-status families.

Question 57

Generally, Buss's cross-cultural data show that

A) females value mutual love and attraction in a mate more than males do.
B) males and females differ in their mate preferences in ways predicted by evolutionary theory.
C) gender has a stronger influence on mate preference than culture.
D) chastity is a high-ranking trait for males and females.

Question 58

Which of the following is the best predictor of mate preferences?

A) sex
B) age
C) political views
D) culture

Question 59

Use a mathematical model to compare the probability of producing offspring who are homozygous for a lethal recessive when matings are inbred or outbred.

Question 60

In Buss's cross-cultural study, chastity was

A) an important mate quality in Sweden but not China.
B) an important mate quality in China but not Sweden.
C) important in both China and Sweden.
D) unimportant in both Sweden and China.

Question 61

Discuss how Buss's cross-cultural data have been used to test predictions from evolutionary theory. What might be some of the methodological problems associated with using surveys as a means of determining people's mate preferences?

Question 62

Describe the practice of a bridewealth payment with a focus on the case of the Kipsigis. What are the motivations for the bride's and groom's families? Give an example.

Question 63

Describe the differences between men and women regarding the preferred ages of prospective partners.

Question 64

Which aspects of Kipsigis bridewealth payments are consistent with evolutionary reasoning, and which are not?