Deck 15: Evolution and Human Behavior

Question 1

Phenotypic traits result

A) from learning.
B) from genes.
C) from an interaction of genes and environment.
D) either from learning or from genetic programs.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

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.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

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

A) there is little fossil evidence from 240-40 kya.
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.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

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.

Question 5

Among nonhuman primates, inbreeding

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

Question 6

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.

Question 7

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

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

Question 8

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 9

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 10

Flexible behavioral traits

A) cannot be shaped by natural selection because they are too sensitive to environmental conditions.
B) can be shaped by natural selection because they are sensitive to environmental conditions.
C) can be shaped by natural selection only if they are canalized.
D) both a and

Question 11

Inbreeding

A) increases the chances of deleterious recessives coming together in one individual.
B) is bad because individuals with families have more defects than individuals without families.
C) decreases the chances of deleterious recessives coming together in one individual.
D) is bad because individuals with families have fewer defects than individuals without families.

Question 12

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 13

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 more and more complicated technology.
C) solve the challenges of a foraging lifestyle.
D) avoid predators.

Question 14

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

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

Question 15

Behavioral traits are

A) less genetic than morphological traits.
B) more canalized than morphological traits.
C) less canalized than morphological traits.
D) both a and

Question 16

The way genes are expressed-phenotypes-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 17

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) Bill Lambeer 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 18

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 19

The nature-nurture debate 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 the genes.

Question 20

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 21

Nonhuman primates avoid close inbreeding

A) by actively avoiding matings with offspring.
B) by the transfer of one sex at sexual maturity to distant groups.
C) only in times of famine.
D) Both a and

Question 22

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 23

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 24

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 25

Taboos about who is an eligible marriage partner are

A) influenced by inbreeding avoidance mechanisms.
B) influenced by culturally transmitted rules.
C) not common cross-culturally.
D) both a and

Question 26

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) In regard to new relationships, it seems that men tend to underestimate women's sexual interest, while women tend to overestimate men's interest in commitment.
D) With regard to new relationships, it seems that men tend to overestimate women's sexual interest, while women tend to underestimate men's interest in commitment.

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

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 29

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

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

Question 30

Imagine you are a cultural anthropologist and you have traveled to Papua New Guinea to study a remote tribe of humans. What is the likelihood that this tribe allows marriage between brothers and sisters?

A) Very likely.
B) Very unlikely.
C) They only allow it for royalty.
D) It cannot be assumed based on the information at hand.

Question 31

Aversions to inbreeding extend beyond our attitudes toward our own mating behavior to include strong beliefs about appropriate mating behavior by other individuals. This describes

A) third-party attitudes toward incest.
B) situations such as in kibbutzim, where the incest taboo is extended to agemates.
C) cultures where couples are betrothed as children and raised together like brothers and sisters.
D) both b and

Question 32

Taiwanese minor marriages

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

Question 33

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 34

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 35

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

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

Question 36

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 37

Incest prohibitions

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

Question 38

If you have one deleterious recessive 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 39

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) Both a and

Question 40

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

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

Question 41

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 42

Although men typically prefer a larger number of sexual partners than women do,

A) men are less open to mating opportunities that do not involve long-term commitments.
B) this result is not found 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 43

Bridewealth payment among the Kipsigis is dependent on

A) the wealth of the groom.
B) the distance of the groom's house from the bride's house.
C) the age of menarche of the bride.
D) both b and

Question 44

Kipsigis men may assess the reproductive potential of prospective brides by

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

Question 45

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 46

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 47

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 48

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

A) Sex
B) Age
C) Political views
D) Culture

Question 49

Explain the experimental evidence suggesting that our minds have been designed by natural selection specifically to solve social exchange problems.

Question 50

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 51

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 52

Bridewealth is

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 53

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

Question 54

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 55

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 her marriage.
D) is higher for higher-status families.

Question 56

When individuals first meet someone they are attracted to, 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 57

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 58

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 59

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 60

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 61

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

Question 62

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

Question 63

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

Question 64

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 65

Describe the differences between men and women with regard to the preferred ages of prospective partners.