Deck 10: Biosocial Theory

Question 1

Biosocial theory is similar to other theories such as evolutionary psychology, ethology, sociobiology, and psychobiology.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Charles Darwin was perhaps the first to move the discussion of selection from biological predetermination to possible influences of the environment.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

According to Troost and Filsinger (1993), the existence of families across time has helped individual family members adapt and survive.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

A niche is something that fulfills a function and is based on a set of stable activities or patterns of behavior.

Question 5

Adaptation is the ability to change or increase the level of fitness in order to improve the chances of survival with greater numbers of offspring.

Question 6

Individuals are predisposed to some medical conditions or diseases, which in turn affects how they interact with family members.

Question 7

This theory believes that the family has not played a role in human evolution.

Question 8

Not everyone who ascribes to this theory believes in the addition of the proximate causes.

Question 9

Biosocial theory believes that biology drives human behavior.

Question 10

Biosocial theory focuses solely on the similarities between humans and other animals.

Question 11

Human behavior today is based on the genetic and social adaptation of individuals and families since time began.

Question 12

Ultimate causes are the day-to-day interactions that take place during regular family life.

Question 13

Two individuals with the same genetic composition, living in entirely different environments, will exhibit most of the same behaviors according to biosocial theory.

Question 14

More advanced research techniques have allowed us to distinguish between the social and the biological influences on individuals.

Question 15

Biosocial theory has helped us understand that genetics plays a larger role in socialization than does the environment.

Question 16

W. D. Hamilton believed in the concept of ______, which means not only that the individual changes and adapts over time in order to survive, but also that fitness includes those individuals who surround or are related to the individual.

A) evolution
B) inclusive fitness
C) selection
D) adaption

Question 17

______ ideas are used as a basis of understanding modern behavior concerning biosocial theory.

A) W. D. Hamilton's
B) Edward Osborne Wilson's
C) Hans J. Eysenck's
D) Charles Darwin's

Question 18

All of the following are criticisms of biosocial theory except:

A) It is difficult to disentangle nature versus nurture in research designs.
B) It does not explain everything.
C) There is a tendency to confuse genetic predisposition with a value judgment.
D) Biosocial theory is old and outdated.

Question 19

The idea that individuals change and adapt over time in order to survive, and that the individual is supported in that process by those who surround or are related to the individual, is also known as what?

A) natural selection
B) inclusive selection
C) inclusive fitness
D) familial fitness

Question 20

The book Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin suggested which of the following ideas?

A) Genetics is more important than the environment
B) Natural selection happens from one generation to the next
C) The environment in which we live does not truly change over time
D) Nature selects those individuals who are best adapted to the environment to survive

Question 21

When developing a research study, which of the following factors is most important to assess?

A) social
B) biological
C) biosocial
D) all factors should be assessed

Question 22

A niche can be filled by which of the following?

A) an individual
B) a unit
C) a system
D) all of the above
E) only a and c

Question 23

Which of the following terms has to do with the relationship between genetic predispositions and social interactions?

A) Proximate
B) Distal
C) Ultimate
D) Genotype

Question 24

According to Biosocial Theory, which of the following is focused on the interaction between the past and the present?

A) ultimate causation
B) proximate causation
C) distal causation
D) none of these

Question 25

Who was the first person to move the discussion of selection from biological predetermination to possible influences of the environment?

A) W.D. Hamilton
B) Edward Osborne Wilson
C) Hans Eysenck
D) Charles Darwin

Question 26

Who wrote the book Sociobiology which stated that evolution was evident in people across time and that genes influence individual behaviors that have evolved in order to ensure survive?

A) W.D. Hamilton
B) Edward Osborne Wilson
C) Hans Eysenck
D) Charles Darwin

Question 27

Which of the following statements is FALSE according to biosocial theory?

A) The process of evolution can be traced over one or two generations
B) Survival of the individual is dependent upon survival of the family
C) The evolutionary origins of humans has been impacted by families
D) Families have influenced the evolution of humans

Question 28

The genetic structure we are born with is called what?

A) phenotype
B) genotype
C) genochrome
D) phenochrome

Question 29

Which of these is based on what has happened in the past?

A) Ultimate causes
B) Distal causes
C) Proximate causes
D) Inclusive causes

Question 30

Which of the following people has done research on the role of biosocial factors in personality development?

A) W.D. Hamilton
B) Edward Osborne Wilson
C) Hans Eysenck
D) Charles Darwin

Question 31

Biosocial theory has been used a lot in which areas of research?

A) Role of testosterone
B) Antisocial behavior
C) Personality development
D) All of the above
E) Only b and c

Question 32

According to biosocial theory, which of the following components is most important?

A) The biological
B) The social
C) The interaction of biological and social
D) All of these are important

Question 33

The term that best describes why people choose to be parents is what?

A) Inclusive fitness
B) Reciprocal altruism
C) Ultimate causes
D) Evolution

Question 34

Which of the following statements is TRUE according to this theory?

A) We can trace our current features to their historical roots for at least a glimpse into why those biological features were adaptive at one point in time.
B) Our phenotype does not vary from one environment to the next.
C) One can trace the evolution of people but not of families
D) Individuals can survive on their own without interactions with others

Question 35

Which of the following statements is TRUE according to biosocial theory?

A) Genetics determine how we will behave
B) Genetics influence how we will behave
C) It is easy to distinguish between genetics and the environment
D) The health of one family member does not affect the well-being of other family members

Question 36

Match:
-The ability to change or increase the level of fitness in order to improve the chances of
survival with greater numbers of offspring.

A) fitness
B) biosocial
C) adaptation
D) proximate causes
E) survival of the fittest
F) reciprocal altruism

Question 37

Match:
-The relationship between the biological and the social.

A) fitness
B) biosocial
C) adaptation
D) proximate causes
E) survival of the fittest
F) reciprocal altruism

Question 38

Match:
-The day-to-day interactions that take place during regular family life.

A) fitness
B) biosocial
C) adaptation
D) proximate causes
E) survival of the fittest
F) reciprocal altruism

Question 39

Match:
-The ability to fit within the environment.

A) fitness
B) biosocial
C) adaptation
D) proximate causes
E) survival of the fittest
F) reciprocal altruism

Question 40

Match:
-Individuals work together to better meet the needs of each person.

A) fitness
B) biosocial
C) adaptation
D) proximate causes
E) survival of the fittest
F) reciprocal altruism

Question 41

What is the basic premise of The Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin? How is this notion reflected in biosocial theory today?

Question 42

According to biosocial theory, biology does not guarantee a certain behavior. What are some examples of this?

Question 43

Take a few minutes to write down ways you are like one of your parents or a sibling. Now go through the list and write ways each of these could be genetic, and ways each could be socially constructed. How can the interaction between genetics and the family environment be responsible for these similarities? Now relate all of this back to the basic assumptions of the theory.

Question 44

Watch the beginning of the movie He Said, She Said. To save time, you can either fast forward through the scene with the male lead character in the office talking to his boss, or start watching the movie when the two main characters are sitting at office desks next to each other. Watch until they pick up the newspaper to see whose article was chosen. How does this video clip relate to the basic assumptions of the theory?