Question 1

Male chimpanzees have relatively _________ testes than human males because of the greater selection pressure of female promiscuity in chimpanzees.

Accepted Answer

Male chimpanzees have larger testes than human males due to the higher competition among sperm resulting from female promiscuity, which selects for larger testes to produce more sperm.

Question 2

Which data source for testing evolutionary hypotheses can be clouded by social desirability motives?

Accepted Answer

Self-report data can be clouded by social desirability motives because individuals may alter their responses to present themselves in a favorable light.

Question 3

Cross-cultural studies can be used to test evolutionary hypotheses in each of the following ways EXCEPT __________.

Accepted Answer

Cross-cultural studies cannot definitively determine whether a trait was created by culture or evolution, as they can only show patterns and correlations, not causation.

Question 4

Domain-general mechanisms can be characterized by all of the following statements except __________.

Accepted Answer

Domain-general mechanisms do exist; they are cognitive processes that can be applied across a variety of different tasks and domains.

Question 5

Which of the following is not an adaptive problem caused by an evolutionary history of social hierarchies?

Accepted Answer

Attracting a mate is not directly related to social hierarchies, whereas the other options involve maintaining or navigating social status and relationships.

Question 6

Which of the following is not a class of adaptive problems?

Accepted Answer

"Problems of life" is a vague term and not specifically recognized as a class of adaptive problems, unlike the other options which are well-established categories in evolutionary psychology.

Question 7

Which of the following cues was shown to have the most influence on incest avoidance behaviors?

Accepted Answer

Duration of co-residence with a member of the opposite sex during childhood has been shown to be a significant cue for incest avoidance, as it is associated with the Westermarck effect, where individuals who grow up closely together tend to develop a natural aversion to sexual attraction towards each other.

Question 8

The input to an evolved psychological mechanism __________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The input to an evolved psychological mechanism...

Question 9

As predicted from an evolutionary perspective, a study by Flinn and colleagues documented that children living with a stepparent have _______ levels of _________ than children living with biological parents.

Accepted Answer

Children living with a stepparent have higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, due to the potential stress and challenges associated with living in a non-biological family environment.

Question 10

Are learning and evolved psychological mechanisms mutually exclusive explanations of human behavior, and why or why not?

Accepted Answer

Learning and evolved psychological mechanisms are not mutually exclusive; rather, they interact. Evolved psychological mechanisms provide the framework within which learning occurs, as they are adaptations that have developed to process environmental information effectively.

Question 11

Sperm competition is generally present in all of the following species except __________.

Accepted Answer

In exclusively monogamous species, sperm competition is minimal or absent because individuals typically have only one mate, reducing the likelihood of sperm from multiple males competing to fertilize the same set of eggs.

Question 12

Which type of cross-cultural study comparison was necessary to distinguish between the social roles hypothesis and the hunting hypothesis explanations of the function of mental rotation skills?

Accepted Answer

The social roles hypothesis suggests that gender differences in mental rotation skills are influenced by societal roles and expectations, which can be examined by comparing cultures with different levels of gender equality.

Question 13

Which of the following is a limitation of brain imaging techniques for measuring psychological variables?

Accepted Answer

Brain imaging techniques often require participants to remain still to avoid motion artifacts, which can limit the types of stimuli and tasks that can be used during imaging.

Question 14

The __________ mechanisms we have, the ___________ the range of behaviors we can perform.

Accepted Answer

The more mechanisms we have, the greater the range of behaviors we can perform, as having more mechanisms allows for more diverse actions and responses.

Question 15

Psychological mechanisms are theorized to have access only to the information stored within them, and cannot access information contained in other psychological mechanisms except via information-sharing mechanisms. This phenomenon is referred to as __________.

Accepted Answer

Encapsulation refers to the idea that psychological mechanisms operate independently and have access only to their own information, requiring specific mechanisms to share information between them.

Question 16

Using physiological measurement techniques, such as hormonal assays, evolutionary psychologists can __________.

Accepted Answer

Hormonal assays can measure the immediate, or proximal, influences on a trait or behavior, such as how hormones affect behavior in the short term.

Question 17

Behavioral genetics methods can test the evolutionary hypothesis that girls growing up without an investing father shift to earlier onset of menarche and sexual behavior. Which of the following behavioral genetics findings would refute this hypothesis?

Accepted Answer

If the genetic component of menarche onset is larger than the environmental component, it would suggest that genetics play a more significant role than environmental factors like the presence of an investing father, refuting the hypothesis that environmental factors are the primary influence.

Question 18

Problem specificity of adaptive mechanisms tends to be favored over generality for the following reasons except __________.

Accepted Answer

General solutions are not necessarily more anatomically complex; the complexity depends on the specific adaptive mechanism and the problem it addresses.

Question 19

A task analysis posits which of the following questions:

Accepted Answer

Task analysis involves identifying the cognitive and behavioral tasks that must be solved for a particular structure or function to occur.

Question 20

Adaptive problems are challenges that must be overcome for __________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Adaptive problems are challenges that must be...

Quiz 2: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology