Biological levels of analysis

Evolutionary explanation of behavior

Evolutionary Explanation of Behavior

 Theory of evolution was suggested by Charles Darwin. He is

considered as the father of Evolutionary theory

 Another principle that underpins the biological

levels of analysis is that the environment
presents a lot of challenges to each individual
and those who adapt best to the environment
have a greater chance of surviving, having
children and passing on their genes to their offspring.
Cont..

 As genes mutate, those that are advantageous are passed down

through a process of natural selection. This is derived from
Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, which states that all
living things are related and descended from a common
ancestor.

 Darwin proposed theory of natural selection which explains how

species acquire adaptive characteristics to survive in an ever-
changing environment.
Cont…

 According to the theory of Natural Selection, those

members of a species who have characteristics which are
better suited to the environment will be more likely to
breed and pass on these traits.

 Hence, offspring have those characteristics, which are

passed down, etc. These characteristics can be physical
traits or behaviours, which advantage the individual.
Cont…
 E.g. When Darwin travelled to Galapagos Islands, he observed
that Finches on different islands had different types of beaks. He
found that birds on each island had beaks that were best suited
for the food available in that particular habitat.

 A key way in which evolution is studied is by looking at the

behavior of our closest relatives in the animal kingdom –
primates.

 Study was done by Prof. Tetsuro Matsuzawa(2007), of Kyoto

University in Japan.
 cont…
 The aim of the study was to examine the role of spatial memory
in young chimps.

 Researcher took 3 pairs of chimps and taught them to recognize

the numerals from 1- 9 on a computer monitor. Both humans
and chimps were then later seated at a computer terminal,
where numerals flashed on the screen briefly in random
sequence.

 The numbers were then replaced with blank squares and the
participant had to remember which numeral appeared in which
blank.
Cont…
 Results showed that human participants made more errors and
their accuracy decreased as the numerals were replaced with
blank squares more quickly as compared to chimps.

 Psychologists argue that it is a necessary adaptation for chimps

to have this type of memory so that they can remember where
food resources as well as dangers are in the rain forest. Whereas
on the other hand, this skill is no longer essential for the human
survival.

 In other words, it appears that memory skills of both chimps

and humans have adapted to become most suitable for their
respective environment.
Cont..

 A representative sample of humans was used, as there were

adults as well as children, however, chimps were trained
prior to the experiment, and so they do not pose a
representative sample. The experiment was done in a
laboratory, so that is an artificial setting.
Cont..

 If it is assumed that a predisposition for certain behaviours is

inherited through genetics, and that the principles of
evolution dictate that genetically based behaviours of an
individual who has reproduced are passed on, then
behaviours observed today should have an evolutionary
explanation.

 In essence, if behaviour exists in humans today, then it must

have in the past helped in human survival and reproduction.
Cont..

 The key assumption of all evolutionary psychological

research is that human behaviour must have been adaptive
under some circumstances in the past.

 Certain behaviours can be explained by examining their

evolutionary origins and their identifying their ability to
enhance survival. For example, the emotion of disgust.
Cont…

 Research example of Evolutionary explanation of behavior:

disgust in pregnant women.

 Nausea and loss of appetite during pregnancy may have been

evolved as a way to protect the mother and the fetus against the
diseases which could threaten the fetus and nausea therefore has
evolved as a food rejection response.
Cont..
 Dan Fessler of University of California at LA (2006), carried
out research on disgust using a web based survey. The
questionnaire was composed of multiple, linked Web pages. He
investigated the nausea experienced by pregnant women in
their first trimester.

 During this period, infusion of hormones lowers the expectant

mother’s immune system so as not to fight the new foreign
genetic material in her womb.
Cont..
 Fessler hypothesized that nausea helps to compensate for
the suppressed immune system. To test this theory,
Fessler gathered 496 healthy pregnant women aged 18-
50 years, and asked them to consider 32 stomach turning
scenarios like walking barefoot and steeping on an
earthworm.
 Participants were recruited through postings to pregnancy-
related Web sites. Participation was anonymous, and no
compensation was offered.
Cont…
 Participants were excluded for the following reasons: failure to
answer any section of the survey, age younger than 18 or older
than 50, or chronic health problems

 155 in the first trimester (weeks 0–13),

 183 in the second trimester (weeks 14–26),
 158 in the third trimester (from week 27 on).
Cont..

 As expected women in their first trimester of pregnancy

scored much higher in disgust sensitivity than women in their
second and third trimester.

 According to Fessler, the most dangerous diseases are the food

borne one, but since our ancestors could not afford to be picky
about the food they had all the time, natural selection of being
picky about the food during this period helped to compensate for
the increased susceptibility to diseases.
Cont…

 It would have helped compensate for the increase

susceptibility to disease during early pregnancy, which is a
risky period due to the suppressed immune system, by
increasing the urge to be picky about food.

 Disgust thus appears to be an adaptation that functions

to reduce the risk of disease by modifying behavior in the
presence of potential contaminants
Cont..

 The self-reports (questionnaires) may not be reliable; it is not an

effective way of measuring disgust. Would have been more
effective to confront participants with real disgusting objects.

 In another study, Curtis et al. (2004), carried out research on the

internet to test whether there were patterns in people’s disgust
responses.
Cont…
 There were 77,000 participants from 165 countries in this
study, it used an online survey on BBC science website. First,
respondents were asked a set of demographic questions on their
age, sex, country, and so on.
 Then they were shown 20 images and for each image they had
to rank their level of disgust (1-5). Among 20 images were 7
pairs in which one was infectious or harmful to the immune
system and the other was not.

 The findings confirmed that the disgust reaction was most

strongly elicited for those images which threaten one immune
system. The disgust reaction also decreased with age.
Cont..

 When the person in figure was photo-morphed to look

feverish and spotty-faced, the respondent average disgust
score more than doubled, from 1.5 to 3.1.
Cont..
 The white towel with a blue coloured stain was scored half as
disgusting, on average, as the same towel with the stain depicted
in reddish-yellow, to represent blood and bodily secretions
Cont..
 These findings suggest that disgust is evolutionary:

 Natural selection may have helped human ancestors to be

more disgusted at things which threatened the immune
system to avoid things that could potentially lead to diseases
or sickness.
 This would allow them better chances of survival and
reproduction to pass on their genes.
Cont..
 The decrease of disgust with age may be explained by the fact
that the older a member of a species, the less likely they are
to reproduce.
Therefore, their disgust reaction decreases.

 The stronger disgust reaction of women may be the result of

natural selection and adaptation. As women are the carriers
for offspring, they have a stronger disgust reaction so as not
to threaten the lives of unborn offspring and consequently,
the species.
Evaluation of Evolutionary Explanation
 It is difficult to test the evolutionary theories.

 Evolutionary explanations tend to focus on the biological

factors and underestimate the cultural influences.

 Little is known about the behavior of early homo sapiens, so

statements about how humans “used to be” are hypothetical.