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Quizlet
Sociobiology
117 terms
juliasibrown
2 types of human intergroup
1) Raids- small parties raid nearby territories &
aggression
take resources
2) Wars- large scale,bilateral violence
,often long-term
3 reasons that male and
1) Different levels of PI
female reproductive
2) Different variance in reproductive success
strategies and behavior are
3) Different Limiting factors
so different?
L.. main causes of genocide
-genocide as extreme territoriality
-land/resources
-power (over land/resources)
-scapegoating
-racial/religious motivation
5 stages of Social Learning
1) Stimulus Enhancement
2) Emulation
3) Imitation
L..) Imitation with understanding
5) Teaching
5 ways in which humans differ
1) Human cooperation
from other primates
2) Morality & Ethics
3) Kin Selection
L..) Indirect Reciprocity
5) Competitive Altruism
Adaptation
-microevolution
-short-term change in species over time
Adaptation/Evolution by
Natural Selection
the differential reproductive success of each
parental generation leads to a change in the
frequency of traits from one generation to
the next
-unknown how strangers will behave
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Adaptive explanations of
-potentia lcompetitors
xenophobia
-unlikely to be kin
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aggression occurs in
Intergroup; Intragroup cooperation
tandem with
Alfred Russell Wallace
-young Naturalist who influenced Darwin and
who independently came up with many of the
principles behind NS
-father of biogeography
Altruism
-behavior that potentially improves the survival & RS of the
recipient while potentially endangering the actor -cost to actor
-benefit to recipient ex: predator alarm calls, helping another
ind. in a fight defending group member from predator
feeding/caring for a baby
selfless; therefore, when we talk about
evolution of altruism we are also talking about
evolution of cooperation
Altruism and cooperation are
closely
linked
because
behavior is part of
cooperative behavior
Altruism evolves not by group
Kin selection
selection,but by
-this is the first principle of sociobiology
Altruism & Group Selection
-original explanation of evolution of altruismaltruistic behavior evolves because it is "for the
good of the group
Altruism is hard to explain
it goes against the main ideas of NS- it is a
because
behavior that decreases the survival& RS of
the actor. How could it evolve?
Behavioral Ecology
-the name many sociobiologists hid under once
sociobiology was too controversial investigating the adaptive advantages of
behavior under different ecological conditions emphasizes that behavior has a genotype and
phenotype
A behavior where each
Mutualism
individual gets a net benefit
is best explained by
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Biological Determinism
-the belief that all aspects of behavior are
determined solely by biological/genetic factors
-leads to essentialism
-FALSE, be you may have a genetic disposition
for a trait, but for it to develop you need
genetic + development + environment
Biological Evolution
-includes any plant or animal species that
may change over time
-addresses the mutability of a species- they are
able to change
Birth seasons in some animals
Predator swamping
may be explained by
By-Product Mutualism
-Benefit to B is an incidental outcome of A's
selfish behavior
-Important in inter-specific cooperation aka
pollination
Carolus Linnaeus
-1707-1778
-Linnaeus classified plant and animalforms by
keeping similar forms together
-created taxonomic system
-saw similarities between humans & apes:put
humans with animals,but above apes
Catching Prey
Larger groups are able to take down more prey
more often
Charles Lyell
-popularized Hutton's Uniformitarianism,which
opposed Catastrophism
-earth's surface constantly & gradually changes
by natural forces (wind & water)
-we can learn how earth was changed in past
by looking at present effects
-natural Laws,not God,could explain changes
that occurred to the earth
"classicn cultural definitions
-processes
-stories & symbols
-rituals & routines
Considerations when
choosing mate (evolutionarily)
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Fertility
Reproductive value
Fidelity
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-Good Genes
-Good Parenting skills
Controversy over
-suggested that "negative" behaviors like
Sociobiology
aggression are selected for
-murderous genes could be passed on
-provides potential credence for eugenics
movement: should we prevent those with
unfavorable genes from reproducing?
-Critics to sociobiology emphasize importance
of nature over nurture
Costs & Benefits of Culture
Benefits:
a. More efficient transmission with
faster behavioral adaptation
b. Solve problems without trial and error
c. Acquired
traits
d. Inheritance from non-relatives
Costs:
-Time & energy spent learning
-
Maladaptive ( from evolutionary pov) behaviors can spread
easily
- Cultural behaviors can persist long
after usefulness
- Source of conflict/xenophobia
Costs to Group Formation
2 main costs:
1) Food competition-> larger group means
more mouths to feed & each individual eats the
same foods
-contest competition over food will lead to
dominance hierarchies
-scramble competition (habitat wide depletion
of food) will lead to greater travel distances
for the group, which Wil lconstrain group size
eventually
2) Disease Risk
-most pathogens require close social contact
between individuals to be passed on
-larger groups have more hosts that can pass
diseases back and forth
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other costs:
-more conspicuous to predators
-presence of males can lead to infanticide & harrassment
CulturalEvolution
-the changes are not in genes but "cultural
variants" aka memes
Culture
-historically transmitted pattern of meanings
embodied in symbols
EB Tylor: that complex whole which includes
knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom,
and any other capabilities and habits
acquired by man as a member of society
Geertz: We all begin with the capacity to Live a
thousand kinds of life, but end up living only
one.We are incomplete or unfinished animals
who complete or finish ourselves through
culture.
examples: processes, stories & symbols, ritual& routines, power
structures, organizational structure
Cuvier
-created Catastrophism
-sudden & severe changes in environment
would lead to extinction of entire groups of
animals
-new species would come from other areas &
repopulate
Defending Food
Larger groups often win out in competition
against smaller groups & get access to better
territories
Degrees of Relatedness (r)
r will always be a fraction except in the case of
identical twins
-as cost increases, you are more likely to
help individuals who are more related to you
-parents-offspring= .5
-siblings= .5
-grandparent-grandchild=.25
-first cousins-.125
-nephew/niece-uncle/aunt=.25
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-identicaltwin=l
The different initial and
parentalinvestment,strategies
then subsequent levels of
leads to very
different -
for males and
females
Dilution Effect
-Dilution in space= the more individuals there
are, the smaller your chances are of being
attacked
-Dilution in time= predator swamping,
synchronous emergence of offspring so that all
are not vulnerable to predation
Conditions that must be met for dilution effect
to be advantageous (for a group of it):
l) The group is not Ltx as conspicuous
2) The attack rate does not increase by -4
3) The predator that finds the group does not
kill more than one individual
Direct Reciprocity
-delayed reciprocity
-prerequisites:
-requires repeated, Long-term interactions
-memory of previous interactions
-recognition of individuals
-must often be of similar size/rank
-Tit-for-Tat: start off cooperating, repeat what
opponent did on previous move--> unrealistic,
however, because one mistake causes
downward spiral of retaliation
-examples: grooming exchanged for
antagonistic support or sex, female baboons
will help males enter groups if males will
protect infants, meat in chimpanzee is shared
with coalition partners
-Tooby & Cosmides
-EEA for any organism is the set of
reproductive problems faced by members of
The Environment of
Evolutionary Adaptedness
that species over evolutionary time
-Cultural& technological change among humans has been rapid
(EEA)
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-Ancestral environments were much different
than what we see today
-90% of human history was spent as huntergatherers
-mismatches between modern environments &
EEA
The environment
some
naturally selects;variants
_
over others
ESS
-a strategy which, if adopted by the population
in a given environment, cannot be invaded by
any alternative strategy that is initially rare
-evolutionarily stable once it is fixed into the
population
-"always defect" is stronger ESS
Essentialism
-each entity is defined by a specific set of traits
"all men do X, all women do Y"
Eusociality
most extreme form of altruism
cooperative brood care & reproductive
altruism
give up own breeding opportunities to care for young of others
ex: bees
kin selection describes behavior in bees & wasps as sisters
share 75% of genes but mothers only share 50% of genes with
offspring
Evolution
-change over time
-macroevolution
-long-term change that leads to new species
-a change in frequency of traits from one
generation to the next
-works at levelof population
Finding Food
-Communalroosts may act as information
centers
-Following conspecifics to food sources
-Naive individuals learn from experienced
individuals
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Food Acquisition
Being a large group helps with:
-finding food
-catching prey
-defending food
Galilee & Copernicus
-challenged the TraditionalChristian View in
the 1500s with their study of astronomy
-led to Mechanistic thinking that emphasizes
naturalprocesses and physicalforces
-change might occur right here on earth and
be guided by naturalforces,not by God
Give the name of the type of
Elephants-Leadership
group decision making shown
Bees-Voting
by the animals below:
Fish Shoals-LocalRules
Elephants,Bees,Fish Shoals
"Good genes" models
two types:
l) "Handicapmodels:
-ornamentation reduces average male survival,
enabling females to assess individualmales
ability to survive despite his burdensome
ornament
2) "Viability indicator.. models:
-Females assess male characters because they
specifically indicate a secondary less apparent
trait determining male fitness
-ex: behavioraldisplays,acoustic displays,
ornaments,weapons, plumage,skin coloration,
chemicalsignals
Great Chain of Being
-European idea that every species was a Link on
a chain extending from Lowest forms to humans
and on to spiritualbeings
-Alllinks had been designed at the same time
during creation and would never change
-Once all the Links were discovered and
described,the meaning of Life would be
revealed.
Grooming between two
un-related females of similar
Reciprocal altruism
rank is best explained by
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Group Decision Making
coordinated movement of groups in flocks or
shoals
-LocalRules: decision making by each
individualbecomes coordinates with what
other individuals are doing in the swarm/shoal
-Zone of Repulsion,Zone of Orientation,Zone
of Attraction
-Leadership: a few knowledgeable individuals
in a group can influence the direction of
movement of the whole group,guiding naive
individuals to a target
-majority tends to dictate group direction,seen
in elephants
-Voting: consensus decisions also seem
common in animalgroups,common in humans
Group Living
-benefits must outweigh costs for individuals
-main benefits to group formation:
-Predation Defense
-Food acquisition
-these two are NOT mutually exclusive! both
may be operating to make group formation
especially beneficial
Group Selection
-Wynne-Edwards 1962
-NS acting at the levelof the group
-behavior may spread in a population because
of the benefits bestowed upon the group,even
though ind. that exhibit this behavior may
sacrifice themselves
-For it to work,groups with altruists would have
to have higher fitness than those without
-but...altruists probably have reduced RS while
selfish individuals would have increased RS
-altruists wouldn't be passing on their genes
... so group selection was rejected
Hamilton's Rule
an individual will be selected to help a relative
if c < r x b
c= cost to actor's individual fitness
b= benefits to recipient's individual fitness
r= degree of relatedness b/w actor and
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recipient
Handicap Principles & Honest
HP: expensive signals accurately convey
Signals
information about quality
-often indicate Testosterone level
-females care about T levelbe
-related to male success in agonistic
competition
-Tactually suppresses the immune system- so
males that can maintain ornaments & displays
without getting sick show their superiority
-the strength of the males immune function may
be heritable,so the females' offspring could
benefit
Human Evolutionary
evolutionary understanding of human
Psychology
information processing and decision making
The idea that all animals were
The great chain of being
created in their present form
and could be organized
according to their levelof
perfection was called
The idea that genes alone
-biologicaldeterminism
controlbehavior is called:
Indirect aggression & Females
-can be very damaging to target but is low risk
for the aggressor
-in humans: ruining of reputation
-female aggression will occur when resources
are scarce--> unemployed, on welfare
Indirect Reciprocity
the return is expected from someone other
than the recipient of the beneficence
based on the power of reputation
far more complex & difficult to track
basis of human societies
Inheritance
-variation passed down to offspring
Intersexualselection (female
-secondary sexualcharacteristics give males a
choice)
reproductive advantage by making them more
attractive to females
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Intragenomic conflict theory
-genes are competing inside bodies
-but have to cooperate for body to function
-NS favors genes that enhance their own
survival
Intra sexual selection
(male-male competition)
secondary sexual characteristics give males a
reproductive advantage through competition
with other males
types of male-male competitions:
contests: physical attacks or threats
scrambles: early search & detection of females
that determines the order of contact
endurance rivalry: time & energy spent
seeking, attracting, and defending mates,
as well as being reproductively active
James Hutton
-father of modern geology
-showed that earth is a constantly changing
and self-renewing machine
-surfaces change through erosion
-erosional products laid down as marine
deposits and solidify
-forces cause marine rocks to become uplifted
as new continents,subject to erosion
Jealous guarding
-confinement
-separation from males
-veiling
-chaperoning
-female circumcision
Jean Baptiste-Lamarck
-First theory of BiologicalEvolution
-Theory of Acquired Characteristics
-animals adapt to fit their environment by
acquiring characteristics in their Lifetime that
they pass down to their offspring
-he was right in that animals change to match
their environment,but it was not as immediate
as he believed
Kin Selection
based on the recognition that each individual
shares genetic material with their relatives
even if you never reproduce, your genes can
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be represented in the next generation if your
relatives are reproductively successful
natural selection can operate on genes rather than individuals
inclusive fitness= individual reproductive
success + the number of your genes carried by
your relatives
The main benefits of group
Predation Defense & Food Acquisition
formation fall into two main
areas:
&
Main question of
To what extent is human behavior still bound by
sociobiology?
adaptive genetic predisposition to behave in
certain ways?
Mating strategies
1) Human mating is inherently strategic
2) context-dependent
3) males and females have different strategies
Memes
-idea,behavior,or style that spreads from
person to person within a culture
- a unit for carrying culturalideas,symbols,or
practices transmitted from one mind to another
through writing,speech,gestures,rituals or
other imitable phenomena
Mutualism
interactions between two organisms where
each gains a fitness benefit
these interactions can look like cooperation
ex: bee pollinating flower, colobus +gut
bacteria, two males in a coalition
not altruism because no overall cost to actor
Naturalistic Fallacy
The belief that everything that occurs in nature
is good and inevitable
Natural Selection
-proposed by Darwin in "On the Origin of
Species
the primary mechanism by which animals
evolve and adapt
differential survival& reproductive success in
each parental generation
works at level of individual
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based on 3 fundamental facts:
1) Variation
2) Inheritance
3) Overpopulation
Which individuals survive to adulthood
depends on the variants they possess and
whether or not those fit the environment
Neo-Lamarckism
-resurgence of interest in Lamarck's ideas due
to epigenetic studies showing that our behavior
may influence our DNA & inheritance
ex: starved human populations have altered
gene function that is transmissible to offspring
ex: high-fat diets in fathers led to cell
dysfunction in daughters that led to the
daughters being obese
NS vs SS
Reproductive success is the bottom Line for
both, but NS emphasizes survival where SS
cuts straight to reproduction. NS
emphasizes getting to adulthood. once
there, SS kicks in. The ..environment'' is
different - for SS it is often a social
environment doing the selecting. SS
operates more on males
A pattern of behavior or information
Operational definitions of
culture
transferred from one generation to the next by
behavioral means, especially learning and
teaching. key=social earning. applies to
animals and humans
OptimalGroup Size
-balance of allthe costs & benefits in a given
area that maximizes individualfitness
-group size seems to be all about food: getting
access to food and avoidance of being food
Other benefits from grouping
-Social interactions= increased opportunity to
Learn
-Access to mates- can monitor them & increase
genetic pool
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-Assistance in childrearing
-Males can defend groups/infants
Other forms of aggression
-verbal
besides murder
-social
-here,females are on pare with (or exceed)
men,especially from 13-18
Overproduction
-more offspring are produced than can survive
to adulthood
-leads to competition to survive
Parental Investment
Trivers 1972
Any investment by the parent in an individual
offspring that increases the offspring's chance
of survival (and hence RS) at the cost of the
parent's ability to invest in other offspring
explains sex differences in behavior
reformulation of Darwin's theory of sexual
selection
" the relative parental investment of the sexes in their young is
the key variable controlling sexual selection
great potential for conflict and competition
between parents & offspring successive
offspring and parents
Females- be very choosy. choose males that
will provide assistance, good territory, good
Parental Investment &
Female/Male strategies
genes etc,
Males - go for as many fertilizations as possible
and move on. Little or nothing to Lose
The more similar the Level of PI between the
sexes, the more similar the sexes will be in
behavior and/or morphology
ex: monogamy & monomorphism, polygyny &
dimorphism
Power of Parental Investment
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Choosing Sex: Invests more in offspring
Competing Sex: fight for opportunities to breed with choosing
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sex
-will be the sex most affected by sexual
selection
The power of reconciliation
-intergroup aggression occurs with intragroup
cooperation
-internal competition set aside to fight larger
enemy
-alliances & reconciliation seen in chimp &
other primates are limited to individuals
Predation Defense
1) Dilution effect (+selfish herd)
2) Predator confusion
3) Predator detection
'-i) Predator Defense
Predator Confusion
-Individuals in group may be safer from attack
be the predatory has difficulty focusing on one
target when different individuals in a group
continually move across its line of sight
Predator Defense
-For species that mob predators, defense is
more effective in large groups
Predator Detection
-vigilance is improved with more members in
group- more eyes & ears
-alarm calls warn everyone
-cheating in vigilance not often seen because
vigilant individuals are the ones who gain the
advantage and are most likely to escape
Primate intergroup aggression
-Mate defense- males guarding females &
displaying at intruding males
-Resource defense- often females defending
territories
-highly ritualized & purely lethal
Principles of Sociobiology
-Evolution of group living
-Sexual selection & sexual conflict
-Mating systems
-Social behavior & kin selection
-Cooperation
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Pros & Cons of using
Pros:
Sociobiology to understand
-Humans are animals
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human behavior
-Morphologically & genetically similar to other
apes
-Evolutionary history makes us close relatives
to chimps & bonobos
Cons:
-Humans are unique-> ability to Learn & have
culture
-human experiments are limited
-Social responsibility-> applying theory to
humans has far reaching consequences like
eugenics,etc
-Even if actions have evolutionary explanation,
there are few universals-> behavior is not
inevitable
Reciprocal Altruism
helping behavior seen among non-relatives
individuals help others so that they will receive
help in the future when they need it
eventually benefits to individual will outweigh
the costs
ex: grooming or support given that will be reciprocated after a
delay
Reproductive Success
the ability to live and reproduce
individuals with high survival pass their traits
onto their offspring at higher rates
the population over time becomes better and
better adapted to the Local environment
Secondary Sexual
-Male/female distinctions that appear at
Characteristics
puberty
-Distinctions between adult males and females
that go beyond basic reproductive differences
-Differences in size, coloration, weaponry,
shape ornamentation
bright colors large ornaments and male
displays attract predators and make it hard to
get away from them
-why would makes waste time/energy
/resources?
-not easily explained by NS
-while these traits do not provide a survival
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advantage,they give males a reproductive
advantage
Selfish Herd
-individuals should approach others to reduce
their domain of danger
-each individualis trying to gain the safest spot
in the group
Sexual Selection
a mechanism proposed by Darwin to explain
secondary sexual characteristics
Darwin realized that these traits possessed
mostly by males were impossible to explain
with NS
Instead of aiding males in survival, these traits
seemed detrimental
Sociobiological view of
-There are human universals in behavior which
human nature
evolved and have adaptive significance
Sociobiology
The application of evolutionary principles to
socialbehavior;EO Wilson published book in
1975 = father of sociobiology
Standard social model
-Tooby & Cosmides
-Human behavior varies so widely, it is culture
that forms the human mind & shapes behavior
-babies born with minds Like "blank slates"
Tinbergen's Lt Questions
-Ways to answer why a behavior occurs
Proximate explanations:
l) Causation
2) Developmen V Ontogeny
Ultimate explanations:
3)Adaptive advantage/function
Lt)Phylogeny/evolutionary history
TraditionalNon-Evolutionary
-the universe & its inhabitants are static
View
-God created all life forms at one time in their
present form
True Mutualism
-cooperating always yields a higher immediate
payoff than defecting
-cooperate is a pure ESS
-increased benefits and/or reduced costs
-ex: group hunting by African wild dogs. Larger
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packs mean higher hunting success, larger prey,
more hunts with reduced costs
Two mechanisms lead to the
male-male competition
evolution of secondary sexual
or
&
characteristics:
female mate choice
TypicalPI Male vs. Females in
Females-HIGH
Mammals
-large nutrient rich egg (l of -400)
-gestation & Lactation
Males-LOW
-tiny sperm (dna with tail= 1 of -4 million)
-no gestation or lactation
Variation
-tons of variation within and between species
variation occurs by random mutations, random
genetic recombination, and non-random mate
choices
"viability-indicator
-the idea that male traits can indicate intrinsic
mechanisms"
features about the male
ex: testosterone Level, parasite load,body size,
fighting ability,age,tenure stage
What do men gain from
Long-term relationships?
Decreased costs of pursuing mates
Increased quality of mate and offspring
Increased paternity assurance
What two things are
-Survival& Reproduction
necessary for Natural
-can't have just one!
Selection to function?
Where human cooperation
indirect reciprocity;higher status
helps non-kin,
leads to
higher
Imitation
Which forms of learning will
create consistent patterns of
behavior?
Edward 0. Wilson
Who is the father of
sociobiology?
Why chimps might differ from
-no Long-term pair bonding in chimps
humans in mating strategies
-little to no parental investment
-no menopause
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Why does cultural
Unlike mutations, variants can arise as needed & are not always
random
Lamarckian inheritance and horizontal
evolution not equal
biological evolution?
transmission of memes means they spread FAST
Biased transmission often biologically neutral
-lack of Language (Limited coordination)
-lack of weapons (inefficient)
Why do we not see warfare in
-groups limited to known associates,usually kin
other animals?
William Paley
-watchmaker analogy
-believed in intelligent design
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