Intro to Evolution

Intro to Evolution #

Evolution is History: #

• What ancestors did for a living
  • north vs south cultural differences = farmers vs. herders

The goal of studying evolution: #

• Understand why humans behave similarly to animals
• much of human behavior can be explained w/ classic evolutionary principles
• humans are uniquely shaped by adaptations for culture
• culture has shaped human genetic evolution

How to study human behavior #

Behavior is shaped by:

• Mechanism (physiology, neural connections)
• Ontogeny (development, personal history)
• Function (ultimate cause, cultural history)
• Phylogeny (historical/evolution)
• Cumulative Culture

Example: birdsong #

Why does a bird sing? #

• ontogeny: exposed to parents singing at critical development period
• phylogeny: they are part of a bird species that sings
• mechanism: brain has song nuclei that enables them to learn song
• function: reproduction (appear attractive to females)
  • → familiarity
  • → demonstration of learning ability
  • → possession of territory

Evolution of Culture and Violence #

• Culture of Honor in American South: historically, resources were difficult to defend, so default response is violence
• Experimentally, Southern individuals have a higher likelihood of violent response, higher aggression, faster heartrate, higher testosterone levels