EDST 391: H. sapiens: What does it mean to be “human”?
Name:
Date:
"Calendar"
Assignment for
Day 10
Reading assignment
-
Buss, Chapter 1: The
Scientific Movements Leading to Evolutionary Psychology (pp.
2-25, summary [pp. 32-22])
Thinking assignment
- Be sure you understand the following ideas in Chapter 1 of Buss.
All
are critical to understanding the rest of the book.
- What exactly Darwin was trying to explain. Note: "evolution" is not
the answer.
- His concepts of variation, inheritance, and selection--and how
they
are key to
his explanation
- The difference between natural selection and sexual selection
- Hamilton's concept of inclusive fitness
- How Hamilton's criteria of
"reliability,
efficiency, and economy" are critical to determining what is
and is not
an evolutionary "adaptation." On Day 11 we will
look for examples of
adaptations
among the Ache hunter-gatherers (the reading for that day).
- Trivers' concepts of reciprocal altruism, parental investment, and
parent-offspring conflict