Psychology 3229A/B Lecture 2: Evolution - Week 2 Notes
24 Apr 2014
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Week 2 - natural selection and human origins. Paleoanthropology - study of fossil evidence of our ancestors. Humans are great apes; diverged from chimp lineage approximately 5-7 mya. Human and chump lineage diverged very recently in evolutionary time. I. e. if a martian was studying us, they would consider us a chimp because we"re so closely related. Primarily plant gatherers, some hunting (usually hunt monkeys) Strong dominance ranks (determines when you eat, who you mate with, etc) Conspicuous sexual interaction (sexual activity as normal activity of daily activities; don"t just do it for reproduction and engage in a wide range of sexual behaviours) Question: are we more similar to chimpanzees or bonobos. We"re not anymore related to one than the other because they split apart after they split apart from us. They shared a common ancestor when they split with us. Common chimps and bonobos often compared to humans, but doesn"t make sense to argue either is a better comparison.
