PSYC 280 Lecture : Lecture slides summarized a bit
20 Mar 2011
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M id 19th century: research into the fossil record & diversity of living organisms convinced scientists that species evolve. Theory proposed by charles darwin & alfred wallace (1858: gradually causes substantial changes in species. 1: some variation is inherited from parents, not all individuals manage to reproduce. Those individuals who vary in ways which suit their environment are those that survive and reproduce, and thus pass them on to the next generation. Adaptations which have promoted survival and reproduction of ancestors. Psychology is a product of natural selection too: memory, emotions, decision making, personality, language, perception, consciousness all helped ancestors survive and reproduce. Laws of inheritance: mendel showed in pea plants how traits could be inherited down generations, de vries showed how new variants could arise by mutation, most mutations are non-adaptive, some are adaptive, therefore pass down through generations.
