PSYC 305 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Rhesus Macaque, Anthropocentrism, Inclusive Fitness
Document Summary
All animal capacities and behaviors exist, to various degrees, in continuity with other species. Cumulative scientific evidence indicates that there is no empirical justification for human exceptionalism. All humans today come from an unbroken line of ancestors who accomplished two tasks: We carry the adaptive mechanisms that led to our ancestors" success. Human nature and human personality are made up of a collection of evolved traits and mechanisms. Our evolutionary success depended largely on our capacity to get along (communion) in addition to getting ahead (agency). (wiggin"s circumplex model) 2 levels of analysis to consider from an evolutionary perspective: Human nature is a product of evolutionary processes. Over time, more successful psychological mechanisms and traits spread through the population and came to characterize all humans. Examples: the need to belong, empathy, helping & altruism, emotions. The group serves many adaptive functions for individuals; belonging is functional. Our tendency toward empathy also had evolutionary benefits: social cohesion & cooperation.
