Psychology 3228 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Evolutionary Medicine, Etiology, Psych

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 3228
• Professor: Caroline Strang

Document Summary

Medical science aims to understand: etiology (cause, pathogenesis (mechanism) of illness, proximate causes. Maintenance of genetic disorders overloading your body machine. Host mounts an immune response to eliminate the costs of hosting the pathogen. All else being equal, pathogens with higher within-host reproductive rates should be transmitted to hosts more effectively. However, too rapid a reproduction rate may debilitate the host so much that transmission is reduced. Are viruses that can cheat the immune system: attacks the immune system itself. Attacks t-cells if the immune system: this eventually reduces their numbers. This illustrates the arms race between pathogens and immune systems. Humans are predisposed to come conditions due to trade-offs and design compromises. Evolutionary legacy: selection doesn"t design new traits: mostly tinkers with pre-existing traits, position of trachea and esophagus: humans have a high risk of choking. Design compromise: bipedalism associated with problems in childbirth, back problems, foot problems etc.