PSYCH 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Evolutionary Psychology, Australopithecus, Bipedalism
Document Summary
Evolution: a change over time in the frequency with which particular genes and the characteristics they produce occur within an interbreeding population. Natural selection (darwin): characteristics that increase the likelihood of survival and ability to reproduce within a particular environment (presented in 1859 in his book on the origin of. Evolutionary noise: neutral variations that neither facilitate nor impede fitness to pass through and be preserved in a population. Adaptions: products of natural selection allow organisms to meet recurring environmental challenges to their survival, thereby increasing their reproductive ability. Tool use, bipedal locomotion, and social organization (human development) Infants are born with an innate ability to acquire any language spoken in the world, including deaf children. Newborns are prewired to perceive specific stimuli. At 1 week of age, human infants show primitive mathematical skills, successfully discriminating between two and three objects. Cooperative relationships with a group is critical to the human species" survival and reproductive success.
