PSYCH 178 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Sociobiology, Sockeye Salmon, Cloning
Document Summary
Altruism why does it exist: you would sacrifice yourself to save your offspring if there is more genetic gain than cost in doing so. It is not the survival of the self but the survival of the gene pool. Characteristics that reduce survival chances 2nd challenge of classical theory: peacock feathers are not in service of individual survival. This is built into their genes: some males sacrifice their life so that they can father more offspring with the female. He will die eventually, so he might as well sacrifice it to increase his chances of passing on his genes: sockeye salmon migrate back to where they were hatched, despite the dangers on the way. Although they are exhausted, they have to fight for mates: cloning is a way of reproducing without having sex. This means that both the offspring are genetically identical.