PSY230H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Physical Attractiveness, Phlegm, Peripheral Nervous System
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The behavior patterns we see today are patterns that survived in our ancestors because they were more likely to ensure survival and reproduction. Domain specificity (very few behaviors that will benefit across diff domains) Adaptations are presumed to be domain-specific in the sense that they are designed by the evolutionary process to solve a particular adaptive problem. Evolution tends to fashion specific mechanisms for each adaptive problem. Human mind contains a large number of psychological mechanisms that have helped humans survive and reproduce. For example, common fears and phobias: snakes, heights, darkness, spiders, cliff edges, snakes. It is because the number of hazardous, hostile forces in nature has been so large- so we had to evolve to stay alive. We are likely to have psychological mechanism for selection of mates, the detection of cheaters in social exchanges, the favoring of habitats, the rearing of children, and formation of strategic alliances.
