Psychology assignment 2742
1) Answer three of the following short answer questions (4 pts each, 12 pts total). If you answer more than three without crossing out answers, only your first three will be graded. Be sure to indicate the letter of the ones you answer. a) Define group selection. What does it predict about an individual’s behavior? Does selection occur at the level of the group? Support your argument. (Hint: think of the Farside cartoon with the lemmings). b) You have just discovered a new, complicated behavior in a species of cricket you are studying. Congrats! But now it is time to get down to business and find out more about it. What are the four questions you should ask, according to Tinbergen? c) Define the sociobiology terms “prepared”, “counterprepared”, and “unprepared”. Give an example of a prepared behavior. d) Summarize the basic process by which DNA codes for a protein. e) List and describe the 4 ways animals recognize kin. f) Define eusociality and explain why selection may favor it in haplodiploid organisms. g) Indicate whether each variable in Hamilton’s rule would be higher, would be lower, or could be either, for spite, altruism, selfishness, and mutual benefit. h) List and describe the four kinds of social learning. i) What is the social intelligence hypothesis? What does it predict? What is convergent evolution? How do they tie together? j) Give at least 3 examples of findings from animal cognition that purportedly demonstrate complex cognition. You may not use an example from the same species twice. For one of them, apply Morgan’s Canon and offer an alternative explanation. It does not matter if your explanation is correct. k) What is a critical period? Give a full description of song development in birds and identify any critical periods. 2) Answer one of the following essay questions. Indicate which one you are answering. (10 pts): a) Critique the idea of “nature vs. nurture.” Support your argument using the readings and examples from class. b) Differentiate the following disciplines by their theories, perspectives, and methods: ethology/behavioral ecology, comparative psychology, sociobiology and evolutionary psychology. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? Which framework do you agree with most? Why? c) What are the relationships between natural selection, environment, genes, development, neural mechanisms, and behavior? Defend behavioral genetics from the “Developmentalist Challenge,” while recognizing the difficulties of determining the influence of genes on behavior. BONUS: Answer another of the above short answer questions for a potential 2 pt bonus. Indicate which one is your bonus answer. 3) Naked Mole-Rat A could start her own nest or she could help Naked Mole-Rat B, who is her sister. If she helps Naked Mole-Rat B, then Naked Mole-Rat A will have no offspring of her own, but Naked Mole-Rat B will have 60 offspring that survive to reproductive age. If she starts her own nest, Naked Mole-Rat A will have 10 offspring that survive to reproductive age, but Naked Mole-Rat B will have only 10 as well. Write one (not both) of the equations for Hamilton’s rule. Then, plug in the numbers from this example. Finally, show your work and indicate which action would be favored by selection. (4 pts) 4) Sea otters will forage for clams, then pound the shells they find on a rock balanced on their stomachs. Provide a proximate and an ultimate explanation for this behavior. It does not matter if your explanations are correct. (2 pts) -GIVE A SHORT ANSWER ON THEM TO- 5) The 4 properties of a fixed action pattern are… a) Unlearned, universal, continues to completion, and invariable b) Innate, universal, complex, and unlearned c) Unlearned, invariable, universal, and complex d) Instinctual, innate, unlearned, and universal 6) The following is not one of the 5 premises of evolutionary psychology: a) Neural mechanisms are always evolving b) The mind is like a computer c) Most processes of the mind are unconscious d) Neural mechanisms are task-specific 7) According to Chalmers, general learning mechanisms evolve when… a) The species lives in large social groups b) The environment is fairly constant c) The environment is fairly variable d) The species has a lot of innate mechanisms
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