Deck 13: Toward a Unified Evolutionary Psychology

Question 1

Ecological structure is __________.

A) the ideal set of physical conditions in which a species is designed to exist
B) the set of statistical regularities of the human environment throughout our evolutionary history
C) the type of neural network which best suits the nature of the problem processing
D) none of the above

Answer 1

the set of statistical regularities of the human environment throughout our evolutionary history

Question 2

Ecological rationality is a theory that __________.

A) states that the human environment has had certain statistical regularities that are utilized to facilitate adaptive problem solving
B) has a solid evolutionary basis but has not yet received empirical support
C) is consistent with traditional cognitive psychology
D) all of the above

Answer 2

states that the human environment has had certain statistical regularities that are utilized to facilitate adaptive problem solving

Question 3

Tooby and Cosmides argue that errors in processing will result when __________.

A) the problem is too domain-general for mechanisms to have been fashioned to deal with a domain-general problem
B) individuals are presented with visual information rather than written information
C) there is a high degree of uncertainty
D) there is a mismatch between the problem presented and the problem the mechanism was designed to solve

Answer 3

there is a mismatch between the problem presented and the problem the mechanism was designed to solve

Question 4

Tests of the frequentist hypothesis reveal that performance on the above problem-called the medical diagnosis problem-follows which pattern, from worst to best?

A) medical diagnosis problem, frequency information, visual information
B) frequency information, medical diagnosis problem, visual information
C) medical diagnosis problem, visual information, frequency information
D) visual information, frequency information, medical diagnosis problem

Question 5

A computational theory __________.

A) cannot specify the function of an information-processing device
B) provides a shortcut to conducting the scientific experiments to test hypotheses
C) specifies what a problem is and why there is a device to solve it
D) broadens the search space of successful solutions to a problem

Question 6

Which hypothesis for the evolution of language has the MOST serious difficulties in explaining available data?

A) social gossip hypothesis
B) social contract hypothesis
C) Scheherazade hypothesis
D) information exchange hypothesis

Question 7

Which of the following is a cornerstone of traditional cognitive psychology?

A) domain specificity
B) functional analysis
C) functional agnosticism
D) descriptive agnosticism

Question 8

Once language evolved, __________.

A) selection would not have limited language to its original function
B) selection favored the use of language to solve most adaptive problems
C) it became less domain specific and more domain general
D) all of the above

Question 9

Gottfredson challenges the EDSC hypothesis on the grounds that __________.

A) IQ and social intelligence are highly correlated
B) IQ and social intelligence are not correlated
C) individual differences in survival are not linked with intelligence
D) individuals of higher intelligence tend to die earlier

Question 10

Traditional ________is anchored by several core assumptions challenged by evolutionary psychologists.

A) evolutionary biology
B) social psychology
C) personality psychology
D) cognitive psychology

Question 11

Which of the following hypotheses proposes that language evolved via sexual selection?

A) social gossip hypothesis
B) social contract hypothesis
C) Scheherazade hypothesis
D) information exchange hypothesis

Question 12

Linda wears tie-dyed shirts and buttons asserting that "men are slime" and frequently tries to organize the women in her workplace. Is it more likely that "Linda is a bank teller'" or that "Linda is a feminist bank teller?" The fact that most people tend to reply that "Linda is a feminist bank teller" is an example of __________.

A) the conjunction fallacy
B) the feminist fallacy
C) the base-rate fallacy
D) the naturalistic fallacy

Question 13

The frequentist hypothesis states that __________.

A) some human reasoning mechanisms are designed to take as input frequency information and produce as output probabilistic behavior
B) some human reasoning mechanisms are designed to take as input frequency information and produce as output frequency information
C) all human reasoning mechanisms are designed to take as input frequency information and produce as output frequency information
D) none of the above

Question 14

Which of the following is NOT an advantage of operating on frequentist representations?

A) They allow a person to preserve the number of events on which the judgment was based.
B) They allow a person to update his or her database when new events are encountered.
C) They allow a person to construct new reference classes after the events have been encountered.
D) They allow a person to retrieve frequency representations more often than alternative representations.

Question 15

The ecological dominance/social competition (EDSC) hypothesis states that __________.

A) because humans were constantly faced with harsh ecological conditions, they had to evolve high levels of intelligence in order to combat the environment
B) those humans who were best able to compete socially by harnessing the power of ecology tended to acquire more sexual access to mates
C) since humans were able to subdue the hostile forces of nature, the only competition left was among themselves, resulting in the evolution of a larger brain
D) none of the above

Question 16

Which of the following elements is NOt universal across all languages?

A) major lexical categories (like nouns, verbs, adjectives)
B) rules of linear order
C) the underlying sounds used
D) verb affixes which denote the timeframe of the event

Question 17

Rather than ___________, humans have _________________.

A) domain-specific reasoning capabilities; domain-general reasoning capabilities
B) multiple intelligences; a general intelligence
C) a general ability to reason; many specialized abilities to reason
D) content-specific psychological mechanisms; content-general psychological mechanisms

Question 18

A study of front-page newspaper articles from the past 300 years revealed that __________.

A) across cultures and time periods, the same key themes are repeated again and again
B) the types of violence reported on the front page varies by region
C) most of the front-page space was devoted to scientific discoveries
D) the number of articles written about violent news stories differed tremendously over time

Question 19

The entire cognitive system, according to an evolutionary psychological perspective, is __________.

A) a simple collection of domain-general processing devices that interact in complex ways
B) a complex collection of interrelated domain-specific information-processing devices
C) a complex collection of interrelated domain-general information-processing devices
D) a simple collection of interrelated domain-specific information-processing devices

Question 20

Chomsky and Gould argue that language is __________.

A) an adaptation designed for the communication of information
B) a byproduct of the tremendous size of the human brain
C) not universal across different cultures
D) not explicable through evolutionary insights

Question 21

Self-handicapping is the __________.

A) tendency to present a strength about oneself privately to provide an enduring disposition responsible for success at a task
B) tendency to make attributions that make one appear worse than others in the group
C) tendency to present publicly a purported weakness about oneself to provide an excuse in the event one fails at a task
D) none of the above

Question 22

All of the following are traits that might be maintained by frequency-dependent selection EXCEPT __________.

A) proportions of biological sex
B) mating strategies
C) language
D) psychopathology

Question 23

According to evolutionary scientists, a theory of mind evolved to __________.

A) provide a more encompassing body of research in psychology
B) aid in the prediction of other people's behavior
C) understand cross-cultural differences in behavior
D) none of the above

Question 24

Evolved mechanisms can fail in all but which of the following ways?

A) activation failure
B) context failure
C) deactivation failure
D) coordination failure

Question 25

A key insight gleaned from evolutionary developmental psychology is __________.

A) that human beings face predictably different adaptive problems at various points in their lives
B) that all adaptations have a developmental history
C) that selection can operate on the developmental timing of psychological mechanisms
D) all of the above

Question 26

Chisholm suggests that variations in parental mating strategy and parental investment result in differences in __________.

A) attachment security
B) theory of mind
C) personality characteristics
D) none of the above

Question 27

People who are high on the K-factor exhibit __________.

A) high risk-taking
B) high Machiavellianism
C) early attachment to their biological father
D) short-term mating strategy

Question 28

Which of the following is NOT a bias documented in human social psychology?

A) correspondence bias
B) self-handicapping
C) self-serving bias
D) confrontational bias

Question 29

Embarrassment evolved __________.

A) to punish those who violate social contracts
B) to promote appeasement and submission
C) to signal knowledge of an inflicted harm
D) to motivate the helping of others who are suffering

Question 30

The deadly innovations hypothesis proposes all of the following forces EXCEPT __________.

A) founder effects
B) double jeopardy
C) spiraling complexity
D) migration ratchet

Question 31

Belsky and colleagues suggest that _____________ early in a child's life can calibrate the kind of sexual strategy he or she adopts later in life.

A) father absence
B) mother absence
C) family income
D) potty training

Question 32

All of the following forces could cause the variation inherent in individual differences except __________.

A) individual variation in exposure to certain environmental insults
B) mutation load
C) frequency dependent selection
D) group selection

Question 33

One study found that each additional IQ point is associated with a 1 percent __________.

A) increase in relative risk of infertility
B) reduction in relative risk of infertility
C) reduction in relative risk of death
D) increase in relative risk of death

Question 34

The repulsion of incest evolved __________.

A) to prevent inbreeding
B) to encourage inbreeding
C) to increase rates of inbreeding suppression
D) in response to sex between cousins

Question 35

Reactive heritability refers to __________.

A) the interaction between heritable characteristics and environments
B) evolved psychological mechanisms designed to take as input one's heritable qualities as a guide to strategic solutions
C) selection for environments best suited for an one's heritable characteristics
D) all of the above

Question 36

The resurrection of group selection is sometimes called __________.

A) multiforce selection theory
B) multigroup selection theory
C) multilevel selection theory
D) group adaptation theory

Question 37

Group selection is ___________________ but the conditions that make group selection likely are _________________.

A) theoretically possible; capable of evolving in a short period of time
B) theoretically possible; incapable of fashioning domain-specific mechanisms
C) theoretically impossible; possible only if a species is exposed to group living for sufficient periods of time
D) theoretically possible; rarely seen in nature

Question 38

Nettle argues that very high or very low levels of various personality traits __________.

A) provide high benefits but also high costs
B) provide greater benefits than costs
C) are viewed as highly attractive in women
D) are viewed as highly attractive in men

Question 39

Dysfunction occurs when the __________.

A) environment does not match reactive heritability
B) mechanism is not performing as it was designed to perform in the contexts in which it was designed to function
C) mechanism is performing as it was designed to perform in contexts in which it was not designed to function
D) all of the above

Question 40

Frequency-dependent selection requires that the payoff of a strategy _____________ as its frequency ________________.

A) increases; decreases
B) increases; increases
C) is static; increases or decreases
D) none of the above

Question 41

Navarette's studies on fear learning and extinction based on group membership revealed that __________.

A) fear of in-group men is the easiest to acquire
B) fear of in-group members was most difficult to acquire and most difficult to extinguish
C) fear of out-group men was the most difficult to extinguish
D) women learn fear of out-group members more easily than men

Question 42

According to Nairne's work on memory systems, which of the following should be best recalled?

A) items for which mental images were created
B) items evaluated for relevance to surviving a hypothetical plane crash
C) items which were related to an actual autobiographical experience
D) all of the above

Question 43

Natural selection appears to be ________________ early in life.

A) especially strong
B) especially weak
C) non-existent
D) weaker than sexual selection

Question 44

Psychopaths display "predatory memory" for potential victims who display which of the following traits?

A) happiness
B) healthiness
C) helpfulness
D) all of the above

Question 45

Which of the following is true of the effects of prestige on cultural transmission?

A) Information from individuals of high prestige is discounted if the information coincides with their self-interest.
B) Low-prestige individuals do not affect cultural transmission.
C) Costly signaling decreases the credibility of culturally transmitted messages.
D) Cultural transmission occurs once evolution has stopped operating on a population.

Question 46

The display hypothesis proposes that culture is __________.

A) stronger in women than in men
B) a byproduct of other human psychological mechanisms
C) an emergent phenomenon arising from sexual competition
D) none of the above

Question 47

Evoked culture refers to __________.

A) the evocation of different cultural traditions under similar conditions
B) phenomena that are triggered in some groups more than in others because of differing environmental conditions
C) cultural variation that is attributed to similar ecologies
D) none of the above

Question 48

Cross-cultural variability in pathogen prevalence has provided support for the hypothesis that some cultural differences are adaptive patterns of __________.

A) transmitted culture
B) evoked culture
C) costly signaling
D) reactive heritability

Question 49

The commitment skepticism bias, descent illusion, and auditory looming bias imply that humans __________.

A) make many errors but still manage to survive
B) follow domain-free rationality principles
C) generally fear false alarms and are biased toward misses across multiple domains
D) are adaptively rational

Question 50

Which of the following is a documented example of reactive heritability?

A) Offspring's tendency to rebel against their parents post-puberty.
B) The positive correlation between parents' IQ and offspring's IQ.
C) Men's significantly greater tendency to prefer short-term mating relationships, relative to women.
D) The positive correlation between extraversion and physical strength.

Question 51

The symptom of sadness ______________, while the symptom of crying _____________.

A) motivates avoidance of future losses; is a signal soliciting help from others
B) allows us to more objectively evaluate our goals; protects us against a threat of attack
C) is a signal soliciting help from others; allows us to more objectively evaluate our goals
D) protects us against a threat of attack; motivates avoidance of future losses

Question 52

Developmental evolutionary psychology stress which of the following?

A) Children possess conditional strategies that produce different life trajectories based on early experience.
B) Adaptations in infancy evolved to solve particular adaptive problems faced specifically during this age.
C) Extended childhood contains design features for the prolonged learning and preparation needed to solve adaptive problems later in life.
D) all of the above

Question 53

Which of the following is a finding that supports the hypothesis that morality may be sexually selected?

A) Dominant males are more likely to demonstrate altruistic morality than non-dominant males.
B) Humans prefer virtuous traits in their mates.
C) Demonstrated morality is positively correlated with attractiveness.
D) all of the above

Question 54

In the first empirical test of the ecological dominance/social competition (EDSC) hypothesis, researchers discovered that __________.

A) in populations with more competition for status, less energy could be devoted to brain evolution, resulting in smaller cranial capacities
B) populations in the process of achieving ecological dominance had larger cranial capacities than those that had already become ecologically dominant
C) women's (but not men's) cranial capacity was positively correlated with the degree to which they engage in gossip
D) population density throughout human evolution was positively correlated with cranial capacity

Question 55

Which of the following describes what we know about the development of theory of mind?

A) It grows more and more sophisticated with age.
B) It "comes online" relatively early in development and maintains a stable skill level through adulthood.
C) It reliably develops in many children, but a large proportion of individuals never display theory of mind.
D) none of the above

Question 56

Gangestad and Buss found that parasite prevalence is ___________ correlated with the importance that people in those cultures paced on physical attractiveness in a mate.

A) positively
B) negatively
C) not
D) causally

Question 57

Skills at theory of mind are positively correlated with which personality trait?

A) emotional stability
B) agreeableness
C) conscientiousness
D) extraversion