Deck 14: Human Behavior

Question 1

In a study on mate choice, men and women were able to spend "mate dollars" on traits they desired in a life partner. With a limited budget, women spent 17% of their money on yearly income, compared to only 3% spent by men on the same trait. Thus, women seem to prefer men that can provide direct, material benefits. Which hypothesis for this preference is based on group-selection theory?

A) A wealthy man can provide assistance for her relatives and their offspring, thereby providing an indirect fitness benefit.
B) A man's wealth is indicative of his intelligence, and therefore he will likely produce offspring that are also intelligent.
C) A wealthy man can provide more parental care and resources to care for his offspring.
D) A wealthy man benefits his or her society by providing assistance to individuals otherwise likely to be a burden to the group.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

In a study on mate choice, men and women were able to spend "mate dollars" on traits they desired in a life partner. With a limited budget, women spent 17% of their money on yearly income, compared to only 3% spent by men on the same trait. Thus, women seem to prefer men that can provide direct, material benefits. Which hypothesis for this preference is based on kin-selection theory?

A) A wealthy man can provide assistance for her relatives and their offspring, thereby providing an indirect fitness benefit.
B) A man's wealth is indicative of his intelligence, and therefore he will likely produce offspring that are also intelligent.
C) A wealthy man can provide more parental care and resources to care for his offspring.
D) A wealthy man benefits his or her society by providing assistance to individuals otherwise likely to be a burden to the group.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

In a study on mate choice, men and women were able to spend "mate dollars" on traits they desired in a life partner. With a limited budget, women spent 17% of their money on yearly income, compared to only 3% spent by men on the same trait. Thus, women seem to prefer men that can provide direct, material benefits. Which hypothesis for this preference is based on the good genes model of sexual selection?

A) A wealthy man can provide assistance for her relatives and their offspring, thereby providing an indirect fitness benefit.
B) A man's wealth is indicative of his intelligence, and therefore he will likely produce offspring that are also intelligent.
C) A wealthy man can provide more parental care and resources to care for his offspring.
D) A wealthy man benefits his or her society by providing assistance to individuals otherwise likely to be a burden to the group.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

In a study on mate choice, men and women were able to spend "mate dollars" on traits they desired in a life partner. With a limited budget, women spent 17% of their money on yearly income, compared to only 3% spent by men on the same trait. Thus, women seem to prefer men that can provide direct, material benefits. Which hypothesis for this preference is based on direct benefits of female mate choice?

A) A wealthy man can provide assistance for her relatives and their offspring, thereby providing an indirect fitness benefit.
B) A man's wealth is indicative of his intelligence, and therefore he will likely produce offspring that are also intelligent.
C) A wealthy man can provide more parental care and resources to care for his offspring.
D) A wealthy man benefits his or her society by providing assistance to individuals otherwise likely to be a burden to the group.

Question 5

In a study on mate choice, men and women were able to spend "mate dollars" on traits they desired in a life partner. With a limited budget, women spent 17% of their money on yearly income, compared to only 3% spent by men on the same trait. Thus, women seem to prefer men that can provide direct, material benefits. Based on this study, we can predict that

A) there is assortative mating between men and women.
B) women's sexual preferences do not align with their mating behavior.
C) the interests of men and women are not aligned, so there is likely sexual conflict.
D) there is little intrasexual competition in humans.

Question 6

Which of the following findings supports the technical hypothesis for the evolution of language?

A) The FOXP2 gene occurs in closely related species like chimpanzees and gorillas, as well as in diverse taxa including frogs, fish, and rodents.
B) A British family with a mutant allele of the gene FOXP2 had severe speech deficits.
C) Stone tool making and cued word generation cause common cerebral blood flow signatures in the brain.
D) Chimpanzees have a longer tongue and differently shaped vocal tract than humans, making them physically incapable of producing particular sounds.

Question 7

The FOXP2 gene

A) is under strong natural selection in humans.
B) originated in a distant ancestor of many modern species, and was independently modified to facilitate vocal learning and speech.
C) is unique to humans and is primarily responsible for facilitating human speech.
D) is only found in close relatives to humans, indicating that it was critical for the evolution of language capacity but not speech.

Question 8

Refer to the figure.
Part A shows the number of sexual partners men and women report wanting over different periods of time, and Part B shows men's and women's estimates of the likelihood of agreeing to sexual intercourse with an attractive partner they have known for varying lengths of time. These results indicate that

A) women and men aligned in their interests for how many sexual partners they would like to have over different periods of time.
B) men wanted many more sexual partners in their lifetime than women, and were more willing to have sex with a desired partner after a shorter amount of time.
C) both men and women's willingness to have sex with a desired partner declined over time, though women's willingness declined more steeply.
D) men and women differed in their preferences for number of partners and willingness to have sex with a partner in the short-term, but aligned in the long-term.

Question 9

Refer to the figure.
Part A shows the number of sexual partners men and women report wanting over different periods of time, and Part B shows men's and women's estimates of the likelihood of agreeing to sexual intercourse with an attractive partner they have known for varying lengths of time. Based on this study, we can conclude that men and women

A) differ in their mate preferences, leading to sexual conflict.
B) differ in their mate preferences, leading to reproductive conflict.
C) differ in their mate preferences in the short-term but align in the long-term.
D) align in their mate preferences overall.

Question 10

Using the comparative approach, researchers have found that

A) human speech evolved much earlier in our evolutionary history than the technical hypothesis suggests.
B) the FOXP2 gene is only found in close relatives to humans and was therefore critical for the evolution of human speech.
C) the human variant of the FOXP2 gene was shared by Neanderthals, suggesting that speech arose more recently.
D) the FOXP2 gene originated in the distant past in an ancestor of many modern species, and thus is unrelated to human capacity for language.

Question 11

Which statement most accurately describes the neurophysiology of human speech?

A) Human speech is determined solely by the regulatory action of genes such as FOXP2.
B) Broca's area in the cerebral cortex of the human brain works independently to enable comprehension of spoken language.
C) Genetic information underlies the ability of the brain to change in response to acoustic and social inputs during early development.
D) Humans learn and understand different languages as a result of hereditary differences in the FOXP2 gene.

Question 12

Isabel Scott and colleagues conducted a study of masculinity in men's faces across 12 populations varying in degree of economic development. They found that preferences for sex-specific facial traits only occurred in highly developed urban environments. Similarly, a study by Arslan Zaidi and colleagues found that while facial masculinity is correlated with adult height and growth, it is not correlated with immune gene diversity. Together, these results

A) provide evidence that women primarily choose males in order to gain indirect genetic benefits.
B) indicate that natural selection is stronger in urban environments than in rural environments.
C) support the hypothesis that masculine male facial traits are preferred by women because they indicate genetic quality.
D) challenge the idea that male facial traits have been under natural or sexual selection for a long time.

Question 13

Refer to the figure.
In this study, digital images of the same male's face were altered to reflect the developmental effects of testosterone. Women then judged the photographs for physical attractiveness and social dominance. These results indicate that

A) high testosterone faces reveal dominance, but not attractiveness.
B) women's preference for attractiveness is unrelated to male testosterone level.
C) women viewed men with high levels of testosterone as both dominant and attractive.
D) high testosterone faces reveal attractiveness, but not dominance.

Question 14

Refer to the figure below.
In this study, digital images of the same male's face were altered to reflect the developmental effects of testosterone. Women then judged the photographs for physical attractiveness and social dominance. The findings from this study suggest that

A) women prefer dominant men because they are able to protect their partner from other men.
B) women prefer men with high testosterone faces because these features indicate social dominance.
C) women do not necessarily prefer men with genetic traits that indicate social dominance.
D) male facial masculinity is under strong sexual selection by female choice.

Question 15

When choosing between two males of the same age but different heights, a young, unmarried woman selects the taller individual. What are some of the possible adaptive values of her choice?

Question 16

Men are predicted to place more value on "good looks" than will women. What are some of the possible adaptive values of this male preference?

Question 17

Describe one major cost and one adaptive benefit of human speech.

Question 18

Define assortative mating and provide an example illustrating it in humans.