Animal Behaviour: Psychology 3750

1
Animal BehaviourPsychology 3750

• Lecture 29 November 27, 2009

2
Is this a play face?
3
Why do mammals play more than reptiles? Mammals
have.

• More social/cognitive behaviour to practise
• More energy available for play (Homeotherms?)
• More parental care
• More expressive faces? (we recognize?)

4
Is this a play face?
5
Is this a play face?
6
Animal personalities (ch 17 pp 545-555)

• Intraspecific differences in behavioral coping
  style
• Options should confer equal fitness evolutionary
  stable strategy (ESS, as in Fig 17.2)

7
Personality and predator inspection

• Bright males inspect predator more often than
  dull males do (Fig 17.7, left)
• More frequent inspectors preferred (Fig 17.7
  right)

8
Fast and slow Great tits

• Differences noted in Fig 17.13
• Response to a demonstrator fast birds use this
  information more than slow birds

9
What can studying animals tell us about human
behaviour?

• Does culture mean our behavior isnt under
  genetic control?
• (Was) Is human behavior adaptive?
• What about heritable psychological traits
  affecting our motivations, satisfaction, and
  aspirations?

10
Culture vs Genes

• environment changes---gt changes which behavior
  increases fitness---gt culture changes

11
Culture vs Genes the mud wrestling analogy
(Cronin)

• Just as mud wrestlers are coated in mud, people
  are coated in culture
• So are we up to our necks in mud or only up to
  our ankles?
• How do (powerful) people (PP) use culture to
  manipulate others in ways that increase
  PPsfitness?

12
Is human behaviour adaptive?

• Or was it adaptive in our environment of human
  evolution?
• Hard to tell in west low child mortality, birth
  control, little variance in RS

13
Wealth is related to RS in the Kipsigis
14
Inheritance Patterns of cultures

• Probability of
  paternity
• Low
  High
• Matrilineal 17
  3
• Patrilineal 5
  45

15
InheritancePatterns-North America

• Smith wills
• wealthy people
• poorer people

16
InheritancePatterns-North America

• Smith wills
• wealthy people ? give all to sons
• poorer people ?more likely to share btw sons
  daughters

17
Evolution of Psychological traits mate choice
characteristics

• What are the most important characteristics for
  women?
• What are the most important characteristics for
  men?

18
Sex differences in human mate preferences

• Attractiveness more important to men than to
  women
• Earning Power more important to women than to men

19
What aspects of attractiveness are important?

• Signal youth high reproductive value
• Buss many cross cultural similarities for
  preferred features