CHAPTER 3

AN EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE TO BEHAVIOR

EVOLUTION AND BEHAVIOR

A.

Historical Perspectives on the Social Nature of Humans and Animals

I. II. III. IV.

Darwins Theory of Natural Selection Genetics Ethology Behavior Genetics

B. C. D.

Aggression Mating Communication

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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON HUMAN NATURE

Hobbes (1600s): man is evil natural state = "war of all against all J. J. Rousseau (1700s): the noble savage Malthus (end of 1700s): population = geometric resources(food etc.) = arithmetic => struggle for survival !

Darwin (mid 1800s): survival of the most adaptives, i.e., those propagate that adapt best to their environment
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FROM DARWIN TO BEHAVIOR GENETICS

I. II. III.

Darwins Theory of Natural Selection Genetics Ethology

IV. Behavior Genetics

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DARWIN'S THEORY OF EVOLUTION (1859)

natural variability in physical & behavioral characteristics .. artificial selection after reading Malthus' book Population (1798) on competition for limited resources idea of natural selection
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DARWIN'S THEORY OF EVOLUTION (1859)

In the struggle for existence, those will survive best that best adapt to their environment, be it thanks to their special physical or behavioral characteristics!

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DARWIN'S THEORY OF EVOLUTION (1859)

Example of Gradual Changes within the Hominid Line: encephalisation continuous growth of brain over ca. 5 million years bipedalism of hands allowing for more extensive use

How did these evolve? Natural selection...

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DARWIN'S THEORY OF EVOLUTION

Some Critical Concrete Aspects Regarding Evolutionary Theory: Fossil record tracing ancestry based on morphological similarities... Change versus no change over time only organisms
for who physical or behl changes are crucial for survival are subject to the changing forces of evolution; most organisms are not.. there is no goal in evolution, it just works blindly based on whatever change improves survival & reproductive success, oftentimes the solutions are far from perfect...

Imperfections

tracing ancestry based on much finer molecular similarities such as genome profile & synthesized proteins..

Common DNA in all species

Experimental studies (since beginning 1950s)

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DARWIN'S THEORY OF EVOLUTION

Some Critical Conceptual Aspects Regarding Evolutionary Theory: Origin of species vs. origin of life Epistemology of science vs. religion Meaning of theory/kuram (e.g.Relativity theory) Debates within evolutionary perspective Why no evolutionary change since homo sapiens sapiens...?
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FROM DARWIN TO BEHAVIOR GENETICS

I. II. III.

Darwins Theory of Natural Selection Genetics Ethology

IV. Behavior Genetics

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GENETICS (1870s - ...)

1865: Mendel discovers basic principles of heredity for physical characteristics such as length, eye color etc.) 1902: Discovery of the chromosome
as carrier of genetic information..

1953: Watson & Crick

Double-helix structure and composition of DNA Genes are segments of DNA Genes are recipes for protein synthesis
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Based on Watson, J. D. (1976). Molecular biology of the gene. Menlo Park: Benjamin.) PSY 101 Lecture Notes (E. Mungan)

FROM DARWIN TO BEHAVIOR GENETICS

I. II. III.

Darwins Theory of Natural Selection Genetics Ethology

IV. Behavior Genetics

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ETHOLOGY (1930s - ...)

Careful, scientific observation of animal behavior in their natural setting with a certain amount of experimentation.. Lorenz (1930s) Tinbergen (1950s) imprinting fixed action patterns

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ETHOLOGY
Fixed-Action Patterns
behaviors elicited by a fixed stimulus or set of stimuli ("releasing stimuli").

Example: Chick pecking red spot on mother's beak immediately after hatching.. releasing stimulus : red spot (=a structl feature) action pattern : pecking ( begging for food) adaptive advantage : getting food

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FROM DARWIN TO BEHAVIOR GENETICS

I. II. III.

Darwins Theory of Natural Selection Genetics Ethology

IV. Behavior Genetics

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BEHAVIOR GENETICS (1990s)

Study of heritability of behavioral characteristics (e.g. extroversion, aggression etc.) Method of study:
o

artifical selection/breeding studies (changing learning rates of offspring by differential breeding of bright rats vs. dull rats) twin studies (comparing similarities of monozygotic/identical twins to similarities of dizygotic/fraternal twins)

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BEHAVIOR GENETICS: Artificial Selection Studies

Adapted from Tryon, R. C. (1940). Genetic differences in maze-learning ability in rats. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 39, 111119 PSY 101 Lecture Notes (E. Mungan) Boazici University

BEHAVIOR GENETICS: Twin Studies

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BEHAVIOR GENETICS: Twin Studies

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EVOLUTION AND BEHAVIOR

A.

Historical Perspectives on the Social Nature of Humans and Animals

I. II. III. IV.

Darwins Theory of Natural Selection Genetics Ethology Behavior Genetics

B. C. D.

Aggression Mating Communication

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AGGRESSION
Gender differences: the role of hormones + testosterone When do we see aggression? * defending hunt/prey * defending territory * fighting for female importance of dominance hierarchy..
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AGGRESSION
Territoriality * securing food resources * access to females * attacks from other males Dominance Hierarchy *threat displays *appeasement displays
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EVOLUTION AND BEHAVIOR

A.

Historical Perspectives on the Social Nature of Humans and Animals

I. II. III. IV.

Darwins Theory of Natural Selection Genetics Ethology Behavior Genetics

B. C. D.

Aggression Mating Communication

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MATING
Courtship rituals *advertising for a mate *ensuring within species candidate Which sex makes the final decision? The one that invests more the female*
* One of the few species in which it is the male that chooses is the seahorse. In seahorses it is the male that has a pouch to carry and raise the offspring, hence he not the female is carrying the burden of raising, as a result what we observe is that female courts the male to be accepted by him as a mate, not the other way around ...
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MATING
Mating systems *polygamy: -polygyny (1 male & many fem.) most common polygamy type -polyandry (1 female & many males) -polygynandry (many females & many males) *monogamy 1 male & 1 female Evolution explains type of mating systems of a species based on their required male-female role distributions regarding child-rearing..
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~ NOTES ~
There is a wonderful footage of courtship rituals in birds in the Finding Partners episode of the 3-part documentary The Life of Birds by David Attenborough. (Available @ the Mithat Alam Film Center)

If you would like to learn more on evolution, visit http://evrimianlamak.org/e/Ana_Sayfa

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APPENDIX

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Please note that the drawing on the right is just an approximation. The real homini line goes as shown in the next slide... The main point here is that the common ancestor of chimpanzees and homini goes back by many million years and that ancestor was not a monkey...

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The Homini Line

Illustration from Wikipedia

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from S. Jay Gould Fullhouse

Evolution is not a driven trend but a passive trend...

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Change & no change in evolutionary time...

from S. Jay Goulds book Fullhouse

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