Evolution of Universal Motives

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Evolution of Universal Motives

• Chapter 3

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I. Evolution of Universal Motive

• A. Heredity versus Environment
• 1. Case of Sex Reassignment
• Circumcision accidents cause two boys to be
  raised as girls. As adults they are mostly
  male-like in behavior and preferences.
• 2. Heredity and Environment Interact
• Rectangle metaphor relative length (heredity)
  and relative width (environment) both contribute
  to area (motivation of behavior).
• 3. Experience and Motives
• Behaviors require from little to much experience
  in order to occur.

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I. Evolution of Universal Motive

• B. Human Nature and Universal Motivation
• Human nature similarity among people due to
  evolutionary past.
• Universal motives shared human motives due to
  evolution.

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I. Evolution of Universal Motive

• C. Evolutionary Psychology
• To analyze human motivation in terms of
  evolution.
• Psychological mechanisms evolved to solve
  problems of adaptation.
• 1. Universality of Motives
• World-wide reproduction, bodily comforts,
  health, specific fears.
• 2. Inherited Structures for Behavior, Motives,
  and Emotions
• Genes DNA segments provide information to build
  brain and body.
• Brain disposed to react certain ways, e.g.,
  universal motive.

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II. Fear, Food, Music, and Sex as Universal
Motives

• A. Fear as a Universal Motive
• 1. Occurrence of Fear
• Common fears snakes, high places, spiders, and
  death.
• 2. Survival Value
• Fear evolved to motivate escape and avoidance
  responses.
• 3. Preparedness
• Some fears can occur full-blown without prior
  experience.
• To be prepared or ready to learn fear of some
  stimuli, not others.
• 4. Classical Conditioning of Fear
• Little Albert Associate CS (rat) with fear-UCS
  (loud noise).
• After 7 pairings, CS (rat) evoked CR (fear cry,
  crawl away).

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II. Fear, Food, Music, and Sex as Universal
Motives

• Fear as a Universal Motive
• 5. Conditioning of Fear in Natural Settings
• Lightning strike or sinking ship produces fear of
  storms and water.
• 6. Preparedness and Observational Fear
  Conditioning in Monkeys
• Monkey develops fear of snake but not flower when
  observing model monkey act fearfully to snake and
  to flower.
• 7. Preparedness of Classical Fear Conditioning in
  Humans
• Conditioned heart-rate acceleration to snakes but
  not flowers.
• Spider, snake stimuli presented below awareness
  increase arousal.

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II. Fear, Food, Music, and Sex as Universal
Motives

• B. Liking and Preference for Foods
• Omnivorous be able to eat a variety of foods
  eat from one's locale.
• 1. Food Neophobia
• Tendency to avoid novel foods, prefer familiar
  foods.
• Protects person from eating substances that cause
  illness, death.
• 2. Innate Preference and Aversion for Substances
• Babies prefer sweets and shun sour and bitter
  stimuli.
• 3. Evolutionary Value of Tastes and Facial
  Expressions
• Babies' facial expressions signal what is tasted
  sweet, sour, bitter.
• Caregivers feed babies in accord with babies
  facial signals.

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II. Fear, Food, Music, and Sex as Universal
Motives

• B. Liking and Preference for Foods
• 4. Preparedness for Conditioned Taste Aversion
• Intense dislike for food because of association
  with nausea.
• Preparedness long-delay between taste, aroma and
  later nausea.
• 5. Fat Preference
• Humans prefer fat in foods, e.g., in ice cream
  and in hamburgers.

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II. Fear, Food, Music, and Sex as Universal
Motives

• C. Universal Appeal of Music
• It promotes group cohesion, regulates moods,
  pleasurable, and is byproduct in evolution of
  other motives.
• Infants prefer consonant music to dissonant
  (unpleasant) music.

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II. Fear, Food, Music, and Sex as Universal
Motives

• D. Evolution of Sexual Preferences
• Sexual selection one sex of species selects
  another for mating based on some trait of the
  latter.
• 1. Function of Orgasm
• Rewards sexual behavior, develop love, promotes
  pair-bonding, and boost chances of pregnancy.
• 2. Sex Differences in Long-Term Mate Selection
• Women select mates to increase chance of survival
  of their offspring.
• Men select mates to increase chance of producing
  many offspring.

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II. Fear, Food, Music, and Sex as Universal
Motives

• D. Evolution of Sexual Preferences
• 3. Characteristics of Long-Term Mates
• Women prefer mates who have good financial
  prospects and are ambitious and industrious.
• Men prefer mates who have good looks indicative
  of fertility.
• 4. Jealousy
• Men report greater distress about sexual
  infidelity than do women.

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II. Fear, Food, Music, and Sex as Universal
Motives

• E. Biosocial Theory
• Stresses interaction between social experiences
  and evolved sex differences in strength and
  reproductive capacity.
• 1. Structural Powerless hypothesis
• Women are powerless to attain financial resources
  and thus marry men who have them.
• 2. Double Shot Hypothesis
• For women, emotional infidelity is more
  distressing. It includes sexual infidelity, i.e.,
  double shot. Men assume both happen at once.
• Emotional infidelity is more distressing than
  sexual for both sexes.

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End of Chapter 3