Comm Evolution Study Guide PDF

Lecture 10: Language French Academy of Science 1866, banned publication of language evolution theories Max Mullers theories: - Bow-wow: language comes from imitating animals - Pooh-Pooh: language comes from emotional exclaims( shriek, gasp) A century passed before a language evolution book wa...

Lecture 10: Language French Academy of Science 1866, banned publication of language evolution theories Max Mullers theories: - Bow-wow: language comes from imitating animals - Pooh-Pooh: language comes from emotional exclaims( shriek, gasp) A century passed before a language evolution book was made - no testable hypothesis Comparative Evidence - communication about immediate environment - honeybee dances, bacteria - communication about specifics - alarm calls, mate detection, parrot and dolphin names Honeybee Dance: figure 8 shape - Angle of Dance: flower position from the sun - Duration of Dance: distance from hive - Vigor of Dance: more excited means more food Vervet Monkeys - warning calls for different predators - not language, more like sounds to signal Prairie Dogs: - 2008 experiment - 3 females wore different shirts and prairie dogs made different calls Orangutan Males plan their travel a day in advance by communicating Can animals understand Human Language ? - dogs can understand, Chaser knows 1000 toy words - Primates taught to use sign language, but only learned 2 words in 2 years Human Language Development - Empirical: - humans acquire language from experience or environment - learn from around us - Nativists: - humans born with language abilities  - infants can distinguish sounds from birth - deaf children invented their own gestural language Specific Language Impairment: - Apraxia: difficulty speaking but not understanding - Aphasias: - receptive: difficult verbal comprehension - expressive: difficulty articulating words - pure: can read but not write - Orofacial myofunctional disorders: motor control of tongue make certain words difficult to pronounce. Broca's Aphasia: damage to broca area - difficulty in speech and grammar, no comprehension problems Wernicke's Aphasia: damage to wernicke area (left temporal lobe) - speech is fluent but lacks meaning - comprehension also impaired Conclusion: - strong evidence for language abilities in many species - strong evidence humans are born with language learning - many brain regions involved in language processing Lecture 11: Theories of Language Language has signature of Natural Selection - it is a fitness benefit - must have evolved in steps - develops rapidly with right environment Pinker and Bloom (1990) - Syntax and Recursion (take concepts and rearrange them in novel ways) need to be explained - Dorothy and witch example combining sentences - Pidgins: language when speakers of mutually unintelligible languages are in close contact (no syntax or grammar) - Creole: language that is created when children have pidgin as native language Why did language Evolve? 1. The Cognitive Niche hypothesis a. reasoning of the world structure b. cooperation with others c. sharing knowledge 2. Gossip and grooming hypothesis a. establish coalitions b. bigger group= more time grooming 3. Sexual Selection hypothesis a. Darwin: language started as musical sounds b. 40k-60k words but we only use 1k c. language is costly on the brain 4. Exapation: deception or alarm call a. Cuckoos teach password during egg stage Lecture 12: Costly Signaling Theory Humans and Costly Signaling: - voice pitch shifts - altruism and cooperative signals - group identification, costly rituals - laughter and smiling - signalling to parentally invest - health, accents, sexuality - yawns as threat detection? Signals are biological adaptations - a signal is an act or structure that alters behavior of another organism, which is effective because receivers response has evolved Cues: artifact of other adaptations: - chemical emissions  - smell of fear Indexes: indicators of physical properties that can’t be faked Signals advertise: - gene quality - fertility - current health - hunger - danger - strength Lecture 13: Pathogen Avoidance Comparative Evidence of Pathogen Avoidance - cordyceps - reprogramming brains - ostracized tadpoles - swim away from infected tadpole - insightful lobsters - Lobsters don’t sit with sick lobsters - xenophobic sparrows - sing songs to choose mate, different styles east to west (accents) - violent chimps - Fight chimps who are sick to get them away Particular Diseases Matter - Hamilton, diseases that are acute, chronic form, prolonged effects: Meaning they can be seen - Leishmanias - Plasmodium - Leprosy - Spirochetes - Filariae 2B Signal Detextion Theory Statistical theory for how we keep track of stimuli Pepsi Challenge: Coke or Pepsi? Hearing test: what is the lowest pitch you can hear? Detection paradigm - Disease vs Healthy Memory paradigm - Keep track of disease “Drinking Coke” Hit: Oh thats Coke! Miss: Ew thats Pepsi Signal Absent: Coke! No it’s Pepsi Correct Rejection: Ew its Pepsi 2C: Haselton: Error Management Theory Social cognition research 1980s-2000s Heuristics and Biases Weighting errors by fitness costs and benefits: - Error management develops a psychology that more heavily weights costly errors - Functional errors help evolution Low Cost Error: Assume the stick is a snake till proven otherwise High Cost Error : Oh thats a stick 2D: Behavioral Immune System - The psychological immune system designed for fighting infection - Ants see another ant behaving weird (cordyceps) and take him away System is triggered by disease relevant stimuli Stigmatization, avoidance of obese or disabled people. Behavioral immune system should aid physiological immune system Body prepares more when faced with a disease, experiment drew blood after showing guns and disease images. Part 3: Interpersonal cues and disease avoidance - Error management theory + pathogen avoidance: - Over-react to potential cues of risk Tybur disgust scale: pathogen: touch cut, sex: overhear it, moral: cheated on exam 1. Good evidence that species other than humans have behavioral strategies for disease avoidance  2. Behavioral immune system activates the cognitive and affective responses to cues to disease 3. The patter of response is as predicted by error management theory 4. We need more research on the communicative functions of disgust responses Lecture 14: Pathogen Avoidance Between Groups Part 1, Theories: The Red Queen - A non specific parasite immunity is a powerful competitive weapon, Europeans resistance to measles used as a weapon vs “primitive people” - People develop resistance to pathogens, co-evolutionary race, people further away have their own diseases they’re resistant to. - If you mate with people around your home, offspring have better immune system. Vaccines show data after humans have already evolved immunity, good health is what truly stops disease before the vaccines. Parasite Stress Theory of Sociality - Red queen hypothesis - people stay close to intergroup, away from outgroups - requires psychological adaptations for association with ingroups and avoiding outgroups - because of this, self organization of cultural divergence, lack of gene flow and cultural contact 800 languages in New Guinea, language is a good way of differing groups and how familiar you are with them. Part 3: Xenophobia and Ethnocentrism - Faulkner et al. - Disgust appears to be key feature of intergroup attitudes - Behavioral Immune System - avoid unfamiliar groups who possess pathogens - Perceived vulnerability to disease, can be measured (germophobic) - Pathogen primes, disease present could activate avoidance Central Africa, Krasnee people are trying to leave and draw people rated on friendliness and perceived vulnerability to disease Part 4: Basic cognition of disease avoidance -Contact with human outgroups represents a dynamic problem, because they can either be a benefit or a negative for avoiding disease. Group tracking Hypothesis Cues that indicate group membership: Accents, languages, religions, ethnicity. Stereotypes help us keep track of groups. - Can separate from ingroup if they are the source of disease as well Pathogen disgust: - Touching blood - body odor Sexual disgust - oral sex - watching Moral disgust - stealing - cheating on test Conclusion: Red Queen, regional pathogen stress, intergroup differences based on pathogen avoidance Intergroup attitudes, avoid unfamiliar foreigners Group tracking- pay attention to groups and keep track of pathogen stress towards them. Lecture 15: Coalitional Behavior Coalitional Behavior: Behavior that involves coordination among two or more members to execute a task of mutual benefit, more benefit than working alone. Freeriding destroys cooperation if to much of it - needs to be a cost to freeriding to avoid it Examples of coalitions: mob behaviors of birds schooling fish to avoid predators comparitive evidence in chimps that coalitions help us mitigate big costs Sherif studies: Boys camp - 12 year old camps Oklahoma, - swap dorms of people who are friends Wrangham book- basketball friends for years put on different teams, became bitter enemies Loss of coalition status is more powerful than personal friendship between boundaries. Part 2- Theories - requires: a resource that can be more defended through collective than solitary behavior - more costs than benefits causes people to leave the group - Requires: - distinguish allies and enemies - module for costs being less than benefit - module for group coordination - module for group bonding - module for resource capture/ defense Kin selection: If unselfish people gave help indiscriminately it would be received equally to selfish people as well. Natural selection would therefor favor selfishness. Hamiltons Rule: rb> cost - When benefits outweigh the cost then altruism can evolve and spread. - If its too costly it wont evolve Mendel: - 50% genes shared with offspring =. 5 - 12.5% genes shared with cousin =.125 Kin selection: r > c/b r = relatedness C= cost b = benefit direct reciprocity: w > c/b probability of future enounters = w indirect reciprocity: q> c/b Q = probability of knowing someone’s reputation network reciprocity: k= number of people in network connection Kurzban - claim humans automatically categorize people based on sex, age, race. - If two subjects in same category I’m more likely to confuse them Offense vs Defense Stance - when ability to win is sure - when there are resources to be captured - when doing so decreases future damage t self and ingroup Lecture 16: Laughter Homologous forms of laughter: Evolutionary Connection: Laughter in humans and non-human primates shares a common evolutionary origin Social Bonding: Laughter-like sounds across species (e.g., humans, primates, rats) strengthen social relationships. Play Signals: Laughter functions as a signal during play to prevent misunderstandings, seen in humans, primates, and other mammals like dogs. Biological Roots: Homologous laughter highlights its role as a non-verbal communication tool Human Laughter: - laughter in people born deaf and blind - laughter in newborns - similar laughter in primates  - But: different forms and intensities of laughter Why do Humans Laugh? : - H1: meaning and fixed action pattern explanation - laughter is a ritualized signal and indicates “this is play” in risky situations - H2: Voiced laughter is used strategically to shape affective responses in listeners - H3: Laughter is used to promote social bonds, and enables mutual beneficial social exchange - proposes that laughter releases endorphins, which generates positive affect - H4: laughter is a forecast of social bonds, and honesty is maintained because laughers pay vulnerability cost - laughter should promote fair social exchange - laughter more likely when bonds are made Vulnerability Cost Predictions - Larger more formidable males should be better at giving laughter than smaller males - larger males will have to laugh more intensely to gain trust - Laughter should compromise: - fight/ flight response - ability to track objects in peripheral - physical strength test Conclusion - laughter is found in all primates, may be more ancient than 12 million years if rodent findings are right - Laughter appears to be designed to test social bonds - If right, there has to be a cost that keeps the signal honest Lecture 18: Music People who are better at singing are more attractive, parental investment. Strong theories vs Weak Theories - anomalies must be related to theory - mid- range theory generates most hypotheses Part 1: Other Species and What is to Be Explained - Music is universal- all human groups produce or consume music - Musical contexts include infant care (mother sing to baby), healing, dance, sexual attraction/ bonds - Accent, tempo, pitch predict what the music is used for Ex: funeral, military, religious Neandrathals 60,000 years ago made a flute out of a cave bear bone in Slovenia Songs appear to be involved in territory defense, advertisement, paired status, or attracting mates Female bird compares potential mates on how many sounds they can create, seeking complexity must be true in sexual selection Rhythm and Reproductive Success? - Male rock hyraxes measured sound for how consistent the rhythm is. - Pentatonic scale is in every human, Phenomenology and many questions: - multiple functions of music likely - sexual attraction and reproductive success? - male get more out of being signalers - selection must be based on complexity and quality - receivers must be good at deciphering signals Anisogamy: - eggs are few, large costly, immoble - sperm are small and many - isogamy is out competed by anisogamy - Male: small gametes, Female: large gametes Intrasexual Competition: compete with members of same sex for access to other sex - Armaments: big antlers, teeth, claws, muscles Mate Selection: competition to be selected by opposite sex - Ornaments: pretty males with symmetrical tail, bright feathers Naturally Selected Traits: - economical - efficient - modular - Ex: eyes, heart, liver, echolocation Sexually Selected Traits: - costly - inefficient - non- modular - Ex: physical attractiveness, strength, musical ability? Hypothesis 1: Sexual attractiveness of musicians - young male Antoine had high level of physical attractiveness - approaches woman either with gym bag, guitar case, nothing - 300 women- 9% gym bag, 31% guitar case, 14% nothing Hypothesis 2: Complexity, Charlton - 1465 women listened t piano compositions with 4 levels of complexity - short term sexual attraction to male musicians with more complex music Hypothesis 3: Is Musial ability sexually attractive? - Sax, Drums, Violins - Rated: - Attractiveness - Fitness: intelligence, health, social status - How good of Parent - Results show intelligence, dating, social status likeliness increases - Genre can play a factor as some are about short or long term Study: - Associate faces of performers with musical sample - As long as they did a musical performance- attractiveness went up Hypothesis 4: Mating success  - 10,000 Swedish twins - musical ability must be hereditary if sexually selected - Musical ability meant higher IQ tests, faster reactions, taller females. - People more musically gifted, more long term oriented Hypothesis 5: Musical Production, Performance, Perception sexually dimorphic ? - Darwin did not consider music ability sexually dimorphic - ”for the sake of charming the opposite sex” - men and women should be close in musical perception ability Hypothesis 6: Motivation to make music - male reproductive success means more motivation to make music - female number 1 songs harder to bring to mind than males - 1250 songs sampled from top 50 - 328 females, 827 males Hypothesis 7: Genre and Life History - slow strategy: smarter, mature later, invest in future, long life expectancy - fast strategy: here and now, mature earlier, impulsive, short life expectancy - rock music has the lowest life expectancy Hypothesis 8: Music lyrical content - thousands of songs about heartbreak, only one about eating peaches Hypothesis 9: Is musical subject sexually dimorphic - greater focus on short term sec for men than women - Male lyrical content focuses on objectification of women at a higher rate than Lecture 19: Epilogue, Evolution and Human Communication - We share adaptations with many species, aggression, laughter, pathogen avoidance, coalitions, signaling process, mate selection - chimps, ants and pigmy marmosets engage in intergroup conflict - all primates laugh - honey bee dances communicate quantity and direction of food relative to the sun - cant have altruism without genetic selfishness reserved  - female orgasm designed for retention of high quality sperm of men with higher symmetry - gossip used for intrasexual competition strategy - religious primes make men physically weaker and less impulsive - laughter increases pain tolerance - Mid- Range theories - parental investment - costly signaling theory - life-history theory - parasite avoidance theory Critiques of Evolutionary Approaches Genetic Determinism - adaptation that responds to environmental input claims are scientific, not political proximal social science is not necessarily better Future topics of study - music - humor - deception - marketing - health - religion - drug use Deception: Mimickery - Batesian- non poisonous animals mimic poisonous ones, Viceroy and Monarch butterflies - Mullerian - convergence in signal for poisonous - Signals and honesty - honest on average Deception in Humans: - linguistic performance more attractive - changing accent to sound smarter - males lie about height and income - females lie about age and past  - strong reciprocity- observe and get a benefit from harming people who cheat - very concerned about potential threats, to the point where conspiracies are made The Scientific Method - make a guess about phenomenon - Make a prediction - test the prediction collect evidence - hypothesis confirmed or not ? Evidence Hierarchy - meta-analysis - experiments - quasi experiments - correlational studies - case studies - qualitative studies - expert opinion