Biological Beginnings

Chapter 02 Biological Beginnings

1.Red-feathered and blue-feathered birds occupy the same environment. The birds with the red feathers are better able to survive and avoid predators. This means that the population of red-feathered birds should increase in future generations. This illustrates the process of _____.

• genetic selection
• natural adaptation
• natural selection
• genetic survival

2._____ introduced the theory of evolution by natural selection in 1859.

• Sigmund Freud
• Charles Darwin
• Stephen Hawking
• Wilhelm Wundt

• If a baboon learns to eat many different kinds of fruit instead of relying on only one kind for its nutritive needs, we would

argue that this behavior promotes its survival. Thus, the behavior is _____.

• adaptive
• aggressive
• dominant
• submissive

4. Evolution takes place:

• over the course of many generations.
• almost immediately.
• when a species is ready for it.
• due to active attempts at change on the part of a species.

• Psychology's newest approach, _____, emphasizes the importance of adaptation, reproduction, and "survival of the

fittest" in shaping behavior.

• behavioral psychology
• humanistic psychology
• cognitive psychology
• evolutionary psychology

6.According to evolutionary developmental psychologists, many evolved psychological mechanisms are _____. That is, the mechanisms apply only to a specific aspect of a person's makeup.

• domain-specific
• maladjusted
• non-operational
• unconditional

7.Which of the following statements is true about evolutionary developmental psychology?

• Many evolved psychological mechanisms apply only to a specific aspect of a person's makeup.
• The mind is a general-purpose device that can be applied equally to a vast array of problems.
• All behaviors that were adaptive for our prehistoric ancestors serve us well today.
• Evolution has not impacted human development.

8.The food-scarce environment of our ancestors likely led to humans' propensity to gorge when food is available and to crave high-caloric foods—a trait that might lead to an epidemic of obesity when food is plentiful. This illustrates how:

• socialization influences the development of behavior and cognitive skills in human beings.
• evolved mechanisms are not always adaptive in contemporary society.
• organisms pass on characteristics they had acquired during their lifetime to their offspring.
• the benefits of evolutionary selection decrease with age.

9.According to Paul Baltes, the benefits conferred with evolutionary selection _____ with age.

• increase
• stay the same
• decrease
• fluctuate

10.According to life-span developmentalist Paul Baltes, the benefits conferred by evolutionary selection decrease with age.Natural selection has not weeded out many harmful conditions and nonadaptive characteristics that appear among older adults.Why?

• Degeneration aids in the transmission of desirable traits to future generations.
• Natural selection operates primarily on characteristics that are tied to reproductive fitness.
• Human evolution has no effect on previous generations.
• Evolved mechanisms are always adaptive in contemporary society.

11.Paul Baltes says that natural selection among humans operates mainly during the _____ of life.

• second half
• last years
• first half
• first year