LS 15 Phelan UCLA Final Exam Questions with Complete Solutions

Why is the rate and direction of change more important than absolute levels how does this relate tocorrect answer- 50% of all suicides in prison happen in 1st 2 weeks Extreme depression cuz it's a big change If they make it thru things improve Our happiness is relative to our basic feelings Why are emotions designed to be less permanent than they feelcorrect answer- Brain states that alter your behavior in ways beneficial to your genes Sitting being happy al the time is not consistent w evolution Motivate u to do something so u can be motivated again once they reset Describe 3 lines of evidence to support the idea that emotions are tools used to motivate our behaviorcorrect answer- Ex: guilt, jealousy, desire Guilt motivates you to not be selfish Desire motivates you to act in a certain way to achieve your goals Emotions like a lack of happiness can motivate you to take drugs Sexual jealousy: if u are scared of someone cheating on you, you are going to step up your game Using an example describe the interplay between culture and biologycorrect answer- Culture is learning things its tech, education, etc Ex: all of us have been reproductively mature for a while now, and very few of us have children. Bio sets us up to be reproductively mature at age 13. Ex: ppl start having sex at age 16 but birth control prevents them from having kids You are nudged in certain places but culture decides how you act on these urges What is the fundamental reproductive equation what does it reveal about culture and biologycorrect answer- Sex = pregnancy = babies = maternal child care = loss of female economic opportunity = loss of female political power It's hard to fight biological urges Sex does not have to equal pregnancy -> rubber Pregnancy does not have to equal babies -> surgery Babies do not have to equal maternal child care -> rubber nipples Maternal childcare does not have to equal loss of female economic opportunity -> daycare Loss of female economic opportunity does not have to equal loss of female political power -> The cultural idea that the person in power doesn't need to have the most money basically democracy There are certain biological constraints on how we r built that unchecked can lead to undesirable outcomes Culture can block every step of the fundamental reproductive equation The invention of vulcanized rubber can stop that equation at 3 dif places Bio is not an excuse Using 2 examples explain what constrained learning is and how it illuminates culture biologycorrect answer- Ex: It is easier to grasp a language at a younger age compared to learning a language at age 20 because it is a biological constraint. Rats could learn to associate certain stimuli and physical conditions but couldn't learn to associate others Associate nausea and weird taste Associate light+noise w electric shock But could never learn to not drink water Monkeys could not learn to be scared of flowers, but they were quick to learn to fear snakes You can know how to max cardiovascular fitness but it won't work the same for everyone Humans are quick to associate bad food with sickness rather than the actual bacteria that could have caused the sickness thru other ways What is the EEA? Why is it important for us to be aware of it?correct answer- The environment of evolutionary adaptation A mismatch between EEA and the current environment when outcomes of NS arent appropriate anymore Male geese protect the eggs that roll of from a nest often bringing in unwanted items that resemble the shape of an egg Our instincts drive us to eat more food than necessary Our instincts don't drive us to constantly exercise cuz back in the hunter-gatherer world it would be a better idea to preserve our energy Teenagers would have kids in the EEA cuz humans had a shorter lifespan so evolution favored those who grew sexually mature faster. But in today's environment, it is favorable to get an education and have a baby at a later age. Why is the EEA sometime different from a populations current environmentcorrect answer- Culture Environments can change rapidly Natural Selection is slow Bacteria are more likely to be in their EEA cuz they have a short generation time, so NS is working relatively faster to their changing environment Describe 3 examples of species having dif current environment and EEAcorrect answer- Zoo animals are dif than their EEA, they get medicine, no predators