COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION IN EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY: FROM DARWINIAN
PRINCIPLES TO HUMAN CULTURE
COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE OF WORKMAN & READER (4TH EDITION, CHAPTERS 1-
14)
SECTION A: FOUNDATIONS OF EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY (CHAPTERS 1-3)
1. Natural selection depends fundamentally on which of the following conditions?
A) Inheritance of acquired characteristics and use-disuse inheritance
B) Heritable variation and differential reproductive success
C) Directional environmental pressures and phenotypic plasticity
D) Gene flow and genetic drift
Answer: B
Rationale: Natural selection requires that traits are heritable (can be passed to offspring)
and that variation in these traits leads to differential reproduction, where some individuals
leave more offspring than others. Lamarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics was
rejected as a mechanism of evolutionary change.
2. The Modern Synthesis integrated Darwinian evolution with which of the following?
A) Lamarckian inheritance patterns
B) Mendelian particulate genetics
C) Lysenkoist agricultural practices
D) The Great Chain of Being hierarchy
Answer: B
Rationale: The Modern Synthesis unified Darwinian natural selection with Mendelian
genetics, resolving how heritable variation is maintained rather than "blended" away. This
,synthesis, developed by Fisher, Haldane, and Wright, remains the foundation of
evolutionary theory.
3. Who coined the term "evolutionary psychology" as a distinct field of inquiry?
A) Charles Darwin
B) Edward O. Wilson
C) Richard Dawkins
D) John Tooby and Leda Cosmides
Answer: D
Rationale: Tooby and Cosmides were instrumental in establishing evolutionary psychology
as a formal discipline in the late 1980s and early 1990s, articulating its core principles and
distinguishing it from sociobiology and other evolutionary approaches.
4. The Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA) refers to:
A) The Pleistocene environment where humans currently live
B) A specific time period and geographical location
C) A statistical composite of adaptive-relevant ancestral environmental properties
D) The optimal environment for human flourishing
Answer: C
Rationale: The EEA is not a specific place or time but a statistical composite of the
selection pressures that shaped human adaptations. It represents the relevant features of
ancestral environments weighted by their frequency and fitness consequences, not the
actual environment itself.
5. According to Tinbergen's four questions, understanding the "adaptive function" of a
behavior addresses:
A) The immediate physiological mechanisms
B) The developmental trajectory
C) The evolutionary history (phylogeny)
D) The survival value (adaptation)
Answer: D
,Rationale: Tinbergen distinguished four levels of analysis: mechanism (causation),
ontogeny (development), phylogeny (evolutionary history), and adaptation
(function/survival value). Adaptive function addresses how behavior contributes to survival
and reproduction.
6. Eugenics refers to:
A) The study of genetic transmission patterns
B) Selective breeding programs aimed at improving the human gene pool
C) Understanding population genetic changes
D) The inheritance of acquired characteristics
Answer: B
Rationale: Eugenics involves efforts to improve the genetic quality of the human population
through selective breeding. Historically, eugenics programs often led to coercive or
discriminatory practices and are considered ethically problematic in modern evolutionary
psychology.
7. The "inheritance of acquired characteristics" is most closely associated with which
scientist?
A) Charles Darwin
B) Gregor Mendel
C) Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
D) Alfred Russel Wallace
Answer: C
Rationale: Lamarck proposed that organisms could pass on traits acquired during their
lifetime (e.g., a giraffe stretching its neck could pass on longer necks). This mechanism was
later rejected as the primary engine of evolution.
8. Which of the following represents a core tenet of evolutionary psychology?
A) All human behaviors are adaptive and evolved for specific functions
B) Culture and learning have little influence on human behavior
C) Domain-specific psychological mechanisms evolved to solve adaptive problems
D) Evolutionary theory cannot explain psychological phenomena
Answer: C
, Rationale: Evolutionary psychology posits that the human mind consists of domain-
specific psychological mechanisms shaped by natural selection to solve specific adaptive
problems (e.g., mate choice, social exchange, fear of predators).
9. Breland and Breland's concept of "instinctual drift" demonstrates that:
A) All behaviors can be conditioned equally well
B) Learning is constrained by species-typical predispositions
C) Positive reinforcement is more effective than punishment
D) Animals can be trained to perform any behavior with sufficient reinforcement
Answer: B
Rationale: Instinctual drift refers to the tendency for conditioned behaviors to revert to
innate, species-typical patterns. This demonstrates that learning is biologically constrained
and not a general-purpose, unlimited process.
10. Mendel's discovery of "particulate inheritance" was demonstrated by which
observation?
A) Offspring phenotypes are always intermediate between parents
B) Traits are inherited as discrete units that do not blend
C) All traits are influenced equally by both parents
D) Environmental factors determine inheritance patterns
Answer: B
Rationale: Mendel showed that traits are inherited as discrete, particulate units (now
known as genes) that maintain their identity across generations, rather than blending
together. This explains how variation is maintained in populations.
11. The "Great Chain of Being" refers to:
A) The hierarchical classification of organisms by complexity
B) Darwin's depiction of the tree of life
C) The genetic connections between all living things
D) The continuum from prokaryotes to eukaryotes
Answer: A
PRINCIPLES TO HUMAN CULTURE
COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE OF WORKMAN & READER (4TH EDITION, CHAPTERS 1-
14)
SECTION A: FOUNDATIONS OF EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY (CHAPTERS 1-3)
1. Natural selection depends fundamentally on which of the following conditions?
A) Inheritance of acquired characteristics and use-disuse inheritance
B) Heritable variation and differential reproductive success
C) Directional environmental pressures and phenotypic plasticity
D) Gene flow and genetic drift
Answer: B
Rationale: Natural selection requires that traits are heritable (can be passed to offspring)
and that variation in these traits leads to differential reproduction, where some individuals
leave more offspring than others. Lamarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics was
rejected as a mechanism of evolutionary change.
2. The Modern Synthesis integrated Darwinian evolution with which of the following?
A) Lamarckian inheritance patterns
B) Mendelian particulate genetics
C) Lysenkoist agricultural practices
D) The Great Chain of Being hierarchy
Answer: B
Rationale: The Modern Synthesis unified Darwinian natural selection with Mendelian
genetics, resolving how heritable variation is maintained rather than "blended" away. This
,synthesis, developed by Fisher, Haldane, and Wright, remains the foundation of
evolutionary theory.
3. Who coined the term "evolutionary psychology" as a distinct field of inquiry?
A) Charles Darwin
B) Edward O. Wilson
C) Richard Dawkins
D) John Tooby and Leda Cosmides
Answer: D
Rationale: Tooby and Cosmides were instrumental in establishing evolutionary psychology
as a formal discipline in the late 1980s and early 1990s, articulating its core principles and
distinguishing it from sociobiology and other evolutionary approaches.
4. The Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA) refers to:
A) The Pleistocene environment where humans currently live
B) A specific time period and geographical location
C) A statistical composite of adaptive-relevant ancestral environmental properties
D) The optimal environment for human flourishing
Answer: C
Rationale: The EEA is not a specific place or time but a statistical composite of the
selection pressures that shaped human adaptations. It represents the relevant features of
ancestral environments weighted by their frequency and fitness consequences, not the
actual environment itself.
5. According to Tinbergen's four questions, understanding the "adaptive function" of a
behavior addresses:
A) The immediate physiological mechanisms
B) The developmental trajectory
C) The evolutionary history (phylogeny)
D) The survival value (adaptation)
Answer: D
,Rationale: Tinbergen distinguished four levels of analysis: mechanism (causation),
ontogeny (development), phylogeny (evolutionary history), and adaptation
(function/survival value). Adaptive function addresses how behavior contributes to survival
and reproduction.
6. Eugenics refers to:
A) The study of genetic transmission patterns
B) Selective breeding programs aimed at improving the human gene pool
C) Understanding population genetic changes
D) The inheritance of acquired characteristics
Answer: B
Rationale: Eugenics involves efforts to improve the genetic quality of the human population
through selective breeding. Historically, eugenics programs often led to coercive or
discriminatory practices and are considered ethically problematic in modern evolutionary
psychology.
7. The "inheritance of acquired characteristics" is most closely associated with which
scientist?
A) Charles Darwin
B) Gregor Mendel
C) Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
D) Alfred Russel Wallace
Answer: C
Rationale: Lamarck proposed that organisms could pass on traits acquired during their
lifetime (e.g., a giraffe stretching its neck could pass on longer necks). This mechanism was
later rejected as the primary engine of evolution.
8. Which of the following represents a core tenet of evolutionary psychology?
A) All human behaviors are adaptive and evolved for specific functions
B) Culture and learning have little influence on human behavior
C) Domain-specific psychological mechanisms evolved to solve adaptive problems
D) Evolutionary theory cannot explain psychological phenomena
Answer: C
, Rationale: Evolutionary psychology posits that the human mind consists of domain-
specific psychological mechanisms shaped by natural selection to solve specific adaptive
problems (e.g., mate choice, social exchange, fear of predators).
9. Breland and Breland's concept of "instinctual drift" demonstrates that:
A) All behaviors can be conditioned equally well
B) Learning is constrained by species-typical predispositions
C) Positive reinforcement is more effective than punishment
D) Animals can be trained to perform any behavior with sufficient reinforcement
Answer: B
Rationale: Instinctual drift refers to the tendency for conditioned behaviors to revert to
innate, species-typical patterns. This demonstrates that learning is biologically constrained
and not a general-purpose, unlimited process.
10. Mendel's discovery of "particulate inheritance" was demonstrated by which
observation?
A) Offspring phenotypes are always intermediate between parents
B) Traits are inherited as discrete units that do not blend
C) All traits are influenced equally by both parents
D) Environmental factors determine inheritance patterns
Answer: B
Rationale: Mendel showed that traits are inherited as discrete, particulate units (now
known as genes) that maintain their identity across generations, rather than blending
together. This explains how variation is maintained in populations.
11. The "Great Chain of Being" refers to:
A) The hierarchical classification of organisms by complexity
B) Darwin's depiction of the tree of life
C) The genetic connections between all living things
D) The continuum from prokaryotes to eukaryotes
Answer: A
