Practice questions for Evolutionary psychology
(with explanations of the right answers)
1. Parental conflict centers on __________.
a. how much parental investment each parent will give to the offspring within the
family
b. how many children would be ideal for the pair
c. how much investment grandparents make in their offspring
d. why children do not resemble the father or his kin
2. The commitment skepticism bias is designed to __________.
a. maximize the benefits of being sexually deceived by men who feign commitment
b. minimize the costs of being sexually deceived by men who feign commitment
c. reduce men’s attempts at deception
d. increase the psychological arms race between commitment skepticism in women and
commitment signaling in men
Answers:
1. A
o Parental conflict is a conflict between mother and father.
2. B
o Women have evolved an inferential bias designed to underestimate men’s actual
level of romantic commitment to her early in courtship. This way she prevents
deceiving of the men who feign commitment.
The next questions are mainly based on the lectures but some are also based on the book.
(Lecture 1)
1. Three essential ingredients of natural selection, according to Darwin, include:
A. Variation, adaptation, & selection
B. Variation, inheritance, & selection
C. Differentiation, inheritance, & choice
D. Differentiation, adaptation, & choice
2. In the modern synthesis in biology and DNA discovery, “Mendelian genetics” refers to…
A. Mixing parental genes
B. Recombination
C. Mutation
D. All of the above
3. Intra-sexual competition refers to…
A. Traits passed on due to attracting opposite sex mates
B. Traits passed on due to providing respect of same sex mates
C. Traits passed on due to providing dominance over opposite sex mates
D. Traits passed on due to giving advantage in competition with same sex mates
, 4. Random change in the genetic makeup of a population is called…
A. Mutation
B. Genetic drift
C. Founder effect
D. Genetic bottleneck
5. The Triune Brain (MacLean, 1960) includes
A. Reptilian brain
B. Paleomammalian complex
C. Neomammalian complex
D. All of the above
6. The theory opposing ‘out of Africa’ theory, proposing humans to have migrated out of Africa 1.8mil
years ago and then developing parallel with each other, all becoming modern humans, is called…
A. Multiregional continuity theory
B. Multiregional exclusivity theory
C. Multiarea development theory
D. Multiarea connectivity theory
7. Triver’s three seminal theories building on Hamilton’s and William’s work include…
A. Reciprocal altruism
B. Relational investment
C. Sibling conflict
D. All of the above
(Lecture 2)
8. “Seeding theory” proposes that:
A. A supreme deity created all of the plants and animals
B. Life did not originate on earth; the seeds of life arrived on earth via a meteorite etc.
C. Genes create different kinds of ‘offspring’
D. Adaptations are optimally designed
9. Traits, that once were adaptive but no longer (e.g. preference for fatty foods), are called
“evolutionary…”
A. By-products
B. Noise
C. Mismatch
D. Clatter
10. Evolved psychological mechanisms exist to…
A. Solve specific problems
B. Help with reproduction
C. Increase changes of survival
D. All of the above
(with explanations of the right answers)
1. Parental conflict centers on __________.
a. how much parental investment each parent will give to the offspring within the
family
b. how many children would be ideal for the pair
c. how much investment grandparents make in their offspring
d. why children do not resemble the father or his kin
2. The commitment skepticism bias is designed to __________.
a. maximize the benefits of being sexually deceived by men who feign commitment
b. minimize the costs of being sexually deceived by men who feign commitment
c. reduce men’s attempts at deception
d. increase the psychological arms race between commitment skepticism in women and
commitment signaling in men
Answers:
1. A
o Parental conflict is a conflict between mother and father.
2. B
o Women have evolved an inferential bias designed to underestimate men’s actual
level of romantic commitment to her early in courtship. This way she prevents
deceiving of the men who feign commitment.
The next questions are mainly based on the lectures but some are also based on the book.
(Lecture 1)
1. Three essential ingredients of natural selection, according to Darwin, include:
A. Variation, adaptation, & selection
B. Variation, inheritance, & selection
C. Differentiation, inheritance, & choice
D. Differentiation, adaptation, & choice
2. In the modern synthesis in biology and DNA discovery, “Mendelian genetics” refers to…
A. Mixing parental genes
B. Recombination
C. Mutation
D. All of the above
3. Intra-sexual competition refers to…
A. Traits passed on due to attracting opposite sex mates
B. Traits passed on due to providing respect of same sex mates
C. Traits passed on due to providing dominance over opposite sex mates
D. Traits passed on due to giving advantage in competition with same sex mates
, 4. Random change in the genetic makeup of a population is called…
A. Mutation
B. Genetic drift
C. Founder effect
D. Genetic bottleneck
5. The Triune Brain (MacLean, 1960) includes
A. Reptilian brain
B. Paleomammalian complex
C. Neomammalian complex
D. All of the above
6. The theory opposing ‘out of Africa’ theory, proposing humans to have migrated out of Africa 1.8mil
years ago and then developing parallel with each other, all becoming modern humans, is called…
A. Multiregional continuity theory
B. Multiregional exclusivity theory
C. Multiarea development theory
D. Multiarea connectivity theory
7. Triver’s three seminal theories building on Hamilton’s and William’s work include…
A. Reciprocal altruism
B. Relational investment
C. Sibling conflict
D. All of the above
(Lecture 2)
8. “Seeding theory” proposes that:
A. A supreme deity created all of the plants and animals
B. Life did not originate on earth; the seeds of life arrived on earth via a meteorite etc.
C. Genes create different kinds of ‘offspring’
D. Adaptations are optimally designed
9. Traits, that once were adaptive but no longer (e.g. preference for fatty foods), are called
“evolutionary…”
A. By-products
B. Noise
C. Mismatch
D. Clatter
10. Evolved psychological mechanisms exist to…
A. Solve specific problems
B. Help with reproduction
C. Increase changes of survival
D. All of the above
