LS 15 Study Complete Solution

LS 15 Final Study Guide Complete Solutions Why is the rate and direction of change more important than absolute levels for happiness? How does this relate to material acquisition? ️ Making progress toward our goals makes us happy, while absolute levels have little effect on our overall happiness. For example, a lottery winner may feel happier initially when receiving the money, but later on, their happiness level returns to what it was before winning. Why are emotions designed to be less permanent than they feel? ️ Emotions are brain states intended to alter our behavior temporarily. Once we achieve our goal, our happiness diminishes. Describe the interplay between culture and biology using an example. ️ Culture involves the non-genetic transmission of information, while biology refers to information passed down through evolution. Culture can liberate us from biological constraints by allowing knowledge to be shared widely, not just through genetic inheritance. For example, you may not know how to make a shoe, but others in society can make it for you. What is the fundamental reproductive equation? What does it reveal about culture and biology? ️ The equation is: sex = pregnancy = babies = maternal childcare = loss of female economic opportunity = loss of female political power. This sequence reveals the different outcomes for males and females and shows how culture can modify these biological constraints. How is the culture/biology interplay illustrated by constrained learning? ️ We cannot learn everything due to biological limitations, which is known as constrained learning. We are better at learning things with evolutionary significance. For example, the Sauce Bearnaise Phenomenon demonstrates that mice have a "genetically coded hypothesis" to associate feeling sick with something they ate. In experiments: 1. Mice drank water, then experienced noise and lights, followed by an electric shock. 2. Mice drank water with a weird taste, then experienced nausea induced by x-rays. In both cases, the mice learned to avoid the water due to the potential correlation.Changed experiments: Mice were unable to learn not to drink water b/c no biological relationship between them What is the EEA? And why is it important for us to be aware of it? ️Environment of Evolutionary Adaptiveness The world we are adapted to through natural selection where instinct will lead you to the right outcome, once you are put in a different environment instinct are not as efficien