psychobio love and war exam 1

Love

“prosocial”. mating, attraction, affiliation, social bonding

War

“Antisocial”. competition, aggression, social dominance

Operationalize

Define a measurable construct (variable/concept)

Competition

Contest for social status

Underlying psych drive

Dominance

Wining competition

Deference

Losing competition

Why would bio system come about to regulate love/war?

1. social species survival and reproduction (aids/benefits)

2. it’s rewarding/feels good (like/want) (how hard will it work to get something?)

Tradeoffs

To weigh costs/benefits

Costs

1. detrimental to health and well-being(risks)

2. punishment leads to avoidance in behavior

Ethology

study of animal behavior

Niko Timbergens 4 questions (to understand behavior)

1. mechanism

2. adaptive value

3. ontogeny

4. phylogeny

Mechanism

how does it work? contemporary view with proximate level of explanation.

Adaptive value

what is the function? contemporary view with Ultimate level of explanation.

Ontogeny

how does a develop within individuals lifespan? chronical (historical) view with proximate level of explanation.

phylogeny

what is the genetic history? chronical (historical) view with a ultimate explanation.

Proximate level of explanation

distance measurable. easier to measure

ultimate level of exploitation

process of evolution. difficult to measure

3 main cautions when making biological explanations

1. anthoropomorphism: to interpret animal behavior through a human-centric lens (influence how we understand species)

2. biological determinism: over focus or overweigh biological explanations (ignores social factors when making decisions) nature > nurture

3. naturalistic fallacy (cognitive bias): The tendency to think what is “natural” is therefore good. makes “is” → “ought to be”l