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Anthro 4481: Evolutionary Psychology

Evolutionary psychology is an inter-disciplinary field that studies how our preferences, emotions, and ways of thinking and behaving have been shaped by natural selection. In this course we will learn how human nature has evolved to cope with problems of survival, mating, parenting, cooperation, and competition.

General Class Resources


Announcements

Grading Notes Although Canvas records scores as points, the grades will be calculated as indicated in the syllabus. So, your final exam score will be recorded as % correct, and weighted as 25% of your grade. Quizzes and essays are calculated similarly, as indicated on the syllabus. I will be uploading the early quizzes and extra credit in my spreadsheet to canvas so that you can check your scores as well.


Lectures

March 19: Alloparents slideshow [YouTube Alloparents Lecture]

March 24: Kinship slideshow [YouTube Kinship Lecture]

March 26: Reciprocity slideshow [YouTube Reciprocity Lecture]

March 31: Social Brain slideshow [YouTube Social Brain Lecture]

April 2: Morality slideshow [YouTube Morality Lecture]

April 7: Aggression slideshow [YouTube Aggression Lecture]

April 9: Sexual Conflict slideshow [YouTube Sexual Conflict Lecture]

April 14: Status slideshow [YouTube Status Lecture]

April 16: Culture slideshow [YouTube Culture Lecture]


Essay Assignments

These essays are short (about 200-300 words), and are designed to encourage you to think about the material, and relate it to other information and to your own experience. All but the first are responses to assigned videos. Read the Guidelines for general information about what is required for the video reviews; additional guidance will be given in class. Submit all future essays through Canvas
  1. due Jan. 28 Science Isn't Broken. Read article, do the exercise "hack your way to scientific glory," and write a brief word) review of your analyses and what you learned from it.
  2. due Feb 4 The strange politics of disgust by David Pizarro
  3. due Feb 13 Simple heuristics that make us smart by Gerd Gigerenzer
  4. due Mar 3 Asante Market Women (also streamable from Marriott)
  5. due Mar 31 Becoming Human: A theory of ontogeny by Michael Tomasello
  6. due Apr 21 The surprising science of alph males by Frans de Waal
NOTE: Other videos (reviews not required)

Term Paper /Guidelines

Term Papers are an optional alternative to the final exam (see the syllabus). If you want to write one, please consult the following guidelines and see the syllabus for intermediate deadlines, which include prior approval of the topic, and an annotated bibliography. Topics must be approved in advance. You may write a research proposal instead of a term paper, if you wish, but you must consult with me first, for guidance. Annotated bibliography instructions: Use five useful primary sources. Each annotation should be a a brief (about 2-3 sentence) summary of the article and its relevance to your topic (do not cut-and-paste the abstract). See the "finding sources" link for instructions on how to find sources.