PSY 4930: Introduction to Evolutionary Psychology

Fall 1999


 


Instructors

Dr. Todd K. Shackelford Dr. David F. Bjorklund

Office: FAU-Davie, EH 275 Office: FAU-Boca, BS 105

Office hours: M, 4-6pm Office hours: MW: 8-9am

F, 12-2pm MW: 1:30-3pm F: Immediately after class

Office phone: 954-236-1179 Office phone: 561-297-3367

E-mail: tshackel@fau.edu E-mail: DBjorklund@fau.edu

Course Meeting Time and Location

Fridays, 9:00-11:50am, Davie campus, ES 106

Course Description

This course will provide an introduction to the emerging field of evolutionary psychology. We will consider a broad range of topics that have been addressed from an evolutionary perspective, including mating strategies, sexual jealousy, cheater detection, pregnancy sickness, parental nurturance and negligence, spatial memory, landscape preferences, and aggression and violence. Evolutionary psychology provides a new and often insightful perspective to all areas of psychology, with particular success so far in cognitive psychology, social psychology, personality psychology, developmental psychology, and linguistics, to name a few areas. We will address how evolutionary psychology sheds light on the phenomena traditionally studied in these areas.

Required Text

Buss, David M. (1999). Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Exams

There will be two exams. The first exam will be a "take home" exam. We will pass out this exam on the date indicated below, and you will have one week to complete the exam. Your completed exam will be due at the beginning of the next class period. We encourage you to discuss the exam questions with your fellow students, but each of you will be responsible for turning in your own, independently written exam. The second exam will be an in-class exam, and will occur during the week of final exams. One week before this exam, we will distribute study questions that you should use to prepare for this exam. Both exams will consist entirely of essay questions. Each exam will be worth 25% of your final course grade.

Term paper (1) Content of paper. You are required to write a brief term paper for this course. Your assignment is to select three research articles that have appeared in scholarly journals in the past 5 years (1995-1999). These three articles should be on the same topic, and they must present the results of original empirical research (that is, they can’t be theoretical papers, literature reviews, or commentaries on previous papers, for example). You can select any topic addressed in past research from an evolutionary psychological perspective. There are two ways to identify a topic for your paper: (1) Do an electronic search on PsycLit or PsycInfo. These searches can be done on any FAU library terminal (for example, the computers in University/College library or in CLA 303). You will need a library patron number (if you don’t have one, you can get one at the main circulation desk on the first floor of University/College library). Search for "evolutionary psychology and [your topic]"; (2) Come talk to us--We'll work with you to narrow your interests to a manageable topic for a term paper. Once you find one article that interests you, look in the References section at the end of the article--you are likely to find several other articles on the same topic, perhaps even by the same author. The three articles you select can be by different authors or by the same author. You should make copies of the articles you select, so you can refer back to them as you write your paper. You must hand in complete copies of the articles you select with your completed term paper.

Once you select three research articles in which the same topic or phenomenon is addressed by an evolutionary psychological perspective, you will write a brief paper in which you do the following, for each article:

    1. Identify the purpose of the research. What hypotheses were tested? What is the theory behind the hypotheses (How did the researcher get to the hypotheses)?
    2. Summarize the methodology of the research. How did the researcher test the hypotheses? Who were the research participants, and how were they selected for the research?
    3. Summarize the results of the research. What did the researcher find? Were the hypotheses supported or not supported? What evidence suggested that the hypotheses were or were not supported? Don’t worry about presenting any statistics; summarize the results in your own words.
    4. Critique the research. How might this research have been done better? If you were given the chance to test the same hypotheses, what would you have done differently? Would you use a different methodology? Different subjects? How and why would these changes improve the research? Discuss at least three things that could be changed to improve this research.
Integration of Three Articles  

Knowledge is cumulative in evolutionary psychology, as it is in any field of science. Often, we can learn a great deal about a topic of interest by reviewing and integrating the results of several studies on that topic. Now that you’ve read, summarized, and critiqued three research articles on a single topic addressed by an evolutionary psychological perspective, what can you conclude? How are the results generated by the three papers consistent or inconsistent? Taken together, how has the research presented in the three articles contributed to our knowledge about the topic of interest? Based on the results presented in these three articles, what is the most important direction for future research on the topic of interest? Use the questions just posed as guidelines for formulating your integration of the three articles, which will make up the final section of your paper.

 (2) Structure of paper. Your paper MUST be typed. The first page should be an unnumbered title page. The title page should include a title for your paper, your name, your social security number, the date, the term, the professors' names, and the title of the course. The next page is page 1. Page numbers should appear in the upper right-hand corner of each page. The text should be double-spaced throughout and set in 12-point Times font (standard font size and shape in most word processing programs). Your paper should have one-inch margins at the top, bottom, right, and left of each page. Use sensible headings throughout your paper so we can follow what you’re doing. For example, you might start a new section, with a new heading, as you answer each of the four questions for each article you review. A final section might be the section in which you integrate the results of the three articles. After the text of your paper, you should include a References section, where you list the three articles you reviewed and any other references you cite (but NOT references you didn’t specifically cite) in the text of your paper. References for journal articles should be provided as follows (note that the References also should be double-spaced): Shackelford, T. K., & Buss, D. M. (1996). Betrayal in mateships, friendships, and coalitions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 1151-1164. References for book chapters should be provided as follows: Shackelford, T. K. (1997). Perceptions of betrayal and the design of the mind. In J. A. Simpson & D. T. Kenrick (Eds.), Evolutionary social psychology (pp. 73-107). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. References for books should be provided as follows:

Buss, D. M. (1994). The evolution of desire: Strategies of human mating. New York: Basic Books.

Any idea you take from another source should be credited to that source by putting the last name or names and year of publication in parentheses after you present the idea. Alternatively, you can credit the author by last name in the context of the sentence. In this case, you would put the year of publication of the source in parentheses after the author’s last name. Needless to say, don’t plagiarize in your paper. If you are using more than three words in the order in which they were written by the author, you must put quotes around these words and cite the page number and source from which the phrase or sentence was taken. Plagiarism will result in immediate failure in the course. As a general rule, paraphrase (use your own words) rather than quote directly.

As a guide, you should devote 2 typed pages to your discussion of each of the three articles. Two typed pages also are a good guide for your integration of the three articles. Not including the References page, your paper should be about 8 typed pages. Do not exceed 10 pages. Try to be as clear and concise as possible. You will discover that it is a challenge to write everything you need to write in 8 to 10 pages.

(3) Grading of paper. Your paper is worth 25% of your course grade. This amounts to 100 of 400 total points you could earn in the course. Your discussion of each of the three articles is worth 25 points, and your integration of the three papers is worth 25 points, for a total of 100 points. Your grade for the paper will not be curved.

(4) Due date for paper. Papers are due at the BEGINING of class on December 3, 1999. We are happy to discuss your paper with you, including helping you improve it, until November 19, 1999, two weeks before it is due.

(5) Paper meeting. You MUST meet with one of us at least once BEFORE you begin writing your paper. Ideally, you should come to this meeting with an idea of what topic you want to write about, as well as 3 to 5 articles you might use for your paper. We encourage you to meet with one of us earlier rather than later in the term. We can meet as many times as you want, up until two weeks before the paper is due. If you cannot meet with one of us during our office hours, we are happy to schedule an appointment with you.

Student Presentation

Each student will be required to make a 15 minute presentation on an area of evolutionary psychological research that is of interest to him or her. You should plan to present on a topic that is different from the topic of your term paper. Also, please be prepared to take our suggestions for presentation topics. We want to avoid any overlap in the topics presented by students, and this may mean suggesting a topic that you may or may not have selected as your first choice. One of us will meet with each of you to discuss your interests and how to organize your presentation. It is your responsibility to schedule a time with one of us to discuss and prepare for your presentation. You MUST arrange a meeting with one of us no later than 2 weeks before you are scheduled to present. The presentation will include the following:

    1. Brief overview of the research topic
    2. Brief overview of one or more evolutionary psychological perspectives on the topic
    3. Brief summary of the most important empirical work on the topic from an evolutionary perspective
    4. Suggestions for future evolutionary psychological research on the topic
The presentations will begin on October 22 and will continue for the remainder of the term. Three or four students will present at the beginning of each class period. A 5-minute discussion/question period will follow each presentation. You should provide your fellow students with a handout that details the area of research, provides a few key references, and summarizes in a few paragraphs what has been discovered and what remains to be discovered (that is, what are important questions that remain in that area of research). You should make use of overhead transparencies. An overhead projector will be provided. The presentation will be worth 15% of your final course grade.

Attendance, Participation, and Enthusiasm

You should plan to attend EVERY class. Come to every class prepared--do ALL of the reading scheduled for that class period, and be prepared to discuss the assigned material. We don't expect you to agree with everything you read or learn about in this class. We enjoy a thoughtful, reasoned disagreement or debate. We do expect you to be very familiar with the material, however. We also expect you to have an enthusiastic attitude about discussing and learning about the material, even if you disagree with some of it. Your attendance, participation, and enthusiasm will be worth 10% of your final course grade.

Summary of Course Grading

First exam (take home): 25% of course grade (100 points)

Second exam (in class): 25% of course grade (100 points)

Term paper: 25% of course grade (100 points)

Presentation: 15% of course grade (60 points)

Attendance, participation, and enthusiasm: 10% of course grade (40 points)

Extra Credit

You may have several opportunities to obtain extra-credit towards your grade in this course. Extra-credit will be given for participation in experiments conducted by faculty and graduate students at FAU, as well as for attending certain talks presented on the FAU-Davie campus. Two (2) extra-credit points will be given for each experiment in which you participate, and for each talk you attend. For each talk you attend, you must provide us with no more than 2 typed pages that include a summary and critique of the talk. We will announce these experiments and talks as they come to our attention.

Make-Up Exams and Incomplete Coursework

If you miss a scheduled exam, please see one of us immediately. Under extraordinary circumstances, an alternative exam can be provided, but must be completed within one week of the scheduled due date for the exam. Alternative exams will not be scheduled prior to the exam due date. Receiving an incomplete for the course is not an option, except under extraordinary circumstances. If you have any questions about these policies, please see one of us immediately.
 
 

Class Schedule

*Note: Assigned readings should be completed before the class day on which they are scheduled. All chapters are in Buss (1999).

Date Topic Readings

Aug. 27 Foundations of Evolutionary Psychology I: Chapter 1

Scientific Movements Leading to Evolutionary Psychology Sept. 3 Foundations of Evolutionary Psychology II: Chapter 2

The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology

Sept. 10 Problems of Survival Chapter 3

Sept. 17 Evolutionary Developmental Psychology No readings

Sept. 24 Problems of Parenting Chapter 7

Oct. 1 Problems of Kinship Chapter 8

Oct. 8 Sex and Mating I: Chapter 4

Women's Long-Term Mating Strategies

*Take home exam handed out

Oct. 15 Sex and Mating II: Chapter 5

Men's Long-Term Mating Strategies

*Take home exam due at BEGINNING of class Oct. 22 Sex and Mating III: Chapter 6

Short-Term Sexual Strategies

*Student presentations begin

Oct. 29 Problems of Group Living I: Chapter 9

Cooperative Alliances

Nov. 5 Problems of Group Living II: Chapter 10

Aggression and Warfare

Nov. 12 Problems of Group Living III: Chapter 11

Conflict between the Sexes

Nov. 19 Problems of Group Living IV: Chapter 12

Status, Prestige, and Social Dominance

Summary and Conclusions: Chapter 13

Toward an Integrated Psychological Science Nov. 26 NO CLASSES (Thanksgiving) No readings

Dec. 3 Second exam (in class), 7:45-10:15am No readings