Anthropology 7 - Winter Quarter
2005
Introductory Biosocial Anthropology
Professor John Tooby
Time: Wednesdays
Enrollment Codes: by section Office (Tooby): HSSB 1010
Email: tooby@anth.ucsb.edu Tooby
& Schniter Mailboxes: HSSB
2nd Floor Anthro Mail Room
Date/time of Midterm Examination: Wednesday, Feb 9th, class time (after lecture)
Date/time of Final Examination:
Fri., March 18th from
Tooby office hours: Wednesday
Teaching Fellow: Eric Schniter TF email: eschniter@umail.ucsb.edu
TF Office Hours Wed
Course Web Page: http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/tooby/classes/anth7/2005 starting January 26th. Please
consult this web page periodically, as important announcements will be posted
there. The film The 7 Samurai is scheduled to be shown in Buchanan 1940 on Monday,
January 24 from
Overview: Anthro 7 is an introduction to the emerging new science
of evolutionary psychology, together with related fields such as human behavioral
ecology (also known as evolutionary ecology) and human ethology, that together
constitute biosocial anthropology). Evolutionary psychology is the study of our
evolved, universal human nature and its organizing impact on human life
and culture. This is a course about
human nature – its causes, its structure, and its effects on our lives.
Because our species’ architecture (mind, brain, and body) was constructed
by the evolutionary process, understanding how our evolutionary past built
us can give us new insights into what we are and why we are designed the
way we are. In particular, this new
scientific approach gives us the opportunity to make new discoveries about
the engineering specifications of our various mental programs (instincts,
mechanisms, computational adaptations) such as parental love, friendship,
sexual attraction, in-group mindedness, status-perception, aggressive threat,
and jealousy. These programs were
built step by step among our foraging ancestors, as problem-solving circuits
that helped them deal with the recurrent problems encountered by hunter-gatherers.
These instincts are universal, that is, they reliably develop in
all normal members of our species. They
shape all human cultures, explain the commonalties found among people everywhere,
and provide the logic underlying human affairs.
Scientifically, evolutionary psychology was created by bringing together
the study of evolutionary biology, human evolution, information theory,
hunter-gatherer studies, cultural anthropology, neuroscience, psychology,
computational science, and related fields.
By using insights and methods gained from integrating these fields,
researchers can now systematically map the structure of the programs that
make up the human mind (and its physical basis, the brain), just as earlier
generations mapped human anatomy.
This new research is revealing that there is a vast, hidden, nonconscious
world of human instincts, our common legacy from our distant hunter-gatherer
ancestors. These instincts are reasoning
and emotional programs that we all carry within us, built into the evolved
organization of human brain anatomy. These instincts are adaptations that evolved
to solve the adaptive problems faced by our ancestors over two millions
of years of a hunting and gathering existence.
These instincts not only regulate what we want and the emotions we
feel, but much about what we think, how we interpret situations, what kinds
of cultures we invent, and what kinds of cultural indoctrination we resist,
accept, or attempt to impose on others.
This course is an introduction to the world of human instincts: What they
are, how they operate, what their functions are, how they organize our thoughts,
feelings, and acts, as well as the social worlds we form as groups.
The social lives of people in every culture are patterned by these
instincts: they help to create status competition, ties of kinship, standards
of beauty, norms of justice, systems of exchange, cycles of revenge, acts
of jealousy, pressures for conformity, the complex loves and tensions of
family life, and the other recurrent features of the human condition.
This course addresses such questions as: Why and in what ways do the minds of the two
sexes differ? Why do our instincts categorize and respond to some members
of the opposite sex as more sexually attractive than others? What are the specialized emotions and ways of
thinking that build friendships and govern why they break up? Why do people get depressed? What are blame, disgust, love, pride, guilt,
and shame, and why do they exist at all?
What is status, and why do people care about it? What instincts impel people to form groups of
friends and allies, and what are the roots of in-group bias, social exclusivity,
ostracism, and intergroup hostility? Was Freud right about the Oedipus Complex?
Requirements: Course
grades are based on three things: (1)
A final examination that counts for 60% of the grade; (2) A midterm that
counts for 25% of the grade; and (3) Section assignments, which count 15%
of the grade. The final examination
is cumulative, covering the entire course.
The examinations will cover everything: the lectures, the readings,
films, problem sets, sections, the computer demonstrations, etc. You will be expected to bring soft lead pencils
(#2) and a Par Form (Large Purple Scantron) to the Midterm and Final Examinations,
since the examinations will be machine graded. They are available in the
UCSB Bookstore. Your Perm Number is crucial for keeping track of your examination
grades, so make sure you put this number on every exam and problem set that
you take in the course. The midterm
is designed so that it can only help: It closely parallels the final in
its design, so that once you take the midterm, you know what to expect on
the final. Moreover, if you blow
the midterm, you can still get an A in the class.
If you do better on the final than on the midterm, the midterm will not be counted, and your grade
will be computed based on your performance on the final examination (and
your section assignments). We are interested in how much you have learned
by the end of the class, not on whether you learned it by the midterm. Also, course grades are not zero sum. Your succeeding is not dependent on others failing:
in principle, everyone could get an A if they master the course materials
sufficiently well. Class assignments
will consist of a variety of things, including self-paced computer tutorials,
problem sets, participation in class experiments (or alternatives, as you
choose), and so on. Section assignments
will be graded as satisfactory or unsatisfactory, based on whether they
show a good faith effort to do them.
How to do well
and what to study: The most important thing you can do is to come
to lecture each week – this is key to doing well. The second most important thing you can do is
think about think about the readings in the light of what is taught in the
lectures. Read each chapter for the
overview or overall logic of each argument, and important facts. You will not be expected to remember minor details.
However, you will not be able to figure out what is minor and what
is major unless you come to lecture. Anything that comes up repeatedly in both lectures
and readings you should expect to see on the exams, and anything that is
important in the readings is fair game.
The goal of the course is to teach you how to reason with certain
theoretical tools and principles, and to apply them to human affairs—tools
involving human nature, natural selection, adaptations, information processing
systems and how they regulate behavior, and so on. This material is only mastered by students who
regularly attend the lectures (and do the associated exercises). The various exercises also help students to
learn to apply the course ideas confidently.
Lecture notes provided by AS Notes can serve as a useful reminder
about what was discussed in various lectures for those who went to lecture,
but they are no replacement whatsoever for attending lectures. They do not, and cannot distill the tutorials
delivered in lecture on how to think in this new way. They do allow the
student to concentrate on the lecture without having to worry about taking
notes. The AS Notes materials are not reviewed by the professor.
Required
Texts: Available from the University Bookstore, Amazon.com,
and other sources.
(1) Martin Daly & Margo Wilson / Sex, evolution, and behavior / 2nd edition
Prindle Weber & Schmidt: 1983
(2) Marjorie Shostak / Nisa: The life
and words of a !Kung woman. Vintage Books pbk edition. New York : c1981.
(3) David Buss / Evolutionary
Psychology: The New Science of the Mind, 2nd Edition Allyn
& Bacon; 2003
(4) Barkow, J., Cosmides, L., and Tooby, J. / The adapted
mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. (paper text edition)
Sections: You receive and turn in problem sets, instructions
for computer demonstrations, experiments, and so on, from your TA in section.
Activities, films, and assignments in sections count towards your final
grade. For logistical reasons, section
activities may be swapped around from week to week (i.e., the schedule for
them is tentative).
Experiments: There will also be some experiments
– class projects, that, if you participate in them, will help you understand
some of the certain ideas of the course. They are a significant part of the class.
The experiments will be administered in section starting in the 5th
week of classes, and they will all be anonymous pencil and paper tasks.
This allows them to be discussed subsequently in class, without biasing
the results. You will be able to
see how seemingly trivial activities can, when the patterns are analyzed,
show the existence of underlying mental machinery we are unaware of, created
by events from our distant evolutionary history.
Those students who, for any reason, do not wish to participate may
substitute a 2 page paper on a topic to be assigned instead. There is no penalty for choosing the paper option
over the experiments, and you are free to withdraw from any experiment at
any time. Students will also often
be given an option of alternative experiments to participate in.
Teaching Assistant: Direct queries about medical
excuses for missing examinations, grades, etc. go to the TA, Eric Schniter
TF email: eschniter@umail.ucsb.edu
Computer Demonstrations at
the Instructional Computing computor labs: There are a series of computer program demonstrations
that you ought to go and use at all of the Instructional Computing computor
labs. Instruction sheets will be given out in section,
and will be available on the course webpage. They will be installed and available by the
end of the fourth week of class. It
shouldn’t take more than 2 hours or so of interacting with them to get the
full educational benefit. To get
credit, turn in the associated problem sets to the TF, with your perm number
on them. They will only be graded
as credit/no credit, but will make a large difference in how well you understand
the course and perform on the exam.
Assigned Reading & Tentative
Schedule notes
Week 1: Buss ch. 1 & 2; Daly & Wilson,
ch. 1 - 3; section: discussion of evolutionary anthropology and fieldwork
Week 2: Nisa Intro & ch. 1; Daly & Wilson ch. 4; Adapted Mind Introduction; sections: the
film The Human Quest,
Week 3: Nisa
ch. 2; Buss ch. 3 & 4; Daly &
Wilson ch. 5; section: episode 2, The
Human Quest, take home nursing survey
Week 4: Nisa ch. 3; Buss ch. 5 & 6; Daly
& Wilson ch. 6; section: questionnaires administered in section; last
opportunity for questionnaires early in week – otherwise paper requirement
due at end of course for those who choose not to partipate in class study
MCL computer tutorial programs should be ready – consult TF or website
for handouts & instructions
The 3 hour film The 7 Samurai is scheduled to be shown in Buchanan 1940 on Monday,
January 24 6:00-9:45PM
Week 5: Nisa
chs. 4 - 5; Buss ch. 7 & 8; Daly & Wilson ch. 7 & 8;
Week 6: Nisa chs. 6 - 7; Buss ch. 9 & 10; Daly & Wilson ch. 10 (skip
ch. 9);
Midterm: Wed, Feb 9, class time (There will also be
a lecture); bring purple par form
midterm covers first 5 weeks of reading,
lectures, and sections. Section:
Expt. 2
Week 7: Nisa chs. 8 - 9; Buss ch. 11 & 12; Daly & Wilson ch. 11 &
12; Adapted Mind ch. 5
Grades
for Midterms (with luck) returned in section; midterm reviewed
Week 8: Nisa chs. 10 - 11; Buss ch. 13 & 14; Adapted
Mind ch. 6, 7 & 14;
Week 9: Nisa chs. 12 - 13; Buss ch. 15 & 16; Adapted Mind ch. 8, 10 & 15
Week 10: Nisa ch. 14 - 15, Adapted Mind ch. 1 & 3; PS3 due along with brief papers due in
section for those not participating in experiments;
Final
Examination: Friday, March 18: 4:00
– 7:00PM in HSSB 1174; bring pink par score form
Optional, recommended reading
for interested students:
*
Symons, Donald 1979. The evolution
of human sexuality. Oxford University Press.
*
Dawkins, Richard 1989. The selfish
gene. Oxford University Press.
*
Daly, Martin & Margo Wilson Homicide.
Aldine de Gruyter, 1988.
Required Film: The Seven
Samurai (Director: Akira Kurosawa):
Students are required to view the film The Seven Samurai because many of the key concepts and principles
about universal, evolved psychological machinery will be related to characters,
situations, and events in various scenes from the film. One can enter complex social settings in any
culture, and dissect the operations of various aspects of human nature. The are always arranged into a unique combination,
but the components are universal in design. The events in this film will provide a case
study in how to perceive these universals.
It is a long film, well
over 3 hours, so eat first. If you
cannot attend the class where it is shown, the film is widely available
on videotape and DVD. It is considered
by some to be the greatest film ever made.
It is tentatively scheduled to be shown on Monday, January 24 from
6:00-9:45PM in Buchanan 1940.
Some principles of evolutionary psychology are:
Principle
1. The brain is a physical system. It functions as a computer. Its circuits
are designed to generate behavior that is appropriate to your environmental
circumstances.
Principle
2. Our neural circuits were designed by natural selection to solve the adaptive
problems that our ancestors faced during our species' evolutionary history.
Principle
3. Consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg; most of what goes on in your
mind is hidden from you. As a result, your conscious experience can mislead
you into thinking that our circuitry is simpler that it really is. Most problems
that you experience as easy to solve are computationally very difficult to
solve – they require very complicated neural circuitry.
Principle
4. Different neural circuits are specialized for solving different adaptive
problems.
Principle
5. Our modern skulls house a stone age mind – that is, a brain designed for
the ancestral world.
Principle
6: Culture is learned according to the rules embodied in our evolved mental
programs. The evolved rules built into
these universal programs impose an organization on culture so that it is also
an expression of human nature. This
allows us to understand each others’ cultures as variants on recognizably
human themes.
These
principles are tools for thinking about anthropology and psychology, which
can be applied to any topic: sex and sexuality, how and why people cooperate,
whether people are rational, how babies see the world, conformity, aggression,
hearing, vision, sleeping, eating, hypnosis, schizophrenia and so on. The
framework they provide links areas of study, and saves one from drowning in
particularity. Whenever you try to understand some aspect of human behavior,
they encourage you to ask the following fundamental questions:
1.
Where in the brain are the relevant circuits and how,
physically, do they work?
2.
What kind of information is being processed by these
circuits?
3.
What information-processing programs do these circuits
embody? and
4.
What were these circuits designed to accomplish (in a
hunter-gatherer context)?
Entries
from Darwin’s Notebooks - The M Notebook, 1856:
“Origin
of man now proved. — Metaphysics must flourish. — He who understands baboon
would do more toward metaphysics than Locke.”
“Plato says...that our “imaginary ideas” arise from the preexistence of the
soul, are not derivable from experience—read monkeys for preexistence.”
Bertrand
Russell: "A logical theory may be tested by its capacity for dealing
with puzzles, and it is a wholesome plan, in thinking about logic, to stock
the mind with as many puzzles as possible, since these serve much the same
purpose as is served by experiments in physical science."
Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn: “If only there were evil
people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only
to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing
good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing
to destroy a piece of his own heart?"