Theory of Evolution

                     What is theory of evolution?

Theory of evolution show that variation is the difference in genes of members in the same species. Another condition is selection, which consists of survival of the members of the species depending on their genetical differences.

The third aspect of evolution is retention of the "chosen members" that were able to adapt to the surrounding. Universally said, evolution is the survival od the fittest.

                   Nature vs. Unnature

The nature vs unnature is concept of struggle between heridity and environment and which of these two influences an individual more. Genes in DNA are the foundation of traits, yet without organism they are useless. For example, one may be born with genes for better running, yet without good nutrition provided by the environment those genes will neve be developed in traits. Genes develop the right traits only in the right environment. Genes themselves are the genetic code, also called genotype, that is part of the body, yet not all of it is expressed. The genes that are actually expressed as traits are called phenotypes.

 

                What is wrong with the concept of “nature vs. nurture”?
 Heredity and environment may have an equal effect on the development

 

               What is social Darwinism?

When the idea of evolution spread through the Victorian society, some peple like Herbert Spencer thought that people who are at the top of the society are more fit. It was spencer who came up with the term "survival of the fittest".

 

5. Explain eugenics.

People realized that some individuals are more capable than others. They came up with an idea that if only the most capable were able to reproduce, they could create superior human race, just like people breed dogs and roses. This idea of breeding superior human race is called eugenetics.

6. What is the problem with the concept of eugenics?

Eugenetics is based on misunderstanding of the theory of evolution. It assumes that genes of some individuals are more superior compared to the other individuals. While this may seem true, with every sexual reproduction these genes switch around and new combinations with new traits are expressed. This fake superiority makes some of the individuals hink that they have more right to reproduce than others or even prevent them from reproducing.

7. What does the term “fitness” mean in relation to evolution?

Biological fitness in Darwin's term means an allele of a gene that makes its carrier more sucessful than other alelles of that gene. This carrier is morel likely to live sucessful life and produce more helathy offsprings. An example is an allele that has a resistance to some sort of deadly disease.

8. What is meant by“genetic determination”?

Belief that genes and the environment determine physical and mental development.

9. What is“fixation”?

Fixation is a new "froezen"trait. When a gene becomes ccommon in population due to genetic, the population becomse comitted to it can be changed only due to mutation.

10. What is“canalization”?

It is a way of fixating genes where a trait is "controlled by family of genes for which there is only one allele in humans that all produce the same result" (page 32). In this case, the phenotypes are all the same.

11. What is“punctuated equilibrium”?

In African lakes, geologists found meters of snail skells thanks to whci they can recognize the differences of their adaptations throughout thousands of generations. However, not all generations differe and some traits are unchanged during many generations. Punctuated equilibrium is a time where natural selection exists, but it serves to maintain the existing form.

12. How does evolution relate to psychology?

Evolutionary psychology is another aspect of evolution. It applies biological changes to psychology and asks question such as "What are the bases of expirience, behavior, mind, and memory, of development and social interaction? Where do they come fom, and what are they for?" (page 3). They same way our bodies and the phycical structures were adapted, the same way was our mind.

Theo13. Examine one evolutionary explanation of behavior. Theorizing aAout Violen Crime (page 65)
It was observed that males vary in the tendencies to take care of their children. There are the males who are willing to commit to parenthood and take care of their children, also called dads. Then there are males who do not go beyond donating their sperm, these are called cads.
Females are due to sexual selection theory more attracted to dads, who are more likely to take care of their offsprings, which highers their chance of reproduction. Even though their chances to pass on their genes are lower, cads also have opportunity to reproduce. They can promise loyalty and then leave after the female is impregnated. They can intimidate rival males, exaggarate their abilities as good providers by stealing from others, or they can foce someone to have sex with them when all the other "nice" methods fail. They question is whether their behavior is genetically programmed. One of the answers may be that there is a condition called psychopacy, that is more common in males and causes them to be more manipulative, agressive and violent.
In 2002 in the USA, 19 884 men were arrested for rape compared to 278 women for the same aasault.

Stress - Case Study On The Dutch Hunger Winter

Dutch Hunger Winter happened on November 1944. It was World War II between Neatherlands and German. Germans took control of the food and sent it to Germany so the Dutch people were hangry. The infants that survived the Hunger Winter, suffered from malnutrition. First study was that Scientists looked and the grown adults that were born during this awful time period.  Second study showed the schyzophrenia,where was found found that genetics plays major role if this ilness will develop or no.
When two identical twins are born and one of them has schyzophrenia, the other within has a 50% chance of having it, too.
It was also found that babies that were born on beginning of this time period were born smaller, while babies conceived at the end of this period had normal size.

When mothers were malnourished in pregnancy they had higher rates of obesity and shyzophrenia.
Schyzophrenia causes hallucinations, delusions and difficulties to mentally focus, and people suffered from schyzophrenia are not able to distinguish between reality and the other world.
Epigenetics is when DNA isn't the only factor in what is happening.
Based on the Dutch Hunger Winter it can be observed that most of the affected people could have been born healthy.

Prominent Psychologist

 Paul Ekman

Date of Birth: 15.2.1934

Place of Birth: Washington, D.C.

University and Subject: New York University- Clinical Psychology

Field of Professional Study: Nonverbal Communication, Emotion

Important theories: Neurocultural theory of emotion

Explanation of theories: The theory posits the existence of universal facial expressions that provide a one-to-one mapping between the emotion a person feels and the facial expression the person displays. The facial expression displayed is the same for all people in all cultures, and therefore everyone expresses emotion in the same manner in nonsocial settings.

Solomon Asch

Date of Birth: 14.09.1907

Place of Birth: Warsaw, Poland

Date of Death: 20.02.1996

Place of Death: Haverford, Pennsylvania

University and subject:  College of the City of New York, Social psychology

Field of professional Study: Researches on group conformity, the effects of propaganda and indoctrination at Brooklyn College

Important theories: The effects of propaganda and indoctrination

Explanation of theories: That propaganda was most effective when fear and ignorance played a part in affecting the intended targets.

Roger Wolcott Sperry

Date of Birth: 20.8.1913

Place of Birth: Hartford, Connecticut

Date of Death: 17.4.1994

Place of Death: Pasadena, California

University and subject:  University of Chicago-zoology, Oberlin College- Neuropsychology and neurobiologist

Field of professional Study: Split-brain

Important theories: Chemoaffinity hypothesis

Explanation of theories: Chemoaffinity hypothesis states that neurons make connections with their targets based on interactions with specific molecular markers. The markers are generated during cellular differentiation and aid not only with synaptogenesis, but also act as guidance cues for their respective axon.

Gordon H. Bower

Date of Birth: 30.12.1932

Place of Birth: Scio, Ohio

University and subject: Yale University, Stanford Psychology Department, Experimental psychology

Field of professional Study: Mathematical models of memory

Profesional field of study: Cognitive level of memory and emotions

Important theories: Chunking

Explanation of theory: A person groups objects together to improve their memory. The huge benefits of mnemonic aids and how these aids are often converted into visual images, human associative memory and propositional learning, state dependent memory, connectionist modeling for categorical learning, and how we remember narratives.

Harry Harlow

Date of Birth:  31.10.1905

Place of Birth: Fairfield, lowa, U.S.

Date of Death:  6.12.1981

Place Of Death: Tucson, Arizona, U.S.

University and s

ubject: Stanford University

Field of Professional Study: Human Resources Research, Department of the Army, the Division of Anthropology and Psychology of the National Research Council

Important Theories: Cupboard theory

Explanation of Theories:  infants only had an attachment to their mothers because they were the source of food, thus associating the mother with positive feelings. Because of the baby rhesus monkeys’ attachment to the cloth mothers, this led researchers to conclude that attachment and the need for affection was deeper than the need for food.

Leon Festinger

Date of Birth: 08.05.1919

Place of Birth: New York City

Date of Death:11.02.1989

Place of Death: New York City

University and subject: City College of New York in 1939 where he gets a Bachelor of Science, in 1942 University of lowa- subject studied social psychology.

Important theories:Social Comparison Theory

Explanation of theories: People are comparing themselves to others in a close proximity such as co-workers, friends and family members. Festinger defined two types of comparisons upward comparisons and downward comparisons. An upward comparison involves a person comparing themselves to someone that is above them in some form e.g. someone who suffers from depression comparing themselves to someone who is generally happy.  Downward comparison is when an individual compares themselves to someone who is considered beneath them e.g. when a person who has worked hard to attain some knowledge now views those without that knowledge as inferior.

Carl Rogers

Date of Birth: 08.02.1902

Place of Birth:Oak Park, Illinois 

Date of Death: 04.02.1987

Place of Death: San Diego, California, U.S.

Universities and subjects studied: Wisconsin-Madison, Teachers Colleges, Columbia University where he had been study the clinical psychology, University of Ronchester. Subjects studied: Human personality and Human relationships, then he became a psychotherapist of client-centered therapy and student-centered therapy

Important theories: Person-centered theory. 

Explanation of theories: the self-concept is the most important feature of personality, and it includes all the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs people have about themselves. Rogers believed that people are aware of their self-concepts.

Albert Bandura

Date of Birth: 04.12:1925

Place of Birth: Mundare,  Alberta, Canada

Universities and subject studied: T 

Importnt theories: Bobo doll experiment

Explanation of theories: Studying children´s behavior after watching a model punching a bobo doll and getting rewarded, punished or suffering no consequences for it.  It shows that people not only learn by being rewarded or punished itself and they can learn from watching somebody being rewarded or punished, too. Bandura found that the children exposed to the aggressive model were more likely to act in physically aggressive ways than those who were not exposed to the aggressive model.

Kurt Lewin

Date of Birth: 09.09.1890

Place of Birth: Mogilno, County of Mogilno, Province of Posen

Date of Death: 12.02.1947

Place of Death: Newtonville, Massachusetts

Universities and subject studied: He  entered the University of Freiburg to study medicine, but transferred to University of Munich to study biology. He studied psychology

Important theories: Group Dynamics Theory

Explanation of theories:  Describe the way groups and individuals act and react to changing circumstances.  Based on the feelings and emotions members of a group form a common perception. The interactive psychological relationship in which members of a group form this common perception is actually "Group Dynamics".

Erik Erikson

Date of Birth: 15.06.1902

Place of Birth: Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Date of Death: 12.04.1994

Place of Death: Harwich, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Universities and subject studied: Development Psychology on Harvard Medical School, University of Vienna

Important theories: Theory on psychosocial development

Explanation of theories:  the development of ego identity. According to Erikson, our ego identity is constantly changing due to new experiences and information we acquire in our daily interactions with others.

Alzheimer's Disease

 What is Alzheimer's?

Alzheimer's is an progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually even the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. In older people alzheimer is common cause of dementia. Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioning—thinking, remembering, and reasoning—and behavioral abilities, to such an extent that it interferes with a person’s daily life and activities.

 

Why is Alzheimer so common now than in the past?

The answer for this question is that people are getting older. People live longer and that`s why the Alzherimer`s dissease has more time and possibilities to progress.

How is Alzheimer`s an economic issue?

The costs, for supplies produced for keeping the Alzheimer`s victims alive and assistance for them are very high. Some companies, producing specific drugs, supplies, hospital technology but also many private clinics can have a big profit from people suffering from this disease. There are also several founds supported by the government were organized to aid the Alzheimer`s cummunity.

 How was Alzheimer`s discovered?

In 1901, Dr. Alzheimer met Auguste D., a 51-year-old woman who became his patient at the asylum for the next four years until her death. Her condition steadily deteriorated displaying memory loss, difficulty with speech, confusion, suspicion, agitation, wandering, and screaming when bedridden. She became incontinent and unaware of her surroundings. When Alzheimer performed the autopsy in 1905, he found her brain had shriveled and neurons had disappeared. He also discovered the characteristic “neurofibrillary tangles” and “senile plaques” that we now know as the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Alzheimer presented his findings to a group of psychiatrists in 1906, the first public description of this new disease. When he made this discovery, Dr. Alzheimer was unaware that the disease would be named after him and would also become the most common form of dementia in older people.

How Alzheimer's robs you as identity?

Alzheimer`s erases all the memories step-by-step.

At first the affected person does not remember where he or she putted her keys, forgets constantly names, dates. In the final stage of this terrible dissease people are not able to speak, to communicate and are not aware of their sorrounding. Memories are your identity. You could not be the peroson you are without them, so if they start to disappear, your identity disappears hand-in-hand with them.

Process of Alzheimer's:

 Alzheimer starts with simple forgetting of random every-day things like where the keys were left, what was eaten for breakfast or what date/day it is. There are two common approaches to managing the symptoms which include use of medications specifically engineered to control the symptoms and non-drug strategies such as changing the patient's environment to resolve challenges and minimize obstacles. Abnormal deposits of proteins form amyloid plaques and tau tangles throughout the brain, and once-healthy neurons begin to work less efficiently. Over time, neurons lose their ability to function and communicate with each other, and they die.

In Mild Alzheimer Stage is changes in other cognitive abilities are evident. These may include getting lost, trouble handling money and paying bills, repeating questions, taking longer to complete normal daily tasks, using poor judgment, and having some mood and personality changes. When this happened, usually people are diagnosed. In Moderate Alzheimer's Disease damage occurs in areas of the brain that control language, reasoning and sensory processing. Memory loss and confusion grow worse, and people begin to have problems recognizing family and friends. They may have hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia, and may behave impulsively. 

 

In Severe Alzheimer's Stage plaques and tangles have spread throughout the brain, and brain tissue has shrunk significantly. Therefore people with severe Alzheimer’s cannot communicate and may forgets how to breath and at the end as the body shuts down, person will die.