EVOLUTION AND

EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY
UNIT THREE – BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF BEHAVIOUR
1. What is evolution?
2. Relevance of evolution to psychology.
3. Evolutionary Psychology and Comparative Psychology.
4. Human evolution.
5. Evolution of nervous system.
6. Inheritance of learnt ability and sociability in animals.
• Physical Anthropology (study of human biological/physiological characteristics and their evolution) has two
principal aspects of study: human evolution and human variation.

• Human evolution is the evolution of Homo sapiens from their ancestors whereas human variation refers to the
differences that exist among individual populations. Anthropologists are interested in understanding both cultural
and biological variation.

• Australopithecus (apelike characteristics + human like characteristics, bipedalism, flat nose, protruding jaw,
curved fingers) – H. Habilis (larger braincase, smaller face + teeth, “handy man”) – H. Erectus (more humanlike
appearance in body structure, walking, larger brains, broader set of tools, fire) – H. Neanderthals (adapted to
colder atmosphere, larger nose, shorter and stockier, controlled fire, shelters, clothing, hunting and gathering,
symbolic burial, tools for hunting and sewing, eyebrow ridge) – H. Sapiens (lighter skeletal build, bigger brains,
complex language, specialized weaponry).

∙ Repeated formation of new species (speciation), change within species (anagenesis) and loss of species
(extinction) throughout the evolutionary history of life on earth can be inferred from shared sets of morphological
and biochemical traits, including shared DNA sequences.

∙ These shared traits are more similar among species that share a more recent common ancestor and can be used to
reconstruct a biological “tree of life” based on evolutionary relationships (phylogenetics), using both existing
species and the fossil record.
• Australopithecus afarensis had both ape and human characteristics: members of this species had
apelike face proportions (a flat nose, a strongly projecting lower jaw) and braincase (with a small
brain, usually less than 500 cubic centimeters - about 1/3 the size of a modern human brain), and long,
strong arms with curved fingers adapted for climbing trees.

• They also had small canine teeth like all other early humans, and a body that stood on two legs and
regularly walked upright. Their adaptations for living both in the trees and on the ground helped them
survive for almost a million years as climate and environments changed.

• Homo Habilis: This species, one of the earliest members of the genus Homo, has a slightly larger
braincase and smaller face and teeth (but the tooth enamel was still thick) than in Australopithecus or
older hominin species. But it still retains some ape-like features, including long arms and a
moderately-prognathic face.

• Its name, which means ‘handy man’, was given in 1964 because this species was thought to represent
the first maker of stone tools.
• Early African Homo erectus fossils (sometimes called Homo ergaster) are the oldest known early
humans to have possessed modern human-like body proportions with relatively elongated legs and shorter
arms compared to the size of the torso.

• These features are considered adaptations to a life lived on the ground, indicating the loss of earlier tree-
climbing adaptations, with the ability to walk and possibly run long distances. Compared with earlier fossil
humans, note the expanded braincase relative to the size of the face.

• The tall bodies and large brains of Homo erectus individuals required a lot of energy on a regular basis to
function. Eating meat and other types of protein that could be quickly digested made it possible to absorb
nutrients with a shorter digestive tract, making more energy available faster. There is also speculation that
honey and underground tubers may have been significant food sources for Homo erectus.

• The earliest evidence of hearths (campfires) occur during the time range of Homo erectus. While we have
evidence that hearths were used for cooking (and probably sharing) food, they are likely to have been places
for social interaction, and also used for warmth and to keep away large predators.

• This period consisted of the creation of large cutting tools like handaxes and cleavers. Increased reliance on
a broader set of tools may have helped Homo erectus survive during changing climates.
• Neanderthals (the ‘th’ pronounced as ‘t’) are our closest extinct human relative. Some defining features
of their skulls include the large middle part of the face, angled cheek bones, and a huge nose for
humidifying and warming cold, dry air.

• Their bodies were shorter and stockier than ours, another adaptation to living in cold environments. But
their brains were just as large as ours and often larger - proportional to their brawnier bodies.

• Neanderthals made and used a diverse set of sophisticated tools, controlled fire, lived in shelters, made
and wore clothing, were skilled hunters of large animals and also ate plant foods, and occasionally made
symbolic or ornamental objects.

• There is evidence that Neanderthals deliberately buried their dead and occasionally even marked their
graves with offerings, such as flowers. No other primates, and no earlier human species, had ever
practiced this sophisticated and symbolic behavior.
• Anatomically, modern humans can generally be characterized by the lighter build of their skeletons
compared to earlier humans.

• Modern humans have very large brains, which vary in size from population to population and between
males and females, but the average size is approximately 1300 cubic centimeters. Housing this big brain
involved the reorganization of the skull into what is thought of as “modern’ - a thin-walled, high vaulted
skull with a flat and near vertical forehead.

• Modern human faces also show much less (if any) of the heavy brow ridges and prognathism of other early
humans. Our jaws are also less heavily developed, with smaller teeth.

• Prehistoric Homo sapiens not only made and used stone tools, they also specialized them and made a
variety of smaller, more complex, refined and specialized tools including composite stone tools, fishhooks
and harpoons, bows and arrows, spear throwers and sewing needles.
• Humans found they could control the growth and breeding of certain plants and animals. This discovery led to
farming and herding animals, activities that transformed Earth’s natural landscapes—first locally, then
globally.

• As environment became more unpredictable, bigger brains helped our ancestors survive. They made
specialized tools, and use tools to make other tools, as described above; they ate a variety of animal and plant
foods; they had control over fire; they lived in shelters; they built broad social networks, sometimes including
people they have never even met; they exchanged resources over wide areas; and they created art, music,
personal adornment, rituals, and a complex symbolic world.
HUMAN EVOLUTION
∙ Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological
organization, including the level of species, individual organisms, and at the
of molecular level.

∙ Evolution was first used by Herbert Spencer (1852), an English

philosopher, to denote the historical development of life.

∙ Evolution is change and the changes within the organism over a period of
time is termed ‘micro-evolution’ (for example, mosquito resistance to
fertilizers) whereas changes from one being to the other i.e. transformation,
are termed as ‘macro-evolution’. (for example, four-legged creatures called
tetrapods – fins, lungs – reptiles and amphibians).
DEFINITION
∙ Evolution can be defined in numerous ways; there is geological evolution
or evolution of planet Earth, the evolution of solar systems and the
evolution of automobiles, radios, and telephones, and the changes
involved in the rise of human civilization or cultural evolution.

∙ Likewise ‘organic evolution’ is applied to the changes that have taken

place in living things, viz. plants and animals.

∙ Charles Darwin (1859) defined evolution as “descent with

modification”.

∙ But according to Dodson and Dodson (1976), evolution is the process by

which related populations diverge from one another, giving rise to new
species (or higher groups) while in 1951 Dobzhansky stated “evolution is
the development of dissimilarities between the ancestral and the
descendant population”.
∙ Before mid 1800s it was presumed that the diversity of life on earth was due to God’s
grace and perfection and whatever we saw was God’s creation that naturally
remained unchanged; this thought led to the belief that the basis of creation was its
genesis only.

∙ Nevertheless evolutionary thought did evolve, as fossil discoveries showed that life had
changed over time, few scientists considered that life had evolved with time and
geological sciences provided evidence that the earth was exceedingly old.

∙ It was pre-Darwin biologists who proposed mechanisms for evolution and finally Darwin
and Wallace (1858; 1859) proposed a mechanism of evolution through their writings.

∙ There are various evolutionary principles like:

∙ speciation;
∙ irreversibility;
∙ parallelism and convergence;
∙ adaptive radiation; and
∙ extinction.
IRREVERSIBILITY
∙ Louis Dollo, a French-born Belgian paleontologist proposed in 1893 the Principle
of Irreversibility.

∙ Dollo’s law of Irreversibility or Dollo’s Law states that an organism is unable to

return, even partially to a previous stage, already realized in the ranks of its
ancestors.

∙ This means that a structure that changes its form in evolution will not revert to its
earlier form. So once an animal has passed through several stages, a reversion,
stage by stage, to the original ancestral condition does not occur.

∙ Flying reptiles can be taken as an illustration of this. After these reptiles became
extinct, wings and adaptation to an airborne way of life occurred in two other
distinct lineages – the birds and mammals. (or, for example, vertebrates – no teeth
(turtles, seahorses, birds).
SPECIATION
• Orator F. Cook (1906) was the first to coin the term ‘speciation’ for the
splitting of lineages.

∙ Speciation can also be defined as the creation of two or more species from
one. Species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a
taxonomic rank that is often defined as a group of organisms capable of
interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.

∙ Next, how does the speciation process occur? According to Mayr (1970),
true speciation or multiplication of species may occur by the following
agencies:

∙ The course of speciation is achievable by four geographic modes in nature

based on the extent to which speciating populations are isolated from one
another viz. allopatric, parapatric, sympatric, and peripatric speciation.