Sociobiology (U00610)

? Credit Points : 10 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : PPL-4-SOCIOB-PS

Sociobiological thinking and methods have had an immense impact on recent work in behavioural biology. In psychology, sociobiological ideas are also being used by those claiming an evolutionary basis for human social behaviour; however, there is some important variation between these disciplines in the quality of the arguments and supporting evidence. There has been real debate in behavioural biology about competing explanations of phenomena (e.g. the 'good genes' vs. 'good sense' dispute over sexual selection) and this has already stimulated innovative empirical work on individual fitness. In human sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, comparable evidence is only gradually starting to appear. This course will survey the ideas, methods of investigation, and evidence in several major areas of sociobiology and compare and contrast human and animal work.

? Keywords : Sociobiology; mate choice; sex ratios; inclusive fitness; altruism; parental investment; evolution of behaviour; evolutionary psychology

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : Normally Psychology Methodology 1 (U00651) or equivalent.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Psychology, (School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Schedule I)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 4th year

? Delivery Period : Block 3 only

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 5 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
14/01/2008	09:00	10:50	Room S.1, 7 George Square	Central

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Monday	09:00	10:50	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course you should be able:

- To evaluate and provide critiques of at least two cases in which ideas from animal sociobiology have been applied to the behaviour of human beings.
- To describe and explain the evolutionary consequences of mate choice by males and females, and show their relationship to fidelity / infidelity in apparently monogamous relationships.
- To explain how parental behaviour can be considered as an investment strategy, and illustrate this with reference to sex ratios.
- To list three mechanisms which might account for aid giving in animals, and describe how they could be tested.