fei75766_ch15_463-494.indd 490  02/24/20 10:48 AM
Part V    Biological/Evolutionary Theories490
Key Terms and Concepts
•Artificial selection (otherwise known as“breeding”) occurs when humans 
select particular desirable traits inabreeding species.
•Natural selection istheprocess bywhich evolution happens and issimply a
more general form ofartificial selection inwhich nature rather thanpeople 
select thetraits.
•Sexual selection operates when members oftheopposite sexfindcertain 
traits more appealing andattractive thanothers andthereby produce 
offspring withthose traits.
•Adaptations areevolved strategies thatsolve important survival and/or 
reproductive problems. Adaptations areoften theproducts ofnatural or
sexual selection andmust haveagenetic orinherited basis tothem.
•By-products aretraits thathappen asaresult ofadaptations butarenotpart
ofthefunctional design.
•Noise, alsoknown as“random effects,” occurs when evolution produces 
random changes indesign thatdonotaffect function. Noise tends tobe
produced bychance andnotselected for.
•Thetermevolutionary psychology canbedefined asthescientific study of
human thought andbehavior from anevolutionary perspective andfocuses 
onfourbigquestions.
•Theprocess ofevolution bynatural selection hasproduced solutions to
twobasic problems oflife—survival andreproduction—and theyarecalled 
mechanisms .More specifically, mechanisms operate according toprinciples 
indifferent adaptive domains, number inthedozens orhundreds (maybe 
eventhousands), andarecomplex solutions tospecific adaptive problems.
•Physical mechanisms arephysiological organs andsystems thatevolved to
solve problems ofsurvival, whereas psychological mechanisms areinternal 
andspecific cognitive, motivational, andpersonality systems thatsolve 
specific survival andreproductive problems.
•Psychological mechanisms relevant topersonality canbegrouped intothree 
main categories: goals/drives/motives, emotions, andpersonality traits. They 
areadaptive because theyhelpsolve problems ofsurvival andreproduction.
•Buss’s model ofpersonality veryclosely resembles theBigFivetrait
approach ofMcCrae andCosta butitisnotidentical instructure: Surgency/
extraversion/dominance, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional stability, 
and Openness/Intellect .Bussargues these behavioral dispositions have
adaptive significance.
•Thetwomain sources oftheorigin of personality areenvironment and
genetics.
•There arestillnumerous misunderstandings of evolutionary theory, including 
theideathatevolution implies genetic determinism orthatmechanisms are
always optimal designs.Final PDF to printer