PSYK3500 Evolution and Behavior Course description

The course provides an introduction to how behavior is shaped and maintained through selection processes at the phylogenetic and ontogenetic levels. It addresses key issues from disciplines such as behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology, evolutionary psychology, behavioral genetics, and ethology, all of which study behavior and its origins, where the differences in their approaches are reflected in their emphasis on evolution, psychology, genetics, and ecology.

Evolutionary biology focuses on the development of behavior through natural selection, while evolutionary psychology seeks to explain the origins of behavior via mental mechanisms shaped by evolution. Behavioral ecology analyzes the interaction between animals/humans and their environment through social relations, and behavioral genetics studies heredity and the role of genes in behavior. Ethology incorporates aspects from the aforementioned disciplines and concerns the study of animals’ natural behavior in their environment.

In addition to providing an introduction to central topics within these disciplines, the course Evolution and Behavior will integrate them with behavior-analytic theory by highlighting selection as a common explanatory process. The teaching will make visible analogous principles for phylogenetic and ontogenetic selection involving genes, the nervous system, behavior, and cultural practices.

Admission to the programme.

The course provides an introduction to how general learning principles are relevant in connection with developmental psychology concepts, such as social, emotional and cognitive development.

The course places particular emphasis on modern theories in developmental psychology, where development is seen as an interaction between biological preconditions, learning history and different environmental conditions.

Admission to the programme.

To be eligible for the exam, the following must be approved:

• Full-day attendance at one seminar, including participation in one’s own group presentation.

Work and teaching methods used in the course are lectures, seminars and self study.

None

Written exam under supervision (school exam), 3 hours

All answers are assessed by one examiner.

An external examiner is used regularly, at a minimum of every third completion of the course. When selecting answers for external evaluation, a minimum of 10 percent of the answers shall be included, with no fewer than 5 answers. The external examiner’s assessment of the selected answers shall benefit all students.