Evolutionary Psychology: A Tutorial

EDWARD HAGEN Center for Evolutionary Psychology

The existence of life poses three major questions:

1. What distinguishes life from non-life? 2. How did life begin? 3. Why are there so many kinds of life?

The answer to question 1 will tell us a lot about the brain

Lesson 1

What distinguishes life from non-life?

Order?

Life

Non-life

No: Order does not distinguish life from non-life

Lesson 1

What distinguishes life from non-life?

Complexity?

Life

Non-life

No: Complexity does not distinguish life from non-life

Lesson 1

What distinguishes life from non-life?

Functional design!

The body of the bird is ideally shaped for flight

Functional design distinguishes life from non-life

Lesson 2

What is functional design?

The definition of functional design involves two physical systems. The first system, termed the mechanism, transforms the second target system in a specific way. Achieving the desired transformation of the target system is often referred to as a problem.
Example of a mechanism

Example of a problem

Lesson 2

What is functional design?

Why is the transformation of the target system referred to as a problem? Because there is a virtually infinite number of possible transformations of the target system, but only a tiny subset of these transformations achieve the desired results.

Lesson 2

What is functional design?

Only a specially configured system can efficiently and reliably transform the target system to the desired state. This specially configured system is called a mechanism. In order to properly transform the target system, certain conditions must be met. These conditions are termed functional requirements. Those aspects of the mechanism that meet the functional requirements, allowing it to transform the target system in the specified way, are referred to as aspects of its functional design. It is important to note that most configurations will not effectively transform the target system to the desired state.
Elements of functional design that satisfy the functional requirement:

High mass Long swing

Functional requirement: a large, directed force:

Hard, flat face

Stiff, low mass handle

Most possible configurations will not efficiently and reliably satisfy the functional requirement, and therefore will not solve the problem

Lesson 2

What is functional design?

It has long been recognized that the body shows evidence of functional design
Galen on the hand (A.D. 129-c.216)
Come now, let us investigate this very important part of man's body, examining it to determine not simply whether it is useful or whether it is suitable for an intelligent animal, but whether it is in every respect so constituted that it would not have been better had it been made differently. One and indeed the chief characteristic of a prehensile instrument constructed in the best manner is the ability to grasp readily anything of whatever size or shape that man would naturally want to move. For this purpose, then, which was betterfor the hand to be cleft into many divisions or to remain wholly undivided? Or does this need any discussion other than the statement that if the hand remained undivided, it would lay hold only on the things in contact with it that were of the same size as it happened to be itself, whereas, being subdivided into many members, it could easily grasp masses much larger than itself, and fasten accurately upon the smallest objects?

Lesson 2

What is functional design?

Summary The definition of functional design involves two systems: a target system that must be transformed in a very specific way (e.g., embedding a nail in a block of wood), and a specially configured mechanism (e.g., a hammer) that transforms the target system. Those aspects of the mechanism that allow it to efficiently and reliably transform the target system in the specified manner are referred to as elements of functional design. The hammer is the mechanism; the hard, flat face, and stiff, low mass handle are elements of the functional design of the hammer. Only lifeor the products of lifeshow evidence of functional design. Living tissue is specially organized to interact with a variety of physical systems in order to transform those systems in very specific ways. For example, the human hand has many special features, including muscles, tendons, and nerves, that allow it to grasp and manipulate a wide variety of objects. Because most arbitrary transformations leave the target system in an undesired state (e.g., an un-embedded nail), each desired transformation (e.g., an embedded nail) has its own functional requirements that will be poorly served by a mechanism with an arbitrary assortment of featuresthe vast majority of arrangements of wood and steel make poor hammers, for example. Just as the number of acceptable transformations of the target system represents a tiny fraction of all possible transformations, so too is the number of effective configurations of the mechanism but a tiny fraction of all possible configurations. A problem and its functional solution are as tightly coupled as a lock and a key.

Lesson 3

How pervasive is functional design in living tissue?

Very! Living tissue shows massive evidence of functional organization at scales ranging over 10 orders of magnitude, from the molecular (e.g., enzymes) to the macroscopic (e.g., the heart, skin).
The pulmonary artery delivers blood from the heart to the lung for oxygen. The aorta directs oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the body. The superior vena cava returns blood from the upper body to the heart. The right atrium receives oxygendepleted blood from the upper and lower body. The pulmonary valve controls the blood flow from the heart to the pulmonary artery. The inferior vena cava returns blood from the lower body to the heart. The right ventricle pumps blood into the pulmonary artery.

The pulmonary veins deliver oxygen-rich blood from the lungs back to the heart. The left atrium receives oxygen-rich blood from the lungs. The mitral valve permits blood to flow from the left atrium to the left ventricle. The left ventricle pumps blood into the aorta. The aorta directs oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the body. The aortic valve controls the blood flow out of the heart into the aorta

Functional organization of the human heart, a mechanism designed to circulate nutrient-rich blood to bodily tissues.

Lesson 3

How pervasive is functional design in living tissue?

There is no significant quantity of tissue in the human body that is not functionally organizied.

Lesson 3

How pervasive is functional design in living tissue?

Is the brain functionally organized? Yes. The brain is a physical system that transforms other physical systems in very specific ways. Evolutionary psychology is that branch of science attempting to discover the functional organization of the brain. We must answer two questions before we can address the functional organization of the brain, however.

Lesson 4

Functional design: two questions

Essentially all matter in the universe is non-living. The (nonfunctional) organization of this matter can be explained as the statistically probable outcome of systems that have evolved according to the ordinary laws of physics.

Given physical law, and the initial state of the universe, systems like these are expected to occur with a probability of 1.

Lesson 4

Functional design: two questions

Given physical law and the initial state of the universe, systems like these are expected to occur with a probability of 0:

This raises two questions: 1. How did functionally organized matter come to exist in the universe? 2. What kinds of functions can living tissue be expected to perform? The answer to question 1 also provides an answer to question 2.

Lesson 5

Functional design: origins

How did functionally organized matter come to exist in the universe?

Reproduction

Bean sprout

Another bean sprout

Assumption 1: there exists in the universe a population of entities, called organisms, that can reproduce themselves. This is a big assumption, and although it is known that such entities do exist (on earth), it is not known whether such entities are likely to exist. That is, it is not known whether such entities exist anywhere else in the universe.

Lesson 5

Functional design: origins

How did functionally organized matter come to exist in the universe?

Assumption 2: differences can arise in a population of reproducing entities, and these differences can be passed on to offspring. This is known to be true for such entities on earth.

Lesson 5

Functional design: origins

How did functionally organized matter come to exist in the universe?

Assumption 3: differences between reproductive entities are associated with differences in reproductive efficiency. In this example, a bean sprout possessing a green, upward-pointing stalk makes more copies of itself than a bean sprout with an orange, sideways-pointing stalk.

Lesson 5

Functional design: origins

How did functionally organized matter come to exist in the universe?

Outcome: over time, virtually all reproducing entities will possess the feature that is associated with higher reproductive efficiencies. Given assumptions one through three, this outcome will occur with a probability very close to 1.

Lesson 5

Functional design: origins

How did functionally organized matter come to exist in the universe?

Round 2, a second example: if another new trait arisesa second blue stem, sayand this new trait can be passed on to offspring, and this trait has a positive effect on reproductive efficiency compared to the original trait, then eventually almost all members of the population will have both a green and a blue stem.

Lesson 5

Functional design: origins

How did functionally organized matter come to exist in the universe? The existence of reproducing entities is an unexpected property of the universe that is not an obvious consequence of physical law. It is possible that such entities are the statistically probable outcome of a simmering primordial soup, that is, of the initial state of the universe and the operation of physical law. If so, then life is ubiquitous in the universe. If not, then we are lucky enough to witness life only because we are examples of it ourselves. Either way, life presumably arose from a physically allowable process, whether or not the process was statistically probable. Taking the three assumptions as a given: that a population of reproducing entities does exist, that differences among these entities continually arise and can be passed on to offspring, and that these differences can also have a positive or negative effect on the reproductive ability of these entities, then, over time, descendant entities will tend to acquire features that assist reproduction and will tend to lose features that impede reproduction. Thus, over time, descendant entities will acquire an increasingly sophisticated organization that facilitates their own reproduction. This process is called evolution by natural selection, and was first correctly recognized by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace. It remains to be shown that the organization acquired by descendant entities through this process of natural selection is indeed the functional organization uniquely possessed by life as described in earlier lessons.

Lesson 6

Functional design: origins & domains

How did functionally organized matter come to exist in the universe?

For an entity to reproduce itself, many, many steps must be successfully completedfor most organisms, far more than are implied in the above schematic . At each step in the process, matter and energy from the environment must be organized in a highly specific fashion by the entity in order to produce a copy of itself that is also capable of reproducing. In other words, a reproducing entity must possess features that allow it to transform physical systems in very specific ways. Reproducing entities organismsmust consist of mechanisms. The existence of mechanisms in the universe, i.e., functional organization, follows from the assumption that reproducing entities exist in the universe. The considerable elaboration of these mechanisms over time follows from assumption twovariations of these mechanims exist, and can be passed on to offspringand from assumption threesuch variations can have a positive or negative impact on reproductive capabilities of the reproducing entity.

Lesson 6

Functional design: origins & domains

How did functionally organized matter come to exist in the universe?
We now have a partial answer to this question. Because the process whereby an entity makes a copy of itself is extraordinarily complex, such entities must be functionally organized. The process of replication involves numerous and highly specific transformations of matter and energy. As we have seen, mechanisms do just that. Furthermore, if qualitatively different transformations are required for replication, then separate mechanisms will be required as well. In virtually all cases, replicating entities will consist of more than one mechanism, and usually many more than one. The assumption that reproducing entities exist entails an assumption that functional organization exists. However life began, so began mechanism. Evolution by natural selection guarantees that mechanisms can change and improve their efficiency over time. Thus, the relatively few and simple mechanisms that probably characterized the earliest organisms have evolved into the numerous and sophisticated mechanisms possessed by all modern cellular and multicellular organisms. We also have an answer to question two: what kinds of functional capabilities can we expect organisms to possess? They will possess precisely those functional capabilities that contribute to the reproduction of the organism. Mechanisms that facilitate the reproduction of an organism are referred to as adaptations. This leads us to a powerful, and, more importantly, a tractable model of life:

An organism is a set of adaptations.

Lesson 7

Adaptation

A complete understanding of an organism involves understanding the large number of transformations involved in replicating the organismoften referred to as adaptive problemsand the mechanisms that accomplish these transformationsoften referred to as adaptations. Each adaptation will possess particular design features that allow it to efficiently and reliably transform a class of physical systems in ways that facilitate the reproduction of the organism. Put another way, each adaptation has been designed by natural selection to solve a particular adaptive problem. Obvious examples of adaptations include leaves on trees, which covert sunlight and carbon dioxide into food; the heart, which circulates nutrients to tissues; limbs, which provide locomotor capabilities; and eyes, which help convert ambient electromagnetic radiation into useful information about the world.