emotional/evolutionary psychology
PLEASE DON’T PICK IF CANT ANSWER WITHIN 8 HOURS!
Don’t worry about plagiarism. I will accept the work as long as the questions are answered well.
2. Pick an emotion and elaborate on its functional role at the individual, interpersonal and
social levels (what does experiencing it do? What happens when we (try to)
communicate it? How does our social environment construct and regulate it?)
3. Identify AND elaborate on THREE fundamental notions which inform our current
understanding of emotions, originally proposed by Charles Darwin, William James and
Sigmund Freud respectively
4. Describe the cognitive AND social processes of activation AND maintenance (or
reproduction) of social defense mode in humans, AND those allowing its deactivation
7. Describe TWO different processes of human attachment known to involve oxytocin,
and specify the role oxytocin is assumed to play in them
9. Briefly describe the cultural and the evolutionary approaches to psychology AND the
way in which they can be combined to provide a more comprehensive view of
embarrassment
10. Elaborate on TWO examples of how specific emotions filter and /or modify the data
from the senses, AND in EACH case describe possible consequences for behaviour
11. Give three examples of the importance of touch for human socio-emotional
development OR functioning
13. What does the fact that emotional processes are started at pre-attentive level
(automatically, unconsciously) tell us about emotions and the human mind in general?
14. Elaborate on the notion that “rituals sustain the expression of emotion” (focus on the
articulate, repetitive, standardized nature of rituals, and the fact that they are socially
sanctioned)
15. What function(s) can the non-verbal communication of emotions fulfill as part of our
human reproductive strategy?
16. Identify mechanisms that underlie the evolution AND the development of smiling
behavior in humans
17. A secure attachment bond facilitates two seemingly opposite aims: proximity and
exploration. Explain how this can come about.
18. Is trust an emotion? Give a general definition of emotion and then provide one
argument in favour AND one against the idea of trust being an emotion.
19. Art as emotional expression: Compare two forms of artistic expression as tools for
emotional expression AND communication (which art form is more ‘accessible’?
effective? what do we mean by that?)
20. Briefly describe two universally ‘human’ traits, and two (assumed) uniquely ‘human’
traits.
21. What are the 3 big problems of brain evolution that have led theorists to argue a
sexual rather than natural selection for big brains?
22. Discuss likely impact at the individual AND the social levels of putting emotions into
words, AND possible consequences of not being able to express emotions verbally
23. Describe the different processes of primary and secondary appraisal, AND their
outcomes
24. Culture shapes the experience of emotion: elaborate on this notion in regards to sexual
attraction
25. What are the properties of music as a stimulus that make it immediately meaningful to
us?
26. In what ways can anger be self-regulated (regulated by the individual feeling it?) In
what ways is anger be socially regulated?
27. How is sexual selection as a mechanism for evolution different from natural selection?
Include in your answer examples of one universal and one sexually dimorphic
psychological trait most likely to be the outcome of sexual rather than natural
selection.
28. Define AND discuss empathy in relation to altruism on the one hand and emotional
contagion on the other
30. Conceptually, it can be argued that emotional inhibition is a form of dehumanization.
Give a definition of dehumanization that makes this argument clear.
31. Give examples of recent (<7 million), old (> 200 million years old), and very old (> 1
billion years) adaptive behaviours or mechanisms prevalent in human populations
33. Compare and contrast the verbal with the non-verbal communication of emotions
(origins, channels, effectiveness, etc.)
