4.5.08

Smells Like...Love


I have posted a link to this site before, it's excellent for anyone studying the Unit 4 topic Evolutionary Explanations of Human Behaviour. The first link below is to a vid clip. This clip gives a brief outline of how evolutionary psychologists think that we have evolved a brain that makes doing some things feel good and to avoid doing some things because they feel bad. This is to ensure our genes survival.

The Sweaty T-Shirt study tests the hypothesis that we have evolved a brain that helps us to select a genetically compatible mate by how they smell. We are attracted to a person with different immune system genes to our own and can detect this by how they smell: this gives our offspring better protection against viruses and parasites.

We could conduct a similar study in class. Any ethical problems with that?


The article below gives a detailed overview of......

How to Pick a perfect Mate

The clip below is an illustration of how not to pick something else.......



Some evolutionary biologists have argued that sexual reproduction evolved as a defense against bacteria and viruses. Sexual reproduction "shuffles genes" in offspring and produces different immune systems that offer greater protection against infection and therefore helps offspring to survive and reproduce.

This is known as the 'Red Queen' hypothesis.

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