Evolutionary Theory's Applications to Learning

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0:05 Evolutionary Theory's…
1:29 Evolution and Development
2:57 Evolution and Instincts
4:12 Lesson Summary

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Instructor: Lisa Roundy

Lisa has taught at all levels from kindergarten to college and has a master's degree in human relations.

In this lesson you will learn about evolutionary theory's application to instinctual learning and human development through natural selection. There is a quiz to test your knowledge at the end.

Meet Mr. Man. He is one of the first Europeans to explore Africa. Soon after he arrives, Mr. Man is bitten by a mosquito that infects him with malaria. He becomes very ill. Mr. Man's guide is a member of a local African tribe. The guide is also bitten by the same mosquito but is only mildly affected and recovers quickly from the exposure to malaria. The guide is less likely to become sick from his exposure to malaria because he has the sickle hemoglobin gene. This gene mutation makes him more resistant to malaria. Mr. Man does not have this gene.

Those who do not have the sickle hemoglobin gene are more likely to die from malaria. Because of this, the gene mutation is more likely to be inherited, and most of the members of the local tribe have this mutation. The mutation probably happened over hundreds of generations as a result of the constant exposure to malaria in Africa. It is not likely to be inherited in Europe because malaria is not common there. This is an example of natural selection at work in a human population. Natural selection is the process by which a species adapts to its environment by changing its genetic makeup from one generation to the next. The concept of natural selection can also be applied to human learning.

Evolution and Development

When evolutionary theory is applied to human learning, it is referred to as evolutionary developmental psychology. Evolutionary developmental psychology is the application of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to human development. It involves both the genetic and environmental conditions that have formed the processes that take place during development. Evolutionary theory assumes that our behaviors have developed through the process of natural selection similar to that described in the previous example with Mr. Man. These selected behaviors are not only the end products of our development as adults, but also include the characteristic behaviors that occur during different developmental periods.

Let's look at a young child. A child enters the world bombarded by sights, sounds and smells that are all new to them. All of this stimulation would overwhelm them if they were not programmed with constraints that force them to process the information in certain ways. Evolution has limited input from all of this stimulation by limiting cognitive function. For example, the young child's working memory is limited. This facilitates language acquisition because it limits learning to only small chunks of information at a time. This means that the human brain comes into the world with some idea of how the world is structured. Learning is not randomly acquired but is planned to occur in a certain way so that it can be built upon.

Evolution and Instincts

Evolutionary psychologists apply the theory of evolution not only to our developmental learning but also to the development of what we call instinct. An instinct is an inborn pattern of activity or common tendency shared by a species. Evolutionary psychology would theorize that our ancestors were faced with problems. Those who developed methods of solving the problems were the most successful at reproducing. Over time, the most important of these solutions became instincts, or come naturally to us, because of our evolutionary predispositions.

For example, let's imagine you have to learn two new things. One is the identification of different animal tracks. The other is the identification of different car parts. You have no previous knowledge of either. Studies have shown that you will learn to identify the animal tracks more quickly. Evolutionary psychologists would say that this is because your ancestors needed to be able to recognize animal tracks for hunting, so you have evolved to possess the ability to recognize animal tracks quickly. Since automobiles have not been a part of our ancestral development for a very long time, you have not developed the ability to recognize car parts as quickly as animal tracks.

Lesson Summary

Charles Darwin's theory of evolution can be applied to evolved processes that determine how we learn as well as instinctual learning that we possess. Evolutionary psychologists examine why humans have developed these characteristics over time. They believe that answering this question will help us better understand how development occurs during our lifespan. Humans have evolved characteristics that both have a function throughout our lives and also serve a particular purpose during specific developmental periods. These evolutionary characteristics have developed through natural selection of genetic traits. The genetic traits are based on the environmental interactions of our ancestors.

Learning Outcomes

After watching this lesson, you should have the ability to:

Define natural selection, evolutionary developmental psychology and instincts
Discuss how natural selection has affected our development and instincts

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Visit the Psychology 103: Human Growth and Development page to learn more.

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Video: Evolutionary Theory's Applications to Learning

Evolutionary Theory's Applications to Learning

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