Week 2 — Survival and the evolved individual

The evolved body, food and fear, threat detection, habitat preferences, disease avoidance, life history, and development.

Lectures in this week

2.1 Survival and the evolved body
The body as a record of ancestral survival problems.
2.2 Foraging, food, and the evolved palate
Why we crave what we crave.
2.3 Fear, predators, and threat detection
An evolved alarm system biased toward false alarms.
2.4 Habitat preferences and environmental cognition
Savanna preferences and the spatial mind.
2.5 Disease avoidance and the behavioral immune system
Disgust as a first line of defense against pathogens.
2.6 Life history theory
Trade-offs in how organisms budget time and energy.
2.7 Development and the shaping of the child mind
How evolved programs unfold across childhood.