Question

Determining the effects of natural selection on human behavior is much more robust if ________.

1) one disentangles the effects of culture from evolutionary history in detailed, controlled studies of a single culture

2) groups of humans are separated into control and treatment groups for extensive experimentation

3) data is collected cross-culturally to eliminate the effects of culture on behavior

4) We cannot study human behavior in an evolutionary context.

Answer 1

The study of natural selection's effects on human behavior is robust when cross-cultural data is collected as it helps distinguish genetic influences from cultural ones.

Step-by-step explanation:

Determining the effects of natural selection on human behavior is much more robust if data is collected cross-culturally to eliminate the effects of culture on behavior. Evolutionary psychology suggests that for a behavior to be subject to evolution, it must be significantly genetic rather than purely cultural.

Most evolutionary psychologists predict the outcome of behavior based on evolutionary theory and test to see if observations or experiments match the theory. However, it is important to note that applying evolutionary theories to human behavior and separating natural behavior from cultural behavior is challenging due to ethical and practical constraints that limit the types of experiments that can be conducted on humans.