Certain unspoken rules known as mores Essay Example for Free

Certain unspoken rules known as mores Essay In today’s world, there are certain unspoken rules known as â€Å"mores† that keep people from engaging in activities that are immoral and criminal. These mores vary slightly from country to country, but some seem to be followed by nearly every society. Murder is never socially acceptable, and in most situations, neither is incest. In an effort to understand why such different societies find the same actions repugnant, a branch of psychology known as Evolutionary Psychology has been formed. Evolutionary psychology is based on the ideas of Charles Darwin. He developed the theory of natural selection, which can be defined as â€Å"the differential contribution of offspring to the next generation by genetically different members of a population† (Crawford, p. 2). Evolutionary psychology takes Darwin’s theory of natural selection and applies the theory to explain how we as humans overcame certain problems that our ancestors encountered, primarily the issues of mating and incest. Following the idea of â€Å"the evolutionary psychology of brother – sister incest avoidance,† Darwinists have found that raising different sex children together has a profound impact on how they are attracted to each other (Crawford, p. 4). As a general rule, they do not wish to mate, and that wish â€Å"reflects a mechanism humans evolved† to avoid inbreeding and genetic problems often suffered by the next generation produced from incest (Crawford, p. 4. ). There are more researchers that take the idea of ancestral cues and evolutionary psychology and apply them to what most people think of as a serious health problem. Some researchers take the idea of evolutionary psychology and apply it to the problems that mostly young women have with anorexia. These researchers tend to focus on the idea that when young women feel they are in a situation that is unfavorable for reproduction, they attempt to render their bodies unfit for bearing children. The researchers believe that anorexia â€Å"may reflect an ancestral reproductive suppression mechanism activated by contemporary cues† (Juda, Campbell, and Crawford, p. 200). In more simplistic terms, the researchers believe that when a woman of childbearing age finds that she has a lack of support, a lack of resources, and an unsuitable mate, she will purposefully lose weight to the point that her body would not be able to become pregnant. In the unlikely event she did become pregnant the odds of the pregnancy completing successfully would be very low. The researchers believe the action taken by these women is triggered by a trait passed down from our ancestors that would keep the population low in times of trouble, such as famine, for example. However, society seems to lean toward the idea that women lose weight in an effort to look â€Å"beautiful. † Although being beautiful may be some women’s motivation to lose weight, researchers believe that beauty is not the only motivation. There are different standards for beauty all over the world. In the United States, there is a prevailing attitude that thinner is prettier. One can contrast that attitude with other counties that find bigger women to be more desirable. Most people think that â€Å"social pressures† make women in some countries want to be thin, but evolutionary psychologists have a different viewpoint. Some researchers believe that not only does an ancestral cue cause women to have eating disorders, but a similar cue could influence women to gain and lose weight in normal ranges due to the socio-ecological state in which they live (Salmon, et al, p. 2). More so, these same researchers believe that this cue is being felt to an extreme degree and for longer periods in the Western Hemisphere (Salmon, et al, p. 2). Thus, weight control is considered to be the result of an internal mechanism, not individual standards for beauty. Evolutionary psychology is an interesting branch of study that may prove useful in gaining a better understanding of what we do and why. Cues from the past influencing the world that we live in today is an interesting approach to determining the hidden reasons behind people’s actions.

The new Frontier :: essays research papers

Question #4 Section 1 Dusty trails, wagon trains, and tough guys on horses, the images that come to most peoples mind when they think of the migration towards the western frontiers. Today we are able to see the obvious effects that this migration has left on our society even today; (Sunny and warm Phoenix, hip coffee from Seattle, and that strange utopia of its own, California) but what are some of the not so obvious effects that it left?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The late 1800’s was a time of many great opportunities and advancements for the American people. With gold being discovered in many of the western states, the construction of a trans-continental railroad, and more then enough land open for settlement one couldn’t go wrong with this new frontier. This is great for the greedy materialistic side of the American peoples, but what did it do to the over all psyche of us.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Americans have several combined viewpoints that exist when it comes to advancement within in our culture: â€Å"Because it’s there†, â€Å"We are Americans, we are better than you†, â€Å"and we are America it’s our God-given right to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Because we’re happy, you should be happy too.† These thoughts were behind the whole western expansion and still exist today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The â€Å"because it’s there† and the â€Å"it’s our God-given right too†¦Ã¢â‚¬  kind of go together hand in hand. We saw all of this open land the left of us and thought â€Å"why are we letting all of that go to waste over there?† We also felt because we had settled here and seemed to have such powerful hold on everything we saw it as our â€Å"God-given right† to take all that open space to the west over and claim it as or own, no matter who said other wise. So we went, and claimed it as ours, and as we all know it lasted. This mindset seems to still linger in our sub-conscious even today and such examples can be seen in many different situations. Granted the circumstances are slightly different but over all the implied thought process is still the same. America has the tendency today to see itself as the protective big brother of the world, and we are constantly getting into scuffles with the â€Å"bullies† of t he world. For example an insurgence breaks out in a different country and we see it as our duty to quell this uprising.

Younger Generation Spending More Time Indoors

Children today seem to spend far too long inside with computer games, watching TV and videos. This is definitely bad in some ways because children should develop outdoor pursuits such as football, cricket and basketball that would make them healthy now and in their later lives. If they don? t learn to play sports when they? re young, it is unlikely that they will develop these healthy habits later in life and the results can be seen today in the higher levels of obesity and related illnesses such as diabetes.When I was young I had only sports to keep me occupied and I am grateful now that I still love and play the sports of my youth. On the other hand the world today is dominated by computers and electronics so it? s important that children learn to like and understand computers and technology early in life. The older generation didn? t have the opportunity to have this electronic entertainment and so don? t understand the attraction.In conclusion I would certainly agree that it is b ad and unhealthy for children to spend all their time indoors with electronic entertainment. I don? t think all children are too dependent on electronic entertainment but too many definitely are. We cannot expect though that children will totally ignore today? s technologies and it is important that they grow up with awareness and understanding of these things that will dominate their later lives. I believe it is up to parents to guide and encourage a reasonable mixture of both indoor and outdoor pursuits.

Charles Darwin The Life of a Revolutionary Thinker Essay

Charles Darwin, who is Charles Darwin? Darwin was not the father of genetics like Mendel; although he contributed at it. He had a hard childhood and a hard time in school. Despite all of that he was different he like to observe and collect things. He never knew that his observation would cause an enormous change in the way we looked at the world. When he was about 8  ½ or maybe 9 years his mother died because of cancer or maybe an ulcer. Sometime before that he started school but then at the age of nine he went to what he thought was a public school but it was really a private boarding school. The rooms were disgusting and they had to learn Latin or Greek literature and language ,he failed. He only liked science. Since he didn’t make†¦show more content†¦The Beagle was going to make a trip along the South American Coastline. He finally boarded on December 3, 1831. When it started he had terrible sea sickness but, enjoyed the trip whenever it went to shore. When he went to shore he found different vegetables, and fruits in places but his favorite find was fossils. Darwin went on many trips but his most memorable by many was the trip to the Galapagos Island. He wasn’t really impressed by the island but he still carried on with his work. He collected birds but the most memorable kind was the finches. He collected and collected. Then after four long years he left to go back home. He was finally free from the horrid seasickness. When he returned home he considered turning all of his recordings and journals into books. This would give him a chance to review what he did. So he did it, it took him eight months to turn the journals into books. In his books it showed that he studied fossils and observing the different animals and specimen around him. Charles had made many new discoveries in the Islands. He had found 25 new species and some of the birds looked like it was related to different species. He questioned why different species would inhabit different islands close together and they would have almost the same environment but they looked different. His idea was that there was transmutation of species, one species changing into another. He also thought to himself thatShow MoreRelatedThe Views Of Karl Marx And Charles Darwin1376 Words   |  6 PagesThe Views of Karl Marx and Charles Darwin   Ã‚  Ã‚   The statement made by Professor T. 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