Lesson 3.1.3

3.1.3 Evolution, natural selection and hormones Quiz: Pearson Edexcel Psychology, Unit 3

20 questions

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Lesson 3.1.3, Evolution, natural selection and hormones: 20 multiple choice questions for the Pearson Edexcel Psychology (9PS0), Unit 3: Biological psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. According to Darwin's theory of natural selection, how does a heritable trait become more common in a population over generations?

    • Traits acquired during an individual's lifetime, such as muscle built through exercise, are passed directly to their offspring
    • Members of a population learn new behaviours by imitation, and those behaviours spread only within one generation of the group
    • Random mutations occur within a single lifetime and immediately change the behaviour of that individual for the rest of their life
    • Individuals with heritable traits that improve survival and reproduction leave more offspring, so the trait becomes more frequent

  2. Testosterone is best classified as which type of substance, and where is it mainly produced in males?

    • A digestive enzyme produced mainly in the pancreas, used to break down proteins in the small intestine during digestion
    • A steroid hormone produced mainly in the testes and carried in the bloodstream to target tissues around the body
    • A structural protein produced mainly in muscle fibres, which forms the myelin sheath surrounding axons of motor neurons
    • A neurotransmitter released into the synaptic cleft, mainly by the adrenal glands, to carry messages between neurons

  3. In evolutionary psychology, what is an adaptation?

    • A behaviour that an individual learns in adulthood through reinforcement and punishment from the social environment around them
    • A trait that evolved because it helped ancestors solve recurring problems of survival or reproduction in their environment
    • A random genetic error with no effect on survival, reproduction or the traits that are passed on to the next generation
    • A short-term change in mood caused by fluctuations in blood glucose levels and the amount of sleep taken in a given night

  4. Which hormone is most consistently linked in research with dominance and aggressive behaviour in males?

    • Testosterone, a steroid hormone that is associated with dominance-related and aggressive behaviour in many studies
    • Melatonin, which regulates sleep-wake cycles through signals released by the pineal gland in the brain during darkness
    • Insulin, which regulates the uptake of glucose from the blood into body cells after a meal is eaten by the individual
    • Thyroxine, which regulates metabolic rate through the output of the thyroid gland into the bloodstream of the body

  5. Sexual selection, as described by Darwin, is best defined as selection favouring traits that:

    • improve survival by helping an organism avoid predators and find food in harsh environments with limited resources available
    • are passed from parents to offspring only through learning from observing the behaviour of adults in the same group
    • reduce fertility so that individuals invest more of their energy and resources in caring for their existing young
    • increase success in competing for mates or attracting them, even when those traits carry some costs for survival

  6. Evolutionary explanations of aggression propose that aggression is most likely to have been selected for because it:

    • developed in modern societies as a result of recent changes in diet, work patterns and everyday living environments over time
    • allowed individuals to secure resources, territory or mates, which improved their chances of passing their genes to offspring
    • allowed individuals to avoid all conflict with others, which reduced competition and protected the group from internal harm
    • allowed individuals to conform to social rules that were enforced by written laws in the earliest human settlements known

  7. During puberty, a rise in sex hormones such as testosterone is linked to changes in:

    • only the length of the individual's bones, with no effect on physical appearance, emotion or social behaviour at all
    • the rate at which the body digests food, which remains the same throughout adolescence and early adulthood in all people
    • the number of neurons present in the brain, which are fixed at birth and never change through the rest of the lifespan
    • physical growth, secondary sex characteristics and some emotional and social behaviour, as well as the body's hormone systems

  8. A researcher finds that rodents with higher testosterone show more aggressive encounters with rivals. Which conclusion is best supported by a correlational finding of this kind?

    • The study shows only an association between testosterone and aggression, so causation cannot be inferred
    • Testosterone causes aggression in all animals, regardless of their social context, prior experience or the environment they live in
    • Aggression in rodents is unrelated to hormone levels, because rodent behaviour is controlled entirely by learned responses and habits
    • Testosterone must have been measured incorrectly, because hormones and behaviour cannot be linked in any species that has been studied

  9. In a population of animals, males with larger body size win more fights over territory and mate more often than smaller males. Over many generations, what would most likely happen to average male body size?

    • It would change randomly, with no consistent link between body size and the number of offspring produced by each male
    • It would stay exactly the same, because body size cannot be inherited from parents to offspring in any species at all
    • It would increase, because larger males pass on more genes, so larger size spreads through natural selection
    • It would decrease, because larger males would find it harder to obtain food in competitive environments with few resources

  10. A researcher argues that a rise in testosterone after a competitive win may prepare the individual for further competition. Which evolutionary idea does this best link to?

    • Operant conditioning, through the removal of an aversive stimulus that follows the winning behaviour in the contest
    • Social competition, where hormonal responses may support status-seeking behaviour that aided reproductive success in ancestors
    • Classical conditioning, where a neutral cue such as winning a contest becomes paired with an unconditioned response
    • Freud's concept of the superego, which restrains aggressive impulses after a victory has been gained in a contest

  11. An evolutionary account predicts men should show more aggression than women when competing for the same mate. Which observation would most support this prediction?

    • Aggression in both sexes is highest in childhood and declines steadily with age, regardless of the hormones present in the body
    • Men show more aggression toward same-sex rivals competing for a mate than women do in comparable situations of rivalry
    • Women show equal aggression to men in all competitive contexts, including those that involve competition for mates or partners
    • Men and women show identical levels of aggression across every culture and age group that has ever been studied by researchers

  12. A researcher wants to test whether hormone levels relate to changes in aggression across adolescence. Which design would best address this question?

    • A single cross-sectional snapshot of unrelated adults measured at one point in time, with no follow-up of any participant
    • A laboratory experiment with random allocation to a hormone-free control group, tested in a single afternoon session
    • A case study of one individual with an unusual medical history, observed over a short period of a few weeks
    • A longitudinal design that measures testosterone and aggression in the same individuals repeatedly over several years

  13. A study finds adolescents with higher testosterone report more aggressive behaviour. Which is the strongest reason the hormone cannot be assumed to cause the aggression?

    • The hormone measure is too precise to be useful, so no conclusions about any behaviour can ever be drawn from it
    • Social environment, peer influence or learning could explain both the hormone and the aggression
    • Testosterone is only produced in adults, so measuring it in adolescents must always produce unreliable and misleading results
    • Adolescents cannot be studied ethically, so any result found with them must automatically be treated as invalid evidence

  14. Which statement is a valid criticism of evolutionary explanations of aggression?

    • They are based on evidence that every human society in history has shown identical patterns of aggression and violence
    • They claim that aggression is caused entirely by conscious choices made after carefully weighing the costs and the benefits
    • They rely on speculation about ancestral environments that cannot be observed directly, so their predictions are hard to test
    • They have been directly tested by observing the same ancestral groups of humans in controlled laboratory conditions many times

  15. A critic says an evolutionary explanation of aggression is reductionist. What does this criticism mean?

    • It shows that behaviour is simpler than people think, because all aggression is caused by hunger and the need for food
    • It explains a complex behaviour in terms of a single biological cause and tends to ignore social and cultural influences on it
    • It argues that natural selection cannot be applied to any human behaviour and that it only applies to plants and simple animals
    • It explains behaviour by reducing it to the number of hormones measured in a laboratory sample of a small group of participants

  16. Which statement gives the strongest reason that evolutionary explanations of aggression are described as deterministic?

    • They claim aggression has no biological basis at all and is created entirely by pressure from peers and the wider community
    • They argue aggression is entirely the result of conscious decisions made after weighing the costs and the benefits of violence
    • They suggest aggression is driven by inherited tendencies, so individuals may appear to have little free choice over acting aggressively
    • They show that aggression can be changed by learning in every individual, regardless of the genes that they carry from their parents

  17. Assume a linear relationship in which every 10 units of testosterone adds 3 points to an aggression score. What score difference would a person with 10 units more testosterone be predicted to have?

    • 1.5 points
    • 30 points
    • 6 points
    • 3 points

  18. Why might an evolutionary account of development argue that hormonal changes at puberty are adaptive?

    • Because they cause the body to stop growing permanently, which reduces the energy needed for survival in later life
    • Because they remove all emotional responses, which makes decisions about food and shelter quicker and more efficient
    • Because they prevent the individual from ever forming any social bonds, which protects them from harm from other people
    • Because they prepare individuals for reproduction and mate competition, which can increase their chances of passing on genes

  19. Which is the strongest evaluation point about using hormones to explain human behaviour such as aggression?

    • Hormones have been shown to affect only plants and insects, so they are irrelevant to the study of human behaviour altogether
    • Hormone levels are the same in every person, so differences in aggression between individuals must always be explained by chance
    • Hormone-behaviour links are often correlational, and the direction of cause is not always clear from the research evidence available
    • Hormones are controlled entirely by conscious choice, so they cannot affect emotions or behaviour in any way at any time

  20. A study measures testosterone in winners and losers of a contest and finds winners have higher levels. Which alternative explanation must be considered?

    • Testosterone must cause all sporting victories, so winning can be predicted from hormone levels measured before the contest
    • Losers always have higher testosterone than winners, so the result must be an error in the measuring equipment used
    • The contest had no effect on either group, so the difference in hormone levels must be due to the time of day tested
    • Winning may itself raise testosterone, so the hormone could be a consequence of winning rather than a cause of it

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