DOCSLIB.ORG

The Evolutionary Bases for Sustainable Behavior: Implications for Marketing, Policy, and Social Entrepreneurship

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Evolutionary Bases for Sustainable Behavior: Implications for Marketing, Policy, and Social Entrepreneurship The Evolutionary Bases for Sustainable Behavior: Implications for Marketing, Policy, and Social Entrepreneurship Vladas Griskevicius, Stephanie M. Cantú, and Mark van Vugt How can evolved human nature be leveraged to help eliminate or alleviate environmental problems? The authors examine the evolutionary bases of destructive and ecologically damaging human behavior. They propose that many modern environmental and social problems are caused or exacerbated by five adaptive tendencies rooted in evolutionary history: (1) propensity for self-interest, (2) motivation for relative rather than absolute status, (3) proclivity to unconsciously copy others, (4) predisposition to be shortsighted, and (5) proneness to disregard impalpable concerns. By considering the evolutionary processes that produced these tendencies, the authors present ways that marketers, policy makers, and social entrepreneurs can harness evolved human tendencies to lessen or even eradicate environmental and social problems. From an evolutionary perspective, optimally effective influence strategies must work with humans’ evolved tendencies, rather than ignoring them or working against them. Keywords : green marketing, sustainability, evolutionary psychology, social influence, prosocial behavior Natural selection has shaped all living organisms to exploit Although most people want to preserve the natural envi - resources effectively. Our human problem is that, through our ronment, changing old habits can be a formidable chal - cleverness, we have created a novel evolutionary circum - lenge, especially when those habits have been adaptive for stance—we now have such technology that the very behav - many millennia. A recent survey shows that while an over - ioural tendencies which we evolved to do well are those most likely to ruin us. whelming majority of people have great enthusiasm for being green and lowering their carbon footprint, only 9% —Joel Heinen and Bobbi Low (1992, p. 106) use any environmentally friendly products, only 7% turn off unneeded lights or appliances, and just 6% curb water con - ur ancestors were highly adept at extracting resources sumption (The Home Depot 2009). When surveyed one from the environment and using them to survive, O year later, people were even more confident that they could thrive, and reproduce, but whereas we have inherited have a positive effect on the environment, but even fewer tendencies that were adaptive in the world of our forebears, respondents reported taking any action to reduce their we live in a world that is considerably different from the impact on the planet (The Home Depot 2010). one inhabited by our predecessors. Our ancestors were In this article, we consider the evolutionary bases for nomadic hunter-gatherers living in bands of 50–150 people; why people sometimes act in destructive and ecologically they lived on a planet with fewer than one million people; damaging ways. In doing so, we present insights into how and they continuously moved their camps to new locations our evolutionary past can inform strategies used by mar - when resources became exhausted, conditions changed, or keters, policy makers, and social entrepreneurs to help waste accumulated. In contrast, today many of us perma - change socially problematic behaviors (Bloom 2009). For nently live in dense cities of millions on a planet populated example, we discuss how one small social entrepreneur by billions. The same behavioral tendencies that enabled firm called OPOWER harnessed an ancestral tendency to our nomadic ancestors to thrive can wreak ecological and dramatically reduce home energy use, leading President social havoc in a technologically advanced world with more Obama to hail it as a model for how to effectively motivate than seven billion people. proenvironmental behavior (Cuddy and Doherty 2010). We begin with a brief review of what it means to examine Vladas Griskevicius is Assistant Professor of Marketing, Carlson behavior from an evolutionary perspective. We then discuss School of Management (e-mail: [email protected] ), and Stephanie the evolutionary bases for why people sometimes act in M. Cantú is a doctoral student, Department of Psychology (e-mail: destructive ways. W e propose that many modern environ - [email protected] ), University of Minnesota. Mark van Vugt is mental and social problems are caused or exacerbated by five Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology, VU University evolutionary tendencies: (1) propensity for genetic self- Amsterdam (e-mail: [email protected] ). interest, (2) motivation for relative rather than absolute status, (3) proclivity to unconsciously copy others, (4) predispo sition © 2012, American Marketing Association Journal of Public Policy & Marketing ISSN: 0743-9156 (print), 1547-7207 (electronic) 115 Vol. 31 (1) Spring 2012, 115 –128 116 Evolutionary Bases for Sustainable Behavior to be shortsighted, and (5) proneness to disregard impalpable fatty and sweet foods, such as meat and ripe fruit (Rozin concerns. We next examine the evolutionary processes that 2005). These types of foods provided our ancestors with produced each tendency by drawing on theory from the natu - much-needed calories in a food-scarce environment and did ral sciences, including kin selection, reciprocal altruism, so more effectively than foods low in fat or sugar (e.g., costly signaling, and life history theory. By considering how roots, leaves, unripe fruit). In the modern world of super - and why deep ancestral forces continue to shape modern markets and convenience stores, although people know that behaviors, we suggest that evolutionary tendencies can be they should resist Ben & Jerry’s latest combination of ice harnessed by marketers, policy makers, and social entrepre - cream, cookies, and brownies, their evolved mechanisms neurs to mitigate or eliminate social problems. Although we continue to signal the adaptive benefits of fatty and sweet focus on sustainability and conservation, many of the ideas foods. This evolutionary explanation for food preferences is herein apply to helping solve a multitude of modern social known as an ultimate explanation or cause. problems, including obesity, overpopulation, poverty, and An evolutionary perspective draws an important distinc - many types of risky behavior. tion between ultimate and proximate explanations for behavior (Kenrick et al. 2010; Tinbergen 1963). Behavioral Evolution and Modern Behavior scientists have typically been concerned only with proxi - mate explanations, which focus on relatively immediate Humans are living fossils—collections of mechanisms pro - triggers for behavior. When asking why people behave in a duced by prior selection pressures operating on a long and certain way, proximate explanations include culture, incen - unbroken line of ancestors. tives, preferences, learning, utility, pleasure, happiness, val - —David Buss (1995, p. 10) ues, emotions, and personality. However, an evolutionary perspective contends that it is useful and important to con - An evolutionary approach to behavior is based on the semi - sider the ultimate, evolutionary reasons for behavior—to nal work of Charles Darwin (1859, 1871). In the past few ask why humans evolved to behave in a certain way. decades, evolutionary considerations of human behavior It is important to note that proximate and ultimate expla - have produced an immense amount of theoretical and nations are not competing. Instead, they are complemen - empirical insights into psychology, anthropology, and eco - tary, explaining behavior at different levels of analyses. nomics (Buss 2005; Dunbar and Barrett 2007; Gandolfi, Because human behavior is the product of brain activity and Gandolfi, and Barash 2002; Saad 2007). Evolutionary the brain is an evolved organ, all behaviors have both ulti - approaches are increasingly influencing marketing (Durante mate and proximate explanations. For example, children et al. 2011; Griskevicius, Goldstein, et al. 2009; Griskevi - like sweet foods because such treats elicit pleasure (proxi - cius, Shiota, and Nowlis 2010; Miller 2009; Saad and Von - mate reason) and because humans have evolved to crave gas 2009; Van den Bergh, Dewitte, and Warlop 2008), as sweet and fatty foods (ultimate reason). Both explanations well as medicine, law, and business (Colarelli 2003; Jones are simultaneously correct; each one provides insight into and Goldsmith 2005; Nesse and Stearns 2008; Saad 2011; the same behavior at a different level of analysis. Van Vugt and Ahuja 2011). Although all behavior is driven by both proximate and An evolutionary approach suggests that just as the forces ultimate motives, people are not always aware of the ulti - of natural selection can shape morphological features, such mate motives for their behavior. A large body of literature as the shape of our hands, those forces also shape behav - shows that evolutionary motives often guide behavior in an ioral and psychological tendencies. This approach main - automatic, nonconscious manner (Barrett and Kurzban tains that humans inherit brains and bodies equipped to 2006; Kenrick et al. 2010). An important insight from this behave in ways that are adaptive —that is, fit to the work is that people are often unaware of the evolutionary demands of the environments within which their ancestors reasons behind their behavior, but because behavior has evolved (Buss 2005; Kenrick et al. 2010; Tooby and Cos - both proximate and ultimate motives, people often have mides 1992 ). However, as we discuss subsequently,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 1 Cooperation in Adversity: an Evolutionary Approach John Lazarus1 Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Newcastle University
    Cooperation in adversity: An evolutionary approach John Lazarus1 Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Newcastle University This is an Author’s Original Manuscript (AOM) of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Global Discourse on 02 January 2018, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/23269995.2017.1402426. Lazarus, J. (2017) ‘Cooperation in adversity: an evolutionary approach’, Global Discourse, 7:4, 571-598. Abstract: Throughout the organic world cooperation provides mutual benefit but is vulnerable to exploitation from free riders. Over the last thirty years work in evolutionary biology and game theory has provided understanding of the conditions necessary for the maintenance of cooperation, and advances in gene-culture coevolution theory have extended this understanding to our own species. After a preamble on the evolutionary analysis of behaviour I outline this work. I then consider how cooperation is influenced by environmental adversity and find that in non-human species it is enhanced under these circumstances in a range of taxa. In a sample of human cases the same result is found in a majority, but the opposite effect in some when socioeconomic position is the measure of quality. In anthropological studies of societies living in extremis, again the opposite effect is found. I propose a sigmoid shape for the relationship between adversity and fitness (or human well-being) and a consequent inverted-U shaped relationship between adversity and the benefit of cooperation. Most of the data presented on the relationship between adversity and cooperation are consistent with this proposal. I suggest further tests of the proposal and place the study of cooperation in the broader context of prosociality.
    [Show full text]
  • Mediterranean Ecological Footprint Trends Content
    MEDITERRANEAN ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT TRENDS CONTENT Global Footprint Network 1 Global Footprint Network EDITOR Foreword Promotes a sustainable economy by Alessandro Galli advancing the Ecological Footprint, Foreword Plan Blue 2 Scott Mattoon a tool that makes sustainability measureable. Introduction 3 AUTHORS Alessandro Galli The Ecological Footprint 8 Funded by: of World Regions David Moore MAVA Foundation Established in 1994, it is a family-led, Nina Brooks Drivers of Mediterranean Ecological Katsunori Iha Footprint and biocapacity changes 10 Swiss-based philanthropic foundation over time whose mission is to engage in strong Gemma Cranston partnerships to conserve biodiversity Mapping consumption, production 13 for future generations. CONTRIBUTORS AND REVIEWER and trade activities for the Mediterranean Region Jean-Pierre Giraud In collaboration with: Steve Goldfi nger Mediterranean Ecological Footprint 17 WWF Mediterranean Martin Halle of nations Its mission is to build a future in which Pati Poblete people live in harmony with nature. Anders Reed Linking ecological assets and 20 The WWF Mediterranean initiative aims economic competitiveness at conserving the natural wealth of the Mathis Wackernagel Toward sustainable development: 22 Mediterranean and reducing human human welfare and planetary limits footprint on nature for the benefi t of all. DESIGN MaddoxDesign.net National Case Studies 24 UNESCO Venice Conclusions 28 Is developing an educational and ADVISORS training platform on the application Deanna Karapetyan Appendix A 32 of the Ecological Footprint in SEE and Hannes Kunz Calculating the Ecological Footprint Mediterranean countries, using in (Institute for Integrated Economic particular the network of MAB Biosphere Research - www.iier.ch) Appendix B 35 Reserves as special demonstration and The carbon-plus approach learning places.
    [Show full text]
  • Building a Sustainable and Desirable Economy-In-Society- In-Nature
    SCIENCE | ENVIRONMENT State of the World 2013 2013 STATE OF THE WORLD is Is Sustainability Still Possible? SUSTAINABILITY “State of the World 2013 assembles the wisdom and clarity of some of the earth’s finest thinkers, visionaries, and activists into a dazzling array of topics that merge to offer a compellingly lucid and accessible vision of where we are—and what is the wisest and healthiest course for the future.” OF THE WORLD STATE —NINA SIMONS, Cofounder, Bioneers Still Possible? “This edition forges a new path for the State of the World series, and for environmental thinking in general. A pivotal book that marks a defining moment for our species.” — RICHARD HEINBERG, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute, and author of The End of Growth “State of the World 2013 is a powerful collection of articles, and the vision behind it is impressive. Here is a book that gets beyond ‘sustainababble’ and asks the tough, essential questions. It should make readers more determined than ever to do their part in avoiding planet-wide disaster—and better informed about how to do that.” — PETER SINGER, Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University, and author of Animal Liberation, One World, and The Life You Can Save Sustainability gets plenty of lip service, but the relentless worsening of key environmental trends reveals much of that attention to be “sustainababble.” From climate instability and species extinctions to approaching scarcities of freshwater, minerals, and energy, worrisome limits to human economic activity look more pressing each year—all while our political institutions seem impotent to address the challenge. THE WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE, in this edition of the celebrated State of the World series, takes an unflinching look at what the data say about the prospects for achieving true sustainability, 2013 what we should be doing now to make progress toward it, and how we might cope if we fail to do so.
    [Show full text]
  • THE DESCENT of MADNESS: Evolutionary Origins of Psychosis
    THE DESCENT OF MADNESS Drawing on evidence from across the behavioural and natural sciences, this book advances a radical new hypothesis: that madness exists as a costly consequence of the evolution of a sophisticated social brain in Homo sapiens. Having explained the rationale for an evolutionary approach to psych- osis, the author makes a case for psychotic illness in our living ape relatives, as well as in human ancestors. He then reviews existing evolutionary theor- ies of psychosis, before introducing his own thesis: that the same genes causing madness are responsible for the evolution of our highly social brain. Jonathan Burns’ novel Darwinian analysis of the importance of psychosis for human survival provides some meaning for this form of suffering. It also spurs us on to a renewed commitment to changing our societies in a way that allows the mentally ill the opportunity of living. The Descent of Madness will be of interest to those in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, sociology and anthropology, and is also accessible to the general reader. Jonathan Burns is chief specialist psychiatrist at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine. His main areas of research include psychotic illnesses, human brain evolution and evolutionary origins of psychosis. THE DESCENT OF MADNESS Evolutionary Origins of Psychosis and the Social Brain Jonathan Burns First published 2007 by Routledge 27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2007 Jonathan Burns This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007.
    [Show full text]
  • Pathogens, Personality, and Culture: Disease Prevalence Predicts Worldwide Variability in Sociosexuality, Extraversion, and Openness to Experience
    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Copyright 2008 by the American Psychological Association 2008, Vol. 95, No. 1, 212–221 0022-3514/08/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.95.1.212 Pathogens, Personality, and Culture: Disease Prevalence Predicts Worldwide Variability in Sociosexuality, Extraversion, and Openness to Experience Mark Schaller and Damian R. Murray University of British Columbia Previous research has documented cross-cultural differences in personality traits, but the origins of those differences remain unknown. The authors investigate the possibility that these cultural differences can be traced, in part, to regional differences in the prevalence in infectious diseases. Three specific hypotheses are deduced, predicting negative relationships between disease prevalence and (a) unrestricted sociosex- uality, (b) extraversion, and (c) openness to experience. These hypotheses were tested empirically with methods that employed epidemiological atlases in conjunction with personality data collected from individuals in dozens of countries worldwide. Results were consistent with all three hypotheses: In regions that have historically suffered from high levels of infectious diseases, people report lower mean levels of sociosexuality, extraversion, and openness. Alternative explanations are addressed, and possible underlying mechanisms are discussed. Keywords: culture, disease prevalence, extraversion, openness to experience, sociosexuality People’s personalities differ, and some of that individual vari- For example, Schmitt (2005) and his collaborators in the Inter- ability is geographically clumped. But why is that so? How are we national Sexuality Description Project assessed worldwide vari- to understand the origins of regional differences in personality? A ability in chronic tendencies toward either a “restricted” or “unre- complete response to that question will surely require attention to stricted” sociosexual style.
    [Show full text]
  • Hanging on to the Edges Hanging on to the Edges
    DANIEL NETTLE Hanging on to the Edges Hanging on to the Edges Essays on Science, Society and the Academic Life D ANIEL Essays on Science, Society I love this book. I love the essays and I love the overall form. Reading these essays feels like entering into the best kind of intellectual conversati on—it makes me want and the Academic Life to write essays in reply. It makes me want to get everyone else reading it. I almost N never feel this enthusiasti c about a book. ETTLE —Rebecca Saxe, Professor of Cogniti ve Science at MIT What does it mean to be a scien� st working today; specifi cally, a scien� st whose subject ma� er is human life? Scien� sts o� en overstate their claim to certainty, sor� ng the world into categorical dis� nc� ons that obstruct rather than clarify its complexi� es. In this book Daniel Ne� le urges the reader to unpick such DANIEL NETTLE dis� nc� ons—biological versus social sciences, mind versus body, and nature versus nurture—and look instead for the for puzzles and anomalies, the points of Hanging on to the Edges connec� on and overlap. These essays, converted from o� en humorous, some� mes autobiographical blog posts, form an extended medita� on on the possibili� es and frustra� ons of the life scien� fi c. Pragma� cally arguing from the intersec� on between social and biological sciences, Ne� le reappraises the virtues of policy ini� a� ves such as Universal Basic Income and income redistribu� on, highligh� ng the traps researchers and poli� cians are liable to encounter.
    [Show full text]
  • Leadership, Followership, and Evolution Some Lessons from the Past
    Leadership, Followership, and Evolution Some Lessons From the Past Mark Van Vugt University of Kent Robert Hogan Hogan Assessment Systems Robert B. Kaiser Kaplan DeVries Inc. This article analyzes the topic of leadership from an evo- Second, the literature focuses on leaders and tends to lutionary perspective and proposes three conclusions that ignore the essential role of followers (Hollander, 1992; are not part of mainstream theory. First, leading and Yukl, 2006). Third, research largely concentrates on prox- following are strategies that evolved for solving social imate issues of leadership (e.g., What makes one person a coordination problems in ancestral environments, includ- better leader than others?) and rarely considers its ultimate ing in particular the problems of group movement, intra- functions (e.g., How did leadership promote survival and group peacekeeping, and intergroup competition. Second, reproductive success among our ancestors?) (R. Hogan & the relationship between leaders and followers is inher- Kaiser, 2005). Finally, there has been little cross-fertiliza- ently ambivalent because of the potential for exploitation of tion between psychology and disciplines such as anthro- followers by leaders. Third, modern organizational struc- pology, economics, neuroscience, biology, and zoology, tures are sometimes inconsistent with aspects of our which also contain important insights about leadership evolved leadership psychology, which might explain the (Bennis, 2007; Van Vugt, 2006). alienation and frustration of many citizens and employees. This article offers a view of leadership inspired by The authors draw several implications of this evolutionary evolutionary theory, which modern scholars increasingly analysis for leadership theory, research, and practice. see as essential for understanding social life (Buss, 2005; Lawrence & Nohria, 2002; McAdams & Pals, 2006; Nettle, Keywords: evolution, leadership, followership, game the- 2006; Schaller, Simpson, & Kenrick, 2006).
    [Show full text]
  • Beowulf and Competitive Altruism,” P
    January 2013 Volume 9, Issue 1 ASEBL Journal Association for the Study of Editor (Ethical Behavior)•(Evolutionary Biology) in Literature St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. Gregory F. Tague, Ph.D. ~ Editorial Board ~▪▪~ Kristy Biolsi, Ph.D. THIS ISSUE FEATURES Kevin Brown, Ph.D. Wendy Galgan, Ph.D. † Eric Luttrell, “Modest Heroism: Beowulf and Competitive Altruism,” p. 2 Cheryl L. Jaworski, M.A. † Dena R. Marks, “Secretary of Disorientation: Writing the Circularity of Belief in Elizabeth Costello,” p.11 Anja Müller-Wood, Ph.D. Kathleen A. Nolan, Ph.D. † Margaret Bertucci Hamper, “’The poor little working girl’: The New Woman, Chloral, and Motherhood in The House of Mirth,” p. 19 Riza Öztürk, Ph.D. † Kristin Mathis, “Moral Courage in The Runaway Jury,” p. 22 Eric Platt, Ph.D. † William Bamberger, “A Labyrinthine Modesty: On Raymond Roussel Michelle Scalise Sugiyama, and Chiasmus,” p. 24 Ph.D. ~▪~ Editorial Interns † St. Francis College Moral Sense Colloquium: - Program Notes, p. 27 Tyler Perkins - Kristy L. Biolsi, “What Does it Mean to be a Moral Animal?”, p. 29 - Sophie Berman, “Science sans conscience n’est que ruine de l’âme,” p.36 ~▪~ Kimberly Resnick † Book Reviews: - Lisa Zunshine, editor, Introduction to Cognitive Cultural Studies. Gregory F. Tague, p. 40 - Edward O. Wilson, The Social Conquest of Earth. Wendy Galgan, p. 42 ~▪~ ~ Contributor Notes, p. 45 Announcements, p. 45 ASEBL Journal Copyright©2013 E-ISSN: 1944-401X *~* [email protected] www.asebl.blogspot.com ASEBL Journal – Volume 9 Issue 1, January 2013 Modest Heroism: Beowulf and Competitive Altruism Eric Luttrell Christian Virtues or Human Virtues? Over the past decade, adaptations of Beowulf in popular media have portrayed the eponymous hero as a dim-witted and egotistical hot-head.
    [Show full text]
  • Raising-Darwins-Consciousness.Pdf
    RAISING DARWIN'S CONSCIOUSNESS Female Sexuality and the Prehominid Origins of Patriarchy Sarah Blaffer Hrdy University of California, Davis Sociobiologists and feminists agree that men in patriarchal social systems seek to control females, but sociobiologists go further, using Darwin's theory of sexual selection and Trivers's ideas on parental investment to explain why males should attempt to control female sexuality. From this perspective, the stage for the development under some conditions of patriarchal social systems was set over the course of primate evolution. Sexual selection encompasses both competition between males and female choice. But in applying this theory to our "lower origins" (pre- hominid ancestors), Darwin assumed that choices were made by essen- tially "coy" females. I argue here that female solicitation of multiple males (either simultaneously or sequentially, depending on the breeding system) characterized prehominid females; this prehominid legacy of cy- clical sexual assertiveness, itself possibly a female counter-strategy to male efforts to control the timing of female reproduction, generated fur- ther male counter-strategies. This dialectic had important implications for emerging hominid mating systems, human evolution, and the devel- opment of patriarchal arrangements in some human societies. For homi- nid males who will invest in offspring, there would be powerful selection for emotions, behaviors, and customs that ensure them certainty of pater- nity. The sexual modesty that so struck Darwin can be explained as a recent evolved or learned (perhaps both) adaptation in women to avoid penalties imposed by patrilines on daughters and mates who failed to conform to the patriline's prevailing norms for their sex.
    [Show full text]
  • Iciumv LEADERS in ANIMAL BEHAVIOR the Second Generation
    UO1BJ3U3D iciumv LEADERS IN ANIMAL BEHAVIOR The Second Generation Edited by Lee C. Drickamer Northern Arizona University Donald A. Dewsbury University of Florida CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 13 Myths, monkeys, and motherhood: a compromising life SARAH BLAFFER HRDY Definition of an Anthropologist: "(Someone) who studies human nature in all its diversity." Carmelo Lison-Tolosana (1966) Maternal effects (1946-64) From a young age, I was interested in why humans do what they do. With little exposure to science, certainly no inkling that there might be people in the world who studied other animals in order to better understand our species, I decided to become a novelist. Born in Leaders in Animal Behavior: The Setond Generation, ed. L. C. Drickamcr & D. A. Dewsbury. Published by Cambridge University Press. CO Cambridge University Press 2010. 344 Sarah Bluffer Hrdy Texas in 1946, right at the start of the postwar baby boom, I was the third of five children - Speedway. Prevailin four daughters and finally the long-awaited son. My father's father, R. L. Blaffer, had come segregation, and pi to Texas from Hamburg via New Orleans in 1901 at the time oil was discovered at interested in the e1 Spindletop. He recognized that fortunes would be made in the oil business. He married inheritance, female Sarah Campbell from Lampasas, whose father was in that business. I was named for her, the women's moven Sarah Campbell Blaffer II. My mother's father's ancestors, the Hardins, French Huguenots Reared by a suo from Tennessee, arrived earlier, in 1825, before Texas was even a state.
    [Show full text]
  • Cinderella Effect Facts
    The “Cinderella effect”: Elevated mistreatment of stepchildren in comparison to those living with genetic parents. Martin Daly & Margo Wilson Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour McMaster University Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4K1 <[email protected]> <[email protected]> Theory Parents commit a huge amount of time, attention and material resources to the care of their children, as well as incurring life-threatening risks to defend them and bodily depletion to nourish them. Why are parents motivated to invest so heavily in their children? From an evolutionary perspective, the answer is surely that natural selection has favoured intensive parental care in our lineage. Those ancestral genotypes and phenotypes that best succeeded in raising children to become reproducing adults were the ones that persisted and proliferated. If the psychological underpinnings of parental care have indeed evolved by natural selection, we may furthermore anticipate that parental feeling and action will not typically be elicited by just any random conspecific juvenile. Instead, care-providing animals may be expected to direct their care selectively towards young who are (a) their own genetic offspring rather than those of their reproductive rivals, and (b) able to convert parental investment into increased prospects for survival and reproduction. This is the kernel of the theory of discriminative parental solicitude, which (notwithstanding some interesting twists and caveats) has been abundantly verified in a broad range of care-giving species
    [Show full text]
  • Food Insecurity As a Driver of Obesity in Humans: the Insurance Hypothesis
    BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES (2017), Page 1 of 53 doi:10.1017/S0140525X16000947,e0 Food insecurity as a driver of obesity in humans: The insurance hypothesis Daniel Nettle Centre for Behaviour and Evolution & Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle NE2 4HH, United Kingdom. [email protected] http://www.danielnettle.org.uk Clare Andrews Centre for Behaviour and Evolution & Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle NE2 4HH, United Kingdom. [email protected] http://bit.ly/clareandrews Melissa Bateson Centre for Behaviour and Evolution & Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle NE2 4HH, United Kingdom. [email protected] https://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/melissa.bateson/ Abstract: Integrative explanations of why obesity is more prevalent in some sectors of the human population than others are lacking. Here, we outline and evaluate one candidate explanation, the insurance hypothesis (IH). The IH is rooted in adaptive evolutionary thinking: The function of storing fat is to provide a buffer against shortfall in the food supply. Thus, individuals should store more fat when they receive cues that access to food is uncertain. Applied to humans, this implies that an important proximate driver of obesity should be food insecurity rather than food abundance per se. We integrate several distinct lines of theory and evidence that bear on this hypothesis. We present a theoretical model that shows it is optimal to store more fat when food access is uncertain, and we review the experimental literature from non-human animals showing that fat reserves increase when access to food is restricted. We provide a meta-analysis of 125 epidemiological studies of the association between perceived food insecurity and high body weight in humans.
    [Show full text]