Abstract
One of the great marvels of evolution is how finely matched every species is to the ecosystem in which it lives, for natural selection weeds out the genes of its less well-adapted members. Homo sapiens is an anomaly in this grand scheme of things, since we are prone to a wide range of maladaptive behaviors that diminish our well-being and survival, including consuming addictive substances, behaving irresponsibly, and ingesting more calories than we need. Although evolution has provided us with a brain that is able to use the information it detects to build models of how the world works, there is no mechanism for assuring that the information is correct or that the models are accurate. Most of our maladaptive behaviors are due to defects in the way we create symbolic representations, interpret meaning, and set goals for ourselves, since these processes are all subject to error.
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Notes
- 1.
Notes
Linden (2007) describes the human brain as “a cobbled-together mess” in which newer structures and newer functions have just been layered over older ones as a result of evolution, rather than being “designed” to fit together or replace them.
- 2.
Within-species violence can result in a reproductive advantage for the aggressors by eliminating potential competitors. Genes that predispose to such behavior can thus become increasingly represented in a population if it has no countervailing measures to limit them (Wrangham and Peterson 1996). Most cultures have developed social, moral, and legal sanctions for controlling aggression within social and ethnic groups, but not necessarily between them.
- 3.
Science represents a systematic way of understanding how the universe functions. It differs from our individual ways of determining truth and falsity in that it endeavors to gain a broad consensus about its findings by performing controlled experiments, having others replicate and verify its results, reducing subjective biases, and stating its beliefs and assumptions explicitly. Scientists arrive at the truth by systematically identifying things that are untrue and building theories and models based on facts and ideas that have survived the attempts to refute them.
- 4.
Behavioral economics is a relatively new discipline that studies the psychological factors that bias logical decision making and examines why markets are not always predictable on the basis of rational expectations (Kahneman and Tversky 2000). In addition to the distortions caused by faults in our individual mental models, there are a number of built-in information-processing biases that affect the decisions all of us make. These include tendencies to be averse to loss, favor the immediate over the deferred, and overestimate our own abilities. Most choices are affected by the way the options are presented, so that the items purchased at a supermarket are influenced by where they are placed on the shelves (Thaler and Sunstein 2008). We also tend to follow others rather than rely on our own judgment, especially when they seem to know what they are doing, since we mistakenly equate the strength of their convictions with how correct they are. Marcus (2008, p. 60) describes various cognitive errors that interfere with our ability to think rationally and distort the decisions we make. As he observes, “While evolution gave us the gift of deliberate reasoning, it lacked the vision to make sure we used it wisely.”
- 5.
The prefrontal cortex is a part of the brain that is significantly more developed in humans than in other primates. It is located at the front of the brain, where it causes our foreheads to bulge outward rather than slant backwards, like those of our primate cousins and hominid ancestors (Preuss 2000). It plays a central role in orchestrating our executive and decision-making abilities, including planning for the future and choosing between different courses of action (Struss and Benson 1986; Fuster 1997). Patients with gross damage to this area are typically unable to initiate future-directed behavior and, as a result, spend their days mostly in the present, without ambition, foresight, or spontaneity (Bechra et al. 1994).
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Reading, A. (2011). Maladaptive Behavior. In: Meaningful Information. SpringerBriefs in Biology, vol 1. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0158-2_16
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