Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science pp 1–6Cite as

Maladaptive By-Product Hypothesis

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

Synonyms

Ecological trap; Evolutionary mismatch; Evolutionary trap; Mismatch theory; Maladaptation

Definition

In evolutionary psychology, maladaptive theory holds that some human behaviors are the result of past selective forces that are no longer operative, usually because of changes in the physical and social environment, resulting in behaviors that are no longer beneficial for fitness.

A maladaptation is a feature of an organism that, despite being genetically encoded or influenced, hinders the biological fitness of the individuals that bear it. Rarely is it straightforward to determine that a given trait is unambiguously maladaptive. Indeed, as noted by Crespi (2000), “Conditions for unambiguously identifying maladaptation are considerably more stringent than those for demonstrating adaptation.” Nevertheless, the existence of maladaptive physical and behavioral traits is undeniable and reminds us of the limits of adaptationist explanations for human behaviors.

At its very origin...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Bowman, J. (2007). Honor: A history. Encounter Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bramble, D. M., & Lieberman, D. E. (2004). Endurance running and the evolution of homo. Nature, 432(7015), 345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brent, D. A., & Mann, J. J. (2005). Family genetic studies, suicide, and suicidal behavior. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part C: Seminars in Medical Genetics, 133(1), 13–24. Wiley-Blackwell.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breslin, P. A. (2013). An evolutionary perspective on food and human taste. Current Biology, 23(9), R409–R418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). 2016 leading causes of death report.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charles, D. (1859). On the origin of species by means of natural selection. London: Murray.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chesler, P. (2010). Worldwide trends in honor killings. Middle East Quarterly, 17(2), 3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crespi, B. J. (2000). The evolution of maladaptation. Heredity, 84(6), 623.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darwin, Charles (1859). On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Eaton, S. B. (2006). The ancestral human diet: What was it and should it be a paradigm for contemporary nutrition? Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 65(1), 1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galle, O. R., Gove, W. R., & McPherson, J. M. (1972). Population density and pathology: What are the relations for man? Science, 176(4030), 23–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gill, A. (2009). Honor killings and the quest for justice in black and minority ethnic communities in the United Kingdom. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 20(4), 475–494.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gluckman, P. D., & Hanson, M. A. (2004). Living with the past: Evolution, development, and patterns of disease. Science, 305(5691), 1733–1736.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gould, S. J., & Lewontin, R. C. (1979). The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: A critique of the adaptationist programme. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 205(1161), 581–598.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gould, M. S., Greenberg, T. E. D., Velting, D. M., & Shaffer, D. (2003). Youth suicide risk and preventive interventions: A review of the past 10 years. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 42(4), 386–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gyllenberg, M., & Parvinen, K. (2001). Necessary and sufficient conditions for evolutionary suicide. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 63(5), 981–993.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henrich, J. (2009). The evolution of costly displays, cooperation and religion: Credibility enhancing displays and their implications for cultural evolution. Evolution and Human Behavior, 30(4), 244–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jew, S., AbuMweis, S. S., & Jones, P. J. (2009). Evolution of the human diet: Linking our ancestral diet to modern functional foods as a means of chronic disease prevention. Journal of Medicinal Food, 12(5), 925–934.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Juurlink, D. N., Herrmann, N., Szalai, J. P., Kopp, A., & Redelmeier, D. A. (2004). Medical illness and the risk of suicide in the elderly. Archives of Internal Medicine, 164(11), 1179–1184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kimura, M. (1983). The neutral theory of molecular evolution. Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kovacs, M., & Garrison, B. (1985). Hopelessness and eventual suicide: A 10-year prospective study of patients hospitalized with suicidal ideation. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1(42), 559–563.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lande, R. (1980). Sexual dimorphism, sexual selection, and adaptation in polygenic characters. Evolution, 34(2), 292–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leighton, A. H., & Hughes, C. C. (1955). Notes on Eskimo patterns of suicide. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 11(4), 327–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levy, L., & Herzog, A. N. (1974). Effects of population density and crowding on health and social adaptation in the Netherlands. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 15, 228–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAndrew, F. T. (2002). New evolutionary perspectives on altruism: Multilevel-selection and costly-signaling theories. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(2), 79–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, D. (1994). The naked ape: A zoologist’s study of the human animal. Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oquendo, M. A., Ellis, S. P., Greenwald, S., Malone, K. M., Weissman, M. M., & Mann, J. J. (2001). Ethnic and sex differences in suicide rates relative to major depression in the United States. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158(10), 1652–1658.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pomiankowski, A. (1987). The costs of choice in sexual selection. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 128(2), 195–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, A., Iltis, D., & Wooding, S. (2004). Genetic variation at the MC1R locus and the time since loss of human body hair. Current Anthropology, 45(1), 105–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rushton, J. P., Russell, R. J., & Wells, P. A. (1984). Genetic similarity theory: Beyond kin selection. Behavior Genetics, 14(3), 179–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sahlins, M. D. (1976). The use and abuse of biology: An anthropological critique of sociobiology. University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trivers, R. (2018a). The evolutionary genetics of honor killing. Retrieved October 20, 2018, from https://www.researchgate.net/project/The-evolutionary-genetics-of-honor-killing

  • Trivers, R (2018b). The evolutionary genetics of honour killing. Manuscript in preparation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Voracek, M., & Loibl, L. M. (2007). Genetics of suicide: A systematic review of twin studies. Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift, 119(15–16), 463–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamasaki, A., Araki, S., Sakai, R., Yokoyama, K., & Voorhees, A. S. (2008). Suicide mortality of young, middle-aged and elderly males and females in Japan for the years 1953–96: Time series analysis for the effects of unemployment, female labour force, young and aged population, primary industry and population density. Industrial Health, 46(6), 541–549.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zihlman, A. L., & Cohn, B. A. (1988). The adaptive response of human skin to the savanna. Human Evolution, 3(5), 397–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sciences, John Jay College, The City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Nathan H. Lents

Authors
  1. Nathan H. Lents
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nathan H. Lents .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, MI, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, Beaver, Monaca, PA, USA

    Kevin Bennett

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Lents, N.H. (2019). Maladaptive By-Product Hypothesis. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3020-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3020-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation