Integrating Mechanisms and Functions to Understand Behavior

2019 ◽  
pp. xiv-9
Author(s):  
Lisa L. M. Welling ◽  
Todd K. Shackelford
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Reproductive Behavior ◽  
Affective Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Endocrinology ◽  
Human Psychology ◽  
Proximate Mechanisms ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Influence Behavior ◽  
Evolutionary Perspectives

Evolutionary psychology and behavioral endocrinology provide complementary perspectives on interpreting human behavior and psychology. Hormones can function as underlying mechanisms that influence behavior in functional ways. Understanding these proximate mechanisms can inform ultimate explanations of human psychology. This chapter introduces this edited volume by first discussing evolutionary perspectives in behavioral endocrinology. It then briefly addresses three broad topic areas of behavioral endocrinology: (1) development and survival, (2) reproductive behavior, and (3) social and affective behavior. It provides examples of research within each of these areas and describes potential adaptations. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the importance of integrating mechanisms with function when investigating human behavior and psychology.

The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology and Behavioral Endocrinology

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
The Body ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Adaptive Responses ◽  
Behavioral Endocrinology ◽  
Selection Pressures ◽  
Human Psychology ◽  
And Behavior

Although most will be at least somewhat familiar with the biological role hormones play during puberty and pregnancy, many are likely unaware that hormones—chemical messengers that are secreted by cells and that travel through the body to reach specialized receptors—impact multiple aspects of our lives from conception onward. Behavioral endocrinology and evolutionary psychology are complementary disciplines wherein scholars seek to understand human behavior. Evolutionary psychologists contend that human psychology and behavior are functional outcomes of natural and sexual selection pressures encountered in the ancestral environment. In this view, selection pressures designed adaptations of the mind and body, which produce behavior through a variety of psychological, neurological, and physiological mechanisms. Behavioral endocrinologists study the hormonal and neuroendocrine mechanisms that influence or regulate behavior. They investigate these bidirectional relationships between hormones and behavior using measured, estimated, or manipulated circulating hormone levels, or by studying the associated biological circuitry. Understanding how hormones function as underlying mechanisms for potentially adaptive responses in specific environmental contexts informs an evolutionary perspective on human psychology. This book explores various topics within behavioral endocrinology from an evolutionary perspective. Each chapter explores a subtopic within one of three themes: (1) development and survival, (2) reproductive behavior, and (3) social and affective behavior. Current knowledge on diverse subjects, such as hormonal influences on life history strategy, mate choice, aggression, human hierarchical structure, mood disorders, and more, is outlined and exciting future directions are discussed. The intersection of evolutionary psychology and behavioral endocrinology affords compelling research into human psychophysiology.

scholarly journals Evolutionary Psychology in the Modern World: Applications, Perspectives, and Strategies

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 147470491201000 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Craig Roberts ◽  
Mark van Vugt ◽  
Robin I. M. Dunbar
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Darwinian Medicine ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Economics And Politics

An evolutionary approach is a powerful framework which can bring new perspectives on any aspect of human behavior, to inform and complement those from other disciplines, from psychology and anthropology to economics and politics. Here we argue that insights from evolutionary psychology may be increasingly applied to address practical issues and help alleviate social problems. We outline the promise of this endeavor, and some of the challenges it faces. In doing so, we draw parallels between an applied evolutionary psychology and recent developments in Darwinian medicine, which similarly has the potential to complement conventional approaches. Finally, we describe some promising new directions which are developed in the associated papers accompanying this article.

Evolutionary Psychology: The Impact of Evolution on Human Behavior

2012 ◽  
pp. I-258-I-266
Author(s):  
Gordon G. Gallup ◽  
Jeremy Atkinson ◽  
Daniel D. Moriarty
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals How to get the most bang for your buck: the evolution and physiology of nutrition-dependent resource allocation strategies

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1857) ◽  
pp. 20170445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enoch Ng'oma ◽  
Anna M. Perinchery ◽  
Elizabeth G. King
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Analytical Models ◽  
Major Question ◽  
Proximate Mechanisms ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Flexible Resource ◽  
Empirical Tests ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Allocation Strategies

All organisms use resources to grow, survive and reproduce. The supply of these resources varies widely across landscapes and time, imposing ultimate constraints on the maximal trait values for allocation-related traits. In this review, we address three key questions fundamental to our understanding of the evolution of allocation strategies and their underlying mechanisms. First, we ask: how diverse are flexible resource allocation strategies among different organisms? We find there are many, varied, examples of flexible strategies that depend on nutrition. However, this diversity is often ignored in some of the best-known cases of resource allocation shifts, such as the commonly observed pattern of lifespan extension under nutrient limitation. A greater appreciation of the wide variety of flexible allocation strategies leads directly to our second major question: what conditions select for different plastic allocation strategies? Here, we highlight the need for additional models that explicitly consider the evolution of phenotypically plastic allocation strategies and empirical tests of the predictions of those models in natural populations. Finally, we consider the question: what are the underlying mechanisms determining resource allocation strategies? Although evolutionary biologists assume differential allocation of resources is a major factor limiting trait evolution, few proximate mechanisms are known that specifically support the model. We argue that an integrated framework can reconcile evolutionary models with proximate mechanisms that appear at first glance to be in conflict with these models. Overall, we encourage future studies to: (i) mimic ecological conditions in which those patterns evolve, and (ii) take advantage of the ‘omic’ opportunities to produce multi-level data and analytical models that effectively integrate across physiological and evolutionary theory.

Race and the Law in the Genomic Age

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Bradley Kar ◽  
John Lindo
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Civil Liability ◽  
Central Mechanism ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Equal Protection ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Critical Race ◽  
Human Psychology ◽  
Racial Perceptions ◽  
The Law

Despite the ‘Age of Genomics’, many scholars who study race and the law resist biological insights into human psychology and behaviour. Contemporary developments make this resistance increasingly untenable. This chapter synthesizes recent findings in genomics and evolutionary psychology, which suggest cause for concern over how racial concepts function in the law. Firstly, racial perceptions engage a ‘folk-biological’ module of psychology, which generates inferences poorly adapted to genomic facts about human populations. Racial perceptions are, therefore, prone to function in ways more prejudicial than probative of many issues relevant to criminal and civil liability. Secondly, many folk biological inferences function automatically, unconsciously, and without animus or discriminatory intent. Hence, current equal protection doctrine, which requires a finding of discriminatory intent and is a central mechanism for guaranteeing people equal treatment under the law, is poorly suited to that task. These facts support but complicate several claims made by Critical Race Theorists.

Cultural and reproductive success in industrial societies: Testing the relationship at the proximate and ultimate levels

1993 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Pérusse
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Traditional Societies ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
The One

AbstractIn most social species, position in the male social hierarchy and reproductive success are positively correlated; in humans, however, this relationship is less clear, with studies of traditional societies yielding mixed results. In the most economically advanced human populations, the adaptiveness of status vanishes altogether; social status and fertility are uncorrelated. These findings have been interpreted to suggest that evolutionary principles may not be appropriate for the explanation of human behavior, especially in modern environments. The present study tests the adaptiveness of social status with actual mating and reproductive data in a representative sample of males from an industrial society. Reproductive success, even when assessed by a more reliable measure ofactualmale fertility than the one commonly used, fails to correlate with social status. In striking contrast, however, status is found to be highly correlated withpotentialfertility, as estimated from copulation frequency. Status thus accounts for as much as 62% of the variance in thisproximatecomponent of fitness. This pattern is remarkably similar to what is found in many traditional societies and would result in a substantial positive relationship between cultural and reproductive success in industrial populations were it not for the novel conditions imposed by contraception and monogamy. Various underlying mechanisms are suggested for these findings, illustrating the value of current behavioral and reproductive data in the study of adaptation. It is concluded that evolutionary explanations of human behavior remain entirely relevant in modern societies.

Meanings and Functions of Money in Different Cultural Milieus

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 475-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dov Cohen ◽  
Faith Shin ◽  
Xi Liu
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Human Psychology ◽  
The Family ◽  
The World ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Economic Need ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Descriptive Models

We explore the psychological meanings of money that parallel its economic functions. We explore money's ability to ascribe value, give autonomy, and provide security for the future, and we show how each of these functions may play out differently in different cultural milieus. In particular, we explore the meanings and uses of money across ethnic groups and at different positions on the socioeconomic ladder, highlighting changes over the last 50 years. We examine the dynamics of redistribution between the individual, the family, and the state in different cultures, and we analyze the gendering of money in the world of high finance and in contexts of economic need. The field of behavioral economics has illustrated how human psychology complicates the process of moving from normative to descriptive models of human behavior; such complexity increases as we incorporate the great diversity within human psychology.

Function and mechanism in neuroecology: looking for clues

2005 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Bolhuis
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Causal Analysis ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Cognitive Ecology ◽  
Food Storing ◽  
History Of ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Behavioural Biology ◽  
Evolution Function

AbstractThe four questions that Niko Tinbergen identified for behavioural biology — evolution, function, development and causation — are all important and should be studied in their own right. Recently, there has been a debate as to whether these four questions should be investigated separately or whether they should be integrated. Integration of the four questions has been attempted in novel research disciplines such as cognitive ecology, evolutionary psychology and neuroecology. Euan Macphail and I have criticised these integrative approaches, suggesting that they are fundamentally flawed as they confound function and mechanism. Investigating the function or evolutionary history of a behaviour or cognitive system is important and entirely legitimate. However, such investigations cannot provide us with answers to questions about the mechanisms underlying behaviour or cognition. At most, functional or evolutionary considerations can provide clues that may be useful for a causal analysis of the underlying mechanisms. However, these clues can be misleading and are often wrong, as is illustrated with examples from song learning and food storing in birds. After summarising the main issues in the neuroecology debate, I discuss some misunderstandings that were apparent in the responses to our critique, as well as some recent relevant data. Recent results do not support the neuroecological approach. Finally, I suggest that the way forward is a cautious and critical use of functional and evolutionary clues in the study of the mechanisms of behaviour.

scholarly journals The Limitations of Marginal Utility

2007 ◽  
pp. 86-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Veblen
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Marginal Utility ◽  
Institutional Evolution ◽  
Neoclassical Theory ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Modes Of Thought ◽  
First Time ◽  
Influence Behavior

The article written by the founder of institutionalism and published in 1909 is translated into Russian for the first time. Veblen criticizes different versions of neoclassical theories of production and consumption, trying to consider human behavior in the wide cultural context. He suggests a methodological alternative to neoclassical theory, rebutting teleological explanations of neoclassics and emphasizing causal relations. Moreover Veblen formulates a theoretical alternative: he develops a theory of institutional evolution and describes how habits, customary modes of thought and conventional judgments influence behavior of businessmen and how the analysis of their scheme of life can contribute to deeper understanding of their economic activity.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document