Read Online The Rational Animal: How Evolution Made Us Smarter Than We Think by Douglas T. Kenrick, Vladas Griskevicius - Free Book Online
Authors: Douglas T. Kenrick, Vladas Griskevicius
Tags: General, science, Psychology, Evolution, Economics, Business & Economics, Social Psychology, Education, Life Sciences, Cognitive Psychology, consumer behavior, Cognitive Psychology & Cognition, Decision-Making & Problem Solving, Cognitive Science
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carefully recording which members of the tribe shared food with one another.They found that in such groups friends provide a natural insurance policy against starvation.Without refrigeration, one family cannot eat a whole pig, but a group of families sharing their catches can pool their risk and stand a better chance of making it through tough times.
Friends don’t just share food; they also teach one another valuable skills, like how to fish, cook, and build a hut.Friends team up to move things that are too big for one person to carry, and they provide safety in numbers when the bad guys come around.
The need for friends and allies didn’t end when our predecessors moved out of the bush and took up residence in the big city.We modern urbanites still invest heavily in building and maintaining our friendships.As we write this book, for example, Facebook has already passed 1 billion active users, who devote endless hours to passing on clever newspaper articles or new songs, reading about their friends’ children’s accomplishments, and choosing the correct comment (“Oh, how cute!You must be so proud, Jenny!”).And let’s not forget the time,energy, and money invested in iPhones and other devices people use to text friends while driving home in heavy traffic or to share a picture of their cat’s lunch with their 300 closest companions.The majority of our graduate students spend over $1,000 a year on their iPhones, despite having annual incomes in the $15,000 range.Even in the modern era, friends provide more than just digital support.We need them when we want to move a couch, when our car breaks down and we need a ride, if we’d like a place to crash while driving across the country, or if we could use some advice about how to raise a child.
The affiliation subself is triggered by anything that cues friendship, like when your old college roommate sends a Christmas card, when you’re thinking about inviting a neighbor for dinner, or when your coworker picks up the tab for lunch.This subself is also active when friendships are threatened.If you’re feeling lonely, rejected, or exploited, the affiliation subself takes the helm.When the inner team player is primed, people spend more money on products that connect them with other people (like a wristband sporting their university logo) rather than on products normally consumed alone (like a box of Oreo cookies).This subself also spurs us to do things that we might not like but that a friend enjoys, like smiling happily through a painfully silly movie that our friend thinks is brilliant (“Umm, no, I can’t understand why the critics panned Junior either.What could be more hilarious than Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a pregnant gynecologist?”).Above all, the affiliation subself wants to be liked and treated as a friend.
Status Subself: The Go-Getter
Besides dealing with the challenge of getting along with their fellow group members, our ancestors also needed to manage the very different challenge of gaining and maintaining status within their groups.Getting some respect from others has always brought a host of benefits, and this arrangement didn’t start with human beings.Dominant baboons get first crack at food and the best spot at the watering hole, and dominant male chimps get to mate with the most desirable females.Stanford biologist Robert Sapolsky, who followed the same baboontroop for several years, found that high-status animals show fewer signs of physiological stress than their group mates at the bottom of the totem pole.
The benefits of status continue to apply in the modern world, where the boss gets the big corner office, a special parking spot for his Lexus, a first-class seat on the plane, and an expense account to dine in the best restaurants.As a consequence, people go to great lengths to impress others with their status, shelling out inordinate amounts of money for Gucci shoes, Armani suits, Rolex watches, BMWs, and $500 dinners at The French
Friends don’t just share food; they also teach one another valuable skills, like how to fish, cook, and build a hut.Friends team up to move things that are too big for one person to carry, and they provide safety in numbers when the bad guys come around.
The need for friends and allies didn’t end when our predecessors moved out of the bush and took up residence in the big city.We modern urbanites still invest heavily in building and maintaining our friendships.As we write this book, for example, Facebook has already passed 1 billion active users, who devote endless hours to passing on clever newspaper articles or new songs, reading about their friends’ children’s accomplishments, and choosing the correct comment (“Oh, how cute!You must be so proud, Jenny!”).And let’s not forget the time,energy, and money invested in iPhones and other devices people use to text friends while driving home in heavy traffic or to share a picture of their cat’s lunch with their 300 closest companions.The majority of our graduate students spend over $1,000 a year on their iPhones, despite having annual incomes in the $15,000 range.Even in the modern era, friends provide more than just digital support.We need them when we want to move a couch, when our car breaks down and we need a ride, if we’d like a place to crash while driving across the country, or if we could use some advice about how to raise a child.
The affiliation subself is triggered by anything that cues friendship, like when your old college roommate sends a Christmas card, when you’re thinking about inviting a neighbor for dinner, or when your coworker picks up the tab for lunch.This subself is also active when friendships are threatened.If you’re feeling lonely, rejected, or exploited, the affiliation subself takes the helm.When the inner team player is primed, people spend more money on products that connect them with other people (like a wristband sporting their university logo) rather than on products normally consumed alone (like a box of Oreo cookies).This subself also spurs us to do things that we might not like but that a friend enjoys, like smiling happily through a painfully silly movie that our friend thinks is brilliant (“Umm, no, I can’t understand why the critics panned Junior either.What could be more hilarious than Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a pregnant gynecologist?”).Above all, the affiliation subself wants to be liked and treated as a friend.
Status Subself: The Go-Getter
Besides dealing with the challenge of getting along with their fellow group members, our ancestors also needed to manage the very different challenge of gaining and maintaining status within their groups.Getting some respect from others has always brought a host of benefits, and this arrangement didn’t start with human beings.Dominant baboons get first crack at food and the best spot at the watering hole, and dominant male chimps get to mate with the most desirable females.Stanford biologist Robert Sapolsky, who followed the same baboontroop for several years, found that high-status animals show fewer signs of physiological stress than their group mates at the bottom of the totem pole.
The benefits of status continue to apply in the modern world, where the boss gets the big corner office, a special parking spot for his Lexus, a first-class seat on the plane, and an expense account to dine in the best restaurants.As a consequence, people go to great lengths to impress others with their status, shelling out inordinate amounts of money for Gucci shoes, Armani suits, Rolex watches, BMWs, and $500 dinners at The French
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