Caveman Logic: The Persistence of Primitive Thinking in a Modern World - Softcover

Davis, Hank

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1591027217 ISBN 13: 9781591027218

Verlag: G38-Prometheus, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

We see the face of the Virgin Mary staring up at us from a grilled cheese sandwich and sell the uneaten portion of our meal for $37,000 on eBay. While science offers a wealth of rational explanations for natural phenomena, we often prefer to embrace the fantasies that reassured our distant ancestors. And we’ll even go to war to protect our delusions against those who do not share them.

These are examples of what evolutionary psychologist Hank Davis calls "Caveman Logic." Although some examples are funny, the condition itself is no laughing matter. In this engagingly written book, Davis encourages us to transcend the mental default settings and tribal loyalties that worked well for our ancestors back in the Pleistocene age. Davis laments a modern world in which more people believe in ESP, ghosts, and angels than in evolution. Superstition and religion get particularly critical treatment, although Davis argues that religion, itself, is not the problem but "an inevitable by-product of how our minds misperform."

Davis argues, "It’s time to move beyond the one-size-fits-all, safety and comfort-oriented settings that got our ancestors through the terrifying Pleistocene night." In contrast, Davis advocates a world in which "spirituality" is viewed as a dangerous rather than an admirable quality, and suggests ways in which we can overcome our innate predisposition toward irrationality. He concludes by pointing out that "biology is not destiny." Just as some of us succeed in watching our diets, resisting violent impulses, and engaging in unselfish behavior, we can learn to use critical thinking and the insights of science to guide individual effort and social action in the service of our whole species.

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Hank Davis (Guelph, Ontario, Canada) is an award-winning professor of psychology who teaches at the University of Guelph. He is the author of several books on behavioral science and popular culture and more than one hundred scientific papers.

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CAVEMAN LOGIC

THE PERSISTENCE OF PRIMITIVE THINKING IN A MODERN WORLDBy HANK DAVIS

Prometheus Books

Copyright © 2009 Hank Davis
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-59102-721-8

Contents

Acknowledgments......................................7Introduction.........................................111. The Road to Imperfection..........................152. Cataloguing Irrationality.........................453. Some Real-Life Examples...........................834. Science to the Rescue.............................1515. A Deeper Look at What's Wrong.....................1776. Assigning the Blame...............................2217. Can It Be Fixed?..................................265Endnotes.............................................291

Chapter One

THE ROAD TO IMPERFECTION

THE CRADLE OF LIFE

Human beings evolved in a world unlike the one we inhabit today. Our sense of history, as it is taught in high school and portrayed in films, doesn't begin to do justice to what our species has been through.

Going back two hundred years for an entertaining "historical drama" leaves us squarely in modern times, evolutionarily speaking. Other than different hair and clothing styles, that brief journey hasn't begun to move us out of the modern world. Even if we go back to the time of Jesus or, further yet, to Greek civilization, we're still in modern times. Gone are the trains, planes, automobiles, and iPods, but if we could magically visit these times and places, we'd still see recognizable humans acting in recognizable ways. That is why stories set in so-called ancient times still resonate with us today. Their settings are very recent.

Human beings may be a very new species in terms of life on Earth, but we still go back a long time. The hominids that would eventually become humans split away from a common ancestor, leaving the apes behind about 6 million years ago. Those early proto-humans went through a hell of a lot so you could download music and buy airline tickets online. The selection pressure on them to survive and reproduce was tremendous, and living conditions were harsh beyond our imaginations. The physical appearance of these early hominids was also different from what we take for granted today. Physical changes were evolving and accumulating slowly in both the minds and the bodies of our early ancestors.

Natural selection was in no hurry. On one hand, it is a ruthless efficiency expert, heartlessly excluding those features that do not maximize reproductive success. On the other hand, it can only select among existing alternatives. That slows things down. Natural selection can't cause giraffes to grow long necks just because the food supply happens to be located above their heads. But if a relatively long-necked individual does show up, he or she is more likely to experience reproductive success. Because that longer neck is coded in the individual's genetic material, and because that individual may be more successful than its short-necked competitors, long-necked giraffes may gradually become more numerous in the population.

Plainly, evolution through natural selection only works on traits that have a genetic basis. Heredity is the cornerstone of Darwinian theory. Without it, the effects of natural selection would be confined to a single generation. Every generation would be starting from scratch. If some trait (e.g., a snazzy new hairstyle) were acquired during an individual's lifetime, then natural selection could do nothing with it other than conferring some transient rewards (perhaps a few more sexual partners). Here on Earth, almost every important behavioral and physical feature of plant and animal life is transmitted genetically and is directly vulnerable to selection pressure. Thus, traits that lead to greater reproductive success eventually spread and often become standard equipment for a species.

Traits that meet environmental challenges and enhance reproductive success are known as adaptations. When the person carrying the genes for these traits reproduces, there is a chance the traits will be carried into the next generation. The final results also depend on the genome of the sexual partner. For all the pleasure it produces, sexual reproduction also carries some disadvantages. The most obvious is that each partner contributes only half of the new genome.

It makes sense that individuals do not mate indiscriminately. No one, whether a Nobel laureate or a tree frog, wants a substandard partner. All forms of animal life have evolved methods for "screening" potential mates in order to select those with the best genomes. Such screening need not be conscious; indeed, it rarely is, even among our own species. Human mating rituals, whether practiced at high school dances or in so-called primitive societies in the Amazon basin, are only one example of this. A zoologist could dazzle us with stories of how other animal species choose or attract partners. One of my favorites involves the gladiator frog (Hyla rosenbergi). As in most species, the female is very particular when it comes to choosing the father of her offspring. Since "toughness" is a desirable trait in this pugnacious species, the female practices a very simple screening technique. She approaches her potential mate and literally does her best to knock him off his feet. If she succeeds, that's one Mr. Froggie that won't get lucky with her.

Natural selection is not really a very contentious process despite the uninformed political debate that swirls around it. At its most basic level, natural selection simply means that heritable differences within a species lead to different levels of reproductive success. The most successful adaptations tend to spread in the population. That hardly seems like a difficult or dangerous idea. Dog breeders routinely take advantage of it, substituting their own preferences for the traits that nature might select.

According to most surveys, the majority of Americans do not "believe in" Darwinian evolution. This seems an unfathomable state of affairs in the twenty-first century. Obviously, someone has to understand a viewpoint before deciding whether to accept or reject it. I've talked to enough high school students and teachers to conclude that Darwinian evolution is neither well taught nor well understood. It is entirely possible that the view of Darwin many Americans reject would also be rejected by most scientists. It is simply wrong. The misunderstanding is so pervasive. Most people can't even tell you the name of Darwin's famous book. Ask someone and, if they know the book at all, they are likely to report Origin of the Species rather than On the Origin of Species. It is a subtle difference, but quite telling. Even Spencer Tracy, appearing as Clarence Darrow in the award-winning 1960 film Inherit the Wind, got it wrong.

At a time when debates over the teaching of evolution are turning neighbor against neighbor and throwing local school districts into chaos, it would seem criminal not to bring combatants to a common understanding. Then let them debate. This has plainly not happened and is a glaring fault of the American educational system. When students tell me (as they occasionally do in Introductory Psychology classes) that they do not accept Darwin, I usually ask them what they mean. I cannot recall a single occasion when such a forcefully opinionated student has gotten it right. The most frequent response is, "It means we come from monkeys." Who wouldn't reject that? Whether by incompetence or willful misrepresentation,...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: G38-Prometheus
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2009
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1591027217
• ISBN 13: 9781591027218
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 298
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar