Solving Modern Problems With a Stone-Age Brain: Human Evolution and the Seven Fundamental Motives

by Douglas T. Kenrick, David E. Lundberg-Kenrick

Sharing stories and advice rooted in the science of evolutionary psychology, father and son authors Doug Kenrick and David Lundberg-Kenrick pinpoint the dangers of stone-age problem solving for our lives today, and present a new, systematic way to survive and be happy in the modern world.

Over millennia, we humans have evolved a set of motivational systems to help us solve the seven basic problems of surviving, protecting ourselves from dangerous others, forming friendships, winning respect, attracting mates, hanging onto mates, and caring for our families. We seek the same goals in the 21st century. However, the saber-tooth tigers and rival tribes that once threatened us have been replaced by marketers peddling sugar-laden foods, pundits fanning the culture war flames, and payday loan companies scamming those who can least afford it.

Through a series of engaging narratives and science-based life tips, this book helps us see past our electronics and lattes and gain helpful insights into achieving the life we want.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Evolution

364 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 17, 2022

About the author

Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University. His research and writing integrate three scientific syntheses of the last few decades: evolutionary psychology, cognitive science, and dynamical systems theory. He is author of over 170 scientific articles, books, and book chapters, the majority applying evolutionary ideas to human cognition and behavior.

His father and brother both spent several years in Sing Sing, but he broke the family tradition and went to graduate school to study psychology. He studied social psychology under Robert B. Cialdini and received his Ph.D. from Arizona State University in 1976. He has edited several books on evolutionary psychology, contributed chapters to the Handbook of Social Psychology and the Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, and been an author of two multi-edition textbooks (Psychology, with John Seamon; and Social Psychology: Goals in Interaction, with Steven Neuberg and Robert B. Cialdini). He writes a blog for Psychology Today magazine, titled Sex, Murder, and the Meaning of Life. He has a forthcoming book of the same title.

Reviews

[Maher Razouk · Rating 5 out of 5]

سلطت ورقة بحثية نُشرت عام 2019 في Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences الضوء على بعض الطرق الجذرية التي تغير بها اختيار الشريك الحديث - ليس فقط منذ زمن الصيادين والجامعين ولكن حتى في العقود القليلة الماضية. حتى عام 1940 ، كانت الطريقة الأكثر شيوعًا لمقابلة الزوج أو الزوجة هي من خلال أسرة الشخص. في ذلك الوقت ، كان من الشائع أيضًا اللقاء عبر الأصدقاء أو الالتقاء في المدرسة الابتدائية أو الثانوية. بمعنى آخر ، الناس في في الأربعينيات من القرن الماضي ، مثل أسلافنا القدامى ، تزوجوا من آخرين كانوا جزءًا من شبكاتهم الحميمة وبالتالي معروفين بالنسبة لهم ولعائلاتهم وأصدقائهم.

منذ ذلك الوقت ، على الرغم من ذلك ، كان هناك انخفاض مطرد في عدد الشركاء الرومانسيين الذين يلتقون عبر العائلة أو الذين يعرفون بعضهم البعض في المدرسة الابتدائية أو الثانوية. تمثل كل فئة من هذه الفئات أكثر بقليل من 5٪ من الزيجات اليوم. أصبح اللقاء من خلال الأصدقاء ذا أهمية متزايدة في السبعينيات والثمانينيات من القرن الماضي ، لكنه بدأ في الانخفاض ، من حيث الأهمية، في حوالي عام 2000.

في عام 2020 ، كانت الطريقتان الأكثر احتمالاً للحصول على شريك زواج هي مقابلة شخص غريب عبر الإنترنت (حوالي 40٪ من الزيجات) أو مقابلة شخص غريب في حانة أو مطعم (أكثر من 25٪ من الزيجات).
وشكل اللقاء عبر الأصدقاء 20٪ أخرى من الزيجات.

ما يعنيه هذا هو أن غالبية الناس يتزوجون الآن من أشخاص آخرين لم يكونوا يعرفونهم أثناء نموهم وكذلك غير معروفين من قبل أفراد أسرهم.

استعرضت كاري جويتز وزملاؤها عددًا من الطرق التي يتعارض بها التزاوج في العالم الحديث مع العالم الذي تطور فيه أسلافنا. بدلاً من مقابلة بضع عشرات من الشركاء المحتملين في حياتك كلها ، كما فعل أفراد قبيلة هادزا ، يذهب الكثير من الناس الآن إلى الكليات ، حيث قد يمرون ، في يوم واحد في الحرم الجامعي ، بمئات أو حتى الآلاف من الشباب غير المتزوجين الأصحاء. في تطبيق المواعدة عبر الإنترنت ، لا يحتاج الشاب حتى إلى مغادرة غرفة السكن الجامعي لمقابلة جحافل من الشركاء المحتملين. يمكنهم التمرير عبر العشرات من شركائهم المحتملين في بضع دقائق فقط.

التناقض الآخر مع اختيار الشريك التقليدي هو أن هناك الآن إمكانية لعلاقات قصيرة الأمد - حتى لو كان لليلة واحدة - حيث لا يشارك أي فرد من أفراد الأسرة أو من عائلة أحد الشركاء في القرار. لا تقتصر مثل هذه العلاقات على عدم الكشف عن هوية الشخص فحسب ، بل تفتح أيضًا باب الخداع في عملية العرض الذاتي.

بدون معلومات تحصل عليها من العائلة والأصدقاء ، قد يكون من الصعب تحديد ما إذا كان الشريك الجديد هو من أو ماذا يدعي.
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Douglas T. Kenrick
Solving Modern Problems With a Stone-Age Brain
Translated By #Maher_Razouk

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, written by Professor Douglas Kenrick at ASU, shares scientific findings in the field of evolutionary psychology. A few of my favorite takeaways (in no particular order):

Be a team player, strive for prestige over dominance, and build expertise over time.
There is a strong link between hard work and job satisfaction.
Avoid perfectionism to excel in academia.
Humans can build similarities with other people, despite being from different backgrounds.
We, as modern society, share many eye-opening commonalities with the Tiwi, Yanomamo, and !Kung San.
The closing note: kindness is in everyone's self-interest!

[Eren Gürle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is good in terms of its subject and conservatism, but in some parts of the book, the events taking place in the modern world are associated with ancient times to an unsatisfactory level, and this makes me feel that the book has moved away from its title, apart from that, I recommend reading it, it is a book that will give you a new perspective.

[Georgia Micknal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finance bros are gonna love this

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solving Modern Problems with a Stone-Age Brain, by Douglas T Kenrick and David E Lundberg-Kenrick, offers an interesting and fairly convincing argument using evolutionary biology to explain some of our more questionable psychological and mental problems.

I will admit to being a skeptical reader of this and remain one. I have seen far more instances where evolutionary theory has been misapplied outside of its intended area. For that reason, I am rarely comfortable when it is claimed as "the" way to explain something that falls under anything than biology (broadly used).

This book definitely avoids the pop science tendency of so many other attempts, so if that is a concern of yours (it was one of mine), you can put it aside.

The work is largely using stories and citing research and/or simply theory. The degree to which I agree that these truly explain, as compared to being part of a larger explanation, our behavior is not particularly high. Part of that is my caution with taking what, at its core, is a simplistic explanation for almost all of our problems. That said, the other part is because I haven't gone through enough of the research to decide to what degree I agree. In other words, I am far short of dismissing their points, just unconvinced by what I read here.

On the plus side, their notes offer me, and any reader, the opportunity to look into the primary sources more closely and also find arguments against using evolutionary theory in such a sweeping manner. In addition to their good notes, the references list is extensive and again offers plenty of opportunity for the skeptical reader. These, for me, were the best parts of the book.

On a more personal level there were places where the writers' own biases came through and I found them rather off-putting at best and to a large extent discounted whatever credibility they had for me. That, admittedly, is a personal issue. If you have a flame war with someone and you're not going to go into detail because the point of your story is that you decided to avoid such situations and deleted your accounts, is it necessary to tell what type of account the other person had unless you were signaling what type of group you belong to? And many other subtle indicators so readers of the same (limited) scope will spot their flags.

I prefer less one-size-fits-all prescriptive help in books like this since I don't believe there are such fixes. But taking the flags they kept flying, maybe they fit those who subscribe to the same (limited) world view. Either way, that was the weakest part of the book for me.

I didn't rate this book harshly because I think the general approach offers a lot for other readers to work with and think about. Do I think they made a strong case? No. But I do think they offer, whether intentionally or not, enough ideas for others to perhaps make some steps forward that will be better grounded and more inclusive.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.