Leda Cosmides and John Tooby: Natural Selection and Evolutionary Psychology

Estefanía Campos  | 21 de mayo de 2019  | Vistas: 1661

Leda Cosmides and John Tooby share some ideas on natural selection and their findings on the research they have done on evolutionary psychology in relation with economics and Adam Smith’s ideas.

John reflects on the function of emotions in human nature, how our ancestors would act in their societies, where life was dependent on being valued by other people. Also describes how human actions are determined by emotions or to avoid them.

These emotions, you add them into what the organism would otherwise be doing and you see how it navigates us through the world in a way that makes us better off”.

Adam Smith question if exchange was a part of human nature or a practice that comes from reasoning; Leda explains how the research they have developed has led them to conclude that it is human nature.

We seem to have mechanism that really are designed for understanding exchange and looking for cheaters”.

Cosmides later describes how our brains have different programs that are activated by different circumstances; when things happen out of luck, we think about sharing widely, when they come from effort, we think about reciprocation and there are other programs that activate for collective action. This last one only evolved in very small social worlds, she explains.

Now watch Leda Cosmides and John Tooby’s Speech during the Ceremony for Honor Graduates (May 2019)