Evolutionary Psychology and Heuristics
Evolutionary psychologists argue that our brains are optimized for ancestral environments, not modern ones, leading to probabilistic errors and reliance on heuristics, a view complementary to the Kahneman-Tversky school.
THE IDEA
WHY WE DON’T MARRY THE FIRST DATE
Another branch of research, called evolutionary psychology, developed a completely different approach to the same problem. It operates in parallel, creating some bitter but not too worrisome academic debates. These evolutionary psychologists agree with the Kahneman-Tversky school that people have difficulties with standard probabilistic reasoning. However, they believe that the reason lies in the way things are presented to us in the current environment. To them, we are optimized for a set of probabilistic reasoning, but in a different environment than the one prevailing today. The statement “Our brains are made for fitness not for truth” by the scientific intellectual Steven Pinker, the public spokesman of that school, summarizes it all. They agree that our brains are not made for understanding things but think that they are not biased, or only biased because we do not use them in their real habitat.
Strangely, the Kahneman-Tversky school of researchers did not incur any credible resistance from the opinions of the economists of the time (the general credibility of conventional economists has always been so low that almost nobody in science or in the real world ever pays attention to them). No, instead the challenge came from the sociobiologists—and the center of the disagreement lies in their belief in using evolutionary theory as a backbone for our understanding of human nature. While this caused a fierce scientific dispute, I will have to say that they agree on the significant part as far as this book is concerned: (1) We do not think when making choices but use heuristics; (2) We make serious probabilistic mistakes in today’s world —whatever the true reason. Note that the split even covers the new economics: Just as we have a scientific branch of economics coming out of the Kahneman and Tversky tradition (behavioral economics), there is another scientific branch of economics coming out of evolutionary psychology, with the caveman economics approach followed by such researchers as the economist-biologist Terry Burnham, coauthor of the very readable Mean Genes.
When to use it
When evaluating an investment, compare intuitive reactions with the available evidence rather than assuming a strong fear must exaggerate the risk.
When communicating health risks, consider whether the presentation makes the relevant probabilities easier to understand.
When assessing a persuasive message, examine appeals to familiarity, scarcity, or group approval rather than accepting an evolutionary story as proof of effectiveness.
Policy design: Creating regulations that account for systematic biases in human risk perception.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Risk perception in modern environments
An evolutionary mismatch account asks whether a response useful in an ancestral setting still works in a modern one. Applied to risk perception, it offers a possible explanation for intuitive reactions; the origin and accuracy of a particular reaction still need evidence.
Different Presentations of Probability
The evolutionary psychologists described here suggest that difficulty with a probability problem may depend on how it is presented. Their disagreement with the Kahneman–Tversky tradition concerns the explanation for errors, while both recognize errors in contemporary settings.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Think of a recent decision where you relied on intuition rather than deliberate reasoning. How might an evolutionary perspective explain your choice?
In what ways does modern society present information that our ancestral brain is not prepared to handle?
How can understanding the mismatch between our evolved heuristics and the modern environment help us make better decisions?
Often confused with
References
- Mean Genes — Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan (2000)
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Fooled by Randomness The Hidden Role of Chance in the Markets and in Life (Nassim Nicholas Taleb)