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How Diversity in Nature Impacts Political Psychology

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The Psychology of Political Behavior in a Time of Change

Part of the book series: Identity in a Changing World ((ICW))

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Abstract

The conservative worldview is congruent with biological concepts like survival of the fittest, maternal instinct, male competition and aggression. The liberal worldview is congruent with cooperation-based survival, male and female nurturance, social selection and self-domestication factors that reduce competition and aggression. Our political heritage from our closest relatives the chimpanzees and bonobos differs greatly, one power and aggression driven, and the other based on social alliances for peace. Diversity in nature encompasses everything from sex changing fish; female-only lizards; insects, spiders, arthropods and birds that are half female and half male; a transgender bird; and over 1000 species exhibiting same-sex intimate behavior. New thinking on evolution, including feminist perspectives, cultural evolution, aesthetic evolution and directed evolution provide ways to integrate recent research on animal and human behavior. Different theories of human evolutionary history provide insight into the environmental pressures that forged our development.

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Rabin, J.S. (2021). How Diversity in Nature Impacts Political Psychology. In: Sinnott, J.D., Rabin, J.S. (eds) The Psychology of Political Behavior in a Time of Change. Identity in a Changing World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38270-4_4

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