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Ancestral Mechanisms in Modern Environments

Impact of Competition and Stressors on Body Image and Dieting Behavior

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Abstract

It is commonly assumed that the desire for a thin female physique and its pathological expression in eating disorders result from a social pressure for thinness. However, such widespread behavior may be better understood not merely as the result of arbitrary social pressure, but as an exaggerated expression of behavior that may have once been adaptive. The reproductive suppression hypothesis suggests that natural selection shaped a mechanism for adjusting female reproduction to socioecological conditions by altering the amount of body fat. In modern Western culture, social and ecological cues, which would have signaled the need for temporary postponement of reproduction in ancestral environments, may now be experienced to an unprecedented intensity and duration.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank A. J. Figueredo and two anonymous reviewers for suggestions which greatly improved the earlier version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Redlands, Redlands, CA, 92223, USA

    Catherine Salmon

  2. Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, V5A 1S6

    Charles Crawford, Laura Dane & Oonagh Zuberbier

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  1. Catherine Salmon
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  2. Charles Crawford
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  3. Laura Dane
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  4. Oonagh Zuberbier
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Correspondence to Catherine Salmon.

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Salmon, C., Crawford, C., Dane, L. et al. Ancestral Mechanisms in Modern Environments. Hum Nat 19, 103–117 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-008-9030-8

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