Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Vestigial Drifting Drives in Homo sapiens

  • Concept
  • Published:
Biological Theory Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this study some typical aspects of human behavior are reconsidered in a new evolutionary perspective. Firstly, a theoretical paradigm is introduced, according to which animals show a natural propensity to maintain behavior far beyond the time when the triggering motivation has been removed;, these drifting conducts are defined as Vestigial Drifting Drives or (VDDs). Such a paradigm is then applied to those human attitudes that once conferred an adaptive advantage on our species but have now become dysfunctional within the framework of the current ecological crisis. In this context, human beings are considered the repository of VDDs that may play out as evolutionary threats. This thesis is supported by many examples and references that, hopefully, could stimulate scientific debate and further research in evolutionary anthropology, psychology, and related disciplines.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Population is taken to mean an evolutionary unit.

  2. As with Mauritanians and the Tuareg of the Sahel, who have the practice of force-feeding adolescent girls, also known as leblouh or gavage. The phenomenon is particularly widespread in Mauritania but also takes place in Nigeria, Sudan, Tunisia, and Uganda. For more information see Fantino et al (1983).

  3. Rapacity and expansion are not exclusive to human beings and cannot therefore, in themselves, be traced back to definite human bio-cultural factors. In fact, they are common to all living beings. What concerns us here is the fact that these two components have so greatly increased, quantitatively and qualitatively, as to create a crisis in the whole ecosystem. Unfortunately, in spite of being aware of this threatening increase, human beings have not, at least for the moment, managed to implement inhibitory systems to limit the danger.

  4. A process of completion that, in fact, never stops inasmuch as the plasticity of the human brain, although it decreases quantitatively, continues to provide the need for stimulation and learning.

  5. The stigmatization of desire. The “condemnation” and the disapproval deriving from yearning, from excessive desire, is to be found: (a) In the Judeo–Christian culture in which Adam, dissatisfied with a condition in itself fulfilling and satisfying in the Earthly Paradise, is driven by an overwhelming desire to know the unknown, the forbidden, to be able to distinguish between good and evil and so is condemned to work by the sweat of his brow. This stigmatization is also to be found in the book of Ecclesiastes of the Old Testament. “The eye is not filled with seeing, neither is the ear filled with hearing.... And I have given my heart to know prudence, and learning, and errors, and folly: and I have perceived that in these also there was labour, and vexation of spirit, Because in much wisdom there is much indignation: and he that addeth knowledge, addeth also labour” (Ecclesiastes 1:8; 1:17–18). (b) In Buddhism, in which the Four Noble Truths contain the statement that the origin of suffering is desire, and a condition of total fulfillment (Nirvana) can only be attained through the elimination of desire. In fact, in the Second Noble Truth it is maintained that we suffer because we desire things that are temporary. The Third Noble Truth contains the message that the only way to free oneself of suffering is to eliminate every desire (Nārada Mahā Thera 1986; Carter 2006). (c) In Islam, which states that in the struggle against one’s own ego, far from the field of battle, one only confronts a single enemy, namely the invisible enemy: desire (passion) and Shaytân (may he be damned). Therefore, Islam is living in accordance with the desires and rules of the omnipotent Creator, but not in accordance with the desires of a person’s ego (source: http://religione-blog.blogspot.it/2013/03/comprendere-l.html).

  6. Borgognini, personal conversation, December 2013.

  7. Around the EEA concept there are many interpretations. For example, Kurzban claims: “The EEA concept is a technical term, and, I concede, its meaning is relatively hard to master…. In sum, the point is that the EEA concept is, and has been since Tooby and Cosmides began writing about it, defined not as a time or place, not as a claim about the weather or climate, but as invariances, properties across scale, complexity, abstractness, and so forth, that influenced selection of some trait or traits” (Kurzban 2012).

References

  • Alcock J (2009) Animal behavior: an evolutionary approach. Sinauer, Sunderland

    Google Scholar 

  • Alexander RD (1974) The evolution of social behavior. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 5:325–383

    Google Scholar 

  • Altman I, Rogoff B (1987) World views in psychology: trait, interactional, organismic, and transactional perspectives. In: Stokols D, Altman I (eds) Handbook of environmental psychology. Wiley, New York, pp 7–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Ancrenaz M, Gumal M, Marshall AJ et al (2016) Pongo pygmaeus. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2016: e.T17975A17966347. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016/1.RLTS.T17975A17966347.en., http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/17975/0

  • Ariew A (2003) Ernst Mayr’s ‘ultimate/proximate’ distinction reconsidered and reconstructed. Biol Philos 18(4):553–565

    Google Scholar 

  • Armelagos GJ, Goodman AH, Jacobs KH (1991) The origins of agriculture: population growth during a period of declining health. Popul Environ 13(1):9–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Ash J, Gallup GG Jr (2007) Paleoclimatic variation and brain expansion during human evolution. Hum Nat 18(2):109–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Atlas-Koch G, Kuchuck S (2012) To have and to hold: psychoanalytic dialogues on the desire to own. Psychoanal Dialogues 22(1):93–105

    Google Scholar 

  • Babbitt CC, Warner LR, Fedrigo O et al (2010) Genomic signatures of diet-related shifts during human origins. Proc R Soc Lond B 278:961–969

    Google Scholar 

  • Barkow JH, Cosmides L, Tooby J (eds) (1995) The adapted mind: evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen S (ed) (2013) The maladapted mind: classic readings in evolutionary psychopathology. Psychology Press, Hove

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartolini P (2013) Decrescita e Desiderio: formare l’Umanità di domani [Decrease and desire: to form the humanity of tomorrow]. Megachip: democrazia nella comunicazione. http://megachip.globalist.it/

  • Bar-Yosef O (2002) The upper paleolithic revolution. Annu Rev Anthropol 31:363–393

    Google Scholar 

  • Batki A, Baron-Cohen S, Wheelwright S et al (2000) Is there an innate gaze module? Evidence from human neonates. Infant Behav Dev 23(2):223–229

    Google Scholar 

  • Bengtsson T, Scott K (2013) World population in historical perspective. In: Field J, Burke RJ, Cooper CL (eds) SAGE handbook of aging, work and society. Sage, London, p 23

    Google Scholar 

  • Berk LE (2009) Child development, 8th edn. Pearson, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Biro D, Matsuzawa T (2008) Chimpanzee numerical competence: cardinal and ordinal skills. In: Matsuzawa T (ed) Primate origins of human cognition and behavior. Springer, Tokyo, pp 199–225

    Google Scholar 

  • Bjorklund DF (1997) The role of immaturity in human development. Psychol Bull 122(2):153

    Google Scholar 

  • Bocquet-Appel J-P, Bar-Yosef O (eds) (2008a) The neolithic demographic transition and its consequences. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bocquet-Appel J-P, Bar-Yosef O (eds) (2008b) Prehistoric demography in a time of globalization. In: The Neolithic demographic transition and its consequences. Springer, Netherlands, pp 1–10

  • Bögels SM, Knappe S, Clark LA (2013) Adult separation anxiety disorder in DSM-5. Clin Psychol Rev 33(5):663–674

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolhuis JJ, Brown GR, Richardson RC, Laland KN (2011) Darwin in mind: new opportunities for evolutionary psychology. PLoS Biol 9(7):e1001109

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowlby J (1969/1973/1980) Attachment and loss. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Braje TJ, Erlandson JM (2013) Human acceleration of animal and plant extinctions: a Late Pleistocene, Holocene, and Anthropocene continuum. Anthropocene 4:14–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown JL (1975) The evolution of behavior. Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown PJ, Konner M (1987) An anthropological perspective on obesity. Ann N Y Acad Sci 499:29–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown GR, Richerson PJ (2014) Applying evolutionary theory to human behaviour: past differences and current debates. J Bioecon 16(2):105–128

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnham TC (2016) Economics and evolutionary mismatch: humans in novel settings do not maximize. J Bioecon 1:15

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnham T, Phelan J (2000) Mean genes. From food to sex to money, taming our primal instincts. Perseus, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Buss DM (2008) Evolutionary psychology: the new science of the mind, 3rd edn. Allyn & Bacon, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Calvin WH (2013) The hominid brain: the emergence of the “two pound universe.” In: Oubré AY (ed) Instinct and revelation: reflections on the origins of numinous perception. Taylor & Francis, New York, p 81

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell A (2013) A mind of her own: the evolutionary psychology of women. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Carleton RN (2016) Fear of the unknown: one fear to rule them all? J Anxiety Disord 41:5–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter JR (2006) Quattro nobili verità [Four noble truths]. In: Cosi MD, Saibene L, Scagno R (eds) Enciclopedia delle religioni, vol 10. Buddhismo. Jaca Book, Milan

    Google Scholar 

  • Casotti L (2006) He who eats alone will die alone? An exploratory study of the meanings of the food of celebration. Lat Am Bus Rev 6(4):69–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Chamoun E, Mutch DM, Allen-Vercoe E et al (2018) A review of the associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms in taste receptors, eating behaviours, and health. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 58(2):194–197

    Google Scholar 

  • Chimpanzee Sequencing and Analysis Consortium (2005) Initial sequence of the chimpanzee genome and comparison with the human genome. Nature 437(7055):69–87

    Google Scholar 

  • Cockcroft TR (1994) The development of hand and foot in hominoidea. Totem 1(1):15. http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/totem/vol1/iss1/15

  • Collins NL, Feeney BC (2013) Attachment and caregiving in adult close relationships: normative processes and individual differences. Attach Hum Dev 15(3):241–245

    Google Scholar 

  • Constable MD, Kritikos A, Bayliss AP (2011) Grasping the concept of personal property. Cognition 119(3):430–437

    Google Scholar 

  • Cosmides L, Tooby J (1995) From evolution to adaptations to behavior: toward an integrated evolutionary psychology. In: Wong R (ed) Biological perspectives on motivated activities. Ablex, Norwood

    Google Scholar 

  • Cosmides L, Tooby J (1997) Evolutionary psychology: a primer. In http://homes.ieu.edu.tr/hcetinkaya/EvPsychPrimer.pdf

  • Craske MG (1999) Anxiety disorders: psychological approaches to theory and treatment. Westview Press, Boulder

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford C (1998) Environments and adaptations: then and now. In: Crawford C, Krebs DL (eds) Handbook of evolutionary psychology. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, pp 275–302

    Google Scholar 

  • Cronk QCB (2009) Evolution in reverse gear: the molecular basis of loss and reversal. Cold Spring Harbor Sympos Quant Biol. https://doi.org/10.1101/sqb.2009.74.034

    Google Scholar 

  • Daly M, Wilson MI (1999) Human evolutionary psychology and animal behaviour. Anim Behav 57(3):509–519

    Google Scholar 

  • DeLoache JS, LoBue V (2009) The narrow fellow in the grass: human infants associate snakes and fear. Dev Sci 12(1):201–207

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond J (1991) The third chimpanzee: the evolution and future of the human animal. Harper Collins, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond J (2005) Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed. Penguin, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Dilger WC (1962a) The behavior of lovebirds. Sci Am 206(1):88–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Dilger W (1962b) Behavioral evolution in the parrot genus agapornis. Am Zool 2(4):518

    Google Scholar 

  • Donatelli R (1997) The evolution and mechanics of the midfoot and hindfoot. J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. https://doi.org/10.3233/BMR-1997-8108

    Google Scholar 

  • Drewnowski A, Mennella JA, Johnson SL, France Bellisle F (2012) Sweetness and food preference. J Nutr 142(6):1142S–1148S

    Google Scholar 

  • Dulbecco R (2005) La mappa della vita [The map of life]. Sperling & Kupfer, Milan

    Google Scholar 

  • Eibl-Eibesfeldt I (1988) Der Mensch—das riskierte Wesen. Piper, Munich

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis BJ, Boyce WT, Belsky J et al (2011) Differential susceptibility to the environment: an evolutionary–neurodevelopmental theory. Dev Psychopathol 23(01):7–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Eysenck HJ (2013) The structure of human personality. Psychology revivals. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Fantino M, Baigts F, Cabanac M, Apfelbaum M (1983) Effects of an overfeeding regimen—the affective component of the sweet sensation. Appetite 4(3):155–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Farahani RM, Simonian M, Hunter N (2011) Blueprint of an ancestral neurosensory organ revealed in glial networks in human dental pulp. J Comp Neurol 519(16):3306–3326

    Google Scholar 

  • Fazio RH (1986) How do attitudes guide behavior? In: Sorrentino RM, Higgins ET (eds) Handbook of motivation and cognition: foundations of social behavior. Guilford, New York, pp 204–243

    Google Scholar 

  • Feeney E, O’Brien S, Scannell A et al (2011) Genetic variation in taste perception: does it have a role in healthy eating? Proc Nutr Soc 70(1):135–143

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleagle JG (2013) Primate adaptation and evolution. Academic Press, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Flinn MV, Ward CV (2005) Ontogeny and evolution of the social child. In: Ellis BJ, Bjorklund DF (eds) Origins of the social mind: evolutionary psychology and child development. Guilford, New York, pp 19–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Foley R (1995) The adaptive legacy of human evolution: a search for the environment of evolutionary adaptedness. Evolut Anthropol 4(6):194–203

    Google Scholar 

  • Fonseca-Azevedo K, Herculano-Houzel S (2012) Metabolic constraint imposes tradeoff between body size and number of brain neurons in human evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 109(45): 18571–18576

    Google Scholar 

  • Frankham R, Briscoe DA, Ballou JD (2002) Introduction to conservation genetics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Fromm E (1976) To have or to be? Harper & Row, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Fruth B, Benishay JM, Bila-Isia I et al (2008) Pan paniscus, IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, Version 2015.2, IUCN, 2015

  • Futagi Y, Toribe Y, Suzuki Y (2012) The grasp reflex and moro reflex in infants: hierarchy of primitive reflex responses. Int J Pediatr. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/191562

    Google Scholar 

  • Galimberti U (1992) Dizionario di Psicologia [Dictionary of psychology]. Utet, Turin

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner GT, Stern PC (2002) Environmental problems and human behavior, 2nd edn. Pearson Custom, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Geher G (2013) Evolutionary psychology 101. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gluckman P, Hanson M (2008) Mismatch: the lifestyle diseases timebomb. Oxford University Press on Demand, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldfinch A (2015) Rethinking evolutionary psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould SJ, Lewontin RC (1979) The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme. Proc R Soc Lond B 205(1161):581–598

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould SJ, Vrba ES (1982) Exaptation—a missing term in the science of form. Paleobiology 8(01):4–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould RW, Gage HD, Nader MA (2012) Effects of chronic cocaine self-administration on cognition and cerebral glucose utilization in rhesus monkeys. Biol Psychiat 72(10):856–863

    Google Scholar 

  • Grote S, Call J, Kivell TL (2011) Who is more bipedal? Positional behaviour in captive bonobos and chimpanzees. Am J Phys Anthropol. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.21502

    Google Scholar 

  • Haeusler M, Schiess R, Boeni T (2013) Evidence for juvenile disc herniation in a Homo erectus boy skeleton. Spine 38(3):E123–E128

    Google Scholar 

  • Hancock AM, Witonsky DB, Gordon AS et al (2008). Adaptations to climate in candidate genes for common metabolic disorders. PLoS Genet 4(2):e32

    Google Scholar 

  • Handwerker WP (1983) The first demographic transition: an analysis of subsistence choices and reproductive consequences. Am Anthropol 85(1):5–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Hannigan J (2014) Environmental sociology. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris M (1998) Good to eat: riddles of food and culture. Waveland Press, Long Grove

    Google Scholar 

  • Heider F (2013) The psychology of interpersonal relations. Psychology Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Heider JD, Skowronski JJ (2007) Psychology press improving the predictive validity of the implicit association test. N Am J Psychol 9:53–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Heitmann BL, Westerterp KR, Loos RJF et al (2012) Obesity: lessons from evolution and the environment. Obes Rev 13(10):910–922

    Google Scholar 

  • Hrdy SB (1997) Raising Darwin’s consciousness. Hum Nat 8(1):1–49

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC. 2014. Climate change 2014—impacts, adaptation and vulnerability: part A: global and sectoral aspects. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/

  • Irons W (1998) Adaptively relevant environments versus the environment of evolutionary adaptedness. Evol Anthropol 6(6):194–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Jobling M, Hollox E, Hurles M et al (2014) Human evolutionary genetics, 2nd edn. Garland Science, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kallis G (2011) In defence of degrowth. Ecol Econ 70(5):873–880

    Google Scholar 

  • Kallis G, Kerschner C, Martinez-Alier J (2012) The economics of degrowth. Ecol Econ 84:172–180

    Google Scholar 

  • Keeble D (2013) The culture of planned obsolescence in technology companies. Bachelor’s thesis. Business Information Technology Oulu University of Applied Sciences. Theseus: http://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/55526/Keeble_Daniel.pdf?sequence=1

  • Keightley PD, Lercher MJ, Eyre-Walker A (2005) Evidence for widespread degradation of gene control regions in hominid genomes. PLoS Biol, 3(2), e42

    Google Scholar 

  • Keith A (1920) The engines of the human body. Williams & Norgate, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Keller EF (2015) Assessing risk in the absence of quantifiability. Biol Theory 10(3):228–236

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly C, Castellanos FX (2014) Strengthening connections: functional connectivity and brain plasticity. Neuropsychol Rev 24(1):63–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Kermisch C (2011) Homo sapiens technologicus. Techné 15(3):241–242

    Google Scholar 

  • Kivell TL, Schmitt D (2009) Independent evolution of knuckle-walking in African apes shows that humans did not evolve from a knuckle-walking ancestor. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106(34):14241–14246

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein RG (2002) The dawn of human culture. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein RG (2008) Out of Africa and the evolution of human behavior. Evol Anthropol 17(6):267–281

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolb B (2013) Brain plasticity and behavior. Psychology Press, Routledge

    Google Scholar 

  • Kremer M (1993) Population growth and technological change: one million BC to 1990. Q J Econ 108:681–716

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurzban R (2012) EEA = invariances. Evolutionary psychology. http://epjournal.net/blog/2012/12/eea-invariances/

  • Laland KN, Brown GR (2006) Niche construction, human behavior, and the adaptive-lag hypothesis. Evol Anthropol 15(3):95–104

    Google Scholar 

  • Laland KN, Sterelny K, Odling-Smee J et al (2011) Cause and effect in biology revisited: is Mayr’s proximate-ultimate dichotomy still useful? Science 334(6062):1512–1516

    Google Scholar 

  • Leroi-Gourhan A (1964) Le geste et la parole. Albin Michel, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewontin RC (1982) Organism and environment. In: Plotkin EC (ed) Learning, development, and culture. Wiley, Chichester, pp 151–170

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewontin RC (1983) Gene, organism, and environment. In: Bendall DS (ed) Evolution from molecules to men. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 273–286

    Google Scholar 

  • Longo GO (2005) Homo technologicus, vol 33. Meltemi Editore, Roma

    Google Scholar 

  • Longo GO (2011) Il rapporto uomo-macchina. Dall’intelligenza collettiva all’intelligenza connettiva. Relazione del convegno di Rocca: la scuola nell’era della tecnologia digitale. Rocca 70(22):27–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorenz K (1956) Plays and vacuum activities. In: Thinès G (ed) L’instinct dans le comportement des animaux et de l’homme. Fondation Singer-Polignac, Paris, pp 633–645

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorenz K (1971) Part and parcel in animal and human societies. Stud Anim Hum Behav 2:115–195

    Google Scholar 

  • Lorenz K (1978). Vergleichende verhaltensforschung: Grundlagen der ethologie. Springer-Verlag, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Lövdén M, Bäckman L, Lindenberger U et al (2010) A theoretical framework for the study of adult cognitive plasticity. Psychol Bull 136:659–676

    Google Scholar 

  • Low BS (2014) The behavioral ecology of resource consumption: why being green is so hard. Hum Ethol Bull 29:3–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Marchesini R (2002) Post-human. Bollati Boringhieri, Turin

    Google Scholar 

  • Marks IM (1987) Fears, phobias, and rituals: panic, anxiety, and their disorders. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Maslow A (1954) Motivation and personality. Harper, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Maslow A (1962) Toward a psychology of being. Van Nostrand, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • May A (2011) Experience-dependent structural plasticity in the adult human brain. Trends Cognit Sci 15(10):475–482

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayr E (1961) Cause and effect in biology. Science 134(3489):1501–1506

    Google Scholar 

  • Mellars PA (2007) Rethinking the human revolution: new behavioural and biological perspectives on the origin and dispersal of modern humans. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Mertol S, Alkın T (2012) Temperament and character dimensions of patients with adult separation anxiety disorder. J Affect Disord 139(2):199–203

    Google Scholar 

  • Mikulincer M, Shaver PR (2007) Attachment in adulthood: structure, dynamics, and change. Guilford Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Moleón M, Sánchez-Zapata JA, Margalida A et al (2014). Humans and scavengers: the evolution of interactions and ecosystem services. Bioscience, 64:394–403

    Google Scholar 

  • Møller AP, Soler M, Thornhill R (1995) Breast asymmetry, sexual selection, and human reproductive success. Ethol Sociobiol 16(3):207–219

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore KL, Persaud TVN, Torchia MG (2011) The developing human: clinically oriented embryology, 9th edn. Saunders, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • Moscovici S, Markova I (2006) The making of modern social psychology. Polity, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Moskowitz GB (2005) Social cognition: understanding self and others. Guilford Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Muraca B (2012) Towards a fair degrowth-society: justice and the right to a ‘good life’ beyond growth. Futures 44(6):535–545

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy D (2005) Can evolution explain insanity? Biol Philos 20(4):745–766

    Google Scholar 

  • Naya DE, Naya H, Lessa EP (2016) Brain size and thermoregulation during the evolution of the genus Homo. Comp Biochem Physiol A: Mol Integr Physiol 191:66–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Nesse RM (2000) Is depression an adaptation? Arch Gen Psychiatry 57(1):14–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Neubauer S (2015) Human brain evolution: ontogeny and phylogeny. In: Bruner E (ed) Human paleoneurology. Springer, Cham, pp 95–120

    Google Scholar 

  • NOOA (2014) Arctic Report Card: Update for 2016. Tracking recent environmental changes. http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card/Report-Card-2016

  • Nutini A (2004) La postura: un approccio fisiologico. Chinesiologia 3:15–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Odling-Smee J, Laland KN, Feldman MW (2003) Niche construction: the neglected process in evolution. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Ouldzeidoune N, Keating J, Bertrand J, Rice J (2013). A description of female genital mutilation and force-feeding practices in Mauritania: implications for the protection of child rights and health. PLoS ONE 8(4): e60594

    Google Scholar 

  • Paulsen M (2013) Social media and the hybridization of education. Cybern Hum Knowing 20(1–2):141–158

    Google Scholar 

  • Peleg O, Yitzhak M (2011) Differentiation of self and separation anxiety: is there a similarity between spouses? Contemp Fam Ther 33(1):25–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Perreault C (2012) The pace of cultural evolution. PLoS ONE 7(9):e45150

    Google Scholar 

  • Petersen W, Braidwood RJ, Dobyns HF et al (1975). A demographer’s view of prehistoric demography [and comments and replies]. Curr Anthropol 16:227–245

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierron D, Razafindrazaka H, Rocher C et al (2014) Human testis-specific genes are under relaxed negative selection. Mol Genet Genom 289(1):37–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Pievani T (2004) Quella volta che siamo diventati umani. Lettera Internazionale. http://www.letterainternazionale.it/testi_htm/pievani_80.htm

  • Polgar S (1975) Population, ecology, and social evolution. Mouton, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Polimeni J, Reiss JP, Sareen J (2005) Could obsessive–compulsive disorder have originated as a group-selected adaptive trait in traditional societies? Med Hypotheses 65(4):655–664

    Google Scholar 

  • Ponnapula P (2012) A cross-disciplinary approach to understanding flatfoot. J Am Podiatr Med Assoc 102(4):319–323

    Google Scholar 

  • Popper K (1959) The logic of scientific discovery. Hutchinson & Co, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Pratkanis AR, Breckler SJ, Greenwald AG (2014) Attitude structure and function. Psychology Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Quere et al. Global Carbon Budget 2015. Earth Syst Sci Data 7(2):349–396. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-7-349-2015, http://www.earth-syst-sci-data.net/7/349/2015/essd-7-349-2015.html

  • Rancati E (2005). Global markets and time-based competition. Symphon-Emerg Issue Manag 2:58–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Reed DR, Knaapila A (2010) Genetics of taste and smell: poisons and pleasures. Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci 94:213

    Google Scholar 

  • Riede F (2011). Population growth through time. World history encyclopedia 2.(2) ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara pp 154–155

    Google Scholar 

  • Rochat P (2014). Origins of possession: owning and sharing in development. Cambridge University Press Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Ropper AH, Brown RH (2005) Normal development and deviations in development of the nervous system. In: Ropper AH, Brown RH (ed) Adams and Victor’s principles of neurology. McGraw Hill Medical, New York, pp 493–518

    Google Scholar 

  • Rothwell JC, Nielsen JB (2012) Voluntary movement. Limitations and consequences of the anatomy and physiology of motor pathways. In: Gollhofer A, Taube W, Nielsen JB (eds) Routledge handbook of motor control and motor learning. Routledge, London and New York, pp 304–318

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowe TB, Macrini TE, Luo ZX (2011) Fossil evidence on origin of the mammalian brain. Science 332(6032):955–957

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubin RD, Watson PD, Duff MC, Cohen NJ (2014) The role of the hippocampus in flexible cognition and social behavior. Front Hum Neurosci 8:742

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan RM, Deci EL (2000) Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: classic definitions and new directions. Contemp Educ Psychol 25(1):54–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadler TW (2012) Langman’s medical embryology. Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt B (2012) The consumer psychology of brands. J Consumer Psychol 22(1):7–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoenwolf GC, Bleyl S, Brauer P, Francis-West P (2009) Larsen’s human embryology, 4th edn. Churchill Livingstone, New York, Edinburgh

    Google Scholar 

  • Séguy I, Buchet L, Courgeau D, Caussinus H (2014) Handbook of paleodemography, vol 2. Springer Science & Business Media, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sekulova F, Kallis G, Rodríguez-Labajos B, Schneider F (2013) Degrowth: from theory to practice. J Clean Prod 38:1–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Shea JJ (2011) Homo sapiens is as Homo sapiens was: behavioral variability versus “behavioral modernity” in paleolithic archaeology. Curr Anthropol 52(1):1–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Shear K, Jin R, Ruscio AM et al (2006) Prevalence and correlates of estimated DSM-IV child and adult separation anxiety disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Am J Psychiatry 163(6):1074–1083

    Google Scholar 

  • Shennan S (2013) Demographic continuities and discontinuities in Neolithic Europe: evidence, methods and implications. J Archaeol Method Theory 20(2):300–311

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith TM, Smith RL (2012) Elements of ecology, 8th edn. Pearson/Benjamin Cummings, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Somel M, Sayres MAW, Jordan G et al (2013) A scan for human-specific relaxation of negative selection reveals unexpected polymorphism in proteasome genes. Mol Biol Evol 30(8):1808–1815

    Google Scholar 

  • Stam HJ, Burns D (2014) Theoretical psychology. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanford CB, Bunn HT (eds). (2001). Meat-eating and human evolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford p 213

    Google Scholar 

  • Steffen W, Persson Å, Deutsch L et al (2011) The Anthropocene: from global change to planetary stewardship. Ambio 40(7):739–761

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens A, Price J (2015). Evolutionary psychiatry: a new beginning. Routledge, Abingdon

    Google Scholar 

  • Stokols D, Misra S, Runnerstrom MG, Hipp JA (2009) Psychology in an age of ecological crisis: from personal angst to collective action. Am Psychol 64(3):181

    Google Scholar 

  • Symons D (2005) Adaptationism and human mating psychology. In: Buss DM (ed) The handbook of evolutionary psychology. Wiley, New York, pp 255–257

    Google Scholar 

  • Tattersall I (2002) The monkey in the mirror: essays on the science of what makes us human. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Thera NM (1986) The Buddha and his teachings. The Buddhist Research Society, Singapore

    Google Scholar 

  • Thrasher C, LoBue V (2016) Do infants find snakes aversive? Infants’ physiological responses to “fear-relevant” stimuli. J Exp Child Psychol 142:382–390

    Google Scholar 

  • Tinbergen N (1951) The study of instinct. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Tønnessen M (2014) The ontogeny of the embryonic, foetal and infant human umwelt. Sign Syst Stud 42(2/3):281–307

    Google Scholar 

  • Tooby J, Cosmides L (1990) The past explains the present: emotional adaptations and the structure of ancestral environments. Ethol Sociobiol 11(4–5):375–424

    Google Scholar 

  • Tooby J, Cosmides L (1992) The psychological foundations of culture. In: Barkow J, Cosmides L, Tooby J (eds) The adapted mind: evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 19–136

    Google Scholar 

  • Tooby J, Cosmides L (2000) Evolutionary psychology and the emotions. In: Lewis M, Haviland-Jones JM (eds) Handbook of emotions, 2. Guilford, New York, pp 91–115

    Google Scholar 

  • Tooby J, Cosmides L (2005) Evolutionary psychology: conceptual foundations. In: Buss DM (ed) The handbook of evolutionary psychology. Wiley, New York, pp 5–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Trevathan WR (1996) The evolution of bipedalism and assisted birth. Med Anthropol Q 10(2):287–290

    Google Scholar 

  • Trevathan WR (2011) Human birth: an evolutionary perspective. Aldine Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick

    Google Scholar 

  • Turke PW (1990) Which humans behave adaptively, and why does it matter? Ethol Sociobiol 11(4):305–339

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner BL, Thompson AL (2013) Beyond the Paleolithic prescription: incorporating diversity and flexibility in the study of human diet evolution. Nutr Rev 71(8):501–510

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulijaszek SJ, Lofink H (2006) Obesity in biocultural perspective. Annu Rev Anthropol 35:337–360

    Google Scholar 

  • UNFPA (2014) World population trends. http://www.unfpa.org/population-trends

  • United Nations (2012) World population prospects: the 2012 revision. New York. http://www.unfpa.org/pds/trends.htm

  • United Nations (2013) Population division of department of economic and social affairs of the united nations secretariat. http://www.unfpa.org/pds/trends.htm

  • United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2015) World population prospects: the 2015 revision. World population 2015 wallchart. ST/ESA/SER.A/378, https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Publications/Files/World_Population_2015_Wallchart.pdf

  • Valentine CW (1930) The innate bases of fear. J Genet Psychol 37:394–420

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanhaute E (2013) World history: an introduction. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker-Larsen J, Harder LD (2001) Vestigial organs as opportunities for functional innovation: the example of the Penstemon staminode. Evolution 55(3):477–487

    Google Scholar 

  • Wells JC (2009) Thrift: a guide to thrifty genes, thrifty phenotypes and thrifty norms. Int J Obes 33(12):1331–1338

    Google Scholar 

  • Wepman JM, Heine RW (eds) (2008) Concepts of personality. Aldine Transaction Publishers, Piscataway

    Google Scholar 

  • White L (2009) Of our ecological crisis. In: Clowney D, Mosto P (eds) Earthcare: an anthology in environmental ethics. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, pp 55–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Worldwatch Institute (2014) Annual report 2014. http://www.worldwatch.org/system/files/Annual_Report_2013-14_PDF_FINAL.pdf

  • Wright S (1931) Evolution in Mendelian populations. Genetics 16(2):97–159

    Google Scholar 

  • WWF (2014) Living planet report 2014. http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/all_publications/living_planet_report/

  • Zollikofer CP, de León MSP (2010) The evolution of hominin ontogenies. Semin Cell Dev Biol 21(4):441–452

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

I’d like to especially thank Prof. Sergio Tofanelli, University of Pisa; as well as Prof. Gianfranco Natale, Dr. Angelo Gazzano, Dr. Alessandra Benedetti, Prof. Roberto Barale, Prof. Riccardo Ruffoli, and Prof. Silvana Borgognini, all of the University of Pisa; Prof. Mariano Pavanello, University of Rome; Prof. Giuliano Boccali, University of Milan; and Prof. Maurizio Cardaci, University of Palermo.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paolo Rognini.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rognini, P. Vestigial Drifting Drives in Homo sapiens. Biol Theory 13, 199–211 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-018-0297-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-018-0297-7

Keywords

Navigation