The ancient way of life still determines our behavior. At least in part.
In modern science, there is a popular hypothesis that a significant part of the reactions to visual, auditory and other stimuli were inherited by us from our distant ancestors, who acquired them in the process of evolution. In other words, we still keep that set of tricks that helped to survive almost the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees.
This idea cannot be called indisputable: such constructions are based on the fact that the behavioral reactions of people and various animals (not necessarily primates) are sometimes similar. At the same time, no logical, human explanation for some of the features of our behavior has been found, therefore the idea of the innate, biological nature of certain of our reactions to the environment seems at least curious.
The latest book on this topic was written by … ornithologist Gordon Oriens from the University of Washington (USA), who became famous primarily for the study of the red-shouldered black corpse (Agelaius phoeniceus). The title of the work is "Snakes, Sunrises, and Shakespeare" (Snakes, Sunrises, and Shakespeare).
Mr. Oriens first started thinking about the relationship between behavior and the environment in the mid-1970s. And he was not the only one who paid attention to this. It was then that evolutionary psychology was born. You've read The Evolutionary Gene (1976) by Richard Dawkins, The Naked Ape (1967) by Desmond Morris, and Sociobiology (1975) by Edward Osborne Wilson, of course. If not, then you may well start with snakes and sunrises.
The main thesis of the book is this: "Our ancestors bequeathed to us … reactions to life's difficulties (unpredictable food sources, ubiquitous predators, extreme weather) that determine our emotional life." Survival depended on the right decision at a difficult moment, and the evolution of the brain adjusted to these reactions. Although the circumstances of our lives are now completely different, the brain has remained largely the same.
What oddities in our behavior does Mr. Oriens think it is possible to explain with this bold thesis? For example, we like trees that are easy to climb, look healthy, and are not very accessible to predators. In short, we prefer trees that are shaped like savannah trees. Mr. Oriens emphasizes that climbing trees is best enjoyed by girls, not boys.
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And it is the girls who spend more time on the ladders and racks of playgrounds. And it is the female foot that has a wider range of motion compared to the male. Maybe at the time when our male ancestors had already descended from the branches and spent the night on the ground, the females were still loyal to the trees?
And here's another interesting point. Small children, as you know, pull everything into their mouths, but only at the time when they receive antibodies with breast milk. As soon as the baby is weaned, this habit gradually fades away. Mr. Oriens uses this example to highlight the relationship between behavior and circumstances.
But what have snakes, sunrises, and even more so Shakespeare to do with it? Please note that we still fear snakes more than nuclear warheads and climate change. When we see a snake or hear about it, then the first thing comes fear, and only then we remember everything that we know about reptiles.
Sunrises are a symbol of safety. It means that we have survived the night, while the sunset signals that a kingdom of uncertainty is coming: it is not known whether we will wake up again.
And Shakespeare? Mr. Oriens recalls the witches and ghosts of Macbeth, as well as Hamlet's monologues about the power of imagination we have when we picture non-existent interlocutors in front of us. Not only people believe in ghosts: Arctic butterflies have not met bats and snakes for hundreds of generations, but the protective reaction to them has been preserved.
Unfortunately, more often than not, such parallels are speculative. But all the same, the thought that people behave the way evolution taught them to do it makes us a little more tolerant of our neighbors, right?