The Roving Psychologist

Having just finished David Livingstone Smith's "The Most Dangerous Animal" along with the increasing number of links between evolutionary genetics and politics (Hibbing, Fowler[who recently discovered "the liberal gene"]Haidt, et al) on this site, I am more and more convinced that (to paraphrase Palin) ancient genes are "raising their head" in modern politics.

One HUGE thing that we overlooked is the recent revelation that the explosion of human culture caused human evolution to accelerate up to 100 fold starting 60,000 years ago, resulting in as much adaptation as the 500,000 years before. This era which was once broadly ignored has turned out to be the most formative in our history.

Just like our guts have been adapting to agriculture (creating varying tolerance to lactose and high starch diets) our brains have been adapting to human culture. We have evolved from small bands who concentrated on genes (via high birth rates & genocidal warfare) to a focus on memes such as diplomatic trade and art. Consider how conservatives have 41% more children (Palin, the Moose hunting Alpha Female has 5) and all the arts are ruled by liberals.

While most of our politics is based on current issues, for thousands of generations, there have been two instinctual currents shaping our political landscape. Unless we wish to abandon all we know about evolution in this one case, we must admit that we have a mix of genes adapted to two drastically different evolutionary eras; one makes us literally “focus on the family”; while the other makes us feel that “it takes a village to raise a child. These are the strategies used in the war between the self-described “gut people” versus the “heart people”.

Be thankful that at the same time, the more apolitical technocrat tribe (the brain people) are still on the job, striving to save us from the politicians.

www.politicalspecies.com if you are interested in more.

That Psychology Today considers this writer worthy of a blog is my startling reminder of why Psychology Today has become little more that another "People" magazine. You might rename it "Batboy Psychology" for greater appeal to your target audience.

Enjoy !