scholarly journals Evolutionary perspectives on human behavior during the coronavirus pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-186
Author(s):  
Martin Brüne ◽  
Daniel R Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Health ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Sickness Behavior ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Adaptive Responses ◽  
Behavioral Immune System ◽  
Global Challenge ◽  
Evolutionary Perspectives ◽  
Do So

Abstract The coronavirus pandemic constitutes a global challenge to society and medicine. Here, we review evolutionary insights that are relevant for the understanding of how people respond to the pandemic and what to expect in the aftermath of the crisis. Specifically, we argue that the behavioral immune system (BIS) and sickness behavior (SB) comprise two adaptive responses to impending and actual infection, respectively, and that individuals activating their BIS differ from those showing SB in important ways that may have implications for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Moreover, we reframe some of the behavioral health issues associated with the pandemic in a game-theoretical scenario, illustrating the difficulties that arise when public health is treated as a ‘public good’. Lay summary: The coronavirus pandemic constitutes a global challenge to society and medicine. In this article, we employ evolutionary theory to improve our understanding of how people respond to the pandemic. Specifically, we argue that human behavior is guided by ancient mechanisms involving either the avoidance of infection or defense against attacks in times of enhanced vulnerability. Moreover, we reframe some of the behavioral health issues associated with the pandemic in a game-theoretical scenario. This helps understand why most people comply with rules of social distancing, while a minority fails to do so for very different reasons. The evolutionary perspective also allows making some predictions for the course of the pandemic.

Big Questions in Ecology and Evolution

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas N. Sherratt ◽  
David M. Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Partial Solution ◽  
Fundamental Importance ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Text Book ◽  
Broad Audience ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Made In ◽  
Do So

Why do we age? Why cooperate? Why do so many species engage in sex? Why do the tropics have so many species? When did humans start to affect world climate? This book provides an introduction to a range of fundamental questions that have taxed evolutionary biologists and ecologists for decades. Some of the phenomena discussed are, on first reflection, simply puzzling to understand from an evolutionary perspective, whilst others have direct implications for the future of the planet. All of the questions posed have at least a partial solution, all have seen exciting breakthroughs in recent years, yet many of the explanations continue to be hotly debated. Big Questions in Ecology and Evolution is a curiosity-driven book, written in an accessible way so as to appeal to a broad audience. It is very deliberately not a formal text book, but something designed to transmit the excitement and breadth of the field by discussing a number of major questions in ecology and evolution and how they have been answered. This is a book aimed at informing and inspiring anybody with an interest in ecology and evolution. It reveals to the reader the immense scope of the field, its fundamental importance, and the exciting breakthroughs that have been made in recent years.

Integrating Mechanisms and Functions to Understand Behavior

2019 ◽  
pp. xiv-9
Author(s):  
Lisa L. M. Welling ◽  
Todd K. Shackelford
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Reproductive Behavior ◽  
Affective Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Endocrinology ◽  
Human Psychology ◽  
Proximate Mechanisms ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Influence Behavior ◽  
Evolutionary Perspectives

Evolutionary psychology and behavioral endocrinology provide complementary perspectives on interpreting human behavior and psychology. Hormones can function as underlying mechanisms that influence behavior in functional ways. Understanding these proximate mechanisms can inform ultimate explanations of human psychology. This chapter introduces this edited volume by first discussing evolutionary perspectives in behavioral endocrinology. It then briefly addresses three broad topic areas of behavioral endocrinology: (1) development and survival, (2) reproductive behavior, and (3) social and affective behavior. It provides examples of research within each of these areas and describes potential adaptations. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the importance of integrating mechanisms with function when investigating human behavior and psychology.

scholarly journals Brain Perivascular Macrophages Do Not Mediate Interleukin-1-Induced Sickness Behavior in Rats

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 1030
Author(s):  
Léa Chaskiel ◽  
Robert Dantzer ◽  
Jan Konsman
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Interleukin 1 ◽  
Sickness Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Activity ◽  
Activated Macrophages ◽  
Perivascular Macrophages ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Do So

Sickness behavior, characterized by on overall reduction in behavioral activity, is commonly observed after bacterial infection. Sickness behavior can also be induced by the peripheral administration of Gram-negative bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), a pro-inflammatory cytokine released by LPS-activated macrophages. In addition to the microglia, the brain contains perivascular macrophages, which express the IL-1 type 1 receptor (IL-1R1). In the present study, we assessed the role of brain perivascular macrophages in mediating IL-1β-induced sickness behavior in rats. To do so, we used intracerebroventricular (icv) administration of an IL-1β-saporin conjugate, known to eliminate IL-R1-expressing brain cells, prior to systemic or central IL-1β injection. Icv IL-1β-saporin administration resulted in a reduction in brain perivascular macrophages, without altering subsequent icv or ip IL-1β-induced reductions in food intake, locomotor activity, and social interactions. In conclusion, the present work shows that icv IL-1β-saporin administration is an efficient way to target brain perivascular macrophages, and to determine whether these cells are involved in IL-1β-induced sickness behavior.

Fortitude

2019 ◽  
pp. 194-226
Author(s):  
Robert S. Kurtz
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Medical Education ◽  
New York City ◽  
African American ◽  
Behavioral Health ◽  
York City ◽  
Residency Education ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Covert Racism

In New York City, from the 1990s to the present, covert racism is alive and well in the field of medicine and medical education. The most heavily impacted are African American and Caribbean American females and males. The inequitable treatment thus engendered has concrete results ranging from unwarranted criticism in residency education to forced changes of medical occupations and jobs, to false attributions of behavioral health issues. Combating these challenges requires fortified character armor, seeking percipient well positioned minority, white and off-whites allies, and a willingness to maintain continued vigilance. With persistence and tenacity, success is possible in terms of protecting minorities both in the educational process, and in a mature medical life.

scholarly journals Correction to: Screening for Behavioral Health Issues in Primary Care

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-150
Author(s):  
Jessy Joseph ◽  
Faisal Kagadkar ◽  
Cathryn A. Galanter
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Behavioral Health ◽  
Health Issues

Screening for Behavioral Health Issues in Primary Care

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-145
Author(s):  
Jessy Joseph ◽  
Faisal Kagadkar ◽  
Cathryn A Galanter
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Behavioral Health ◽  
Health Issues

Evolutionary Perspectives on OCD

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerrit I van Schalkwyk ◽  
James F Leckman
Keyword(s):  
Human Evolution ◽  
Group Selection ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Clinical Value ◽  
Ritualistic Behavior ◽  
Evolutionary Perspectives

This chapter explores a number of ideas related to an evolutionary perspective on OCD, including ways in which dimensions of OCD symptomology might be adaptive in a variety of contexts; a discussion of nonadaptationist perspectives; and some ideas about how OCD symptoms may represent behavior that is conserved across generations, including the still-controversial idea of group selection in human evolution. Some beliefs that occur in the context of OCD overlap with beliefs that facilitate potentially adaptive ritualistic behavior. Evolutionary perspectives are largely untestable, and in this regard a source of controversy. Despite these limitations, evolutionary perspectives have significant heuristic value, may mutually inform and be informed by advances in neuroscience, and may have clinical value because they may facilitate empathy with patients whose behaviors may be thought of as adaptive in different developmental and social contexts.

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