Emotion, Risk, Evolution, and Gender

Here’s a brief article detailing some recent experiments on decision making and the evolutionary differences between men and women. (Click here to skip the intro and read article)

Article Introduction (Via Cognitive Daily)

Daniel Fessler, Elizabeth Pillwsorth, and Thomas Flamson make the case that when humans evolved into their current form, conditions were different from now. Men were more likely to reproduce if they were aggressive and strong (so they could punish rivals), and women were more likely to reproduce if they were less aggressive and avoided infection (due physiological vulnerability during pregnancy). They claim that we can see the vestiges of these evolutionarily-selected traits when men and women play the gambling game described above. Their actions in the game, furthermore, would depend on their emotional state while playing the game.

Article Excerpts & Examples (Via Cognitive Daily)

“Men who had written about a time when they were angry made significantly more gambles than men who had written about the neutral topic (television). But there was no difference in risky choices taken for women in the angry versus neutral groups.”

“en took an equivalent number of risks regardless of whether they had written about something disgusting. But women who wrote about a time when they were disgusted took significantly fewer risks than women who wrote about a neutral topic.”

Click here to read the full article on Emotions, Risk, Evolution, and Gender