Evolutionary Psychology’s next challenge: Solving modern problems using a mismatch perspective

As acceptance of evolutionary perspectives in mainstream psychology grows, it becomes increasingly pertinent to ask what evolutionary psychology can do to solve real-world problems and better our lives. Answers to this important question will more than likely require an understanding and application of the evolutionary mismatch framework. This powerful framework suggests that many of our contemporary problems—ranging from diabetes and depression to low fertility and sustainability—stem from a mismatch between our evolved psychological mechanisms, which are designed to be adaptive in ancestral contexts, and modern environments, which present novel stimuli that these mechanisms are not well suited to handle. By providing a better understanding of the functions of our evolved mechanisms and how they are incompatible with modern environments, the mismatch perspective can help with the generation of more enlightened and effective strategies to tackle modern problems than would otherwise be the case. We describe this perspective and discuss its potential efficacy and promise. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) Public Significance Statement—This article describes evolutionary mismatch – a process that likely underlies many of the problems that humans face in the modern world. As discussed, human minds are not designed for and thus, not well-suited to handle, modern environments. Accordingly, solving the various problems of the modern world will require researchers and policymakers to understand mismatch and how to work around it

Measurement matters: Higher waist-to-hip ratio but not body mass index is associated with deficits in executive functions and episodic memory

Background The current study aimed to reconcile the inconsistent findings between obesity, executive functions, and episodic memory by addressing major limitations of previous studies, including overreliance on body mass index (BMI), small sample sizes, and failure to control for confounds. Methods Participants consisted of 3,712 midlife adults from the Cognitive Project of the National Survey of Midlife Development. Executive functions and episodic memory were measured by a battery of cognitive function tests. Results We found that higher waist-to-hip ratio was associated with deficits in both executive functions and episodic memory, above and beyond the influence of demographics, comorbid health issues, health behaviors, personality traits, and self-perceived obesity. However, higher BMI was not associated with deficits in executive functions and episodic memory. More importantly, these differential associations were robust and stable across adulthood. Discussion Our findings confirm the association between obesity and episodic memory while highlighting the need for better measures of obesity when examining its associations with individual differences in cognitive functions

Noncompliance With Safety Guidelines as a Free-Riding Strategy: An Evolutionary Game-Theoretic Approach to Cooperation During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Evolutionary game theory and public goods games offer an important framework to understand cooperation during pandemics. From this perspective, the COVID-19 situation can be conceptualized as a dilemma where people who neglect safety precautions act as free riders, because they get to enjoy the benefits of decreased health risk from others’ compliance with policies despite not contributing to or even undermining public safety themselves. At the same time, humans appear to carry a suite of evolved psychological mechanisms aimed at curbing free riding in order to ensure the continued provision of public goods, which can be leveraged to develop more effective measures to promote compliance with regulations. We also highlight factors beyond free riding that reduce compliance rates, such as the emergence of conspiratorial thinking, which seriously undermine the effectiveness of measures to suppress free riding. Together, the current paper outlines the social dynamics that occur in public goods dilemmas involving the spread of infectious disease, highlights the utility and limits of evolutionary game-theoretic approaches for COVID-19 management, and suggests novel directions based on emerging challenges to cooperation