Evolutionary Psychology and Capitalism

Behavioral economics argues that humans are not necessarily rational.

(from "Thinking fast and slow" by Daniel Kahneman)


Evolutionary psychology explores why that is the case.


For example, many people intake too much sugar and suffer from diabetes and other related diseases.

This is an example of irrational behavior.


Evolutionary psychology gives us an explanation to this.

We humans used to be hunter gatherers for a long time. Agriculture started relatively recently.
So our minds are adapted for hunter gatherer lifestyle. In hunter gatherer era, it made sense for us to intake a lot of sugar once you find a source of sugar (such as fruit tree) because sugar was a scarce resource.

Since you could rarely find sugar in those days, you had to eat it a lot once you find it and save it in your body.

This is not the case in this modern society. We are surrounded by chocolates and candies. But our minds are not adapted to it.

(from "Sapience" by Yuval Noah Harari)

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Can this explanation be applied for our capitalist societies?

In general, our capitalist society is striving for "more". Companies seek more profits, investors strive for more return on investment, workers are looking for more income, consumers prefer more convenient services, etc etc.

Is this behavior rational?

(let's put aside the definition of the word "rational" here. If "rational" means "profit maximization", this question is meaningless.)


Maybe not.


For example, psychology shows us that income above certain level does not necessarily correlate with happiness.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/312/5782/1908


But it seems like all of the actors involved in this capitalist system strive for profit maximization.


Maybe this is because in the past, capital (or wealth) was scarce. We had to maximize profit when we can and save it for the future.



But now, capital and wealth are abundant.


Is our capitalist society based on our outdated mindset, evolved to be fit for hunter gatherer era?