Abstract

In searching for intrinsic causes of human imperfections, it is most reasonable to begin with a consideration of genetics, and indeed a genetic model for maladaptation has been proposed by evolutionary psychologists Cosmi-des & Tooby [1]. They attribute some maladaptation to a mismatch between the mandates of a human gene pool shaped during the Pleistocene but expressed in a modern, urban environment. For example, they allege some digestive maladies and emotional problems are due to the fact that we evolved in and for an age of hunting and gathering. Although they do not specify whether they are considering normal, abnormal or vestigial human behavior, they suggest a phylogenetic model [1] which explains some maladaptive human behavior in terms of the time lag between an evolving genome and the constantly changing social/intellectual environment1.