The Rational Animal: How Evolution Made Us Smarter Than We Think by Douglas T. Kenrick, Vladas Griskevicius Read Free Book Online Page B

those that were different and unique.
    But people’s preferences changed drastically if they instead watched a romantic movie.Before seeing the same commercials, a second group of people watched a clip from the romantic film Before Sunrise , which portrays an attractive man and woman (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) falling in love as they travel by train through the most picturesque cities in Europe.This film clip brought out a very different subself, leading viewers to experience erotic and loving feelings.Unlike people who saw the scary movie clip, the people in a romantic frame of mind were most affected by ads that emphasized a product’s uniqueness.Now, when they saw the message about standing out from the crowd in the museum advertisement, they were especially drawn to it.Like animals on the prowl for a mate, people primed for romance want to stick out from the crowd.By contrast, including information about the popularity of the product repelled the romance-minded subjects.Adding the message “visited by over a million people” made the museum seem blasé and commonplace, leading people with a romantic mind-set to avoid the destination.
    Rather than showing that some people are inherently disposed to be conformists while others are inherently disposed to be unique, the study found that the same person will sometimes want to conform and at other times seek to be unique.When the situation elicited a person’s romantic subself, he or she craved uniqueness and avoidedconformity.But when the situation elicited a person’s vigilant subself, he or she now craved conformity and actively avoided opportunities to be unique.From the perspective that you have a single unitary self—that you have only one personality—shifting between conformist and rebellious tendencies seems inconsistent and even hypocritical.But from a multiple-subselves perspective, the behavior is logical and consistent since, in different situations, you follow the deeply rational preferences of your different subselves.
    So given that there are multiple subselves living in your head, the next question is, how many?
    HOW MANY SUBSELVES ARE THERE?
    When people talk about evolutionary success, they often think only about survival and reproduction.But it is a gross oversimplification to assume that this is the whole story.Although surviving and reproducing are important challenges, humans had to surmount a number of distinct challenges to achieve evolutionary success.At a base level, our ancestors, like other animals, needed nourishment and shelter.But because humans are intensely social animals, they also faced a recurring set of crucial social evolutionary challenges.These evolutionary challenges include (1) evading physical harm, (2) avoiding disease, (3) making friends, (4) gaining status, (5) attracting a mate, (6) keeping that mate, and (7) caring for family.
    The humans who became our ancestors were those who protected themselves from enemies and predators, avoided infection and disease, got along with the other people in their tribe, and gained the respect of their fellow tribe members.They also successfully attracted a mate, established a partnership with that person (perhaps for the rest of their lives), and, if all went well, cared for their needy and relatively helpless offspring.Those humans who succeeded in solving these critical challenges enhanced their fitness and became our ancestors.Those who were less successful at solving these challenges failed to become anyone’s ancestors.
    Each evolutionary challenge is unique.The things a person does to successfully charm a date are different from the things one does toavoid a predator or care for a baby.Solving these different problems required our ancestors to make decisions in different—and sometimes completely incompatible—ways.What is effective when you are taking care of a child, for example, is different than what is effective when you are negotiating a business deal with distant