Human Brain Appears 'Hard-Wired' for Hierarchy

makaira "A bad thing."
Posts: 362 Joined: 16-10-06
Submitted by makaira on 24 April, 2008 - 13:28.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423121430.htm

Matt
Posts: 31 Joined: 01-04-08 Location: Aberdeen
24 April, 2008 - 13:41

Is the title really accurate? Is it not just saying that being in a hierarchy has an effect on you depending on your position? Which I think is fairly obvious...

David in Atlanta ""crude reductionist version of marxism""
Posts: 1920 Joined: 21-04-06
24 April, 2008 - 13:59

FYI, there's a fairly long thread on the thought forum.
hierarchy hardwired in the pleistocene, sez this guy

xConorx "facts tend to cloud my judgement"
Posts: 10827 Joined: 09-12-04 Location: Belfast
24 April, 2008 - 15:05

Belief in Evolutionary Psychology May Be Hardwired, Study Says
wink

Matt
Posts: 31 Joined: 01-04-08 Location: Aberdeen
24 April, 2008 - 15:24

laugh out loud

tastybrain "free markets, enslaved people"
Posts: 115 Joined: 11-11-07 Location: US, Massachusetts
24 April, 2008 - 16:05

Yeah, I'd agree with Matt. The article says nothing about whether hierarchy in and of itself is "hardwired", only that the brain responds to winning and losing (which is not the same thing as an ingrained hierarchy) and the fact that a persons status can change so easily even suggests that other social forms besides pure competition are possible.