Evolutionairy psychology

“By adopting the new signalling-based view of human mental evolution, it is much easier to see the connections between prehistoric life and post-industrial life, between fitness-signalling and status-signalling, between personal identity and brand identity, and between the social functions of products for consumers and the profitability of products for manufacturers and marketers.” (Miller, 2003)

In this chapter the emphasis lies on the introduction and explanation of the costly signaling theory, which plays a crucial role in the main goal of our project: the building of a new theory on human motivation and the prediction of interpersonal behavior (in purpose of team management). In order to fully understyand this 'rediscovered' theory, it was already described by Darwin himself but only recently revitalised by collegues like Miller, first a short outline is given of the evolution theory in general.

Betoog toespitsen op motivatie & interpersoonlijk gedrag, maar de gedetailleerde uitwerking i.c. opbouw voor eigen model/theorie bewaren voor hst.4.

Bouwstenen: 

We argue that evolutionary psychology is crucial for effectively understanding motivation and predicting human behaviour and key to a new motivation test and method for improving team management in general and management of teams in charge of customer relations in particular. Methods for improving teams and team management should be based on how human beings evolved as social primates interacting in groups. Fundamental to analyzing social behaviour is the innate human ability to display our main characteristics to other human beings within our group. Costly signalling, however, is not just concerned with displaying reliable fitness for mate selection and threatening rivals. It also allows individuals to display acts of altruism to show they are good candidates for allies (Buss, 2004 p. 266; McAndrew, 2002). Thus, for mapping and analyzing personnel in these teams, a new approach is needed that makes use of costly signalling. As the display of costly signals is an unconscious act, a non-verbal – i.e. visual - test is needed for recognizing, charting and predicting the behaviour of the respondent(s).

The evolutionary psychology theory follows the Darwinian evolutionary reasoning to explain how patterns of behaviour that characterize all humans originated in the natural and sexual selection value these characteristics provided over millions of years of evolution of the human species.

The theory encompasses a number of subtheories and coherent but distinguishable components. A number of these will be discussed here, like:

The behavioral genetics theory;  explains how individual differences in behavior – personality traits – are passed from parents to child and shared by biological relatives. Characteristics patterns of human behavior are encoded on genes and passed from parents to children across generations for millions of years.

Our basic drives, our motivation, has been shaped over millions of years  adapting to changing circumstances, changing our behaviour in the process of interacting with our environment. About 150 years ago the British naturalist Charles Darwin (1859, 1871)was the first to describe this adaptation process in his publications about natural and sexual selection. The year 2009 saw the celebration of the 150th anniversary of his seminal publication The On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871), describing his brilliant and brazen theories, that stirred up the world of his time even more. And although most biologists almost instantaneously recognized the importance of his theory, it was not until some three decades ago that his vision on natural and sexual selection was – albeit reluctantly - accepted within the field of psychology and sociology. Some psychologists and sociologists, however, still balk at the evolutionary impact on animal life, especially when it concerns humans.

 
Notwithstanding many hot debates and violent reactions, evolutionists carried on with their significant work. New insights into the motivations, drives, emotions, preferences, relationships and even aesthetic tastes of human beings emerged and were developed further. Today, Darwin’s theories on natural and sexual selection are no longer an isolated field in psychology. Evolutionary principles revolutionized some traditional disciplines, creating a more coherent understanding of human nature, stating that human nature is at the very foundation of all social sciences and humanities. The world of management, however, remained virtually ignorant and evolutionary insights have had little influence in this field so far.
 
In our research proposal we therefore argue that evolutionary psychology is crucial for effectively understanding, mapping and measuring motivation and predicting human behavior and key to a new method and motivation test to help improve and strengthen long term employee and customer commitment. Evolutionary psychology should provide the theoretical basis for tests measuring basic (unconscious) motivation and interests that drive and determine human behavior.

Richting G.Miller costly signaling!

lees verder: kritiek op bestaande methoden