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Full-Text Articles in Social Psychology
The Adaptive Functions Of Jealousy, Jose C. Yong, Norman P. Li
The Adaptive Functions Of Jealousy, Jose C. Yong, Norman P. Li
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
Jealousy is a troublesome emotional experience for those afflicted by its onset. The grip of the “green-eyed monster” has been known to cause misery and produce some drastic coping behaviors ranging from paranoid stalking to violent aggression. But rather than a product of civilized culture gone wrong or a mental disorder as some thinkers have claimed jealousy to be, the current chapter proposes from an evolutionary perspective that jealousy plays an important role in our lives by serving a critical adaptive function for humans—the vigilance over and protection of relationships that are valuable to us.
The Savanna Theory Of Happiness, Satoshi Kanazawa, Norman P. Li
The Savanna Theory Of Happiness, Satoshi Kanazawa, Norman P. Li
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
This chapter describes the savanna theory of happiness, which posits that it may not be only the consequences of a given situation in the current environment that affect individuals’ happiness but also what its consequences would have been in the ancestral environment. The theory further suggests that the effect of such ancestral consequences on happiness is stronger among less intelligent individuals than among more intelligent individuals. Consistent with the theory, being an ethnic minority, living in urban areas, and socializing with friends less frequently all reduce happiness, but the effects of these conditions are significantly stronger among less intelligent individuals …