An evolutionary psychological perspective on social capital
نویسندگان
چکیده
0167-4870/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V doi:10.1016/j.joep.2009.08.002 * Corresponding author. Address: Interdisciplinary WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom. Tel.: +44 20 7955 729 E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Kanaza We present an evolutionary psychological perspective on social capital. We first suggest that evolutionary psychology provides the most ultimate (as opposed to proximate) theoretical definition and most theoretically driven measures of social capital, by providing a theory of values and specifying what human actors value and want. We then suggest that evolutionary psychology can illuminate certain cognitive constraints and biases to which human actors are subject in their attempt to seek the most efficient means to achieve their ultimate goal of reproductive success. We illustrate the utility of an evolutionary psychological perspective on social capital with its application to some empirical puzzles: Why women have more kin in their personal relationships than men do, and why we are closer to our maternal grandmothers than to our paternal grandfathers. 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
منابع مشابه
Social Capital, Crime, and Human Nature
In the present article, a reinterpretation of the concept of social capital is forwarded that incorporates the principles of evolutionary psychology. The authors propose that social capital, from the evolutionary psychological perspective, is any social relationship that, directly or indirectly, helps an individual maximize reproductive success through promoting survival, the acquisition of res...
متن کاملEvaluation of Mediating Role of Spiritual Intelligence in the Relationship between Social Capital and Psychological Capital of Graduate Students
Background and Objective: Spiritual intelligence, social capital, and psychological capital are approaches that help the individual to coordinate with the environment, health and performance improvement. This study aimed to evaluate the role of spiritual intelligence in the relationship between social capital and psychological capital of postgraduate students of the University of Sistan and Bal...
متن کاملExplaining the Impact of Social Capital and Psychological Capital on Adolescents' Quality of Life (Study of High School Male Students in Babol)
One of the necessities of life in the modern era is to pay attention to the quality of life. The quality of life is defined and identified in four dimensions: mental health, physical health, environmental health and the quality of social relationships. This research study was descriptive-causal employing the survey method and the statistical population of the study was high school male students...
متن کاملEvolutionary Approaches to Group Dynamics: An Introduction
An evolutionary perspective offers many new insights in the study of group dynamics. First, groups are an inevitable aspect of human evolution, suggesting that humans have evolved a range of psychological mechanisms to deal with specific challenges of group living. Second, an evolutionary perspective combines and integrates knowledge from different social science disciplines such as psychology,...
متن کاملSocial Capital and the Human Psyche: Why Is Social Life ‘‘Capital’’?*
In this article, we propose a revised definition of social capital, premised on the principles of evolutionary psychology. We define social capital as any feature of a social relationship that, directly or indirectly, confers reproductive benefits to a participant in that relationship. This definition grounds the construct of social capital in human nature by providing a basis for inferring the...
متن کامل