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The Evolutionary Origins of Preferences and Human Behavior (ECO-AD-EVOORIGIN)

ECO-AD-EVOORIGIN

Description

Course Description
This course examines how evolutionary pressures — sexual selection, intergroup conflict, environmental stress, cooperative breeding, and family structure — helped shape the social preferences (cooperation, competitiveness, egalitarianism, maximization, prosociality, trust, risk) that underlie economic behavior. We draw on behavioral economics, experimental methods, development economics, evolutionary psychology, and anthropology to connect Pleistocene adaptations to modern outcomes: gender gaps in the labor market, post-conflict and natural disaster recovery, climate change effects, institutional development, and long-run economic growth.

A single through-line unifies the five lectures: evolutionary pressures shaped social preferences (aka motivations), which in turn shape modern economic and institutional outcomes. Each lecture combines theory, experimental evidence, and field data.

Content warning: Throughout the course, we will deliberately connect dots across disciplines and levels of analysis. Not every connection is settled science — some are working hypotheses or contested findings. Depending on whom you ask, today's groundbreaking discovery is tomorrow's bullshit—and vice versa. We treat this as a feature, not a bug: the gaps and open questions are precisely where interesting dissertation research lives. Take the bolder claims with a grain of salt, but use them to isolate and sharpen your own research hypotheses.

Learning Objectives
•    Understand core evolutionary frameworks (kin selection, parochial altruism, cooperative breeding, life history theory) and their economic implications.
•    Critically evaluate experimental and field evidence on gender differences, conflict, climate, and culture as drivers of social preferences.
•    Connect evolutionary biology to current topics in microeconomics, development economics, political economy, and behavioral economics.
•    Apply theoretical frameworks to generate original research questions at the intersection of evolutionary psychology and economics.

Format & Assessment
Format: 5 lectures of approximately 2 hours each (lecture + structured discussion).
Preparation: Students are expected to read all starred (*) core readings before each session.

Assessment
Format                             Description
Response papers            1-3 page commentary to each lecture's readings, submitted before class.
Research proposal          3-5 page proposal connecting one lecture's themes to the student's own research topic.
Policy brief                       1-3 page brief translating one lecture's findings for a policymaker audience.

 

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