February 4, 2013

Why Do Soldiers Die for Their Countries?

Satoshi Kanazawa, Big Think


AP Photo

The last puzzle for evolutionary psychology that Robert Wright identified in his 1994 book The Moral Animal was why soldiers die for their countries. Dying in battle protecting and defending a large number of anonymous people to whom they are not genetically related makes very little evolutionary sense, especially for young men who have yet to complete or even begin their reproductive careers. 

Read Full Article ››

TAGGED: evolutionary psychology, patriotism, soldiers

RECOMMENDED ARTICLES

February 2, 2013
Has the Recession Made You Fat?
Shankar Vedantam, NPR
Has the recession made you fat?To the long and growing list of risk factors known to increase the risk of obesity, scientists recently added a new one: scarcity.People given subtle cues that they may have to confront harsh... more ››
Scientists say that humans did not develop altruism - the principal of protecting society's resources by punishing those who cheat the system - simply out of the goodness of their hearts.Instead, selfish early man adopted... more ››