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Selfish goals serve more fundamental social and biological goals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2014

D. Vaughn Becker
Affiliation:
Cognitive Science and Engineering Unit, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85201. vaughn.becker@asu.eduhttp://www.public.asu.edu/~loids/
Douglas T. Kenrick
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85201. douglas.kenrick@asu.eduhttp://douglaskenrick.faculty.asu.edu/

Abstract

Proximate selfish goals reflect the machinations of more fundamental goals such as self-protection and reproduction. Evolutionary life history theory allows us to make predictions about which goals are prioritized over others, which stimuli release which goals, and how the stages of cognitive processing are selectively influenced to better achieve the aims of those goals.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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