Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T13:27:31.788Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Health behaviour, extrinsic risks, and the exceptions to the rule

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2017

Caroline Uggla*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, SE-106 91, Sweden. Caroline.uggla@sociology.su.sehttp://www.su.se/profiles/caugg

Abstract

Pepper & Nettle make a compelling case for how evolutionary thinking can help explain behaviours that cluster with deprivation. The role of extrinsic mortality risk in driving behaviour is probably important, but strong evidence is still lacking. By thinking carefully about behaviours seemingly at odds with an evolutionary life history perspective, we can gain important insights that will help refine theory.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Banerjee, A. V. & Duflo, E. (2012) Poor economics: Barefoot hedge-fund managers, DIY doctors and the surprising truth about life on less than $1 a day. Penguin.Google Scholar
Burke, L., Wang, J. & Sevick, M. (2011) Self-monitoring in weight loss: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 111(1):92102.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gilbert, J., Uggla, C. & Mace, R. (2016) Knowing your neighbourhood: Local ecology and personal experience predict neighbourhood perceptions in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Royal Society Open Science 3:160468.Google Scholar
Hill, K. (1993) Life history theory and evolutionary anthropology. Evolutionary Anthropology 2(3):7888.Google Scholar
Katterman, S. N., Kleinman, B. M., Hood, M. M., Nackers, L. M. & Corsica, J. A. (2014) Mindfulness meditation as an intervention for binge eating, emotional eating, and weight loss: A systematic review. Eating Behaviors 15(2):197204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mäkelä, P. & Paljärvi, T. (2008) Do consequences of a given pattern of drinking vary by socioeconomic status? A mortality and hospitalisation follow-up for alcohol-related causes of the Finnish Drinking Habits Surveys. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 62(8):728–33.Google Scholar
Marmot, M. (2015) The health gap. The challenge of an unequal world. Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Stearns, S. C. (1992) The evolution of life histories. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Uggla, C. & Mace, R. (2015) Effects of local extrinsic mortality rate, crime and sex ratio on preventable death in Northern Ireland. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health 2015(1):266–77.Google Scholar
Uggla, C. & Mace, R. (2016) Local ecology influences reproductive timing in Northern Ireland independently of individual wealth. Behavioral Ecology 27(1):158–65.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2014) Global status report on alcohol and health. Available at: http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/global_alcohol_report/en/ Google Scholar