Cultivating human nature

Evolutionary psychology claims to offer a unified perspective on human nature and culture, which can serve to further the integration of psychology and the social sciences. I describe four approaches to evolutionary psychology, and note increasing attention to the agency of the individual in constructing the biological and cultural environment. These approaches, however, share a problematic conception of culture as information. I explore the possibility of using Latour's concept of mediation to analyse the relation between human nature and culture without restricting the latter to information, and collect a number of recent studies and essays that illustrate the way individuals mediate nature and culture.     

On human improvement

The claim that human cognitive abilities can be markedly improved by near-future biophysical means is examined as to its clarity, desirability, and feasibility. Generally, this is a study of the "space of reasons" of such a claim. Comparison is offered to claims of the feasibility of significant moral improvement of individuals. While this study is more exploratory than conclusive, the result is drawn that the possibility of such improvement merits serious consideration, given such improvement's far-reaching implications.     

Taking human life

Alan Donagan's position regarding the morality of taking innocent human life, that it is impermissible regardless of the wishes of the victim, is criticized by Brock who argues for a rights-based alternative. His argument appeals to the nature of persons' actual interest in life and gives them an additional element of control which they lack if a nonwaivable moral duty not to kill prevails. The author rejects Donagan's view that stopping a life-sustaining treatment, even when a competent patient has consented, is morally wrong and that there is no moral difference between killing and allowing to die. A rights-based position permits stopping treatment of incompetent patients based on what the patient would have wanted or what is in his or her best interest, and allows the withholding of treatment from a terminally ill person, with the patient's consent and for a benevolent motive, to be evaluated as morally different from killing that patient.     

睾酮与人类攻击行为

睾酮是一种可以在男性的睾丸间质细胞、女性卵巢和胎盘的皮层细胞中合成并分泌的雄性激素, 它可以调节个体的各种生理、形态和行为过程, 对个体生存和繁殖至关重要。大量研究表明, 睾酮与社会行为的关联存在双向性, 睾酮可以调节社会行为, 社会行为可以反馈并进一步影响睾酮水平。我们将关注点聚焦于睾酮与人类攻击行为之间的关联。早期研究发现, 高睾酮水平个体表现出更高的攻击性; 近期的研究根据挑战假设理论模型和生物社会地位模型得出, 人体内的睾酮水平对竞争性相互作用具有高度反应性。此外, 通过对大量研究的回顾与分析, 我们总结出睾酮水平的变化可以通过增强杏仁核的反应性或减少前额叶皮质-杏仁核功能耦合来影响攻击行为。未来的研究者应考虑其他激素(如皮质醇)和人格特征调节睾酮和人类攻击行为之间关系的潜在作用, 以及相关的生物学机制。     

睾酮与人类决策行为

睾酮是一种类固醇激素, 主要的雄性激素之一。在神经科学与神经内分泌学领域中, 早期研究发现睾酮会对人类的攻击性、社会交往、冲动性等方面产生一定的影响; 后来心理学研究者开始关注睾酮与决策之间的关系, 包括社会性决策的信任、合作、利他与竞争方面以及经济性决策的风险决策。多项研究显示, 睾酮的水平与经济性决策中的风险寻求行为呈正相关关系; 在社会性决策领域中, 高睾酮水平的个体会表现出更高的攻击性、支配性和公平性行为, 同时表现出更低的人际信任。然而这些研究结果也存在难以重复验证的现象, 需要更多的研究探寻可能影响睾酮与决策的其他因素。未来对睾酮与决策的研究可以关注睾酮与消费决策领域、探寻青少年睾酮水平与社会行为的关系以及临床应用等。     

Evolution and human choices

The postmodern world seems to have conclusively lost faith in the heady promises of human emancipation through rational understanding that have pervaded the Western world since the time of the Enlightenment. As the end of the millennium approaches and the evidence of man‐made environmental degradation accumulates nihilism and malaise color the future. This article argues that a clear understanding of both evolutionary forces and human consciousness permits to formulate a guardedly optimistic alternative view. It is advanced that the very sense of despair current circumstances have created may trigger a move toward a new form of psycho‐functional adaptation, simultaneously constituting a first instance of “conscious evolution” and fulfilling the progressive promise intrinsic in the full use of our rational faculties.     

Loss and human resilience

In this article we argue that humans are more resilient in the face of loss than has been previously believed. We begin by showing that historically the bereavement literature has tended to pathologize what are otherwise normal and natural reactions to loss. We then introduce a characterization of resilience during bereavement as the ability to maintain continuity in identity from pre- to postloss. We review various types of evidence consistent with this proposal, with a particular emphasis on the relationship between resilience and continuity in social identity. We then explore four possible mechanisms by which resilient individuals achieve identity continuity. We also attempt to extend the resilience-as-continuity link to the recent literature on continued bonds with the deceased and explore how this link manifests across different cultures. Finally, we review some implications of these formulations for psychotherapy with bereaved individuals.