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In Western dual-educated, male-female marriages, women who divorce face greater burdens because of decreased income and primary or sole responsibility for caring for children than men who divorce. Why, then, do these women initiate divorce more and fare better psychologically after a divorce than men? Here, we articulate an evolutionary mismatch perspective, informed by key findings in relationship science. We argue that mismatches between women's evolved preferences and configurations of modern marriage often clash, producing dissatisfaction. Women's unprecedented career ascendance also affords women ever more freedom to leave. We discuss pressures from social expectations for men and women that contribute to or compound these vulnerabilities. We conclude with key questions for future research, which can contribute to strategies for mitigating relationship dissatisfaction and the profound loss and pain that results from divorce.

AIM To examine the interconnection between the rise of modern industrial agriculture, the Anthropocene epoch, and impacts on human health. To examine the impact of the emerging field of regenerative agriculture in addressing the mounting negative planetary and human health challenges. METHODS Structured interviews in social research for a PhD with over 80 regenerative farmers and industrial farmers in the field; and subsequent interviews with 40 other farmers. Literature search into the rise of modern human and animal diseases, the Anthropocene, and cognitive and paradigm change. RESULTS As Earth slips further into the human-caused Anthropocene epoch due to The Great Acceleration post-1950, there is a directly connected exponential rise in modern human diseases. Despite the emergence of Western agriculture and modern industrial society, our bodies are still adapted to the environment of our Palaeolithic past. Industrial agriculture and harmful agricultural practices are stripping essential nutrients from our foods while also lacing them with novel chemicals we are not adapted for. Consequently, the functioning of our gut microbiome has become destabilised. Evidence continues to mount that this is a key reason behind the exponential rise of many modern diseases. CONCLUSION To address what constitute evolutionary mismatch diseases due to cultural Dysevolution, a return to healthy regenerative agriculture, with foods rich in diverse nutrients and free of novel chemicals, provides a clear pathway to begin healing both the planetary systems and humans.

The painkilling medication acetaminophen produces a variety of unintended psychological effects. In particular, it has been shown to diminish varied forms of psychological distress by attenuating neural activity in the cerebral cortex and enhancing the signaling of serotonin. As a result, this over-the-counter medication appears to dampen overall affective processing and has been termed “an all-purpose emotion reliever.” However, this drug may not necessarily modify all emotions in the same manner. Specifically, fear processing occurs rapidly within the amygdala and is governed by serotonin. Thus, by blunting cortical activity and facilitating serotonergic action, acetaminophen could in fact potentiate reactions to threatening stimuli. This study intersects with the fields of evolutionary psychology and psychopharmacology by investigating whether acetaminophen modulates responses to fear-inducing stimuli that vary in ancestral relevance. We hypothesized that the more subcortical and prewired mechanisms controlling responses to recurring ancestral threats (snakes and spiders) would be more affected by this drug compared to learned threats of modern environments (handguns and hypodermic needles). In a double-blind placebo-controlled design (N = 94), acetaminophen significantly enhanced participants’ evaluations and emotional reactions to threatening stimuli. In addition, ancestral threats were rated as both significantly more negative and emotionally arousing compared to modern threats. Contrary to our predictions, however, acetaminophen altered affective responses to ancestral and modern threats in a highly similar manner. We conclude that acetaminophen does not blunt overall affective processing, and call for further evolutionary-based research examining the various psychoactive effects of this commonly consumed over-the-counter painkiller.

According to some evolutionary theorists human prosocial dispositions emerged in a context of inter-group competition and violence that made our psychology parochially prosocial, ie. cooperative towards in-groups and competitive towards strangers. This evolutionary hypothesis is sometimes employed in bioethical debates to argue that human nature and contemporary environments, and especially large-scale societies, are mismatched. In this article we caution against the use of mismatch theories in moral philosophy in general and discuss empirical evidence that puts into question mismatch theories based on parochial prosociality. Evolutionary mismatch theories play at best a rhetorical role in these moral debates and may misrepresent the status of relevant evolutionary research. We finally recommend that moral philosophers interested in the evolutionary literature also engage with dispositions such as xenophilia and social tolerance to counterbalance the focus on psychological mismatches adopted so far.

Background and objectives Psychological distress is one of the greatest health threats facing humanity and has been hypothesized to represent an evolutionary mismatch. This hypothesis can be tested in semi-traditional societies that are undergoing transitions to modern lifestyles. This study used an evolutionary medicine framework to examine the predictors of psychological distress symptomology in a semi-modern ethnic minority village in rural Vietnam that is transitioning into a developing economy. Methodology A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Chieng Sai Village among White Thai ethnic minority adults aged 18–75. The DASS-21 scale was used to measure the prevalence of psychological distress symptoms (depression and stress), and a closed format questionnaire was used to collect data on independent variables within an evolutionary mismatch framework. Binary logistic regression analyses were used to determine associated factors of psychological distress symptomology. Results The prevalence of psychological distress symptoms was 22% (depression = 16.9%, stress = 16.3%). Common features of modernity, such as low levels of exercise, boredom, and low income, showed positive associations with psychological distress, while lifestyle features that were more similar to those expected in the evolutionary past and that fulfill evolutionary adaptations, such as getting enough sleep, adequate physical exertion, and access to resources (earning a sufficient income), showed negative associations with psychological distress. Conclusions and implications This study suggests that modern lifestyles might have generated evolutionary mismatches that are negatively impacting mental health in Chieng Sai Village. Further investigations on mental health in rural Vietnam are warrented. Future research should focus on determining the causal relationship between psychological distress and evolutionary mismatches. Evolutionary medicine approaches to understanding and preventing psychological distress are potential forces of insight to be considered in public health and educational policy. Lay summary Approximately 22% of White Thai ethnic minority adults in the village of Cheing Sai reported psychological distress symptoms. I found that lifestyle factors prevalent in modern society had positive associations with psychological distress symptomology, while lifestyle factors that mimic aspects of the human evolutionary past, such as adequate physical exertion, had negative associations with psychological distress symptoms.

BACKGROUND According to the hypothesis of Gluckman and Hanson, mismatch between the developmental and postdevelopmental environments may lead to detrimental health impacts such as obesity. While several animal studies support the mismatch theory, there is a scarcity of evidence from human-based studies. OBJECTIVES Our study aims to examine whether a mismatch between the developmental and young-adult environments affect obesity in young adults of the Jerusalem Perinatal Family Follow-Up Study. METHODS Data from The Jerusalem Perinatal Family Follow-Up Study birth cohort was used to characterize early and late environments using offspring and parental sociodemographic and lifestyle information at birth, age 32 (n = 1140) and 42 (n = 404). Scores characterizing the early and late environments were constructed using factor analysis. To assess associations of mismatch with obesity, regression models were fitted using the first factor of each environment and adiposity measures at age 32 and 42. RESULTS Having a stable non-beneficial environment at birth and young-adulthood was most strongly associated with increased adiposity, while a stable beneficial environment was most favorable. The transition from a beneficial environment at birth to a less beneficial environment at young-adulthood was associated with higher obesity measures, including higher BMI (β = 0.979; 95% CI: 0.029, 1.929), waist circumference (β = 2.729; 95% CI: 0.317, 5.140) and waist-hip ratio (β = 0.017; 95% CI: 0.004, 0.029) compared with those experiencing a beneficial environment at both time points. Transition from a less beneficial environment at birth to a beneficial environment at adulthood was also associated with higher obesity measurements (BMI -β = 1.116; 95% CI: 0.085, 2.148; waist circumference -β = 2.736; 95% CI: 0.215, 5.256). CONCLUSIONS This study provides some support for the mismatch hypothesis. While there is indication that an accumulation of the effects of the non-beneficial environment has the strongest detrimental impact on obesity outcomes, our results also indicate that a mismatch between the developmental and later environments may result in maladaptation of the individual leading to obesity.

The need to belong resonates widely as a fundamental motivation to maintain close, continual human bonds. This commentary integrates findings and conclusions from the special issue of the Australi...

Under the development mode of government-led industrial agglomeration, most enterprises are motivated by the purpose of obtaining “policy rent”, which has a negative impact on the improvement of resource allocation efficiency. Therefore, based on Hsieh & Klenow’s resource mismatch theory, this paper measures the resource mismatch index of 30 provinces and empirically tests the impact of government-led industrial agglomeration on resource allocation efficiency. The results show that the tendency of “free-ride” caused by government intervention leads to the U-shaped change trend of industrial agglomeration on resource allocation efficiency. This paper discusses the feasible options to improve the efficiency of resource allocation under the joint action of market mechanism and moderate government intervention.

Suboptimal understanding of concepts related to hygiene by the general public, clinicians and researchers is a persistent problem in health and medicine. Although hygiene is necessary to slow or prevent deadly pandemics of infectious disease such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), hygiene can have unwanted effects. In particular, some aspects of hygiene cause a loss of biodiversity from the human body, characterized by the almost complete removal of intestinal worms (helminths) and protists. Research spanning more than half a century documents that this loss of biodiversity results in an increased propensity for autoimmune disease, allergic disorders, probably neuropsychiatric problems and adverse reactions to infectious agents. The differences in immune function between communities with and communities without helminths have become so pronounced that the reduced lethality of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in low-income countries compared to high-income countries was predicted early in the COVID-19 pandemic. This prediction, based on the maladaptive immune responses observed in many cases of COVID-19 in high-income countries, is now supported by emerging data from low-income countries. Herein, hygiene is subdivided into components involving personal choice versus components instituted by community wide systems such as sewage treatment facilities and water treatment plants. The different effects of personal hygiene and systems hygiene are described, and appropriate measures to alleviate the adverse effects of hygiene without losing the benefits of hygiene are discussed. Finally, text boxes are provided to function as stand-alone, public-domain handouts with the goal of informing the public about hygiene and suggesting solutions for biomedical researchers and policy makers. Lay Summary: Hygiene related to sewer systems and other technology can have adverse effects on immune function, and is distinct from personal hygiene practices such as hand washing and social distancing. Dealing with the drawbacks of hygiene must be undertaken without compromising the protection from infectious disease imposed by hygiene.

This article examines the causes of the current centrist and secessionist civil conflicts in Yemen. We argue that it is possible to explain the outbreak of the struggle of the Houthis against the central government as well as the acceleration of southern secessionist demands in light of the mismatch theory developed by Herrera, Morelli, and Nunnari (2019). In line with this model, we show that the two conflicts erupted once the relatively low political-economic power of the Houthis and of the southern secessionists was no longer matched by a parallel imbalance in their relative military strength vis-à-vis the central government. To examine the implications of the theory in Yemen, we use qualitative evidence on the two ongoing conflicts. The Yemeni case suggests that conflicts exhibiting a non-parallel asymmetry in relative military strength and political-economic power between the warring actors can be interpreted in light of the mismatch theory, regardless of their direction or the objectives their players pursue.

As acceptance of evolutionary perspectives in mainstream psychology grows, it becomes increasingly pertinent to ask what evolutionary psychology can do to solve real-world problems and better our lives. Answers to this important question will more than likely require an understanding and application of the evolutionary mismatch framework. This powerful framework suggests that many of our contemporary problems—ranging from diabetes and depression to low fertility and sustainability—stem from a mismatch between our evolved psychological mechanisms, which are designed to be adaptive in ancestral contexts, and modern environments, which present novel stimuli that these mechanisms are not well suited to handle. By providing a better understanding of the functions of our evolved mechanisms and how they are incompatible with modern environments, the mismatch perspective can help with the generation of more enlightened and effective strategies to tackle modern problems than would otherwise be the case. We describe this perspective and discuss its potential efficacy and promise. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved) Public Significance Statement—This article describes evolutionary mismatch – a process that likely underlies many of the problems that humans face in the modern world. As discussed, human minds are not designed for and thus, not well-suited to handle, modern environments. Accordingly, solving the various problems of the modern world will require researchers and policymakers to understand mismatch and how to work around it.

International audience; Strong and ongoing artificial selection in domestic animals has resulted in amazing phenotypic responses that benefit humans, but often at a cost to an animal's health, and problems related to inbreeding depression, including a higher incidence of cancer. Despite high rates of cancer in domesticated species, little attention has been devoted to exploring the hypothesis that persistent artificial selection may also favour the evolution of compensatory anticancer defences. Indeed, there is evidence for effective anti‐cancer defences found in several domesticated species associated with different cancer types. We also suggest that artificial selection can favour the “domestication” of inherited oncogenic mutations in rare instances, retaining those associated to late and/or less aggressive cancers, and that by studying these seemingly rare anticancer adaptations, novel cancer treatments may be found.

Cultural Mismatch Theory (CMT) has emerged as a paradigm to account for the disparate experiences and outcomes of first-generation students (FGSs). Past research on CMT demonstrate how social clas...

Evolutionary medicine is a concept that arose mainly in the 1990s, and which applies evolutionary biological principles to human medical fields For instance, evolutionary medicine proposed that there is an evolutionary mismatch between the human anatomy and physiology and novel, man‐made environments, leading to the so‐called diseases of civilization Constraints exist on the process of natural selection, and evolutionary trade‐offs can prevent traits from being optimal, leaving humans with traits that at first sight seem maladaptive, such as the very narrow birth canal of humans More generally, certain traits can increase reproduction at the cost of health and longevity Other traits, such as pain and fever, are related to protective physiological defences, and not diseases Some medical topics have biological roots in the field of ethology, particularly human ethology, such as the behavioural aspects of psychiatry and addiction Compulsive overeating and binge eating show similarities to substance‐linked addictions and behavioural addictions Interactions between behaviour, stress and diseases have ancient evolutionary roots, which may lead to a mismatch to the modern human environment A subject of high, topical interest is the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) pandemic, as the behavioural aspects of population compliance are crucial for the success in fighting the pandemic Ethology, and evolutionary biology in general, can substantially contribute to improving the biological understanding of medical phenomena, and therefore of medical and public health interventions This applies not only to research but also to education [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Ethology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abstracts )

Existing meta-analyses have shown that the relationship between social media use and self-esteem is negative, but at very small effect sizes, suggesting the presence of moderators that change the relationship between social media use and self-esteem. Employing principles from social comparison and evolutionary mismatch theories, we propose that the social network sizes one has on social media play a key role in the relationship between social media use and self-esteem. In our study (N = 123), we showed that social media use was negatively related to self-esteem, but only when their social network size was within an evolutionarily familiar level. Social media use was not related to self-esteem when people’s social networks were at evolutionarily novel sizes. The data supported both social comparison and evolutionary mismatch theories and elucidated the small effect size found for the relationship between social media use and self-esteem in current literature. More critically, the findings of this study highlight the need to consider evolutionarily novel stimuli that are present on social media to better understand the behaviors of people in this social environment.

Dietary changes associated with industrialization increase the prevalence of chronic diseases, such as obesity, type II diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. This relationship is often attributed to an ‘evolutionary mismatch’ between human physiology and modern nutritional environments. Western diets enriched with foods that were scarce throughout human evolutionary history (e.g. simple sugars and saturated fats) promote inflammation and disease relative to diets more akin to ancestral human hunter-gatherer diets, such as a Mediterranean diet. Peripheral blood monocytes, precursors to macrophages and important mediators of innate immunity and inflammation, are sensitive to the environment and may represent a critical intermediate in the pathway linking diet to disease. We evaluated the effects of 15 months of whole diet manipulations mimicking Western or Mediterranean diet patterns on monocyte polarization in a well-established model of human health, the cynomolgus macaque (Macaca fascicularis). Monocyte transcriptional profiles differed markedly between diets, with 40% of transcripts showing differential expression (FDR < 0.05). Monocytes from Western diet consumers were polarized toward a more proinflammatory phenotype. The Western diet shifted the co-expression of 445 gene pairs, including small RNAs and transcription factors associated with metabolism and adiposity in humans, and dramatically altered behavior. For example, Western-fed individuals were more anxious and less socially integrated. These behavioral changes were also associated with some of the effects of diet on gene expression, suggesting an interaction between diet, central nervous system activity, and monocyte gene expression. This study provides new molecular insights into an evolutionary mismatch and uncovers new pathways through which Western diets alter monocyte polarization toward a proinflammatory phenotype.

Dietary changes associated with industrialization substantially increase the prevalence of chronic diseases, such as obesity, type II diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, which are major contributors to the public health burden. The high prevalence of these chronic diseases is often attributed to an “evolutionary mismatch,” between human physiology and modern nutritional environments. In support of this idea, Western diets enriched with foods that were scarce throughout human evolutionary history (e.g., simple sugars and saturated fats) promote inflammation and disease relative to diets more akin to hunter-gatherer diets, such as a Mediterranean diet; however, the mechanisms linking dietary mismatch to inflammation and chronic disease are poorly understood. We used a macaque model and whole diet manipulations to evaluate one possible mechanism – inflammatory polarization of monocytes – that potentially leads to this evolutionary mismatch. After consuming a Western- or Mediterranean-like diet for 15 months, monocytes from Western diet consumers exhibited a more proinflammatory phenotype, with 40% of their genes differentially expressed (FDR

This study contributes to the growing literature linking physical characteristics and behavioral tendencies by advancing the current debate on whether a person’s facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) predicts a variety of antisocial tendencies. Specifically, our large-scale study avoided the social-desirability bias found in self-reports of behavioral tendencies by capturing survey data not only from more than 1,000 business executives but also from evaluators who reported knowing the focal individuals well. With this improved research design, and after conducting a variety of analyses, we found very little evidence of fWHR predicting antisocial tendencies. In light of prior research linking fWHR to social perceptions of evaluators, our results are suggestive of an evolutionary mismatch, whereby a physical characteristic once tied to antisocial tendencies in ancestral environments is—in modern environments—not predictive of such behaviors but instead predictive of biased perceptions.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common female endocrine disorder and has important evolutionary implications for female reproduction and health. PCOS presents an interesting paradox, as it results in significant anovulation and potential sub-fecundity in industrialized populations, yet it has a surprisingly high prevalence and has a high heritability. In this review, we discuss an overview of PCOS, current diagnostic criteria, associated hormonal pathways and a review of proposed evolutionary hypotheses for the disorder. With a multifactorial etiology that includes ovarian function, metabolism, insulin signaling and multiple genetic risk alleles, PCOS is a complex disorder. We propose that PCOS is a mismatch between previously neutral genetic variants that evolved in physically active subsistence settings that have the potential to become harmful in sedentary industrialized environments. Sedentary obesogenic environments did not exist in ancestral times and exacerbate many of these pathways, resulting in the high prevalence and severity of PCOS today. Overall, the negative impacts of PCOS on reproductive success would likely have been minimal during most of human evolution and unlikely to generate strong selection. Future research and preventative measures should focus on these gene-environment interactions as a form of evolutionary mismatch, particularly in populations that are disproportionately affected by obesity and metabolic disorders. Lay Summary The most severe form of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is likely a result of interactions between genetic predispositions for PCOS and modern obesogenic environments. PCOS would likely have been less severe ancestrally and the fitness reducing effects of PCOS seen today are likely a novel product of sedentary, urban environments.

Recent studies indicated that a considerable proportion of adult individuals experience poor mating performance: They face considerable difficulties in attracting and retaining mates. Using an evolutionary theoretical framework, we hypothesized that poor mating performance would be associated with more negative and fewer positive emotions as well as low life satisfaction. Evidence from an online sample of 735 participants provided strong support for this hypothesis. In particular, we found that individuals who indicated poor mating performance, experienced more negative emotions such as sadness and loneliness, and fewer positive emotions such as happiness and excitement, and they were less satisfied with their lives. On the other hand, those who indicated a good performance in mating, experienced more positive emotions and fewer negative emotions, and they were more satisfied with their lives. As indicated by the effect sizes, mating performance had a moderate to strong effect on positive and negative emotions and wellbeing. Also, consistent with the results of previous research, we found that about one in two participants faced difficulties in either starting or keeping an intimate relationship.

Mismatch is a prominent concept in evolutionary medicine and a number of philosophers have published analyses of this concept. The word ‘mismatch’ has been used in a diversity of ways across a range of sciences, leading these authors to regard it as a vague concept in need of philosophical clarification. Here, in contrast, we concentrate on the use of mismatch in modelling and experimentation in evolutionary medicine. This reveals a rigorous theory of mismatch within which the term ‘mismatch’ is indeed used in several ways, not because it is ill-defined but because different forms of mismatch are.distinguished within the theory. Contemporary evolutionary medicine has unified the idea of ‘evolutionary mismatch’, derived from the older idea of ‘adaptive lag’ in evolution, with ideas about mismatch in development and physiology derived from the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) paradigm. A number of publications in evolutionary medicine have tried to make this theoretical framework explicit. We build on these to present the theory in as simple and general a form as possible. We introduce terminology, largely drawn from the existing literature, to distinguish the different forms of mismatch. This integrative theory of mismatch captures how organisms track environments across space and time on multiple scales in order to maintain an adaptive match to the environment, and how failures of adaptive tracking lead to disease. Mismatch is a productive organising concept within this theory which helps researchers articulate how physiology, development and evolution interact with one another and with environmental change to explain health outcomes.

In this chapter, the authors offer constructs for understanding the broad nature of social class and how social class identity can, and does, influence leadership identity, capacity, and efficacy. Utilizing the social class worldview model in combination with cultural mismatch theory, the authors position culturally relevant leadership learning as essential to reduce classism and advance class equity in leadership learning, development, and practice.

Romantic love is a phenomenon of immense interest to the general public as well as to scholars in several disciplines. It is known to be present in almost all human societies and has been studied from a number of perspectives. In this integrative review, we bring together what is known about romantic love using Tinbergen’s “four questions” framework originating from evolutionary biology. Under the first question, related to mechanisms, we show that it is caused by social, psychological mate choice, genetic, neural, and endocrine mechanisms. The mechanisms regulating psychopathology, cognitive biases, and animal models provide further insights into the mechanisms that regulate romantic love. Under the second question, related to development, we show that romantic love exists across the human lifespan in both sexes. We summarize what is known about its development and the internal and external factors that influence it. We consider cross-cultural perspectives and raise the issue of evolutionary mismatch. Under the third question, related to function, we discuss the fitness-relevant benefits and costs of romantic love with reference to mate choice, courtship, sex, and pair-bonding. We outline three possible selective pressures and contend that romantic love is a suite of adaptions and by-products. Under the fourth question, related to phylogeny, we summarize theories of romantic love’s evolutionary history and show that romantic love probably evolved in concert with pair-bonds in our recent ancestors. We describe the mammalian antecedents to romantic love and the contribution of genes and culture to the expression of modern romantic love. We advance four potential scenarios for the evolution of romantic love. We conclude by summarizing what Tinbergen’s four questions tell us, highlighting outstanding questions as avenues of potential future research, and suggesting a novel ethologically informed working definition to accommodate the multi-faceted understanding of romantic love advanced in this review.

Purpose of Review For the most part of human existence, individuals have been living a rural lifestyle in a rural setting. However, such sleep-conducive conditions have largely been transformed dramatically by urbanization within a relatively short span of time in recent history, and the resulting evolved mechanisms-environment mismatch is theorized to bring about an increased risk for insomnia symptoms. This brief review of the recent literature is designed to evaluate the veracity of this proposition. Recent Findings The majority of recent findings have suggested that most proposed evolutionarily mismatched urban factors are indeed related to the presence of insomnia symptoms. However, there is a general paucity of longitudinal evidence (and for some other factors, a lack of enough evidence of any kind). Summary Although there is a preponderance of recent findings indicating a link between evolutionarily mismatched urban phenomena and insomnia symptoms, more longitudinal data are needed before any causative conclusion can be drawn.

Mass media extensively inform societies about events threatening the global food supply (e.g., pandemics or Brexit). Consumers exposed to such communication may perceive food resources as becoming scarcer. In line with the evolutionary account, these perceptions can shift decision-making in domains such as food preferences or prosociality. However, the current literature has solely focused on actual and past food insecurity experiences threatening mostly low-income families, thus neglecting the future-oriented perceptions among the general population. This paper broadens the food insecurity research scope by developing a new construct—anticipated food scarcity (AFS)—which is defined as the perception that food resources are becoming less available (in the future). We have developed and psychometrically validated the 8-item Anticipated Food Scarcity Scale (AFSS) in eight studies (N = 1333). The 8-item AFSS is unidimensional and has good psychometric qualities. The scale is sensitive to food scarcity cues and, therefore, can be used in experimental research. Moreover, the scale's relatively narrow set of items makes it an exceptionally potent tool for use in online surveys, field settings, and lab studies. Taken together, the AFSS presents an alternative approach to food scarcity measurement in affluent societies and, consequently, can foster novel research on food waste, sustainability, prosocial behaviors, and other similar topic areas.

Humans have been using fire for hundreds of millennia, creating an ancestral expansion toward the nocturnal niche. The new adaptive challenges faced at night were recurrent enough to amplify existing psychological variation in our species. Night-time is dangerous and mysterious, so it selects for individuals with higher tendencies for paranoia, risk-taking, and sociability (because of security in numbers). During night-time, individuals are generally tired and show decreased self-control and increased impulsive behaviors. The lower visibility during night-time favors the partial concealment of identity and opens more opportunities for disinhibition of self-interested behaviors. Indeed, individuals with an evening-oriented chronotype are more paranoid, risk-taking, extraverted, impulsive, promiscuous, and have higher antisocial personality traits. However, under some circumstances, such as respiratory pandemics, the psychobehavioral traits favored by the nocturnal niche might be counter-productive, increasing contagion rates of a disease that can evade the behavioral immune system because its disease cues are often nonexistent or mild. The eveningness epidemiological liability hypothesis presented here suggests that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the evening-oriented psychobehavioral profile can have collectively harmful consequences: there is a clash of core tendencies between the nocturnal chronotype and the recent viral transmission-mitigating safety guidelines and rules. The pandemic safety protocols disrupt much normal social activity, particularly at night when making new social contacts is desired. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is contagious even in presymptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, which enables it to mostly evade our evolved contagious disease avoidance mechanisms. A growing body of research has indirectly shown that individual traits interfering with social distancing and anti-contagion measures are related to those of the nocturnal chronotype. Indeed, some of the social contexts that have been identified as superspreading events occur at night, such as in restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. Furthermore, nocturnal environmental conditions favor the survival of the SARS-CoV-2 virus much longer than daytime conditions. We compare the eveningness epidemiological liability hypothesis with other factors related to non-compliance with pandemic safety protocols, namely sex, age, and life history. Although there is not yet a direct link between the nocturnal chronotype and non-compliance with pandemic safety protocols, security measures and future empirical research should take this crucial evolutionary mismatch and adaptive metaproblem into account, and focus on how to avoid nocturnal individuals becoming superspreaders, offering secure alternatives for nocturnal social activities.

Following rapid environmental change, why do some animals thrive, while others struggle? We present an expanded, cue–response framework for predicting variation in behavioral responses to novel situations. We show how signal detection theory can be used when individuals have three behavioral options (approach, avoid, or ignore). Based on this theory, we outline predictions about which animals are more likely to make mistakes around novel conditions (i.e., fall for a trap or fail to use an undervalued resource) and the intensity of that mismatch (i.e., severe versus moderate). Explicitly considering three options provides a more holistic perspective and allows us to distinguish between severe and moderate traps, which could guide management strategies in a changing world.

The current research aimed to examine the reasons people are single, that is, not in an intimate relationship, across eight different countries—Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, India, Japan, and the UK. We asked a large cross-cultural sample of single participants ( N = 6,822) to rate 92 different possible reasons for being single. These reasons were classified into 12 factors, including one’s perceived inability to find the right partner, the perception that one is not good at flirting, and the desire to focus on one’s career. Significant sex and age effects were found for most factors. The extracted factors were further classified into three separate domains: Perceived poor capacity to attract mates, desiring the freedom of choice, and currently being in between relationships. The domain structure, the relative importance of each factor and domain, as well as sex and age effects were relatively consistent across countries. There were also important differences however, including the differing effect sizes of sex and age effects between countries.

Despite recent rapid advances in medical knowledge that have improved survival, conventional medical science's understanding of human health and disease relies heavily on people of European descent living in contemporary urban industrialized environments. Given that modern conditions in high-income countries differ widely in terms of lifestyle and exposures compared to those experienced by billions of people and all our ancestors over several hundred thousand years, this narrow approach to the human body and health is very limiting. We argue that preventing and treating chronic diseases of aging and other mismatch diseases will require both expanding study design to sample diverse populations and contexts, and fully incorporating evolutionary perspectives. In this paper, we first assess the extent of biased representation of industrialized populations in high profile, international biomedical journals, then compare patterns of morbidity and health across world regions. We also compare demographic rates and the force of selection between subsistence and industrialized populations to reflect on the changes in how selection operates on fertility and survivorship across the lifespan. We argue that, contrary to simplistic misguided solutions like the PaleoDiet, the hypothesis of evolutionary mismatch needs critical consideration of population history, evolutionary biology and evolved reaction norms to prevent and treat diseases. We highlight the critical value of broader sampling by considering the effects of three key exposures that have radically changed over the past century in many parts of the world-pathogen burden, reproductive effort and physical activity-on autoimmune, cardiometabolic and other mismatch diseases.

Human sleep is linked with nearly every aspect of our health and wellbeing. The question whether and to what extent human sleep is in a state of evolutionary mismatch has gained recent attention from both clinical and biological science researchers. Here, I use a comparative Bayesian approach aimed at testing the sleep epidemic hypothesis – the idea that, due to labor demands and technological disruption, sleep-wake activity is negatively impacted in post-industrial, economically developed societies. In contrast to the expectations of the sleep epidemic hypothesis, when compared to both large and small-scale subsistence societies that rely on agriculture for subsistence, foragers were the shortest, least efficient sleeping group. Coupled with previous work demonstrating that foragers have stronger circadian rhythms compared to those sleeping in buffered environments, I present the sleep-rhythm trade-off hypothesis – that sleep duration, quality, and synchrony is driven by trade-offs between sleep security and comfort versus sleep site environmental exposure. One strategy to improve wellbeing of modern sleepers would be to focus on behavioral interventions that reduce desynchronizations of circadian rhythms, while holding the positive ground of safe, secure, and regulated sleep environments typical of economically developed societies.

An evolutionary perspective provides a unifying explanation for the modifiable risk factors and lifestyle-based interventions for the leading causes of morbidity and mortality globally. Non-communicable diseases develop from an evolutionary mismatch between the prior environment and modern patterns of behavior; however, it is unclear whether an evolutionary mismatch narrative could promote positive behavior change in patients. We hypothesize that educating patients about evolutionary mismatch could augment efforts to improve healthful behavior. Specifically, explaining the ‘why’ behind what is being recommended could promote health literacy and adherence. Furthermore, we offer suggestions of how clinicians could educate patients about evolutionary mismatch for key-lifestyle factors, diet and physical activity, as well as several specific modern diseases. We also consider how to sidestep patients’ skepticism of evolutionary theory. Here, we lay the groundwork for research on how educating patients with an evolutionary mismatch narrative could impact health behaviors and improve outcomes.

Dezecache et al. argue that affiliation and contact-seeking are key responses to danger. These natural social tendencies are likely to hinder the observance of physical distancing during the current pandemic. We need internet access at this time, not only to promote freedom of expression, but also to promote public health.

This chapter aims to identify the impact of misbelief and heuristics on the engagement of giggers and customers with gigging organisations. This is of value due to the plethora of gigging opportunities and our lack of knowledge about how and why people choose to take up these opportunities. In addition, the gigs may frequently go unrecorded with payments made through systems such as PayPal which can allow international payments to be made without remittances. This chapter utilises some of the primary evolutionary theories to explore the efficacy and conflict in communications between gigging organisations, their customers and providers (giggers). Those selected are: misbelief in the conscious mind; and heuristics, such as the availability and confirmatory heuristics in the unconscious mind. Misbelief is addressed as a spandrel, and heuristics are discussed through the lens of fast and frugal approaches. Through a text analysis of 77 international gigging organisations, the messages conveyed are assessed against both evolutionary theory and prior research into the gig economy. The findings are that evolutionary psychology provides a useful framework for analysing these messages, as well as aiding understanding of gigging behaviours. HRM practitioners could make use of this form of analysis to support their design of interactions with giggers to ensure clarity on both sides.

This review tackles the concept of the evolutionary mismatch, in relation with the reduction of the prevalence of the so-called "dirty old friends". These formed the variegated community of parasites and microorganisms, either prokaryotic or eukaryotic, that, over long evolutionary times, co-evolved with humans and their ancestors, inhabiting their digestive tracts, and other body districts. This community of microbial symbionts and metazoan parasites is thought to have evolved a complex network of inter-independence with the host, in particular in relation with their immune stimulating capacity, and with the consequent adaptation of the host immune response to this chronic stimulation. Strictly related to this evolutionary mismatch, the hygiene hypothesis, proposed by David Strachan in 1989, foresees that the increase in the incidence of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders during the twentieth century has been caused by the reduced exposure to parasites and microorganisms, especially in industrialized countries. Among these pathologies, inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) occupy a prominent role. From these premises, this review summarizes current knowledge on how variations in the composition of the gut bacterial microbiota, as well as its interactions with fungal communities, influence the overall immune balance, favouring or counteracting gut inflammation in IBDs. Additionally, the effect of worm parasites, either directly on the immune balance, or indirectly, through the modulation of bacterial and fungal microbiota, will be addressed. Finally, we will review a series of studies related to the use of molecules derived from parasitic worms and fungi, which hold the potential to be developed as postbiotics for the treatment of IBDs.

To meet growing worldwide demands for animal products, animal production will need to increase in capacity and efficiency. Every opportunity to improve animal protein yield should be considered and explored. Developmental programming is one such opportunity that has not yet been thoroughly investigated in farm animal production. While developmental programming can be advantageous for the survival of the offspring, it is often described in conjunction with negative consequences. The known and potential causes and mechanisms are numerous, often stemming from some sort of stress experienced during the prenatal or early postnatal period. One stressor that is particularly concerning for farm animal production is heat stress. Heat stress is known to elicit adaptations associated with developmental programming in several species, but has not been investigated in dairy cattle until recently. Multiple studies have shown that heat stress experienced during the periconceptional period is generally associated with reduced milk production of resulting offspring. This could be the result of adaptations within the pre-ovulatory oocyte or early developing embryo. Interestingly, in a few select comparisons, periconceptional heat stress was associated with greater milk production. This was only observed when dairy cattle calved in the spring, and would therefore be reaching peak milk production in late spring or early summer (in heat stress). This is consistent with the match/mismatch theory associated with developmental programming, where matched prenatal/postnatal environments confer advantageous adaptations and mismatched prenatal/postnatal environments are generally detrimental to the offspring. While these studies are important additions to our growing knowledge of heat stress impacts on dairy cow production, the broader implication of developmental programming requires further investigation.

Efforts by the health and scientific community have focused on providing women with the means to control and regulate their fertility. We paid less attention to the reality of women achieving their reproductive revolution while burdened with a reproductive system that evolved to fit the life of our ancestor hunter-gatherers, where women were destined to spend most of their reproductive years pregnant or breastfeeding. This state of evolutionary mismatch impacts on women's health as the reproductive system continues incessantly to work, producing a monthly ovum and exposing the reproductive organs to cyclic hormonal stimulation without the benefit of pregnancy and breastfeeding. Women have to cope with a life of menstrual cycles, decreased fecundity owing to reproductive ageing, and a higher risk of reproductive cancers, in addition to uterine fibroids, and endometriosis. The burden will increase in low-resource countries as more women are adopting the new model of reproductive behavior, and resources to cope with the impact are limited. The reproductive revolution is benefiting not only women, but also their societies and the world at large. The health profession and the scientific community have an obligation to support women to cope with the impact of reproductive evolutionary mismatch.

International audience; The prevalence of osteoarthritis (OA) is rising for reasons that are not fully understood. In this Opinion article, we review the possibility that OA is an evolutionary mismatch disease, which is a disease more common today than in the past because genes inherited from previous generations are inadequately or imperfectly adapted to modern environmental conditions. We focus on four major environmental factors in OA pathogenesis that have become ubiquitous within the past half-century: obesity, metabolic syndrome, dietary changes and physical inactivity. Because a cure for OA does not yet exist, prevention strategies that target these modifiable environmental factors are needed to curb further increases in OA prevalence.

In evolutionary medicine, researchers characterize some outcomes as evolutionary mismatch. Mismatch problems arise as the result of organisms living in environments to which they are poorly adapted, typically as the result of some rapid environmental change. Depression, anxiety, obesity, myopia, insomnia, breast cancer, dental problems, and numerous other negative health outcomes have all been characterized as mismatch problems. The exact nature of evolutionary mismatch itself is unclear, however. This leads to a lack of clarity about the sorts of problems that evolutionary mismatch can actually explain. Resolving this challenge is important not only for the evolutionary health literature, but also because the notion of evolutionary mismatch involves central concepts in evolutionary biology: fitness, evolution in changing environments, and so forth. In this paper, I examine two characterizations of mismatch currently in the literature. I propose that we conceptualize mismatch as a relation between an optimal environment and an actual environment. Given an organism and its particular physiology, the optimal environment is the environment in which the organism’s fitness is maximized: in other words, the optimal environment is that in which the organism’s fitness is as high as it can possibly be. The actual environment is the environment in which the organism actually finds itself. To the extent that there is a discordance between the organism’s actual and optimal environments, there is an evolutionary mismatch. In the paper, I show that this account of mismatch gives us the right result when other accounts fail, and provides useful targets for investigation.

Many people struggle to control their food intake and bodyweight. This is often interpreted as evidence that humans are generally predisposed to consume food when it is available, because adiposity offered insurance against the threat of starvation in our ancestral environment. In this paper we suggest that modern humans have actually inherited a far broader range of foraging skills that continue to influence our dietary behaviour. To evaluate this idea, we identify three challenges that would need to be addressed to achieve efficient foraging; (1) monitoring the ‘procurement cost’ of foods, (2) determining the energy content of foods, and (3) proactively adapting to perceived food insecurity. In each case, we review evidence drawn from controlled and observational studies of contemporary humans and conclude that psychological mechanisms that address these challenges are conserved. For contemporary humans who live in fast-paced obesogenic environments, this foraging ‘toolkit’ no longer serves the same function to which it was adapted, and in many cases, this leads to an increase in food intake. Understanding these forms of ‘evolutionary mismatch’ is important because it can provide a stronger theoretical basis for informed dietary interventions that leverage fundamental foraging goals rather than work against them.

Lay Summary: In industrialized societies some babies develop flattening of the back part of their head. It is thought that this comes from sleeping supine, which has been shown to be the safest option for babies. However, this explanation cannot be correct from an evolutionary standpoint: why should safe sleep come at the cost of a misshaped head? Babies in industrialized societies are generally healthy. The medical problems they may be afflicted with are usually well understood. Deformational plagiocephaly presents a notable exception. In many industrialized countries, one in six babies shows posterior flattening of the skull—a feature noteworthy from an evolutionary perspective as the well rounded cranium is part of the ‘Kindchenschema’ evolved to secure care for the infant. It is commonly held that the deformation of the posterior cranium occurs as a consequence of the supine sleep position, now advocated as the safest sleep position for babies by medical experts. This explanation, however, does not fare well in the light of evolutionary theory: why should safe sleep come at the cost of a social handicap? Here, we present an alternative hypothesis that is grounded on evolutionary mismatch theory and exemplifies how evolutionary reasoning can help clarify medical conditions relevant to today’s public health.