Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam.
Perspect Psychol Sci. 2022 Nov;17(6):1737-1745. doi: 10.1177/17456916221078318. Epub 2022 Jul 14.
Evolutionary psychology aims to understand the origins of the human mind, including disease. Several theories about the origins of disease have been proposed. One concerns a developmental mismatch-a mismatch might occur at the individual level between the environment experienced during childhood and the environment the adult finds herself in, possibly resulting in disease. A second theory concerns the idea of an evolutionary mismatch-humans are adapted to ancestral conditions so they might now experience a mismatch with their modern environment, possibly resulting in disease. A third theory-differential susceptibility-outlines how genetic and epigenetic differences influence the extent to which humans are susceptible to rearing, including positive and negative experiences. Because of these differences, some individuals are more prone to develop disease than others. We review empirical studies that substantiate these theories and argue that an overarching theory that integrates these three lines into one provides a more accurate understanding of disease from an evolutionary perspective.
进化心理学旨在理解人类思维的起源，包括疾病。已经提出了几种关于疾病起源的理论。一种涉及发展不匹配——在个体层面上，儿童时期经历的环境与成年后所处的环境之间可能存在不匹配，从而导致疾病。第二种理论涉及进化不匹配的概念——人类适应了祖先的条件，因此他们现在可能与现代环境不匹配，从而导致疾病。第三种理论——差异易感性——阐述了遗传和表观遗传差异如何影响人类对养育的易感性，包括积极和消极的经验。由于这些差异，一些人比其他人更容易患上疾病。我们回顾了证实这些理论的实证研究，并认为，将这三种理论整合为一体的综合理论，从进化的角度提供了对疾病更准确的理解。
