The social competition hypothesis of depression.
01 Mar 1994-British Journal of Psychiatry (Royal College of Psychiatrists)-Vol. 164, Iss: 3, pp 309-315
TL;DR: It is postulated that the depressive state evolved in relation to social competition, as an unconscious, involuntary losing strategy, enabling the individual to accept defeat in ritual agonistic encounters and to accommodate to what would otherwise be unacceptably low social rank.
Abstract: Depressive personality and depressive illness are examined from an evolutionary adaptationist standpoint. It is postulated that the depressive state evolved in relation to social competition, as an unconscious, involuntary losing strategy, enabling the individual to accept defeat in ritual agonistic encounters and to accommodate to what would otherwise be unacceptably low social rank.
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TL;DR: An unusual data set on Air Force veterans enables this work to compare the basal and reciprocal models as explanations for the relationship between T and divorce, and discusses sociological implications of these models.
Abstract: In men, high levels of endogenous testosterone (T) seem to encourage behavior intended to dominate - to enhance one's status over - other people. Sometimes dominant behavior is aggressive, its apparent intent being to inflict harm on another person, but often dominance is expressed nonaggressively. Sometimes dominant behavior takes the form of antisocial behavior, including rebellion against authority and law breaking. Measurement of T at a single point in time, presumably indicative of a man's basal T level, predicts many of these dominant or antisocial behaviors. T not only affects behavior but also responds to it. The act of competing for dominant status affects male T levels in two ways. First, T rises in the face of a challenge, as if it were an anticipatory response to impending competition. Second, after the competition, T rises in winners and declines in losers. Thus, there is a reciprocity between T and dominance behavior, each affecting the other. We contrast a reciprocal model, in which T level is variable, acting as both a cause and effect of behavior, with a basal model, in which T level is assumed to be a persistent trait that influences behavior. An unusual data set on Air Force veterans, in which data were collected four times over a decade, enables us to compare the basal and reciprocal models as explanations for the relationship between T and divorce. We discuss sociological implications of these models.
1,250 citations
TL;DR: A conceptual framework is presented showing that Hawks, due to inefficient management of mediators of allostasis, are more likely to be violent, to develop impulse control disorders, hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, sudden death, atypical depression, chronic fatigue states and inflammation.
1,034 citations
Cites background from "The social competition hypothesis o..."
...[280] Price J, Sloman L, Gardner R, Gilbert R, Rohde P....
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...A confrontation with a dominant is wasted effort that is likely to result in injury [279,280]....
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TL;DR: The habenula, a highly conserved structure in the brain, provides a fundamental mechanism for both survival and decision-making through its effects on neuromodulator systems, in particular the dopamine and serotonin systems.
Abstract: Surviving in a world with hidden rewards and dangers requires choosing the appropriate behaviours. Recent discoveries indicate that the habenula plays a prominent part in such behavioural choice through its effects on neuromodulator systems, in particular the dopamine and serotonin systems. By inhibiting dopamine-releasing neurons, habenula activation leads to the suppression of motor behaviour when an animal fails to obtain a reward or anticipates an aversive outcome. Moreover, the habenula is involved in behavioural responses to pain, stress, anxiety, sleep and reward, and its dysfunction is associated with depression, schizophrenia and drug-induced psychosis. As a highly conserved structure in the brain, the habenula provides a fundamental mechanism for both survival and decision-making.
805 citations
TL;DR: Key recent developments in theoretical, clinical, and empirical psychological science about the emergence of suicidal thoughts and behaviours are described, and the central importance of psychological factors are emphasised.
799 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the role of defeat and entrapment within the social rank theory of depression was discussed, which suggests that subordinates and those who have lost status are at greater risk of pathology than winners and those of higher status.
Abstract: Background. The social rank theory of psychopathology
suggests that with the evolution of social hierarchies various psychobiological mechanisms became attuned to the success or failure in conflict situations. Specifically, subordinates and those who have lost status are
at greater risk of pathology than winners and those of higher status. In this theory concepts of defeat and entrapment are seen to be of special relevance to the study of depression. We outline the role of defeat and entrapment within the social rank theory of depression. Methods. New self-report measures of entrapment and defeat
were developed and used to test predictions of the social rank theory of depression. Both a sample of students and depressed patients were assessed with these new scales and other social rank measures (e.g.
social comparison and submissive behaviour). Results. The entrapment and defeat measures were found to have good psychometric properties and significantly correlated with depression. They were also strongly associated
with other rank variables. Defeat maintained a strong association with depression even
after controlling for hopelessness ( r =0·62), whereas the relationship between
hopelessness and depression was substantially reduced when controlling for defeat. Entrapment and defeat added substantially to the explained variance of depression after controlling for the other social
rank variables. Conclusions. Defeat and entrapment appear to be promising variables for the study of depression. These variables may also help to develop linkages between human and animal
models of psychopathology.
725 citations
Cites background from "The social competition hypothesis o..."
...The social rank theory always held the loss of conflicts, failures and defeats, to be central to depression (Price, 1992; Price et al. 1994)....
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...Although the concepts of entrapment and defeat are not new (Baumeister, 1990) and have been linked to both animal and human models of psychopathology for some time (Price, 1972; Henry, 1982; Gilbert, 1989, 1992; Dixon et al. 1989; Price et al. 1994), Brown et al....
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...Price (1972) was one of the first to suggest that depression evolved in the context of intrasexual selection with the function of limiting fighting (Price & Sloman, 1987; Gilbert, 1992; Price et al. 1994)....
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...This scale was developed to measure depressive symptomatology in non-psychiatric populations (Radloff, 1977). It is a 20-item scale that measures a range of symptoms (such as depressed mood, feelings of guilt, sleep disturbance). Respondents indicate on a 4-point scale (0–3) how often they have had the symptom in the past week. Scores range from 0 to 60, with higher scores indicating greater depressive symptoms. Radloff (1977) found internal consistency coefficients of greater than 0±84....
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References
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Book•
24 Feb 1871
TL;DR: In this paper, secondary sexual characters of fishes, amphibians and reptiles are presented. But the authors focus on the secondary sexual characteristics of fishes and amphibians rather than the primary sexual characters.
Abstract: Part II. Sexual Selection (continued): 12. Secondary sexual characters of fishes, amphibians and reptiles 13. Secondary sexual characters of birds 14. Birds (continued) 15. Birds (continued) 16. Birds (concluded) 17. Secondary sexual characters of mammals 18. Secondary sexual characters of mammals (continued) 19. Secondary sexual characters of man 20. Secondary sexual characters of man (continued) 21. General summary and conclusion Index.
11,302 citations
Book•
01 Dec 1982TL;DR: A modification of the theory of games, a branch of mathematics first formulated by Von Neumann and Morgenstern in 1944 for the analysis of human conflicts, was proposed in this paper.
Abstract: I want in this article to trace the history of an idea. It is beginning to become clear that a range of problems in evolution theory can most appropriately be attacked by a modification of the theory of games, a branch of mathematics first formulated by Von Neumann and Morgenstern in 1944 for the analysis of human conflicts. The problems are diverse and include not only the behaviour of animals in contest situations but also some problems in the evolution of genetic mechanisms and in the evolution of ecosystems. It is not, however, sufficient to take over the theory as it has been developed in sociology and apply it to evolution. In sociology, and in economics, it is supposed that each contestant works out by reasoning the best strategy to adopt, assuming that his opponents are equally guided by reason. This leads to the concept of a ‘minimax’ strategy, in which a contestant behaves in such a way as to minimise his losses on the assumption that his opponent behaves so as to maximise them. Clearly, this would not be a valid approach to animal conflicts. A new concept has to be introduced, the concept of an ‘evolutionary stable strategy’.
8,276 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1972
TL;DR: Gregory Bateson was a philosopher, anthropologist, photographer, naturalist, and poet, as well as the husband and collaborator of Margaret Mead as discussed by the authors, and his major work will continue to delight and inform generations of readers.
Abstract: Gregory Bateson was a philosopher, anthropologist, photographer, naturalist, and poet, as well as the husband and collaborator of Margaret Mead. With a new foreword by his daughter Mary Katherine Bateson, this classic anthology of his major work will continue to delight and inform generations of readers. "This collection amounts to a retrospective exhibition of a working life...Bateson has come to this position during a career that carried him not only into anthropology, for which he was first trained, but into psychiatry, genetics, and communication theory...He ...examines the nature of the mind, seeing it not as a nebulous something, somehow lodged somewhere in the body of each man, but as a network of interactions relating the individual with his society and his species and with the universe at large."--D. W. Harding, New York Review of Books "[Bateson's] view of the world, of science, of culture, and of man is vast and challenging. His efforts at synthesis are tantalizingly and cryptically suggestive...This is a book we should all read and ponder."--Roger Keesing, American Anthropologist Gregory Bateson (1904-1980) was the author of Naven and Mind and Nature.
7,679 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Part I. Sexual Selection (continued): Secondary sexual characters of fishes, amphibians and reptiles, and secondarySexual characters of birds.
6,894 citations