Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives in Marketing Practices1
Stephen M. Colarelli
Joseph R. Dettmann
Central Michigan University
RUNNING HEAD: Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
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Portions of this paper are drawn from Colarelli (2003) and Colarelli, Alampay, and Canali (2002a).
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Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
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Abstract
Firms spend considerable sums of money on marketing, and they continue to do
so because marketing works. However, marketing can only work if marketers have a
reasonably accurate view of human nature. We argue that many consumer products and
advertisements reflect an implicit view of human nature that is compatible with the tenets
of evolutionary psychology. Implicit theories of human nature that are out of synch with
reality sell few products. We provide an overview of the evolutionary perspective and
the examine connections between marketing practices and evolved adaptations, including
kin selection, prestige seeking, preferences for salt, sweets, and fat, and savanna-like
landscapes. We also examine adaptations that differ by gender and how they are
mirrored in marketing. Finally, we discuss how evolutionary ideas about variation are
reflected in marketing practices.
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Although the relationship between academic psychology and marketing has a long
and mutually beneficial history (DiClemente & Hantula, 2000), the practice of marketing
– particularly advertising and product development – suggests a curious paradox. For
most of the 20th century an evolutionary perspective was almost absent in academic
psychology. Yet during the same period, many consumer products and appeals used in
advertising reflected an implicit view of human nature s similar to that articulated by
evolutionary psychology, which emerged only recently. The purpose of this article is to
draw attention to connections between an evolutionary perspective and marketing
practices. We hope that this will pique scholars’ and professionals’ interest in
evolutionary perspectives, encourage more formal applications of an evolutionary
perspective in marketing, and generate a greater interplay between marketing and an
evolutionary-oriented psychology. Finally, we hope that drawing attention to these
connections may stimulate evolutionary psychologists to look more closely at marketing
practices as a valuable source of data.
Unlike Saad and Gill (2000) – who examined explanatory paradigms used in the
marketing literature and argued that few marketing scholars use an evolutionary
psychological framework – we are concerned with implicit views of human nature, how
they mirror evolutionary psychological thinking, and how marketing practices reflect
these views. We begin by providing a brief overview of the evolutionary perspective.
We then examine connections between marketing practices and evolved human
adaptations, such as prestige seeking and preferences for sweets, fat, and salt. Finally, we
discuss how some marketing practices reflect evolutionary ideas about variation.
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An Evolutionary Perspective
Evolutionary theory views the development of biological and social systems as
occurring through a process of variation, selection, and retention—occurring through a
slow process of small incremental improvements, rather than through a priori design
(Dennett, 1995). It is primarily concerned with "why" and "function" questions. Why do
humans prefer foods that are salty, sweet, and have a high fat content? What are the
possible adaptive functions of those preferences? The primary processes in biological
and social evolution are natural selection and sexual selection. Darwin’s three postulates,
which we modified slightly so that they are applicable to both biological and cultural
evolution, express the basic processes of natural selection. The first postulate is that
without constraints, populations can expand indefinitely; however, because resources are
limited, the capacity of an environment to support any population is limited. The second
is that the units in a population, such as organisms or social structures, vary; that is, they
differ in slight ways from one another. These variations affect the ability of units to
survive and replicate. The third postulate is that many, but not all, variations are
transmitted from generation to generation. Variations that produce successful
consequences, regardless of initial intentions, are usually retained.
Darwin also proposed a theory of sexual selection, although refinements and
implications were not developed until the latter half of the twentieth century (Cronin,
1991). The difference between natural and sexual selection is the reason for the
evolution of a trait. With natural selection, traits evolve because they are directly related
to survival and reproduction—the osprey’s talons, the rabbit’s running speed, nurturing
behaviors that female mammals exhibit towards their young. With sexual selection, the
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criteria for the evolution of a trait is attractiveness to the opposite sex (Cronin, 1991). A
classic example is the peacock’s tail. It does not directly help the peacock survive and
reproduce; in fact, it is an encumbrance when attempting to escape from predators.
However, the peacock’s tail is attractive to peahens, who are more likely to mate with
peacocks with large colorful tails than those with smaller, drab tails. Sexual selection can
also occur in social systems, where the criterion for replication of a social process or
artifact is its capacity to attract members of the opposite sex (Miller, 2000). Sexually
selected social practices might include displays of musical talent, athletic prowess,
poetry, repartee, and the latest sartorial fashions.
The evolutionary perspective in the social sciences contains two broad subperspectives: evolutionary psychology and socio-cultural evolution.
Evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology is a synthesis of modern
psychology and evolutionary biology. It uses the logic of natural selection to examine
human mental processes and behavior. Two assumptions of evolutionary psychology are:
(1) that the human mind is modular, consisting of numerous psychological mechanisms
and (2) that these mechanisms are adaptations. An adaptation is any feature of an
organism that has been important to increasing inclusive fitness, that is, the propagation
of genes into future generations, either directly by mating and caring for offspring or
indirectly by helping kin survive and reproduce (Williams, 1966, 1996). Adaptations
serve a purpose – that is, a function – reflected in special design (Williams, 1966). The
function of wings on most birds is flight. The function of the eye is to enable an
organism to see. The distinguishing features of special design are: functionality,
reliability, complexity, and good design. Psychological mechanisms are heritable,
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content-specific psychological processes that are activated in specific contexts associated
with solving adaptive problems—such as identifying and competing for fertile mates.
They are Darwinian algorithms that allow the mind to process information efficiently in
contexts where doing so has paid off in the currency of survival and reproduction
(Gigerenzer and others, 1999).
Evolutionary psychology is relatively new field; not surprisingly, there is a
healthy debate about the nature and number of psychological mechanisms. It is not
uncommon to see multiple interpretations of psychological studies with an evolutionary
perspective (de Waal, 2002). However, these debates are having the salutary effects of
improving theory and evidentiary standards for identifying psychological mechanisms
(Andrews, Gangestad, & Matthews, in press; de Waal, 2002). Keeping these caveats in
mind, Table 1 provides a provisional list of psychological mechanisms.
_____________________
Insert Table 1 About here
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The mind of present-day humans was shaped during 1.2 million years of the
Pleistocene era, what evolutionary psychologists refer to as the environment of
evolutionary adaptation (EEA). It is, therefore, not necessarily adapted to industrial and
post-industrial society. Our current mental mechanisms evolved over hundreds
thousands of years, and during most of that time humans lived in small hunter-gatherer
bands on the African savanna. In addition, changes in our mental mechanisms occur
much slower than changes in culture. Behavioral patterns that are deeply rooted in
evolutionary history cannot be quickly altered by cultural or technological change.
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Although psychological mechanisms probably influence a range of human behavior,
people are not necessarily conscious them.
Common misconceptions about evolutionary psychology are that it implies that
behavior is “genetically programmed” and that it downplays the role of learning. To the
contrary, a fundamental premise of evolutionary psychology is the interaction between
human nature and the environment. For example, all normally developing humans
acquire language. The developmental regularities of language acquisition across cultures
are evidence that language is an instinct in humans (Pinker, & Bloom 1992). However,
the content of language – whether a person speaks French or English – is learned and is a
product of culture. Evolution has shaped the ease with which behaviors are learned, the
parameters of learning, and the contexts in which they are most readily acquired (Geary,
1995). Similarly, many adaptations are facultative—the phenotype varies depending on
environmental conditions to which the organism is exposed (Gaulin & McBurney, 2001).
Socio-Cultural Evolution. Socio-cultural evolution is a process whereby social
systems and social practices develop from variations in form and trial and error, rather
than strictly through deliberate design (Campbell, 1975; Colarelli, 1998). Acquired
characteristics – such as behaviors and values – are socially selected and retained (Boyd
& Richerson, 1985; Campbell, 1975). Variations can arise through pure chance,
improbable combinations, imperfect imitation, and errors; but they can also occur
through guided evolution, where analysis plays an important role (Boyd & Richerson,
1985). Through cultural selection mechanisms (e.g., imitation) social systems select
some variations and they usually retain those that are functional (Colarelli, 1998). The
efficiency of a new social practice does not ensure that social systems will select it and
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use it. Circumstances must favor its inclusion into a pool of variations, selection
mechanisms must capitalize on it, and conditions must favor its retention. Social units
can “learn” to use a practice that is invalid for its intended purpose because it produces
other functional consequences or is compatible with evolved human preferences.
The evolution of social practices is often a complex interaction of psychological
mechanisms, ecological conditions, and cultural transmission. An over-simplified model
might look like this: psychological mechanisms influence human decision rules and
preferences these in turn influence choices and the development of artifacts and
traditions the effects of traditions and artifacts on survival and reproduction influence
the rate of cultural transmission of artifacts and traditions. For example, like many other
animals, humans forage for food and other resources. Given the regularities in foraging
behavior among hunter-gatherers, it is a reasonably hypothesis that psychological
mechanisms evolved in humans that guide foraging behavior (Rajala & Hantula, 2000;
Winterhalder & Smith, 1981). As the consumer society developed, new venues emerged
for foraging—shopping areas in cities, malls, and web pages. To some extent, ancient
psychological mechanisms that guided the foraging behavior of our ancestors also
influenced the shape of new foraging ecologies. Over time, those ecologies that
produced beneficial consequences were more likely to be replicated. This brief example
suggests how the development of cultural artifacts (e.g., shopping centers) and cultural
practices (shopping) emerged from a complex interaction of psychological mechanisms,
ecological conditions, culture, and cultural transmission.
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Intuitive Evolutionary Thinking in Marketing
Companies spend considerable sums of money on marketing—$320 billion
globally in 2000 (Kloss, 2001). They do so because marketing works. Developing new
products that meet consumers’ needs can substantially improve a firm’s fortunes.
Effective advertising can make the difference between whether consumers ignore a
product or buy it. However, for marketing to work, marketers must base their activities
on a reasonably accurate view of human nature. What model might they be using? The
content of many advertisements and the nature of many consumer products suggest to us
that marketing practitioners are using a model of human nature that is implicitly based on
evolutionary psychology.
With the exception of some sex differences, humans are fundamentally alike in
their basic psychological mechanisms. Natural selection sculpted a universal human
nature consisting of a multitude of adaptations that were useful for survival and
reproduction under the social and ecological conditions found during the EEA. Since
culture changes much more rapidly than biology, humans continue to exhibit preferences
and responses based on ancient mechanisms. Consumption is a bio-social activity
(Sherry, 1991). Psychological mechanisms have played an important role in the
development of preferences for many cultural products and practices, including consumer
products and marketing practices (Burnham & Phelan, 2000). As the consumer culture
emerged marketers tapped into psychological mechanisms in developing consumer
products. An advertisement that appeals to an evolved preference is more likely to
produce effective consequences and be adopted. For example an ad appealing to young
males that features young and attractive females is more likely to get their attention and
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develop a positive emotion towards the product than, say, an ad featuring older, matronly
women. Consumer products and advertisements are likely to tap into evolved
psychological mechanisms when they provide information that is similar to that which
was provided in the original contexts of the adaptive problems that gave rise to the
evolution of a particular psychological mechanism. Interestingly, John B. Watson was
one of the first psychologists to recognize the importance of emotional appeals in
advertising, and he used them in his work in advertising at the J. Walter Thompson
agency (Buckley, 1982). This is not to say that all advertisers consciously engineered
advertisements based on evolutionary principles; rather, many advertising appeals
emerged from an interaction of psychological mechanisms, ecological conditions,
cultural factors, and consequences.
We begin by looking at how advertising and product development map onto
psychological mechanisms. We dichotomize these mechanisms into those that are
common among humans and those that are characteristic of males or females. Whenever
possible, we bring three converging sources of evidence: contemporaneous, historical,
and cross-cultural. If a practice is evident over time and across cultures, then it is more
likely that the practice is based on an evolved psychological mechanism than on an
idiosyncratic feature of a culture or history. After drawing connections between
marketing practices and psychological mechanisms, we look at how marketing practices
reflect the evolutionary principle of variation.
Some Common Adaptations
Some psychological mechanisms, such as the preferences for savanna-like
landscapes or a fear of snakes, are less adaptive to people living in post-industrial
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consumer societies than to hunters and gatherers during the EEA. Others, such as kinbased altruism and status seeking, continue to be adaptive. Still others, such as cravings
for fats and sweets, are mismatched to the modern environment because they lead to
over-consumption and attendant health problems in resource-rich modern environments.
Yet most of our psychological mechanisms elicit strong responses, and these in turn
influence our susceptibility to consumer products and advertising.
Kin selection. One of the most powerful psychological mechanisms is kinselection (Hamilton, 1964). Kin selection is the tendency to behave altruistically to kin,
and increasingly so as relatedness increases. Among group-living species, kin selection
is a fact of life. The biological puzzle of altruism was solved by William D. Hamilton, in
what later become known as Hamilton’s Rule: natural selection will favor individuals
who incur costs to help another when it is in their genetic self-interest. For example,
natural selection will favor individuals to be twice as altruistic to someone who shares
50% of their genes (say, a child or a sibling) than to someone who shares 12.5% of their
genes (a first cousin). Numerous studies have found that genetic relatedness is correlated
with altruistic behavior. People are more likely to bequeath their estates to kin than nonkin (Smith, Kish, & Crawford, 1987). Parents typically invest more resources – such as
food and health care expenses – in genetic offspring than step, adopted, or foster children
(Case, Lin, & McLanahan,1999, 2000; Case & Paxton, 2001). Kin selection probably
influences the purchase of many products that people use to help relatives. These might
include toys, child safety products, insurance products, and financial planning services.
Life insurance is an example par excellence of kin selection. The primary
purpose of life insurance is to financially assist the insured person’s designated
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beneficiaries, who are typically spouses, offspring, and other kin. Life insurance,
particularly term life insurance, provides no tangible benefit to the insured person during
her lifetime. Life insurance emerged as a viable consumer product concomitantly with
modernization—as extended families diminished, and as people became increasingly
dependent on money and consumer products for survival. In pre-modern and nonindustrialized countries, if an adult with children died prematurely, other family members
were expected to take care of the surviving spouse and children. For example, in some
traditional societies it is customary that an unmarried brother marry his deceased
brother’s widow (Wilson, 1950/1964). Life insurance is relatively unknown in traditional
societies and in developing countries where extended families and limited geographical
mobility are the norm. Ninety-six percent of all the life insurance sold in 1997 was sold
in Europe, North America, and Asia, while four percent of world sales were in Latin
America, Africa, and Oceania (American Council of Life Insurance, 1999).
Life insurers begin targeting consumers when they have their first baby (Grimm,
2002), and advertising copy for life insurance – directed at a wide variety of ethnic
groups – typically has a strong emphasis on family and providing for one’s offspring
(Barney, 2002; Marketing News, 1986). In 1997, 87% of full-time employees in medium
and large private firms in the US received life insurance as part of their benefits package
(US Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1997); in 1998 married couples with
children were almost twice as likely to own life insurance as people who were unmarried
(LIMRA, 2000).
The connection between life insurance and kin selection is apparent, too, in new
in how changing demographics drive new approaches to selling life insurance. As
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women become co-breadwinners or sole providers for their offspring, insurance
marketers increasingly target women (Myers, 1996).
Saving and paying for children’s college expenses is another prominent area of
consumer behavior related to kin-selection. In countries such as the United States parents
contribute substantially to children’s college expenses. For most intact families with
children under 18, saving for their children’s college education is their most important
savings goal (DeVaney & Chien, 2002). Parents, along with some help from the students
themselves, contribute about half of the cost of a child’s college education (Gladieux &
Hauptman, 1995). Over a typical four-year stint in college, parents in the US contribute
about $21,800 for a child attending a public university and $47,300 for a child attending a
private university (Vail, 2002). The financial planning and mutual fund industry offers a
variety of products for parents who plan on helping pay for their children’s expenses.
Many of these are associated with Section 529 of the Internal Revenue code, which
provides parents a tax break for college savings. All 50 states have some sort of 529 plan
(either a prepaid type plan or a savings plan), and parents and relatives have already
saved $21 billion in such plans (Feigenbaum, 2002; Collegesavings.org, 2002).
Advertising copy for college savings plans acknowledges the power of kin selection by
appealing to parents’ or grandparents’ desires to help with their children’s education. For
example, the ad copy for the Michigan Educational Savings Program emphasizes that
“parents, grandparents, [and] relatives…may open an account and contribute…on behalf
of a beneficiary” (MESP, 2002, p. 1; emphasis added).
Consistent with a kin-selection hypothesis, families with two genetic parents
contribute more towards college expenses of their offspring than do families with step
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children. Zvoch (1999) found that step parents began financial planning for college later,
set less money aside for college, and spent less per year on educational expenses than two
genetic parents. Anderson, Kaplan, and Lancaster (1999) found that compared to
stepchildren, genetic offspring of two married parents were more likely to attend college,
more likely to receive money for college, and more likely to receive more money.
Genetic children of current mates received an average of $4,293, while step children of
current mates received an average of $1,828 (in one year in 1990 dollars). Xhosa men in
South Africa also contribute significantly more money to their genetic children’s
educational expenses than they do towards their stepchildren’s educational expenses
(Anderson, Kaplan, Lam, & Lancaster, 1999). The educational attainment of genetic
offspring is also higher than step, foster, or adopted children (Case, Lin, & McLanahan,
2001).
Status and prestige. Status and prestige have nearly universal appeal among
humans. Status is associated with rank in a hierarchy and greater resource entitlement,
which in turn is associated with greater survival and reproductive advantages (Betzig,
1986; Perusse, 1993). Status can be attained by control of economic resources, political
or military power, legitimate authority, and by having valued skill and knowledge.
Prestige is a particular type of status—the quality of having attained status by skill in a
particular domain (Barkow, 1989; Henrich & Gil-White, 2001; Treiman, 1977).
Prestigious individuals, therefore, are regarded as possessing socially useful skills and
knowledge; they receive deference and entitlements accordingly. Prestige is valued
because it is associated with skills that allow people (both males and females) to compete
for resource acquisition, which it turn enhances their ability to reproduce and care for
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offspring (Barkow, 1989). On the other hand, people can attain high status but have
relatively low prestige. In this section we will focus on the connection between prestige
and marketing because prestige is valued and sought by both males and females.
Because status – that is, entitlement to reward based on rank in a hierarchy – is more
actively pursued by males, we examine the connection between status and marketing in a
later section where we look at adaptive differences between males and females.
People acquire skills and knowledge in a variety of ways – books, lectures,
seminars, training programs – but the oldest method has been that of social learning, by
imitating skilled individuals. Long before widespread literacy and commercial
vocational training, people acquired skills by observing and working with master
practitioners (Colarelli, 2003). Even today, one of the most effective methods of
acquiring a skill is for an individual to become a member of a community of practice in
which he or she can observe and work with more skilled individuals (Colarelli, 2003). In
addition to imitating skills, people typically imitate other behaviors of prestigious
individuals (Henrich & Gil-White, 2001). The psychological mechanism that predisposes
people to imitate high-prestige individuals evolved because it helped to solve the adaptive
problem of efficiently identifying and gaining useful skills, values, and beliefs (Henrich
& Gil-White, 2001). Because it may not always be possible to identify precisely which
behaviors contribute to skill acquisition and prestige, it may have been adaptive to err on
the side of excess and copy as many behaviors as possible of prestigious individuals.
Ownership and displays of prestigious consumer goods (i.e., status symbols) are,
to some extent, cultural equivalents of the physical traits that biologists call “honest
signals.” Honest signals are traits that are difficult to fake. Conspecifics (i.e., members
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of the same species) use honest signals as evidence of a potential mate’s health,
robustness, and genetic quality (Zahavi, 1975). The male lion’s mane, for example, is
associated with indicators of health, such as lower parasite counts; female lions
preferentially mate with males with full, lustrous manes (Withgott, 2002). Thus, the
display of prestigious consumer goods can be a type of honest signal of mate value. A
man who wears expensive clothes is signaling to potential mates (and male rivals) about
his resources and skills at acquiring wealth; such men are generally perceived as more
attractive by females (Ellis, 1992). Women displaying prestigious consumer goods are
also sending signals about their resources and expectations for resources. Consumer
goods, however, can be fallible honest signals. A person of reasonably modest means
with access to credit can give the impression of having more status than he actually has
by going into debt or spending all of his discretionary money on status symbols.
The appeal of prestige is widely used in marketing. Mainstays are products that
enhance skills. Self-help books on everything from cooking to romance to management
are staples in the marketplace. More than 1,700 business titles were published in 1996
alone (Chadderdon, 1998). Approximately 102 million cooking and crafts books were
sold in the United States, accounting for over 10 percent of national book sales
(American Booksellers Association, 2002). Books in the “psychology” and “recovery”
categories (e.g., family life, love, sex, marriage, diet, health, exercise, and personal
grooming) accounted for 6.3 percent of US book sales in 1998.
Normally one achieves prestige or status through years of hard work. Marketers,
however, promote products to create the illusion that consumers can bypass time and
effort. They do this with status symbols—artifacts that signal an individual’s prestige or
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status. Marketers use existing status symbols as well as cultivate new ones.
Advertisements co-opt the prestige-imitating mechanism by associating a product with
prestige—by portraying a functional relationship between a product and a skill, by
associating a product with prestige without a functional relationship, or by cultivating an
image that the product is expensive.
Portraying a functional relationship involves associating the product with
skillfulness in a particular domain. A classic strategy is to portray celebrities, known for
a particular skill, using the product. IBM has an advertising campaign that portrays
celebrity intellectuals using IBM’s laptop computers (Morgan, 2002). Nike ads show
celebrity athletes wearing Nike shoes and clothing. The implicit message is that if the
consumer uses the product she can be more skillful or at least create a first-impression
that she is skillful in a particular domain. Uniliver has successfully used the celebrityassociation strategy for Lux soap for years and in many cultures. Among the female
celebrities that have appeared in ads for Lux are Joan Collins, Jane Fonda, Audrey
Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, and Raquel Welch (Rijkens, 1992). Lux is
Unilever’s premier international brand, and it is a world leader in sales.
The imitation mechanism can also be co-oped by associating a product with a
prestigious person even though there is no functional relationship between the product
and a skill. Associating a prestigious person with a product creates the illusion that the
product is prestigious. This can be seen in celebrity endorsement of products unrelated to
the celebrity’s skill, such as a famous opera singer wearing a Rolex watch. Industry
observers attribute the surge in demand for premium cigars to the advertising strategy of
associating cigar smoking with an upscale lifestyle (Frank, 1999). “The link is promoted
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by magazines like Cigar Aficionado, whose covers portray cigar-smoking celebrities such
as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Madonna, and Demi Moore” (p. 31). However, cigar makers
were using prestige appeal to sell cigars as early as the 19th century (Jones, 1979). For
example, one advertisement in 1892 for General Arthur Cigars portrays a young woman
dancing in a formal gown, surrounded by men in tuxedos tipping their top hats to her
(Jones, 1979, p. 58). Prestige appeal is also common cross culturally. A good example is
After Eight chocolate mints. In the 1960’s After Eight sought to internationalize its
product. It used a marketing strategy that appealed to prestige (depicting upper class
people marveling over the product), and the campaign apparently worked, with the mints
grew in popularity throughout Germany, Holland, Italy, and France (Rijkens, 1992).
Price also signals prestige. Cultivating an image that a product is expensive can
increase prestige appeal. Owning and displaying an expensive product can signal that the
owner has the surplus resources to buy the product and therefore the skills to acquire
substantial resources. Over a century ago the economist Thorstein Veblen (1899/1953)
adumbrated the connection between consumer goods and prestige appeal when he coined
the term conspicuous consumption—the “specialized consumption of goods as an
evidence of pecuniary strength.” (p. 60). He also anticipated the notion that a
psychological mechanism (“a heritage from the past”) may be responsible for
conspicuous consumption (p. 165).
Products that are commonly marketed as status symbols are ornaments that are
readily displayed, such as jewelry or watches. A $40 Timex wristwatch keeps time just
as well as a $14,000 Patek Philippe, but the Patek Philippe signals that its owner has
resources and (possibly) the skill to acquire resources. Advertising such status symbols is
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anything but novel in the realm of marketing. Upscale watches have been marketed as
status symbols for decades (Jones 1979) and this continues unabated, as a cursory glance
through the pages of most upscale periodicals will attest.
Preferences for sweets, fat, and salt. People across the world share preferences
for sweets, salt, and fat; they share aversions for foods with a bitter, rancid, or putrid taste
(Rozin, 1976). During the approximately 1.2 million years that humans lived as huntergatherers, people evolved a preference for foods with a high nutritional value (Buss,
1995). Protein, carbohydrates, and minerals are essential for nutrition and health. Foods
high in fat were the most efficient form of calories and often had high concentrations of
protein. Foods that were sweet, such as ripe fruits, generally indicated high levels of
nutrients, especially carbohydrates. A salty flavor indicated high mineral content—
particularly sodium chloride, a mineral that humans cannot live without (Pocock &
Richards, 1999). People who preferred those tastes would be more likely to survive and
reproduce than people who had preferences for bitter and putrid foods, which are
associated with poisons and rotten food. People’s preferences would motivate them to
seek out such foods, but their relative scarcity and difficulty of acquiring meant that
people did not overdo their intake. In the modern era, however, fats, sweets, and salt are
readily available.
These evolved preferences have played a significant role in the development and
advertising of consumer food products. Salt was one of the first commodities and
consumer products. Records show that salt was used in trade and in food preparation by
the Chinese and Egyptians over 4000 years ago, and salt has remained an essential
flavoring and preservative (Kurlansky, 2002). Although people do not experience a
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craving for salt, they notice its absence and prefer foods with salt. The modern snack
food industry capitalizes on humans’ need for salt by creating an array of salty snacks—
potato chips, salted nuts, tortilla chips. In 1999, consumers ate 6 billion pounds of salty
snacks, with annual sales reaching $19 billion. Potato chips lead the pack with $4.7
billion in sales (Howell, 2000). Snack foods with a low-salt content do not sell well.
Sweets and fats are also staples of the consumer food market. Consumers in the United
States spend approximately 21.5% of their total food expenditures on oils, fats, sugar,
confectioneries, and soft drinks, and while not as high in other countries, expenditures on
these food items still remain a significant portion of total food expenditures (Euromonitor
International, n.d.). One study of television food advertisements directed to children
found that 63% were for foods with a high concentrations of fat and/or sugar (Wilson,
Quigley, & Mansoor, 1999). Coca-Cola, first mixed in 1866, is an historical and global
example of the success of a product that has co-opted the human preference for sweets. It
is one of the most (arguably the most) recognized product brands in the world. In 1998
Coca-Cola ranked 8th on the list of global advertisement spenders and was first in product
global presence, being present in 69 countries (Kloss, 2001). People’s preferences for
fat, sweets, and salt contributed to the growth of fast food restaurants. If people did not
like the taste of greasy hamburgers and salty french fries, these restaurants would have
quickly gone out of business (see, e.g., Kramer, 1997).
The abundance of junk food is taking a toll on human health. In 1999, 60% of
Americans adults were classified as overweight and 27% as obese. Twenty five percent
of American children are overweight and 10% are obese (Economist, 2002). While
sedentary lifestyles and lack of exercise contribute, the excessive consumption of fats and
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sweets plays a significant role. One strategy to combat the problem is to reduce the
amount of fat in food or to develop fat substitutes. However, given our evolved
preferences for fats and sweets, such strategies have been ineffective. Consumers do no
like the taste of low fat foods (Hamilton, Knox, Hill, & Parr, 2000); unfortunately,
finding a fat substitute that tastes like the real thing has proven illusive (Taylor &
Linforth, 1998).
Preferences for savanna-like landscapes. Psychological mechanisms for
landscape preferences evolved because landscapes with certain features were more
conducive to survival and reproduction than others. This why most people still regard
certain types of landscapes and landscape features as more beautiful, and hence, attractive
than others (Kaplan, 1992; Orians & Heerwagen, 1992). This is consistent with
Thornhill’s definition of beauty: “beauty is the moving experience associated with
information processing by aesthetic judgment adaptations when they perceive
information of evolutionarily historical promise of high reproductive success” (1998, p.
557). Most people instinctively find pictures of clear, flowing water more beautiful than
a pool of stagnant water, grassy landscapes with scattered trees and lakes more attractive
than arid, treeless landscapes, and mountains or hills in the distance more attractive than
flat terrain. Clear, flowing water usually has fewer potentially harmful bacteria than
stagnant water; savanna-like landscapes tend to have higher concentrations of resourceproviding potential for land-dwelling, omnivorous primates (Orians & Heerwagen,
1992); mountains and hills convey a sense of mystery and a desire to lean more about a
landscape (Kaplan, 1992). Empirical studies have found that people have strong
preferences for such ancestral cues as “water sources, oasis, flowers, ripe fruits, savanna
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
22
(open forests that give easy visual access), growth and leaf patterns of healthy savanna
trees, closed forest canopy (shelter), caves (with easy access to outside landscape), and
mountains” (Thornhill, 1998, p. 562).
These evolved preferences are commonly used in advertising. Marketers use
attractive landscapes to evoke positive emotional associations. Landscape features have
often been used, in our culture and in others, to distinguish among brands and to impart
desirable associations with them (Gould & Minowa, 1994; Goodrum & Dalrymple,
1990). The sense of mystery and adventure associated with mountains has been a stable
feature of marketing sport utility vehicles (SUVs; Messaris, 1997). Landscapes
appealing to evolved preferences for verdant savanna-like landscapes, mountains, water,
and flowers are also prominent in marketing resorts (e.g., Steinauer, 2002; Successful
Meetings, 2001). To anyone who has spent any time in a hotel or resort, it is painfully
obvious that landscape features influence the price of a room. Rooms with a view of
mountains or lakes are inevitably more expensive than rooms with a view of a parking
lot.
Interestingly, even products that are harmful to human health are given a healthy
patina through clever associations with beautiful landscapes. Advertisement for Kool
cigarettes superimpose a pack of Kools over a sparkling river surrounded by lush greens
and wooded patches (Leiss, Kline, & Jhally, 1986, p. 196). Alcoholic beverages, such as
Coors Beer, are frequently marketed in a similar manner, with the product superimposed
over a mountain stream running through a beautiful landscape.
Adaptive Differences Between Males and Females
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
23
Men and women differ in some evolved mechanisms. This is due to different
adaptive problems faced by the different sexes as well as to differences in traits favored
by sexual selection (Buss, 1994; Miller, 2000). Because of the physiological and
psychological demands associated with gestation, birth, lactation, and attachment, human
females provide more parental investment in offspring than males (Andersson, 1994).
Parental investment is the effort and resources devoted to an offspring that improves its
chances of survival and that also limit the parent’s ability to invest in other offspring
(Trivers, 1972). The welfare of children is more dependent on the mother staying alive
than the father (Högberg & Broström, 1985). Therefore, natural selection favored
women who were less prone to risky and aggressive behavior. Although contextual
factors (e.g., threats to offspring) can trigger aggressive behavior in women, women are,
on average, significantly less aggressive, more fearful, and less prone to take risks than
men (A. Campbell, 1999). Women’s greater parental investment also helps to explain
why women are more nurturing and have a greater interest in children than do men
(Geary, 1998).
Women are also the primary arbiters in mating relationships (Geary, 1998). Their
greater parental investment motivates women to be more selective in their choice of
short-term and long-term mates. It is in females’ genetic interests to mate selectively
with “high quality” males. Women attend to a larger number of attributes of potential
mates and are more discriminating in their choice of mating partners. Females favor
males with traits associated with resource acquisition, health, good genes, and kindness.
They prefer males who exhibit signs of high social status and wealth (expensive
ornamentation, age) or who have the ability to gain high social status (intelligence, social
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
24
dominance, competitiveness, height), are in good health and have good genes (height,
firm musculature, athleticism), and display a temperament compatible with being a good
husband and father (kindness; Ellis, 1992). Recent studies are providing evidence of the
reproductive consequences of some of these preferences. Tall males father more children
than shorter males (Pawlowski, Dunbar, & Lipowicz, 2000); women are more attracted to
men with masculine facial features during that part of their monthly cycle when the
probability of conception is highest (Penton-Voak, & others, 1999).
It is in male’s genetic interests to mate with a wide variety of healthy, fertile
females. Therefore, males pay attention to fewer attributes of potential mates than
women do; men attend primarily to physical cues related to health and fertility. These
include youthful appearance, a waist to hip ratio of about .70 (fertility and health),
smooth skin (youth, absence of parasites), lustrous hair (youth), full lips (high estrogen
level), and a bouncy gait (youth, energy). When seeking out long-term mates, males are
also attentive to traits that signal that a woman would be a good mother and sexually
faithful (Buss, 1994).
Members of each sex engage in intrasexual competition to compete for access to
desirable members of the opposite sex. In most primate species, including humans, malemale competition is more intensive than female-female competition. In male-male
competition, males compete with one another for status, resources, and social dominance.
They do this ultimately to gain access to sexually receptive females (Geary, 1998).
Female-female competition involves competition for high quality males for marriage
partners. Women typically compete with one another for resources by presenting
themselves in ways that are viewed as attractive to men, ways that “mirror the attributes
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
25
associated with male choice of mating partners, such as physical attractiveness” (Geary,
1998, p. 137).
Marketing and Adaptive Differences between Males and Females
Personal advertisements, where people advertise themselves in periodicals and on
the Internet in hopes of attracting a short- or long-term mate, are a particularly revealing
arena to examine the interplay of evolved sex differences and marketing. Males are more
likely to advertise their professional and financial status, while women typically advertise
attributes related to physical beauty (Greenlees & McGrew, 1984); older women are less
demanding in what they require in a mate, whereas older men are more demanding
(Campos, Otta, & Sequeira, 2002). Height, education, resources, and age of male
advertisers are positively related to the number of responses from females, while age,
weight, and education were negatively related to female hit rates (Pawlowski & Koziel,
2002).
Much of traditional marketing mirrors evolved sex differences. Product
development and advertising reflect the constellation of evolved sex differences which
various psychologists have grouped under the categories of communal (concern for
others, interpersonal harmony) and agentic (task emphasis, competition) orientations.
Women are more communal and men more agentic (Archer, 1996).
Evolved preferences. Marketing practices reflect females’ greater interest in children and
safety. Advertisements for child-care products are much more evident in publications
and programming directed at women (Reda, 1994; Shermach, 1994). Products related to
personal and child safety are also directed more towards females (Garfield, 1999). One
reason that women became a major market for SUVs is their ostensible safety features—
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
26
larger size, four-wheel drive (Scotti, 1998). Women’s preference for romantic
involvement over short-term sexual liaisons is reflected in the marketing and sales of
romance novels and products related to weddings. Women are the primary consumers of
romance novels, which account for almost 50% of all paperbacks books sold (Discount
Store News, 1996). Harlequin, a major publisher of romance novels, sold 205 million
books in 1992 in 108 countries and 26 languages (Economist, 1993). Magazines, services
and products related to weddings are almost exclusively aimed at young women (Fine,
2000). There are plenty of magazines for brides; we are not aware of any for grooms.
The development and marketing of toys is largely gender specific. Girls’ toys typically
reflect females’ greater interest in beauty, infants, and nurturing, while boys’ toys reflect
a greater preference for competition, rough and tumble play, and mechanical objects
(Fitzgerald, 1993). Gender specificity with children’s toys has paid off handsomely.
Mattel’s Barbie doll accounted for $1 billion of Mattel’s $1.6 billion in total sales in 1991
(Brandweek, 1993). Mattel’s “He- Man: Masters of the Universe” – an aggressive,
muscle-man action toy – was one of the most successful boys’ toys ever introduced
(Mandese, 1990). Gender-based toy preferences appear to be due more to innate
propensities than to socialization. Alexander and Hines (2002) found that young male
and female vervet monkeys exhibited gender-typical preferences for toys. Male monkeys
spent more time than females playing with a toy car and females spent more time playing
with a doll.
Women also tend to form closer ties with same-sex friends than men and female
groups are less hierarchical than male groups (Colarelli, Alampay, & Canali, 2002b;
Fisher, 1999). Marketers have taken advantage of intensive, flat female networks by
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
27
engaging women to directly sell to their friends. Tupperware parties are a classic
example. Approximately 72% of American women have attended a Tupperware party;
with 34% of American women attending over six. Tupperware parties have also been
successful across cultures. Tupperware has sales consultants in over 100 countries, with
80% of sales occuring overseas (Verburg, 2002). The economic success of women’s
micro-industries financed by the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh is an example of a
consumer services based on the nature of female relationships (Yunus, 1999). Ninety-five
percent of the Grameen Bank’s borrowers are women (Wahid, 1999). The Grameen
Bank originated in 1976 (and was chartered as a bank in1983) in Bangladesh to provide
credit without requiring collateral to poor, primarily female, villagers. New borrowers
are required to join a small group of established borrowers. Obtaining a loan is based on
the approval of peers in the group. Default by any individual in the group results in all
group members having their credit line suspended or drastically reduced. The Grameen
Bank is one of the most successful Third World economic development programs to date.
By 1998, it established 1,118 branches, providing service to 38,766 villages. It has 2.3
million borrowers, $2.5 billion in cumulative loans, $185 million in savings, and a 98%
loan collection rate.
One of the strongest evolved preferences among males is the desire for young,
fertile females. The adage “sex sells” is a truism in marketing. Beautiful women have
been used in ads to sell everything from cars to scientific equipment. Using females as
sex object in advertisements is routine in many countries (Caudle, 1994). It is also an
example of the use of classical conditioning in advertising (cf. Gorn, 1982). Beautiful
women are prominently placed in print ads to attract readers’ attention and are, for most
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
28
men, an unconditioned stimulus. They stimulate a pleasant, sexually arousing response
in sexually mature males. Marketers take advantage of this evolved mechanism by
pairing beautiful women (unconditioned stimulus) with a product (conditioned stimulus).
The goal is to evoke the same response in males who view the product (conditioned
response) as they exhibit when viewing an attractive female (unconditioned response).
That ads using attractive women to sell merchandise appear routinely even in highbrow
newspapers attests to the power of this mechanism.
The appeal of beautiful females to males is also used in the development of
products that appeal to males, particularly pornography. Erotica has existed throughout
history, is found across cultures, and has been a minor staple of literature and the visual
arts (Loth, 1961). The pornography business caters primarily to a male audience; for
example, the audience of Internet porn sites is approximately 84% male (Weiss, 2001).
The appeal of pornography is also become particularly evident with advent of the
Internet. Internet porn is one of the most successful dot-com industries. About 30% of
the online population visits a porn site each month. There are approximately 50,000 porn
sites in countries throughout the world (Gruenwedel, 2000). One study reports that
almost $1 billion was spent by on-line porn users in 1998 (see Gruenwedel, 2000); in
1999, porn web accounted for 70% of the online paid content market (Kavanagh, 1999).
Porn is also a mainstay of the pay-per-view cable TV market, accounting for 69 percent
of sales (Gruenwedel, 2000).
Same-sex Competition. People engage in same-sex (intrasexual) competition to
make themselves more attractive to the opposite sex than their competitors. A central
arena of female-female competition is physical attractiveness. This no doubt helps to
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
29
account for the appeal of cosmetics to women and the success of the cosmetics industry:
the function of cosmetics is to enhance physical beauty. Women are the primary
consumers of cosmetics; men account for only 7% of the market share
(www.cosmeticmarket.com, 1996). Cosmetic advertisements date back (at least in
America) to the 1750s (Goodrum & Dalrymple, 1990). Newspaper ads portrayed
attractive women using a variety of cosmetics—soaps, make-up, and hair products.
Although advertisements have changed to reflect the times, their core themes have
remained constant—slowing the aging process, beautifying one’s hair, and enhancing a
body part. Many cosmetics ads portray attractive women as young and fertile. An ad for
Palmolive soap, appearing in 1928, is illustrative. It depicts a young female holding a
bouquet of flowers and reads: “He remembered that schoolgirl complexion. Youth is
charm, and youth lost is charm lost, as every woman instinctively realizes” (Goodrum &
Dalrymple, 1990, p. 130).
Much of male-male competition involves competition over status, resources, and
reputation (Buss, 1994, 1999). Not surprisingly, marketers have used this to their
advantage in the development of products and ads that appeal to males. Young males in
the US gain status and reputation primarily through athletic prowess (Coleman, 1965).
Male-targeted sports magazines that illustrate male-male competition and promise the
improvement of the reader’s competitive ability at sports are among the most circulated
in the US. Of the hundreds of magazines circulating in the U.S. each year, Sports
Illustrated was 16th in 2001 in annual average circulation (3.22 million). Nearly all
universities in the United States spend proportionately more on male than female sporting
programs (www.chronicle.com, 2002). For many universities, money spent on male
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
30
teams more than doubles that which is spent on female sporting teams. As males age,
male-male competition centers more on work and money than athletics. Not surprisingly,
the readership of the major management and finance periodicals – Fortune, Forbes, and
Business Week – is primarily male (Corazza, 1984).
The two best-selling men’s magazines, Playboy and Sports Illustrated, appeal to
men’s interest in beautiful young women and male-male competition. These are the only
two male-oriented magazines in the 25 top-selling magazines in the US, Sports
Illustrated and Playboy (ranked 16th and 17th, respectively, in average annual circulation
in 2001). The two best-selling women’s magazines (ranked sixth and seventh) are Better
Homes and Gardens and Family Circle, which feature articles on home, children, food,
and relationships. Men’s Health, a hybrid men’s magazine that features articles on
relationships, food, as well as male-male competition ranks only 44th.
(www.magazine.org, 2002). Products that assume no or little sex differences between
males and females on status competition or sexuality tend to fail in the marketplace. The
magazine, Sports Illustrated Women, a female-oriented version of Sports Illustrated
featuring articles on female athletic competition and adventure sports, printed its last
issue in December 2002, after only two years on the market (Colford, 2002). Playgirl, a
female version of Playboy, featuring sexually explicit pictures of men, had to revamp its
content and format to resemble more traditional women’s magazines to stay viable
(Calvacca, 1998).
Variation
Evolution by natural selection occurs through small incremental changes, and
variation is a critical element in change (Colarelli, 2003; Dawkins, 1986). Small
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
31
variations – mutations, imperfect imitations, mistakes, new ideas – are the stuff from
which new biological and social adaptations evolve. Sufficient variation helps a system
cope with uncertain futures by improving the probability that the variation will enable the
system to adapt to unpredictable changes in the environment. Systems typically develop
structures that maintain requisite – neither too much nor too little – variation (Colarelli,
2000; Williams, 1996). Sexual reproduction and incest avoidance are classic examples of
biological and psychological mechanisms that perpetuate genetic variation, and
assortative mating (mating with partners who share similar characteristics) helps to keep
variation in check.
A good deal of variation, however, is genetic and cultural noise (Tooby &
Cosmides, 1990). Variation tends to manifest itself more frequently on relatively
unimportant traits, such as eye or hair color. Most of these surface variations have little
relevance to survival and adaptation. On the other hand, there is less variation in traits
that are adaptive—almost all humans have two eyes and opposable thumbs. Adaptations
vary less because, over the long term, they are important to survival and reproduction.
Variation and Marketing
Evolutionary conceptions of variation are relevant to marketing in at least two
ways: (1) change and adaptation and (2) appealing to individuals. Variation in consumer
products and advertising helps to insure that useful products and advertisements will be
available to meet changing consumer demands. Although humans share many
adaptations, they also differ (Medawar, 1981). So, although most people enjoy eating
sweets, they also vary in their preferences for particular flavors. Some people prefer
grape jam; others prefer strawberry.
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
32
Continual variation is the lifeblood of the popular cultural marketplace. Fads and
fashions come and go with amazing regularity in popular culture. New talent is the
lifeblood of the rock and roll industry. Most new bands never make it, but a few do
(Hire, 1986). Therefore, variation is a better strategy than trying to predict which bands
will take off. Introducing variation and establishing mechanisms for nurturing variation
in product development have become important strategies in large, mainstream
corporations. These strategies include hiring out-of-the-box thinkers, providing
architectural and social structures that facilitate interaction among different groups of
employees, and allowing employees freedom to develop ideas and products (Leifer,
McDermott, Colarelli-O’Connor, Peters, Rice, & Veryzer, 2000). Continual variation in
advertising also helps to keep old products current. Classic Coca-Cola varied little as a
product since its conception; however, the marketing of Coca-Cola has been
characterized by continual variation in advertising strategies (Goodrum & Dalrymple,
1990).
Variation is useful in market research. A fundamental notion in evolutionary
theory is that predictions about the future are problematic. The large number of
variables, interactions, and environmental contingencies inherent in biological and social
systems preclude precise prediction (Colarelli, 2003). Thus, it is not surprising that
traditional marketing research has a spotty record of predicting what consumers will buy
(Zangwill, 1992, 1993). Some marketers, however, use research strategies that are driven
by variation. Rather than trying to predict what consumers want through extensive
consumer surveys and focus groups, they introduce variations of a product into the
market and wait to see what consumers prefer. Based on the feedback from sales, firms
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
33
learn what consumers really want, and then they revise their products accordingly.
Zangwill (1992) describes how some of the most successful consumer product companies
use this approach. Sony, Sanyo, Seiko, and Citizen often develop a platform of a product
from which several variations can be easily produced. They then put several (sometimes
hundreds) of variations on the market and see which ones sell best. Sony introduced over
160 models of its Walkman into the market to discover which models consumers
preferred.
Many marketers are aware of the importance of understanding individual
consumer needs (Lee & Johnson, 1999), and recent technological innovations in
manufacturing and communications have allowed mass marketing to achieve a more
personalized feel. Major companies that at one time could not meet individual consumer
needs can now more readily do so. Building customization of and variation in products is
not only a marketing strategy but an organizational philosophy of a number of
companies. Dell Computer’s mission statement states that Dell is committed to “meeting
customer expectations of flexible customization capability” (www.dell.com, 2002).
General Motors (GM) also integrates marketing and manufacturing to allow customers to
personalize products. In fact, GM was a pioneer in personalizing products on a mass
scale. It was one of the first automobile manufacturers to give customers a choice in the
color and style of automobiles (Chandler, 1964). This was a marked contrast to Ford’s
strategy of almost complete standardization, and GM’s responsiveness to customer
preferences was a major factor in GM surpassing Ford in market share. Today, G M has
a feature on its web site allowing consumers to “build your own vehicle” from the ground
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
34
up (www.gmc.com, 2002). The consumer can choose from hundreds of variations,
including, color, seat cover type, equipment accessories, and engine size.
Conclusions
The applied social sciences exist in two worlds. One is applied research and the
other is practice. Sometimes these two worlds are in agreement about social
interventions; often they are not. The applied research world frequently criticizes the
world of practice—for ignoring its recommendations, for failing to use the latest research
findings, and for relying on common sense and rules of thumb. The idea that a practice
proved its mettle by withstanding the test of time is usually an anathema to applied
researchers. Yet, it often turns out that the world of practice was not wrong and that the
world of applied research was in error (Lindblom, & Cohen, 1979). For decades, applied
researchers in personnel psychology criticized human resource practitioners using the
employment interview—arguing that their research showed that the employment
interview was ineffective in predicting performance. After a half a century of criticizing
the employment interview, studies now suggest that the interview is a good predictor of
performance after all (McDaniel, Whetzel, Schmidt, & Mauer, 1994) and that it serves
useful functions in addition to predicting job performance (Adams, Elacqua, & Colarelli,
1994; Colarelli 1996).
It is possible that marketing practitioners have a more veridical conception of
human nature than marketing researchers. Practitioners appear to use an intuitive
evolutionary perspective in developing marketing practices, whereas most researchers are
still adhere to the SSSM (Pinker, 2002; Saad & Gill, 2000). Consumer products and
advertisements that tap into evolved psychological mechanisms seem to have a robust
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
35
appeal to consumers. Similarly, practices that produce adaptive consequences are likely
to be perpetuated, regardless of the originators’ intentions or whether they understood
why the practices worked.
An implication of the evolutionary perspective for marketing research is reverse
engineering of successful practices. Marketers may profit by studying products and ad
campaigns that have been successful over the years and across cultures and using them as
templates. A second implication is the utility of explicitly incorporating evolved
psychological mechanisms into product development and marketing. Some people may
want little boys to be less competitive or they may want people to eat less fat and fewer
sweets. But who is going to have more success in the marketplace—firms that appeal to
young males’ propensity to behave competitively with one another or those that appeal to
males as nurturers, firms sell sweet snacks with a high fat content or those that sell low
fat and non-sweetened snacks? However, in a complex world in which individuals and
cultures are in some ways unique, making precise predictions about the effects of
interventions is a risky business. Therefore, a third implication of the evolutionary
perspective for marketing is to embrace variation and uncertainty, working with them
rather than trying to engineer them out. This includes individualizing products and
advertising, introducing multiple prototypes, and emphasizing quick-response production.
Successful marketing appeals to our evolved human nature, which, alas, is a
mixed bag. People can be compassionate, generous, and cooperative; humans are
frequently altruistic, moral, and restrained. And marketers develop products and provide
information about products that appeal to the noble side of our nature—college savings
plans, environmentally friendly products, services to care for the poor and elderly. Yet,
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
36
people can also behave aggressively; they can be selfish and vindictive; people’s desires
can spin out of control into gluttony and hedonism; they are not above deceiving others
when it is to their advantage. Marketers are often criticized for selling products that
appeal to people’s baser side—pornography, junk food, wasteful status symbols, and
products that harm the environment. Indeed, a recurring problem in, and criticism of,
marketing is deception in advertising. While difficult to condone, deception will
probably be a staple of advertising because, as Dawkins (1976/1989) reminds us, deceit is
an inherent attribute of animal (including human) communication.
Given the realities of human nature and the criteria by which the success of
marketing efforts are inevitably judged (i.e., sales), appeals to our baser side will remain
a staple of marketing practices. Unfortunately, this may become increasingly
problematic because of the mismatch between our evolved nature and the nature of
modern society. It is now relatively easy to design and sell products that hijack our
evolved mechanisms and induce people to over-consume and consume harmful products.
A better understanding of human nature is certainly a necessary, but not sufficient,
condition for mitigating harmful excesses. It is also necessary that markets remain free
and competitive. The conflict of competing interests and ideas is perhaps the most
effective restraint on unbridled excess.
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
37
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Table 1
Psychological Mechanisms
____________________________________________________________________
Psychological Mechanism
Functions
Author(s)
__________________________________________________________________________________
Altruism towards kin
Increase inclusive fitness
Hamilton (1964)
Prestige seeking and imitating
high-prestige individuals
Resource acquisition and
efficiently identifying useful
skills, values, and beliefs
Help ensure sufficient resources
in uncertain environments
Barkow (1989), Henrich
and Gil-White, 2001
Preference for foods rich in fats
and sugar
Increase caloric intake
Rozin (1976)
Enjoy the taste of salt
Maintain sufficient sodium
chloride in the body
Alcock, (1993) Palmer
and Palmer (2002)
Fear of snakes
Landscape preferences for
savanna-like environments
Avoid poison
Motivate individuals to
select habitats that provide
resources and offer protection
Marks (1987)
Kaplan (1992)
Orians and Heerwagen
(1992)
Female mate preference for
Economic resources
Provisioning for children
Buss (1989)
Male mate preferences for
youth, attractiveness, and
waist-to-hip ratio
Select mates of high fertility
Buss (1989)
Singh (1993)
Superior female spatial-location
Memory
Increase success at foraging/
Gathering
Silverman and Eals
(1992)
Male sexual jealousy
Increase paternity certainty
Symons (1979)
Natural language
Communication/manipulation
Pinker and Bloom
(1992)
Detection of cheaters
Prevent being exploited in
social contracts
Cosmides (1989)
Male desire for sexual variety
Motivate access to more
sexual partners
Symons (1979)
Preference for risk to avoid loss
Adapted from Buss (1995)
Kahneman and Tversky,
(1981); Moore (1996)
Intuitive Evolutionary Perspectives
Author Note
We would like to thank Jeff Connor and Derek Gager for their invaluable
bibliographic assistance in the preparation or this article. Address correspondence to
Stephen M. Colarelli, Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mt.
Pleasant, MI 48859; electronic mail can be sent to: colar1sm@cmich.edu.
52