A "Mismatch" Between Our Evolved Instincts And Modern Environment May Contribute To Humanity's Global Struggles

The modern world feels particularly problematic at the moment; we seem to be beset by multiple complex and interrelated challenges. From pandemics and geopolitical conflicts to the climate crisis, economic uncertainty, technological disruption, and other issues that blend into what is referred to as a "polycrisis." And this situation isn't limited only to the external world.

Alongside these global issues are a growing number of psychosocial problems hitting people across the planet. Mental health conditions, such as depression, loneliness, and anxiety are all increasing. 

At the same time, fertility levels in more economically developed countries have fallen below replacement levels, and some developing countries aren't far behind. Physical health is an issue too, with obesity and diabetes cases becoming more prevalent, adding strain on health services.

It’s a difficult set of circumstances to face, and so it’s no wonder that there is a pervasive sense of malaise among many people, especially the young, accompanied by feelings of insecurity, alienation, and cynicism.

According to researchers from Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and James Cook University, also in Singapore, some of these problems can be explained by our evolution. The human brain, they argue, has evolved for a world of familiar faces, immediate threats, and small, localized social groups. But our world is expansive, complex, and changing faster than our biology can keep up with.

The team conducted a conceptual review that examines how stress, competition, and loneliness can be understood through an evolutionary lens. The underlying idea is that human instincts were molded by one kind of environment and are now forced to function in one that is very different. In this instance, the instincts we have were forged in a context where danger, belonging, status, and trust all occurred around familiar people and everyday face-to-face encounters.

In contrast, the modern world sets these instincts within dense cities, digital platforms, and unequal societies, all within a world shaped by overlapping pressures. The outcome is a human with a set of responses that, once upon a time, would have been useful, but are now out of place or overwhelmed by modern life.

The team argues that social media makes this mismatch more visible. The urge for us to understand our place within a group could have been an advantage for maintaining trust and cooperation among familiar faces. However, this same instinct may now be triggered by an endless stream of edited and curated lives, achievements and status signals.

In true evolutionary terms, this research focuses on competition as a central point. Modern environments can exacerbate a feeling that other people are outachieving us, judging us, or simply leaving us behind. This elevated sense of competition, they posit, may be one way the evolutionary mismatch adds to stress and worse well-being.

“Competition is not new, but modern life can make it feel constant,” Jose Yong at James Cook University explained in a statement.

“An evolutionary perspective may help explain why people respond so strongly to comparison and the fear of falling behind, even when those signals come from strangers or screens rather than a small social group.”

The paper doesn't contain any new data but rather reviews existing research to promote its perspectives. It uses evolutionary mismatch as a prism through which we can view modern social and psychological problems within the same framework as psychological, social, and economic explanations. The next step will be to test it through real-world research.

One consequence of this perspective, if it represents reality, is that it isn't sufficient to tell people who are struggling to simply be more resilient. If the environment is activating old instincts in new and unhelpful ways, then, to some extent, these things aren't under individual control. Instead, cities, workplaces, digital platforms, and communities more generally need to change if we are to ease the issue.

The work sits within SUTD’s wider research into human-centered design and urban well-being. One aspect of this is that the researchers believe population density doesn't have to lead to negative impacts on how people feel. Instead, it comes down to whether the environment feels crowded, threatening, or difficult to navigate. 

Greener surroundings, stronger community ties, and more thoughtful social designs can help alleviate these pressures without changing density, they argue.

“Stress, loneliness and anxiety are often treated as personal or lifestyle problems,” Sarah Chan, a research fellow at SUTD, added.

“But they may also reflect a mismatch between the environments people live in and the conditions our minds and bodies evolved to navigate. That means we should think not only about individual resilience, but also about how cities and communities are designed.”

The idea that modern society may be responsible for individual malaise isn't necessarily new. French philosopher John-Jacques Rousseau proposed in the 18th century that civilization and its institutions could corrupt an otherwise natural human state through inequality and desire. 

Since then, philosophers, social scientists, historians, and psychologists have continued to explore how social structures shape what it means to be human and how people experience their environments.

This latest research offers similar perspectives with evolutionary explanations. Future research could look at how perceived competition and well-being vary across greener neighborhoods, places that feel more or less dense, communities with different levels of social connection, and digital spaces that either promote or reduce comparison with others.

The team does, however, stress that none of this research is a cry for a return to simpler times or an imagined past. Nor does it suggest that modern life is broken. Instead, it aims to show a more thoughtful understanding of where modern life clashes with our evolved instinct to help researchers, designers, and decision-makers make cities and communities feel less alienating and more supportive of everyday lives.

“We need to design interventions that work with rather than against our evolved human nature,” Yong concluded. 

The paper is published in the journal Behavioral Sciences.