Biological Psychology and 21st Century Lifestyles

Introduction

The 21st century is an interesting period to study with regard to humans, their environment, and their social interactions. This century has introduced new developments in the human lifestyle that had never before been imagined. Technology has served as a central driver of many of these changes, and not all of them are positive — many new lifestyles carry significant negative dimensions. Health and health technology have greatly improved and lengthened the average lifespan, yet obesity and cancer have reached epidemic proportions. There are more opportunities for education given that access to information has become nearly instantaneous, yet in many cases the quality of education has declined. Technology has created a circumstance in which humans are once again facing a new environment to which they must adapt, and the results of this pressing adaptation are largely mixed.

Biological Psychology and Evolutionary Behavior

Biological psychology begins with the brain and uses it as a foundation from which to study humans and their behaviors. There are several schools of thought and divisions within this field of investigation; however, the study of mental processes and how they are rooted in biological processes serves as a unifying factor. Biological psychology borrows heavily from a variety of disciplines and is deeply multidisciplinary. Research in biological psychology may draw from anatomy, biology, physiology, psychology, and statistics.

Much of the research in biological psychology is rooted in how the brain leads adaptation to the external environment. The interesting situation that has arisen in the twenty-first century — and over the course of the last few decades — is that the environment is changing at a pace that was previously unimaginable. For hundreds of thousands of years, humans had a relatively stable relationship with their environment. Food, and the constant quest for it, has long been a primary driver of human behavior. It is responsible for the hunter-gatherer period as well as the agricultural revolution. Today, however, in most advanced societies food exists in abundance. Not only is food almost always readily available, it can also be delivered to nearly any location within minutes. Furthermore, the foods consumed today have been refined for characteristics that are not necessarily related to health or nutritional value.

Food, Obesity, and Biological Predisposition

Food serves as an interesting basis for applying a biological evolutionary perspective because the way people consume food has changed dramatically. People have evolved to have certain responses to food in order to sustain their bodies. In previous environments, many foods were scarce. As a result, foods containing nutritional value and energy — such as those high in sugar or fat — developed a pleasurable response in people that signaled their value. However, in today's world where food is abundant, people still retain those same responses. People naturally crave foods high in fats and sugars because such foods were once a rare find, even though they can now be found virtually everywhere.

As a response to the biological predisposition that developed through evolutionary history, people retain the urge to consume certain foods. As a result, populations in developed countries nearly universally experience high rates of obesity. Though food is now plentiful in these countries, people have retained the biological impulse that once drove survival behaviors. Understanding these biological drivers has been recognized as one of the first steps in aiding the prevention and treatment of obesity (Friedman, 2009).

Conclusion

Simply understanding or being aware of possible biological explanations has been personally valuable. It provides a new perspective from which to view everyday life and habitual behaviors. The earlier example of food is entirely relatable — the biological impulse to eat certain things often overrides the knowledge that those foods are not necessarily good for one's health. Nor is it limited to food. It affects many areas of life, including social connections and the longing to belong to a social group. These impulses even extend into the digital life that has emerged through Facebook and social networking. Knowledge of biological psychology can therefore help individuals overcome many of the challenges present in a 21st-century lifestyle.

The twenty-first century can be defined by a rapidly changing environment that has accelerated at an unprecedented pace. Technology has been a primary driver of these changes as humans now have the capacity to produce and consume more goods, services, and information than at any time in history. However, many of these changes contain both positive and negative dimensions. Our brains are relatively unchanged from what they were thousands of years ago, meaning our biological hardware has not kept pace with the environmental changes our species has experienced. As a result, there is a tendency for people to overindulge or exhibit poorly adapted behaviors in certain contexts — the modern relationship with food being a prime example.

The best way to overcome many of these challenges is through knowledge of the situation. This is precisely what biological psychology provides, and it helps explain why the field has been expanding at an accelerating rate. By illuminating the biological underpinnings of human behavior, biological psychology equips individuals and societies to better understand — and potentially redirect — the impulses that shape modern life.

Friedman, J. (2009). Obesity: Causes and control of excess body fat. Nature, 340–342.