Social Brains in Complex Societies: Are Humans Mismatched to Modern Life?

Our brains evolved to solve the survival problems of our Stone Age ancestors. How do we, using our primitive minds, survive in a modern information society and to what extent does evolution still influence our social behaviour?

Mark van Vugt will look at group and organizational processes from an evolutionary psychological perspective. He will explore how humans came to be a group-living species, and which psychological adaptations enabled humans to successfully negotiate the various challenges and opportunities of group life. But these groups were relatively small and the problems were simple.

So how do we fare with a small-scale social brain in a large complex society full of new opportunities, threats and dangers -- think of climate change, the 24-hour global economy, modern work spaces, and toxic leaders.