Feb 22, 2024 10:25 PM
Poor and happy: The societies that defy life satisfaction trends
https://bigthink.com/the-present/poor-wi...isfaction/
INTRO: The Melanesian people living in the Roviana and Gizo regions of the Solomon Islands are some of the poorest in the world. They live a subsistence lifestyle, fulfilling their needs by fishing and farming. Occasionally, they sell their goods at the local marketplace to buy processed foods or pay their children’s school tuition fees. The luxuries of modern life — smartphones, the internet, TV, memory-foam mattresses — are hard to find. But despite this materially simple existence, the Melanesians express higher life satisfaction than residents of Finland and Denmark, who regularly make headlines as the happiest in the world.
One of the most robust findings in happiness research is the link between income, wealth, and life satisfaction. The more money someone has, the more satisfied they tend to be. The richer a country, the happier its citizens. But as scientists are now learning, some buck this broad trend. People — often indigenous — who live in small, isolated communities tend to be as satisfied with their lives as people living in the wealthiest countries. Finding out why could benefit us all... (MORE - details)
ADHD may have been an evolutionary advantage, research suggests
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024...h-suggests
EXCERPTS: Traits common to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), such as distractibility or impulsivity, might have been an evolutionary advantage for our ancestors by improving their tactics when foraging for food, researchers have said.
[...] Dr David Barack of the University of Pennsylvania, who was the first author of the research, said the study offered a potential explanation for why ADHD was more prevalent than expected from random genetic mutations alone and – more broadly – why traits such as distractibility or impulsivity were common.
“If [these traits] were truly negative, then you would think that over evolutionary time, they would be selected against,” he said. “Our findings are an initial data point, suggestive of advantages in certain choice contexts.”
Writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Barack and colleagues reported how they analysed data from 457 adults who completed an online foraging game in which they had to collect as many berries as possible within eight minutes.
[...] The researchers found that participants with higher scores on the ADHD scale spent shorter periods of time in each patch of bushes than those with lower scores. In other words, they were more likely to abandon their current patch and hunt for a new one. Crucially, the team found such participants also gained more points in the game than those with lower scores on the ADHD scale... (MORE - missing details)
https://bigthink.com/the-present/poor-wi...isfaction/
INTRO: The Melanesian people living in the Roviana and Gizo regions of the Solomon Islands are some of the poorest in the world. They live a subsistence lifestyle, fulfilling their needs by fishing and farming. Occasionally, they sell their goods at the local marketplace to buy processed foods or pay their children’s school tuition fees. The luxuries of modern life — smartphones, the internet, TV, memory-foam mattresses — are hard to find. But despite this materially simple existence, the Melanesians express higher life satisfaction than residents of Finland and Denmark, who regularly make headlines as the happiest in the world.
One of the most robust findings in happiness research is the link between income, wealth, and life satisfaction. The more money someone has, the more satisfied they tend to be. The richer a country, the happier its citizens. But as scientists are now learning, some buck this broad trend. People — often indigenous — who live in small, isolated communities tend to be as satisfied with their lives as people living in the wealthiest countries. Finding out why could benefit us all... (MORE - details)
ADHD may have been an evolutionary advantage, research suggests
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024...h-suggests
EXCERPTS: Traits common to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), such as distractibility or impulsivity, might have been an evolutionary advantage for our ancestors by improving their tactics when foraging for food, researchers have said.
[...] Dr David Barack of the University of Pennsylvania, who was the first author of the research, said the study offered a potential explanation for why ADHD was more prevalent than expected from random genetic mutations alone and – more broadly – why traits such as distractibility or impulsivity were common.
“If [these traits] were truly negative, then you would think that over evolutionary time, they would be selected against,” he said. “Our findings are an initial data point, suggestive of advantages in certain choice contexts.”
Writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Barack and colleagues reported how they analysed data from 457 adults who completed an online foraging game in which they had to collect as many berries as possible within eight minutes.
[...] The researchers found that participants with higher scores on the ADHD scale spent shorter periods of time in each patch of bushes than those with lower scores. In other words, they were more likely to abandon their current patch and hunt for a new one. Crucially, the team found such participants also gained more points in the game than those with lower scores on the ADHD scale... (MORE - missing details)