7 strange things to which our brain is programmed

Over the past 12,000 years, mankind has come a long way. First, from the hunter-gatherer people turned into sedentary farmers, then built the city has mastered the alphabet, then agriculture has given way to an industrial society.

Cultural background knowledge accumulates faster and faster, and anatomy and physiology remain as they were still in the earliest Homo sapiens. We live in a world where you do not hide from predators and each day look for food. Most of us have a roof over his head and near the store. But our brain is the same as it was 50 or 70 thousand years ago.

What got to us from our ancestors? Let's try to figure out what the theory accepted by the scientific community and how they explain this strange behavior today.

Due to the peculiarities of our brain

1. Binge eating

Hard to believe, but it is now easier to die from obesity than from malnutrition. overabundance of food - a relatively new phenomenon.

Because the human brain develops in conditions of lack of food, our ancestors always had to look for its different Sources: fruit trees, berries, roots - anything with a high content of carbohydrates, which are the main source of energy. 50 thousand years ago, when our ancestor you find a complete clearing of berries or a fruit tree, the right thing would be to eat as much as possible, leaving for later. In hunter-gatherers did not have surpluses.

The world has changed since then. The brain - not. That is why we sometimes eat as much as it is not necessary.

The brain still can not believe that its owner will be enough food for tomorrow and next week.

2. The desire to look into the fridge

Some people have a habit to look in the fridge, look at the food and close it again. It would seem that it is illogical. In fact, very logical.

Let's go back to the old man, who was always ready to eat everything berries in a clearing or all of the fruit of the tree. He had no regular source of food, and it certainly does not lie idle.

Our Paleolithic brains simply can not believe that we have food to eat until we see it. Even if we know that it's there. That's why we occasionally need to check whether the food in place by looking in the refrigerator. The brain can make sure that everything is in order, and calm down. Until next time.

3. Dislike of healthy food

Probably everyone can remember as a child did not like onions, dill or green, and some of them can not stand still, and consider them tasteless. We can assume it whims, but it is unlikely this hostility come from out of nowhere.

In the days of hunter-gatherers when the plant has not yet started to cultivate, they can cause indigestion and poisoning. Language buds were formed in such a way that a person can recognize the good and bad food. Useful carbohydrate-rich foods had a sweet taste, and harmful and dangerous - bitter.

Therefore, our love for sweets and high carbohydrate foods is quite logical. After 100,000 years ago no one could suspect that one easily digestible product will be in abundance, and the consumption of useful and necessary carbohydrates will begin to lead to obesity or diabetes.

4. the desire to gossip

Gossip considered somewhat low, vile and unworthy. However, anthropologists agree on the fact that it is such conversations help people in the team to stick together.

The man - a social being, he can not live a full life for a long time alone. Even before the creation of the first large settlements, people lived in groups of 100-230, and often about 150 people. This number is not accidental. It indicates the number of permanent social networks that can support one person, and called the number of Dunbar. And these social ties are maintained thanks to the gossip. People in the team discussing not some abstract thing, and socially significant.

Early man in a small group is vital to know who to contact for help, who can not be trusted, and who exactly is to be feared.

In this case, those about whom gossip is disadvantageous to them exposed to black light. After all, if they tell you about the bad, then after a while you stop to help.

5. The ability to see faces and figures where they are not

We often find a person in inanimate objects: in the clouds, chaotic figures among the pebbles on the beach, even on the ultrasound device screen. The ability to see faces, figures of people and animals is called pareidolia (from the Greek para - «close» "About", "deviation from anything" and eidolon - "image") and has, apparently, evolution justification.

Once upon a time when science was not there, people still tried to explain the phenomena of nature. Since the brain is predisposed to understand people and their motives, our ancestors began to personify natural phenomena: thunderstorms, rain, illness or even death. Hence the increased APOPHENIA phenomenon (from the Greek apophene - «to express a judgment," "make clear") - the ability to see connections where there are none.

This mechanism is cognitive biases - a systematic error of thinking that interfere with rational thinking, but allow you to take a decision quickly. He helped our ancestors to survive thousands, or even millions of years ago thanks to her people to recognize the approach of friend or foe. Perhaps that is why we are so well aware of the facial expressions of others. Now, however, this ability can lead to the fact that people see angels, aliens, or ghosts.

6. Involuntary attention at the sight of a moving subject

Another evolutionary legacy of those times when a person is running away from predators in the African savannah or later pursued prey with a spear. Quick response could save lives in both cases. The first man could advance to escape from a dangerous animal, and the second to catch yourself a tasty dinner and not die of starvation.

If our ancestors had for a long time and thoroughly studied the yellow-black spot, to recognize it or tiger butterfly in the bushes, it could cost them their lives.

It is much easier and less energy had to decide what is a tiger, and run until he jumped out of the bushes.

According to the theory of the hunter and farmer, put forward a writer and psychotherapist Thomas Hartman, hyperactivity syndrome Attention deficit is explained by the nomadic and hunting our past, when we had to react quickly to external incentives. Later, when the people moved from the life of the hunter-gatherer to settled farmer's life, took to become more attentive. It is this need to focus on the movement in the age of information overload could lead to the development of a Clip thinking and inability to concentrate for long.

7. Propensity to anxiety

In earlier times, it was easier. Stresses were short-term. He escaped from a predator - well done. He returned from the hunt - well done. I found a fruit tree and fed the children - well done. When we are nervous, the blood ejected so-called stress hormones - cortisol and adrenaline. It activates the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the excitation of the heart. Pupils dilate to see better, increased stress, energy and attention - all in order to cope with the situation.

In today's world everything is much more complicated. We have loans, mortgages, session, repairs, travel, deadlines, diplomas, long-term commitment, work projects. Stress reactions, which were supposed to help mobilize human, no longer work.

We live in a constant state of stress. For some it leads to the formation of neuroses, depression and other mental disorders. And while some are trying to get rid of anxiety, to live a quiet life, others experience adrenaline addiction. They feel that their life becomes dull and fresh without the stress and strong emotions. Some take up alcohol and drugs, others become workaholics, others fleeing in extreme sports.

Why do we know about it

We do not know much about the world and about themselves. At the same time our brain is always trying to find a logical explanation and build a consistent picture of the world. So many people are always ready to accept the data that correspond to their views, and the rest to throw out as unnecessary, because of the inconvenient facts logical picture of the world is destroyed.

But the more we know about ourselves, the less errors can make.

To read on

• «Explaining religion. The nature of religious thought"Pascal Boyer.
• «Who would have thought! How the brain makes us do stupid things"Asya Kazantsev.
• «Biotechnology sum. Guide to combat the myths about genetic modification of plants, animals and humans"Alexander Panchin.
• «Defense Against the Dark Arts. Guide to the world of paranormal phenomena"Alexander Panchin.
• "Light the fire. How cooking made us human, "Richard Wrangham.
• «Sapiens. A brief history of humanity"Yuval Noah Harari.