Evolutionary Psychology in the Business Sciences
All individuals who operate in the business sphere, whether as consumers, employers, employees, entrepreneurs, or financial traders to name a few constituents, share a common biological heritage and are defined by a universal human nature. As such,
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Gad Saad Editor
Evolutionary Psychology in the Business Sciences
Editor Dr. Gad Saad Concordia University John Molson School of Business De Maisonneuve Blvd. W. 1455 H3G 1M8 Montreal Que´bec Canada [email protected]
ISBN 978-3-540-92783-9 e-ISBN 978-3-540-92784-6 DOI 10.1007/978-3-540-92784-6 Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: eStudio Calamar S.L. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
To Amar and Samra, my perfect and eternal companions.
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Foreword
The Third Chimpanzee in the Ordinary Business of Life Occasionally a synthesis transforms a discipline so profoundly that later generations will not remember it as synthetic. They will know just the elements that endure in textbook passages. Two examples come to mind: On the Origins of Species (Darwin 1859) and The General Theory of Employment, Money and Interest (Keynes 1936). Charles Darwin (1859:63) credits Thomas Malthus’ An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) for having inspired natural selection. In contrast to Darwin’s transdisciplinary synthesis, that of The General Theory is only disciplinary (Leijonhufvud 1968). John Maynard Keynes writes “The ideas which are here expressed so laboriously are extremely simple and should be obvious. The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds” (1936: viii). For non-rational behavior that lay beyond the domain of economics, Keynes invoked “animal spirits” and left it at that (1936:161–162). He dismissed evolution in an earlier essay as “the doctrine which seemed to draw all things out of Chance, Chaos, and Old Time. . .The Principle of Survival of the Fittest could be regarded as a vast generalization of Ricardian economics” (1926:14). “Animal spirits” is Keynes’ recognition that non-rational behavior must be addressed. But merely recognizing something is not very satisfying, intellectually speaking. Scientists relish puzzle-solving and some will suggest that natural selection can explain the origins of behavior and
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