Lecture 4 Flashcards
Why did natural selection not eliminate depression from the population?
- cry for help
- reaction to loss
seasonal - energy conservation
- rumination - solving problems
- association with inflammation/infections
- mismatch
Based on the genome-wide association study of depression, we conclude that..
There’s no gene for depression
Inflammation and depression: how does this work?
Your immune system reacts the same to depression as to infections.
Beck’s unified model of depression
There’s always a stressor involved, that leads to negative cognitive appraisals –> may result in depressogenic beliefs –> you kind of condition yourself to think negative. It’s quite automatic. Your immune system responds like you have an infection, that’s why you experience anhedonia for example and sickness behaviors.
Mismatch hypothesis
We are not adapted to modern environments, but to ancestral environments. This results in a mismatch.
Environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA)
The Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA) is a concept in evolutionary psychology that refers to the environment in which human beings evolved over millions of years. This environment includes the physical, social, and cultural conditions that prevailed during the period in which our species developed its genetic and psychological adaptations.
The EEA is thought to have been a crucial factor in shaping many of our cognitive, emotional, and behavioral traits. According to this theory, the human mind and body are optimized for life in the EEA, which was characterized by hunting and gathering, living in small groups, and facing constant environmental and social challenges.
Proponents of the EEA hypothesis argue that many of the challenges faced by modern humans, such as sedentary lifestyles, high-calorie diets, and social isolation, are incongruent with the conditions that prevailed during the EEA, and may be contributing to many of the health and psychological problems that afflict modern humans.
Critics of the EEA hypothesis, however, argue that it is difficult to reconstruct the precise conditions of the EEA, and that the concept is often used to justify social and political ideologies that have little basis in scientific evidence.
Depression in chimpanzees
- depressed hunched posture
- social withdrawal
- easily irritated or angered
- loss of interest in activities
- weight loss or gain
- Awae or easily awakened
- difficulty falling asleep or ecessive sleep
- poor concetration
test mismatch hypothesis: what can we conclude from the study with chimpanzees from the wild and in captivity?
In capativity there were higher rates of depression.
Criticisms on depression in chimpanzees (study)
- human diagnostic criteria are difficult to apply to non verbal animals
- we need species specific tests
- low interrater agreement
- large differences between sanctuaries
what can we conclude from testing the mismatch hypothesis with developing countries and developed contries?
Since developing countries have a less mismatch, the rats of depression are lower there.
and testing the mismatch hypothesis in urban and rural areas?
There are higher prevalance of diagnoses in the city compared to rural areas, think about depresion, anxierty, diabetes, hypertension, asthma, copd.
BUT A LOT OF CONFOUNDING VARIABLES: poverty, immigration, availability of green space in city
another case to test the mismatch hypothesis: hunter-gather societies and modern societies.
This is not a really researched case. They say that in hunter-gather societies there’s less of a mismatch than in modern societies. there’s noting like depression in kaluli, in new guinea. More depression after modernzation in China.
Another case to match the mismatch hypothesis: co sleeping babies and babies sleeping alone.
results cosleeping:
- more secure attachment
- less stress/ lower cortisol levels in children
- ore synchrony child - caregiver
another case with the mismatch hypothesis. More physical activity and less physical activity is more of a mismatch.
when people reach the age of 60+ their risk for cardiovascular disease gets higher.
What can we conclude out of physical acitivty and depression?
Depressive symptoms decrease with a higher rate of physical activity. moderate to high both work.
