Politicians' Sex Lives
» Amorous Research
Why does the silly public obsess over the sex lives of politicians when it is how they actually affect your lives that matter? One speculation is that what is now trivialization was once a survival trait.
Davis and other evolutionary psychologists argue that the reason John Edwards’s adultery has more zing in our heads than a dry policy dispute that could cost taxpayers billions of dollars is that the human brain evolved in a period where there were significant survival advantages to finding out the secrets of others. Since humans lived in small groups, the things you learned about other people’s character could tell you whom to trust when you were in a tight spot.
“We are continuing to navigate through the modern world with a Stone Age mind,” Davis said.
What about Jerry Springer?
Why Fluff-Over-Substance Makes Perfect Evolutionary Sense