2019-03-28, 02:55 PM
Research article:
I wonder what ingenious evolutionary psychology just-so story will be invented to explain how research has shown that individuals seeking higher well-being (spiritual meaning) especially through service typically have better health through lower stress hormone levels and associated gene expression levels, than those looking just for shallow self-indulgent pleasures. This would seem to be counter to the materialist ideology. Committed materialists sneer at the notion of "higher spiritual" meanings and purposes, considering them fantasies and representing nothing real. Why would evolution make these more realistic(?) materialist views less fit than spiritual belief systems? Dealing with the world as it really is without illusionary fantasies would supposedly be more "fit".
Of course, it might be (at least in the minds of evolutionary psychologists) a battle between two contrary effects - the supposed promulgation of the genes advantages of things like kin selection in altruism, versus the supposed promulgation of the genes advantages of selfish realism in dealing with the world. I would think the latter effect would predominate.
Quote:"Philosophers have long distinguished two basic forms of well-being: a 'hedonic' form representing an individual's pleasurable experiences, and a deeper 'eudaimonic' form that results from striving toward meaning and a noble purpose beyond simple self-gratification...
.....................................
It's the difference, for example, between enjoying a good meal and feeling connected to a larger community through a service project, she said. Both give us a sense of happiness, but each is experienced very differently in the body's cells.
.....................................
Past work by Cole and colleagues had discovered a systematic shift in gene expression associated with chronic stress, a shift "characterized by increased expression of genes involved in inflammation" that are implicated in a wide variety of human ills, including arthritis and heart disease, and "decreased expression of genes involved in … antiviral responses," the study noted.
.....................................
Eudaimonic well-being was associated with a significant decrease in the stress-related CTRA gene expression profile. In contrast, hedonic well-being was associated with a significant increase in the CTRA profile. Their genomics-based analyses, the authors reported, reveal the hidden costs of purely hedonic well-being."
.....................................
At the cellular level, our bodies appear to respond better to a different kind of well-being, one based on a sense of connectedness and purpose."
I wonder what ingenious evolutionary psychology just-so story will be invented to explain how research has shown that individuals seeking higher well-being (spiritual meaning) especially through service typically have better health through lower stress hormone levels and associated gene expression levels, than those looking just for shallow self-indulgent pleasures. This would seem to be counter to the materialist ideology. Committed materialists sneer at the notion of "higher spiritual" meanings and purposes, considering them fantasies and representing nothing real. Why would evolution make these more realistic(?) materialist views less fit than spiritual belief systems? Dealing with the world as it really is without illusionary fantasies would supposedly be more "fit".
Of course, it might be (at least in the minds of evolutionary psychologists) a battle between two contrary effects - the supposed promulgation of the genes advantages of things like kin selection in altruism, versus the supposed promulgation of the genes advantages of selfish realism in dealing with the world. I would think the latter effect would predominate.