Social Risk Hypothesis
This hypothesis is similar to the rank hypothesis but focuses more on general social approval in a group rather than direct dominance contests. To maintain social ties were critical for survival and reproduction. During the Pleistocene period, for instance, such social ties were vital in food foraging and protection from predators.
Depression, resulting from one’s loss of what one approach calls "Social Attention Holding Power," or SAHP, may have signalled the individual's submissiveness to the more dominant males of the social group through associated symptoms, such as low confidence and anxiety. This, in turn, reduced tension among group members, and enabled bonds to be maintained. Secondly, depression may also have served to signal other members of an individual’s need for aid and desire to reform lost bonds.
Read more about this topic: Evolutionary Approaches To Depression
Famous quotes containing the words social, risk and/or hypothesis:
“I was like a social worker for lepers. My clients had a chunk of their body they wanted to give away; for a price I was there to receive it. Crimes, sins, nightmares, hunks of hair: it was surprising how many of them has something to dispose of. The more I charged, the easier it was for them to breathe freely once more.”
—Tama Janowitz (b. 1957)
“It’s a funny thing, the less people have to live for, the less nerve they have to risk losing—nothing.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“It is more than likely that the brain itself is, in origin and development, only a sort of great clot of genital fluid held in suspense or reserved.... This hypothesis ... would explain the enormous content of the brain as a maker or presenter of images.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)