This thread has been equally entertaining as informative. I never would have thought that an economic discussion would include reference to Freddy Krueger or Nightmare on Elm St. :-) Personally, I believe the argument about disaster and happiness is a bit tautological in scope. "End of Days" could result in such overwhelming disutility that risk-averse atomistic agents would tend to defer present consumption, including procreative activities. Afterall, there will be no need to properly discount the future. QED
Bill Dickens (FL-based) -----Original Message----- From: Grey Thomas [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2001 12:13 PM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: RE: Disaster Raises Happiness, Trust I think the popularity of "Nightmare on Elm Street", etc., including with many young women, is fairly relevant, and supportive of "stress arousal". I'd suspect a strong second order effect in women: the men are "more than usually" aroused; which leads to "more than usual" arousal in the women. I'd suspect women who are NOT more than usually aroused with such men to be at a doubly severe evolutionary disadvantage: a) fewer children overall, and b) less likely to keep a father around to help with the kids she does have. Tom Grey -----Original Message----- From: William Dickens [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2001 4:17 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Disaster Raises Happiness, Trust I think this is a good EP explanation for men, but there is a problem with it as an explanation for women. I have to admit that I don't know if women are aroused by stress as well, but from the woman's perspective it would seem that her offspring would be most likely to succeed if she waited for the guys to come back and then picked from that bunch. They would presumably be a more fit sub-sample of the original population and would be more likely to be around to help provide for the children. - - Bill Dickens William T. Dickens The Brookings Institution 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20036 Phone: (202) 797-6113 FAX: (202) 797-6181 E-MAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED] AOL IM: wtdickens >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 10/01/01 10:19PM >>> With regard to Mr. Dickens' comment regarding whether stress should cause sexual arousal, I am tempted to think that evolutionary psychology can certainly explain this phenomenon. Early societies, according to most models of human development, used the males as hunters and warriors; females were gatherers. With this division of labor, males certainly incurred the more perilous part of the community's job. Before an important hunt or major battle, it is manifestly in the male's evolutionary favor to become sexually aroused; after all, this may be his genome's last chance to reproduce itself! Even if he dies in battle, his sex partners -- still safely at home -- will be able to bear his young.
