Why are women shop-a-holics? Why are men - sports fanatics?
Spending millions of hours shopping sounds like bliss to me ! And I can bet that the guys have no issues with the idea of watching sports all day long. These very simple activities bring a lot of pleasure to us. But at the same time there is a noticeable difference between the gender preferences. Guys whine about having to drag around till we finish our shopping and at the same time girls often get offended by the numerous hours spent in front of television - watching sports!
Evolutionary psychology explains these particular character traits as something we evolved with. Our ancestors are believed to have lead a “hunter-gatherer” form of survival. Small groups or clusters of people were formed. They lived in small colonies where in the men would hunt for food and women would gather food material and bring up children. Men learned to live in harmony owing to formation of such groups. Co-operation and co-existence formed a lifestyle. The nomadic life style soon changed and lead to the formation of societies.
Evolutionary psychology is the science that seeks to explain through universal mechanisms of behavior why humans act the way they do. Evolutionary psychology seeks to reconstruct problems that our ancestors faced in their primitive environments, and the problem-solving mechanisms they created to meet those particular challenges. From these reconstructed problem-solving adaptations, the science then attempts to establish the common roots of our ancestral behavior, and how those common behavioral roots are manifested today in the widely scattered cultures of the planet. The goal is to understand human behavior that is universally aimed at the passing of one's genes into the next generation.
Our physical characteristics have been selected by the process of "Natural Selection". In the same way - certain personality traits have also evolved. Shopping is a form of gathering things. Ancestral women that were good "gatherers" survived and passed on their genes. In modern society basic survival needs are easily met. "Gathering" or "Hunting" isn’t essential to our survival. Nevertheless, we do gain pleasure from pursuing these activities. The thrill of finding a good buy, the joy from finding something suitable for our family or loved ones are simple pleasures that once were essential to survival.
In a similar manner - observe any sport that is played today. It is all about achieving a goal, gaining a target by co-operation of a group or a team. Hunting constituted of the same thing. Men went out in groups to hunt - to make a kill - to bring food for their families. A good hunt was essential to their survival and the good hunters were the only ones that survived. This instinct again has no place in the modern world. Men have formed "sports" "games" which enable them to use their physical strength and age-old instincts to make a goal - a hunt! Gaining a good contract, a promotion, making a good deal – all are various forms of a good “hunt” in the modern society.
