A professor suggests that the increasing problem of obesity in the United States might be attributable to an inherited predisposition to love the taste of sweets and fats. Although these foods helped our ancestors to survive food shortages, today they are easily available and Americans are eating too much of them. What field does the professor's suggestion belong to?
Social Studies · High School · Mon Jan 18 2021
Answered on
The professor's suggestion aligns with the field of evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology seeks to understand human behavior and psychological traits by examining how they may have evolved to serve adaptive functions in the past. In this case, the professor is proposing that an inherited predisposition to love the taste of sweets and fats, which may have been advantageous in times of food scarcity, could contribute to the contemporary problem of obesity in a society where these foods are readily available. The argument is rooted in the idea that certain traits or behaviors may have been adaptive in ancestral environments but may pose challenges in the modern context.