Summary
This chapter asks why economic behavior has evolved in the human species. It starts by considering what definition of economic behavior would be adequate in a biological context, and concludes that neither scarcity nor rationality will provide one. Next, the question of whether animals other than humans show economic behavior is considered; it is concluded that in a limited sense they do, but that they do not have an economy in the sense of an organized system of division of labor and exchange relationships. Then the question of why this kind of behavior has emerged in humans alone is considered. It is concluded that human intelligence is not the answer, and that though human language might be, its evolution might equally be a consequence of the prior emergence of an economy. Rather, the origins of the economy seem to lie in the fact that humans are hunters who, being primates, possess hands and are in addition highly social. This argument leads to the surprising conclusion that economic behavior does not derive from biological selfishness, but from the less usual situation of natural co-operation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barash, D.P. (1982). Sociobiology and behavior ( 2nd ed. ). London: Hodder & Stoughton.
Bertram, B.CR. (1978). Pride of lions. London: Dent.
Caraco, T., & Wolf, L.L. (1975). Ecological determinants of group sizes of foraging lions. American Naturalist, 109, 343–352.
Charnov, E.L. (1984). Behavioural ecology of plants. In J.R. Krebs & N.B. Davies (eds.), Behavioural ecology ( 2nd ed., pp. 362–379 ). Oxford: Blackwell.
Cowles, J. T. (1937). Food tokens as incentives for learning by chimpanzees. Comparative Psychology Monographs, 14, 1–96.
Davies, N.B. (1977). Prey selection and the search strategy of the spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata), a field study on optimal foraging. Animal Behaviour, 25, 1016–1033.
Fagen, R. (1981). Animal play behavior. New York: Oxford University Press.
Ferster, C.B., & Skinner, B.F. (1957). Schedules of reinforcement. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Foa, E.B. & Foa, U.G. (1980). Resource theory: Interpersonal behavior as exchange. In K. J. Gergen, M. S. Greenberg & R. H. Willis (eds.), Social exchange: Advances in theory and research (pp. 77–94 ). New Yoik: Plenum.
Grierson, P. (1978). The origins of money. In G. Dalton (ed.), Research in economic anthropology (Vol. 1, pp. 1–35 ). Greenwood CT: JAI Press.
Herrnstein, R.J., & Vaughan, W. (1980). Melioration and behavioral allocation. In J.E.R. Staddon (ed.), Limits to action (pp. 143–176 ). New York: Academic Press.
Jarvis, J.U.M. (1981). Eusociality in a mammal: Co-operative breeding in naked mole rat colonies. Science, 272, 571–573.
Kagel, J.H., Battalio, R.C., Green, L. & Rachlin, H. (1980). Consumer demand theory applied to choice behavior of rats. In J.E.R. Staddon (ed.), Limits to action (pp. 237–267 ). New York: Academic Press.
Lea, S.E.G. (1980). Supply as a factor in motivation. In F.M. Toates & T.R. Halliday (eds.), Analysis of motivational processes (pp. 153–177 ). London: Academic Press.
Lea, S.E.G. (1981). Animal experiments in economic psychology. Journal of Economic Psychology, 7, 245–271.
Lea, S. E. G., & Midgley, M. (1989). La biologie de la monnaie. In M. Gorin (ed.),L’argent (Communications de lEHESS, 50, pp. 121–135 ). Paris: Senil.
Lee, R.B. (1968). What hunters do for a living, or how to make out on scarce resources. In R.B. Lee & I. DeVore (eds.), Man the hunter (pp. 30–48 ). Chicago: Aldine.
Macphail, E.M. (1982). Brain and intelligence in vertebrates. Oxford: Clarendon.
Markowitz, H. (1975). Analysis and control of behavior in the zoo. In Research in zoos and aquariums (pp. 77–90 ). Washington DC: National Academy of Sciences.
Meddis, R. (1975). On the function of sleep. Animal Behaviour, 23, 676–691.
Popper, K.R. (1966). The open society and its enemies: The high tide of prophecy: Hegel, Marx and the aftermath. (Vol. 2, 5th ed. ). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Ryle, G. (1951). Thinking and language. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Suppl, 25, 65–82.
Sahlins, M. (1974). Stone age economics. London: Tavistock.
Schaller, G.B. (1972). The Serengeti lion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Selten, R. (1991). Evolution, learning, and economic behavior. Games and Economic Behavior, 3, 3–24.
Skinner, B.F. (1938). The behavior of organisms. New York: Appleton-Century- Crofts
Smith, A. (1908). An enquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. London: Bell (originally published 1776 ).
Staddon, J.E.R. (1983). Adaptive behavior and learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Symons, D. (1979). The evolution of human sexuality. New York: Oxford University Press.
Van Lawick-Goodall, J. (1974). In the shadow of man. London: Fontana.
Vaughan, W. (1981). Melioration, matching, and maximization. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 36, 141–149.
Wilson, E. O. (1971). The insect societies. Cambridge MA: Harvard/Belknap.
Wittgenstein, L. (1953). Philosophical investigations ( 3rd ed. ). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Wolfe, J. B. (1936). Effectiveness of token-rewards for chimpanzees. Comparative Psychology Monographs, 12 (whole number 60).
Wright, R. V. S. (1972). Imitative learning of a flaked stone technology-The case of an orangutan. Mankind, 8, 296–306.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Lea, S.E.G. (1994). The Evolutionary Biology of Economic Behavior. In: Brandstätter, H., Güth, W. (eds) Essays on Economic Psychology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-48621-0_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-48621-0_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-48623-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-48621-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive