tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post1619750861474915882..comments2023-06-05T11:51:38.383-04:00Comments on Evolutionary Psychiatry: Are You Cool Enough to have a Healthy Immune System?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04429177284200775781noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-79467016162578410982012-04-28T14:19:14.446-04:002012-04-28T14:19:14.446-04:00your site is very nice and neat, I'm happy to ...your site is very nice and neat, I'm happy to visit hereObat Kutil Kelaminhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04581019460083066058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-91841450002761000462012-04-22T13:18:35.887-04:002012-04-22T13:18:35.887-04:00I agree that we, loosely, are the children of the ...I agree that we, loosely, are the children of the winners, but the post World War 2 developed world generations are increasingly not so. Access to medical science and technology is a two edged sword.Gabriella Kadarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18294468426599703416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-73104784582584607272012-04-18T20:35:22.579-04:002012-04-18T20:35:22.579-04:00There is a completely non-scientific book called &...There is a completely non-scientific book called "Class" by Paul Fussell that is a must-read on the subject of status.<br /><br />And my own favorite quote on the topic summarizes the outlook of the book, although I cannot recall where the quote comes from. It might even be PJ O'Rourke:<br /><br />"At either end of the social spectrum lies a leisure class.."<br /><br />Sapolsky himself described how much easier life is for the non-alpha males in the troop.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-88612392004006157552012-04-17T16:11:12.865-04:002012-04-17T16:11:12.865-04:00If I go to prom in that Limo, will it help my immu...If I go to prom in that Limo, will it help my immune system? The plot of every movie ever seems to argue yes...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04429177284200775781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-7386459640242962952012-04-17T16:07:26.826-04:002012-04-17T16:07:26.826-04:00I do love the Adagio for Strings, so much, in fact...I do love the Adagio for Strings, so much, in fact, that I find it hard to find a sublime version worthy of the music! There's nothing quite like a good Adagio...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04429177284200775781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-64561834278681212332012-04-17T11:00:05.641-04:002012-04-17T11:00:05.641-04:00"Don't forget that we are the children of..."Don't forget that we are the children of all the winners, generation after generation, for millennia." <br /><br />That depends on how you define "winner".Edward Edmondshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12959192296683716939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-18422212572361772022012-04-16T18:57:58.774-04:002012-04-16T18:57:58.774-04:00The study which Emily cites includes the following...The study which Emily cites includes the following reference when it mentions how the findings might relate to humans: Sapolsky RM (2004) Social status and health in humans and other animals. Annu Rev Anthropol 33:393–418<br /><br />I had a read through the relevant parts of this and it suggests that everyone would be a lot happier if we lived in less socio-economically unequal societies, citing the correlation between inequality and poor health (which remains even when taking into account a variety confounding factors). Sapolsky mentions hunter-gatherer societies as fairly egalitarian.<br /><br />To me, this seems somewhat unintuitive since, in my experience, social environments can be oppressively hierarchical without any distinctions of wealth or social background, and fairly egalitarian even with these distinctions. It seems unlikely that people would be strongly affected by something as abstract as overall socio-economic status. But if that's what the evidence shows, I guess I'm probably wrong.<br /><br />I would be really interested in knowing whether Sapolsky's optimism about the status-effect being much weaker in hunter-gatherer societies, due to greater equality, is warranted or not.Nicolas Zaphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03707833822665369831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-67978387779338564162012-04-16T14:37:06.822-04:002012-04-16T14:37:06.822-04:00It would be interesting if this was able to be rep...It would be interesting if this was able to be reproduced in a human population, say in a prison or jail (observable hierarchy). I'm guessing more than a few prisoners would be willing to trade a blood draw for a couple extra hours in the yard (except that would then turn into a confounder ;)Jarrod Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02902438105489661931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-37988663041432618792012-04-16T13:29:39.684-04:002012-04-16T13:29:39.684-04:00@Nicolas--exactly, we possess multiple identities,...@Nicolas--exactly, we possess multiple identities, and project multiple identities onto others; so perhaps we can project something like equality and value onto everyone, reducing our stress, Zenlike. Overcoming our unconscious tendencies to belittle and rank--could this be enlightenment?doctor catfishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08614245075727193042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-76404691825775534742012-04-16T12:48:09.846-04:002012-04-16T12:48:09.846-04:00Thanks for turning me on to that adagio. One of m...Thanks for turning me on to that adagio. One of my current favorites is Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. It's used in lots of movies, most notably, for me, Oliver Stone's "Platoon." Most folks haven't heard the full 11-minute version.<br /><br />-SteveSteve Parker, M.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13127995984175635389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-56199065440773941552012-04-16T10:18:47.282-04:002012-04-16T10:18:47.282-04:00Someone once asked me if my health problems seemed...Someone once asked me if my health problems seemed to track with unhappiness, so I started tracking that a year ago and never found a correlation. But the thing was, I was living in NYC. I was living in crowded conditions, often with roommates who weren't so nice. My career was at a dead end and I felt excluded from the "real" culture of NYC, which seemed only for rich people. I wasn't near family and I hardly ever saw my friends. Since I moved to Chicago, my status shot up because it's cheaper here and I guess it's no surprise that my health seems a lot more resilient.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06262730156552874803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-24390371168128254682012-04-16T08:09:23.163-04:002012-04-16T08:09:23.163-04:00Well, a bad narcissist will tend to have somewhat...Well, a bad narcissist will tend to have somewhat erratic behavior and the high-handedness will anger most. Therefore he/she will eventually be toppled and marginalized, or driven from the group. Some devoted followers might go with the original, densely narcissistic leader, leading to a "split" in the community.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04429177284200775781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-44223941342064402492012-04-16T07:59:03.413-04:002012-04-16T07:59:03.413-04:00The researchers tracked immune response through va...The researchers tracked immune response through variations in the hierarchy of the group, finding that immune changes followed rise or change in status, not the other way around. But it could work both ways - a sick individual would likely fall in status also.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04429177284200775781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-17582408833992752852012-04-16T04:54:09.083-04:002012-04-16T04:54:09.083-04:00Given that, unlike other primates, each modern hum...Given that, unlike other primates, each modern human usually possesses multiple identities from which they might derive a sense of high or low status, it would be interesting to know whether humans' sense of status is constantly fluctuating depending on the scenario.<br /><br />Another thought: Do you think that the status-obsessed nature of our brains means that equality is basically impossible? That, unconsciously or not, we put everyone either above or below us? This would mean that if we were to accept status-improvement as an important part of any health-improvement programme, we would need to make "belittle others" another health imperative (I'd like to see that on Chris Kresser's 9 steps!), since status is always relative.Nicolas Zaphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03707833822665369831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-1109875460669111722012-04-16T00:42:23.612-04:002012-04-16T00:42:23.612-04:00What if the causality worked the other way? The s...What if the causality worked the other way? The selection pressure are for the monkeys with better immune responses to move up the social ladder. That is, good immune system leads to better chance of higher social status. Rather than higher social status leads to better immune system. Just a guess.js290https://www.blogger.com/profile/08157385596237909630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-783129634676504272012-04-15T23:37:40.706-04:002012-04-15T23:37:40.706-04:00Richard Mackarness made this point, I think it is ...Richard Mackarness made this point, I think it is in "not all in the mind", 1976, that hereditary aristocrats do not fatten easily because their ancestors always had enough food. Thus predicting epigenetics.<br />He also wrote this wonderful little book in 1958<br />http://www.ourcivilisation.com/fat/index.htmPuddleghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00953398103675945541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-27463936155345464992012-04-15T22:28:22.703-04:002012-04-15T22:28:22.703-04:00It looks like it is very healthy to be a really de...It looks like it is very healthy to be a really dense narcissistic ass with inflated sense of self-importance.Galina L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09156132815504279615noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045634714760830992.post-59521540328566503302012-04-15T21:46:41.969-04:002012-04-15T21:46:41.969-04:00Awesome post. Ironically 'The Red Queen' i...Awesome post. Ironically 'The Red Queen' is my current (leisure) read. At this rate I'll have it done in about 2 years. <br /><br />Wonder what the respective CD8 counts of med students, residents, and attendings looks like? :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com