Why Do We Do That?

An Evolutionary Look At Human Behavior

AS THE HOST OF THE BBC PODCAST “Why Do We Do That? An Anthropologist’s Guide to the Modern World,” Ella Al-Shamahi dives into the cultural, historical, and evolutionary story of everyday human habits and behavior.

“There are lots of everyday things which, when you think about them, are pretty weird,” says AlShamahi. “Social media may tell you to blame the latest influencer who went viral. Your therapist might tell you to blame your parents, but I am here to tell you to blame your great, great, great, great, great, etc., grandparents. For some stuff at least.”

Why do we doomscroll?

In 2020, the word “doomscrolling” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary. It refers to “the practice of obsessively checking online news for updates, especially on social media feeds, with the expectation that the news will be bad, such that the feeling of dread from this negative expectation fuels a compulsion to continue looking for updates in a self-perpetuating cycle.”

This compulsion to consume negative information may date back to our early human ancestors, when understanding potential threats was a matter of life or death.

“Knowing that there were yummy mushrooms near a tree was great,” says Al-Shamahi. “But if there were killer insects on the same tree, that’s the real information you need to get into your head immediately. From an evolutionary perspective, it is more important to survive than to thrive, so having a negativity bias is a survival mechanism.”

Humans have biological tendencies that are in constant interaction with culture and context. The internet supplies access to the world’s seemingly infinite number of wrong-doings and catastrophes. When that access is paired with a biological predisposition to fixate on negative information, your brain may struggle to recognize when enough negativity is enough.

“Ask yourself if this [negative information] is helping you or those around you, and if it’s not, at what point should you stop reading and try to do something about it?”

Why do we shake hands?

The handshake spans many historical eras and can be found across a variety of cultures. Despite a common belief that shaking hands originated from individuals who wanted to demonstrate that they were unarmed, Al-Shamahi says there is convincing evidence that the handshake is biological, rather than cultural.

“It’s deep within our DNA,” she says. “Chimps are our closest living relatives, and both them and the bonobos shake hands.”

Primatologists have found that chimps’ handshakes are linked to positive social interactions, often observing how the behavior is used as a method of de-escalation after a physical altercation.

“It is just incredible. And you think, if our closest living relatives are shaking hands, it suggests that we’ve always been shaking hands and that our shaking hands is at least seven million years old, which is when our common ancestor with the chimps was around.”