Applying Darwinian principles in designing effective intervention strategies: The case of sun tanning

Abstract

Public-service announcements typically seek to educate consumers regarding a given unhealthy practice, the assumption being that individuals will cease the harmful behavior once they are fully informed. Many intervention strategies have failed in curbing the targeted behaviors because these are not due to incomplete information but instead may also have a Darwinian-based etiology. Using sunbathing as a case analysis, it is shown how Darwinian theorizing (evolutionary psychology, life-history theory, gene-culture co-evolution, and memetic theory) can augment social marketers' ability to develop efficacious intervention strategies. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Numerous diseases have an etiology that stems from people's proclivities to engage in unhealthy practices and behaviors. Some of the contributing factors to cardiovascular disease include a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, and an unbalanced diet rich in animal and polysaturated fats. Alcoholism increases the likelihood of liver disease (e.g., cirrhosis) and vehicular injuries. The deleterious effects of anorexia nervosa stem from

An Evolutionary Psychology Perspective on Physical Exercise Motives: Implications for Social Marketing

“…This indicates that appearance and physical attractiveness may be more important to women than men. Indeed, evolutionary psychology suggests that women are genetically aware that men value youth and physical attractiveness in their potential mating partners because these characteristics work as proxy indicators for health and fertility, which in turn offers greater potential for reproductive success (Saad & Peng, 2006). Also, the finding that women score high on appearance is in line with the fact that physical attractiveness has been identified as being of great concern to women across many cultures; it is consistent with the argument that the early socialization of women helps them to develop communal (nurturance and yielding) traits, and is aligned to female mating strategies based on looks and youth that aim to facilitate reproductive success (Saad & Gill, 2000).…”

“…Following evolutionary psychology, it can be argued that both men and women associate enjoyment with physical exercise because they are taking care of themselves (i.e., taking care of their reproductive fitness) in ways that are relevant to their respective mating strategies for reproductive success. Therefore, men can be argued to derive enjoyment from the competitiveness and even aggressiveness (Saad & Peng, 2006;Saad & Gill, 2000) of sports and sporting games, whereas women may enjoy the fact that sports and exercise (at the gym, for example) may provide opportunities for flirting as well as body toning (enhanced physical attractiveness). Finally, only married and divorced participants score high on the socialization motive, with married and divorced men scoring higher than their women counterparts.…”

“…Evolutionary psychology endeavors to explain behavior in relation to 'genetic' cognitive, perceptual and/or motivational processes, including desires, and attitudes (Jackson, 2005), which developed through natural, and sexual selection as adaptive responses to ancestral environmental circumstances and pressures (Lynn, Kampschroeder, & Pereira, 1999;Jackson, 2005;Saad & Peng, 2006). Further, this theoretical perspective acknowledges that humans have biologically evolved, and adapted over millennia to function in environments that no longer exist; environments that have changed much more radically, and dynamically than the sluggish process of natural selection (Hantula, 2003).…”

“…On this basis, evolutionary psychology can offer an innovative approach to social marketing issues. However, this study focuses only on the reproductive strategies and sexual behavior aspects of evolutionary psychology to explain physical exercise, primarily because this work is based on the research of Saad and Peng (2006).…”

“…Saad and Peng (2006) suggest that the lack of success of many public and social marketing intervention programs emanates from an inadequate understanding of the innate motives which drive people to engage in unhealthy behaviors. Additionally, Saad (2006, p. 197) suggests that "to develop appropriate intervention strategies (e.g.…”