Human Adaptation

Examines, from both biological and cultural perspectives, a particular phenomenon which determines the ways that human populations are organized and work. The book aims to present, in a specifically human context, the way the adaptation concept has been used and its development in different fields.

Why it matters that our relationship with nature is increasingly mediated and augmented by technology. Our forebears may have had a close connection with the natural world, but increasingly we experience technological nature. Children come of age watching digital nature programs on television. They inhabit virtual lands in digital games. And they play with robotic animals, purchased at big box stores. Until a few years ago, hunters could "telehunt"—shoot and kill animals in Texas from a computer anywhere in the world via a Web interface. Does it matter that much of our experience with nature is mediated and augmented by technology? In Technological Nature, Peter Kahn argues that it does, and shows how it affects our well-being. Kahn describes his investigations of children's and adults' experiences of cutting-edge technological nature. He and his team installed "technological nature windows" (50-inch plasma screens showing high-definition broadcasts of real-time local nature views) in inside offices on his university campus and assessed the physiological and psychological effects on viewers. He studied children's and adults' relationships with the robotic dog AIBO (including possible benefits for children with autism). And he studied online "telegardening" (a pastoral alternative to "telehunting"). Kahn's studies show that in terms of human well-being technological nature is better than no nature, but not as good as actual nature. We should develop and use technological nature as a bonus on life, not as its substitute, and re-envision what is beautiful and fulfilling and often wild in essence in our relationship with the natural world.

Undoubtedly this symposium will prove to be an important landmark in the development of our understanding of the psychopathology of human adaptation in general, as well as of the general adaptation syndrome and stress in particular. It was organized to give an opportunity to an international group of experts on adaptation and stress research to present summaries of their research that could then later be exhaustively analyzed. The carefully structured program brings out three major aspects of adapta tion to stress in experimental animals and man. The first section deals with the neurophysiology of stress responses, placing major emphasis upon the neuroanatomical and neurochemical aspects involved. The second section is devoted to the psychology and psychopathology of adaptive learning, motivation, anxiety, and stress. The third section examines the role played by stress in the pathogenesis of mental diseases. Many of the relevant subjects receive particularly detailed attention. Among these, the following are especially noteworthy: The existence of reward and drive neurons. Constitutional differences in physiological adaptations to stress and d- tress. Motivation, mood, and mental events in relation to adaptive processes. Peripheral catecholamines and adaptation to underload and overload. Selective corticoid and catecholamine responses to various natural stimuli. The differentiation between eustress and distress. Resistance and overmotivation in achievement-oriented activity. The dynamics of conscience and contract psychology. Sources of stress in the drive for power. Advances in the therapy of psychiatric illness. The application of experimental studies on learning to the treatment of neuroses.

A text that explores how humans adapt to conditions of physical stress

​ Over the last decade the science and medicine of high altitude and hypoxia adaptation has seen great advances. High Altitude: Human Adaptation to Hypoxia addresses the challenges in dealing with the changes in human physiology and the particular medical conditions that arise from exposure to high altitude. In-depth and comprehensive chapters cover both the basic science and the clinical consequences of exposure to high altitude. Genetic, cellular, organ and whole body system responses to high altitudes are covered and chapters discuss these effects on a wide range of diseases. Expert authors provide insight into the care of patients with pre-existing medical conditions that fail in some cases to adapt as well as offer insights into how high altitude research can help critically ill patients. High Altitude: Human Adaptation to Hypoxia is an important new volume that offers a window into greater understanding and more successful treatment of hypoxic human diseases.

The Ecological Transition studies the relationships between humans and the physical environment. It also assesses some converging approaches in cultural anthropology, including cultural ecology, economic anthropology, social exchange, and behavioral adaptation. Comprised of ten chapters, this book focuses on ecological transition, which refers to the process by which humans incorporate nature into society. It discusses how to formulate a policy-oriented cultural ecology and looks at the ecological transition as material evolution and as a problem of equilibrium. The succeeding chapters review some of the contributions of cultural ecology, including its successes and failures. Finally, the book examines the concept of adaptive and maladaptive actions in human ecology. This book is useful for anthropologists who are interested in cultural-ecological research and its implications in public policy.

Underlying the anthropological study of humans is the principle that there is a reality to which a human must adapt for survival. Populations must adapt to the realities of the physical world and maintain a proper fit between their biological makeup and the pressures of the various niches of the world. Social groups must develop adaptive mechanisms in the organization of their social relations if there is to be order, regularity, and predictability in patterns of cooperation and competition. This book presents an introduction to anthropology that is unified and made systematic by its focus on adaptations that have accompanied the evolution of humans, from non-human primates to inhabitants of vast urban areas in modern industrial societies. Human Adaptation contains over forty outstanding essays that are intended to serve as an introduction to physical anthropology, archeology, and linguistics from the point of view of the processes of adaptation. The organization of these selections contains a balance between biological and prehistoric cultural adaptations. They provide coherence for the study of human evolution. Several selections, notably those in connection with linguistic adaptations, deal with contemporary people in order to shed light on earlier evolutionary processes. More than half of the selections deal with biological evolution. This volume unifies the subject matter of anthropology within a single and powerful explanatory framework and incorporates the work of the most renowned anthropological experts on man.

Underlying the anthropological study of humans is the principle that there is a reality to which a human must adapt for survival. Populations must adapt to the realities of the physical world and maintain a proper fit between their biological makeup and the pressures of the various niches of the world. Social groups must develop adaptive mechanisms in the organization of their social relations if there is to be order, regularity, and predictability in patterns of cooperation and competition. This book presents an introduction to anthropology that is unified and made systematic by its focus on adaptations that have accompanied the evolution of humans, from non-human primates to inhabitants of vast urban areas in modern industrial societies. Human Adaptation contains over forty outstanding essays that are intended to serve as an introduction to physical anthropology, archeology, and linguistics from the point of view of the processes of adaptation. The organization of these selections contains a balance between biological and prehistoric cultural adaptations. They provide coherence for the study of human evolution. Several selections, notably those in connection with linguistic adaptations, deal with contemporary people in order to shed light on earlier evolutionary processes. More than half of the selections deal with biological evolution. This volume unifies the subject matter of anthropology within a single and powerful explanatory framework and incorporates the work of the most renowned anthropological experts on man.