tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22093933.post4477954085317518673..comments2024-03-28T09:41:15.454-05:00Comments on Deric's MindBlog: A mechanism of why novelty seeking individuals are more vulnerable to social defeat stress.Deric Bowndshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617204535017208765noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22093933.post-31558516970393887942013-07-30T20:18:50.338-05:002013-07-30T20:18:50.338-05:00Actually I'm thinking more along the lines of ...Actually I'm thinking more along the lines of Richerson and Boyd's dual inheritance theory whereby human culture evolves along side human biology. Sensitivity to social defeat could motivate cultural innovations because the status quo would be both unappealing to novelty seekers (by definition) and very stressful (via the absent hippocampal BDNF). Such novelty seekers may then be intrinsically motivated toward cultural innovation and extrinsically motivated by social defeat. <br /><br />Richerson and Boyd propose that prestige and imitation are the primary vectors of cultural inheritance but they also discuss a much more unusual vector that introduces variation and innovation because it's carriers are intrinsically motivated to reject the status quo. It strikes me that social defeat stress may play a role in that dynamic by inspiring innovation (although it would ostensibly sometimes result in learned helplessness as well). I know I've experienced both! <br /><br />Apologies for straying pretty far beyond the domain of this blog. I'll have to work this out further to understand if its completely coherent and not just a little bit circular. It very well could be the case that the stress proneness simply accompanies high novelty seeking (and need for cognition) and that the low stress proneness simply accompanies low novelty seeking (and the need for cognitive closure) as byproducts of those primary interests in novelty or sameness.thwhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12426595036944456436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22093933.post-30599359280232209552013-07-29T13:00:15.823-05:002013-07-29T13:00:15.823-05:00Hmmmm... and the stress sensitivity is a feedback...Hmmmm... and the stress sensitivity is a feedback mechanism to enhance probability that a (socially) novel behavior is congenial to conspecifics?? We're kind of getting out on a limb here. Deric Bowndshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16617204535017208765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22093933.post-66456025021860816192013-07-29T12:11:54.943-05:002013-07-29T12:11:54.943-05:00This is really interesting. I wonder what the syst...This is really interesting. I wonder what the systemic/population adaptive value is for novelty seekers to be prone to social defeat stress? And for low novelty seekers to be protected against social defeat stress? One might propose a theory whereby the novelty seekers are motivated to engage in some level of adaptive social change.thwhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12426595036944456436noreply@blogger.com