Humans & Choice-Making
Why do humans make the choices we do? Why do humans tend to be optimistic, even facing bad odds? {For related sources, see Sociobiology.]
Psychological & Evolutionary Roots of Resource Overconsumption: Nate Hagens' sprawling 2009 post on The Oil Drum that "examines our own history on the planet, outlines how the ancient-derived reward pathways of our brain are easily hijacked by modern stimuli, and concludes we have become addicted to the 'consumptive behaviors' linked to oil."
Peak Oil: Believe It or Not? Nate Hagens Nov 2007 post on The Oil Drum examines social and pyschological reasons for humans' lack of urgency in the face of Peak Oil.
Part 4 of Evolutionary psychology and peak oil:
A Malthusian-inspired "heads up" for humanity (Dr. Michael Mills) focuses on evolutionary psychology. This single, huge page, crammed with graphics, requires a long load time and a lot of scrolling; be patient.
Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis (2006): Social psychologist’s investigation of “great ideas” about human choice-making and happiness. He weaves together many strands in this well-written, well-documented, neutral presentation.
Resource Depletion & Human Behavior: Nate Hagens' 2009 presentation (PDF also available) on The Oil Drum examines many issues related to depletion, energy supply, human behaviour and the financial system.
Social Dilemmas: The Anatomy of Cooperation: Peter Kollock's 1998 review of the tension between individual and collective motivations (commons, prisoner's dilemma, etc.)
Timothy Wilson, Strangers to Ourselves (2002): "Discovering the adaptive subconscious"
The Century of the Self: 4-part documentary by Adam Curtis examining how those in power have used Freud's theories to control crowds in 20th-century mass democracies. Origin and history of psychological techniques applied to public relations, i.e., propaganda.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan (2007): "The impact of the highly improbable" on humans who are susceptible to greed, naiveté, and uncritical thinking.
Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point (2000): How ideas, trends, and social behaviors develop and "spread like wildfire." Interesting premise, but rather superficial "analysis."
Governing the Commons: Hopeful analysis of human behaviors that could result in successful management of common resources.
Sustainability and Freedom: Kurt Cobb 2009 post on The Oil Drum investigating what we mean by freedom, humans as selfish maximizers, and the ramifications of resource depletion.
Geoffrey Miller, Spent, 2009: "Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior." Evolutionary psychology takes on marketing, material goods, and consumerism.
Howard Bloom, The Lucifer Principle (1995): Group selection, us vs. them, pecking order, memes > genes, superorganisms....