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Conservation combats exploitation: Choices within an evolutionary framework

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2014

X. T. Wang
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD [email protected]://www.usd.edu/~xtwang
Shu Li
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 China. [email protected]@psych.ac.cn
Li-Lin Rao
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 China. [email protected]@psych.ac.cn

Abstract

Intentional change when viewed as making a risky or intertemporal choice with evolutionary relevance helps us understand its successes and its failures. To promote future-oriented ecological rationality requires establishing a linkage between nongenetic, cultural, and symbolic selections and genetic adaptations. Coupled with biophilic instinct, intentional conservation is more likely to prevail against evolved desires of environmental exploitation.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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