Course 1 of 28
Human Nature Under Scarcity
What You Will Gain
After this course, you will be able to detect the difference between what people say and what they actually value, and understand why human behavior follows predictable patterns under constraint.
About This Course
People behave according to what they bear costs for. This course teaches the evolutionary foundations of human behavior: status competition, kin selection, coalition formation, signaling, time preference, and the strategies that keep cooperation fragile. You must understand acquisition before cooperation makes sense.
Curriculum
- 01
Why Do People Compete for Status?
Concept: Dominance Hierarchies
- 02
Why Do People Favor Family?
Concept: Kin Selection
- 03
Why Do Friend Groups Form?
Concept: Coalition Formation
- 04
Why Do People Care About Reputation?
Concept: Signaling
- 05
Why Do Some People Focus on the Present?
Concept: Time Preference and Uncertainty
- 06
Why Do Some People Cheat?
Concept: Evolutionary Strategies
- 07
Why Do People Display Success?
Concept: Status Competition
- 08
Why Do People Cooperate Despite Competition?
Concept: Behavior Under Scarcity
Capstone Project
Produce a behavior profile of one recurring social situation you experience directly. Map the hierarchy, coalitions, signals, time-preference patterns, and competition strategies at work. Make visible the incentive structures that drive the behavior of real people in a context you know well.
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