When I first heard about evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller’s recent tweet;
‘Dear obese PhD applicants: if you didn’t have the willpower to stop eating carbs, you won’t have the willpower to do a dissertation. #truth.’,
my first reaction to this was ‘how could an evo-psych (i.e. an academic, scientist, researcher) even say that?!’. But then a few ideas clicked together, as they always do in an anthropologists mind, and mixing in a little biological anthropology and basic social awareness, plus what I know of our media’s obsession with the ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality (has anyone else had the chance to be entertained by American Ninja Warrior?), my reaction modified itself into, ‘oh, that is exactely something an evo-psych would say’. I am not sure whether this last thought was spoiled with contempt or simple amusement but it settled my ruffled feathers for a bit; even though I am neither overweight or working on my dissertation I pretend no omnipotence over cake and pie and no loft over writer's block. I am susceptible to natural human urges, as we all are, and do not feel that this threatens my potential for academic greatness in any way although I do understand his conjecture here.
Evolutionary psychology certainly is the discipline, of any, to point the finger at human behaviors but usually does so in an incredibly open-minded and productive way. However to suggest that a primal desire for high-energy foods can in any way forecast our motivation to get a Ph.D severs Miller’s tweet from the discipline and its Darwinian allegiance. True, social Darwinism posits that natural selection can, over time, occur due to social pressures like mating choices and kinship patterning. Obesity is not seen absolutely everywhere as a necessarily poor social determinate, however. If we understand obesity as simply a matter of will-power and personal choice alone then we, theoretically, cut out a huge portion of the U.S. as candidates for advanced degrees (doesn’t sound like a good plan, even in theory). This is fine for Miller and his work but really problematic for actual normal living beings who are, say, obese and applying to Ph.D programs. Personal choice, research is beginning to show, is not all that is involved in the global obesity pandemic. I read a great article, shared by the Neuroanthropology Interest Group on Facebook via Jeffrey Snodgrass over at Colorado State, on some plausible global and environmental forces in the obesity crisis, including SES, quality of food and even controlled temperatures (Berreby, 2013). Most strikingly, lab rats were found to have gained average weight over the last few decades despite ever-rigorous attempts at complete control over their environment, diet and exercise included. These rats had absolutely no will-power or personal choice to blame for their weight gain so Miller’s suggestion that will-power is what is crucial to both maintaining a healthy weight and defending a dissertation is encumbered a bit.
Further into the article, I start to worry. Artificial light, allowing us to eat at night when our ancestors couldn’t, controlled temperatures in buildings, which don’t require your body to expend any energy (i.e. calories) in maintaining thermoregulation and BPAs (yikes!), that alter cells’ energy storage mechanisms all are offered as possible causes for the obesity crisis. This article is a little disconcerting in effect but it offers some refreshing resistance to the argument that will-power is directly linked to weight and that, ever so indirectly, weight is linked to an inability to earn a Ph.D. Needless to say, I suspect any applicants hoping to work under Miller and his colleagues, regardless of their weight, may question whether or not this theory is the kind of theory one wants to back up for the sake of their advisor as it takes such a radical position on what is a really a multitude of issues lumped into one. A Ph.D does takes will-power, this cannot be argued against, but it also takes open-mindedness and the ability to not jump on every passing bandwagon, making Miller’s statement, like his theory, seriously doubtable, if not laughable. Oh, and one more thing Miller; brains love carbs. #truth.
Further into the article, I start to worry. Artificial light, allowing us to eat at night when our ancestors couldn’t, controlled temperatures in buildings, which don’t require your body to expend any energy (i.e. calories) in maintaining thermoregulation and BPAs (yikes!), that alter cells’ energy storage mechanisms all are offered as possible causes for the obesity crisis. This article is a little disconcerting in effect but it offers some refreshing resistance to the argument that will-power is directly linked to weight and that, ever so indirectly, weight is linked to an inability to earn a Ph.D. Needless to say, I suspect any applicants hoping to work under Miller and his colleagues, regardless of their weight, may question whether or not this theory is the kind of theory one wants to back up for the sake of their advisor as it takes such a radical position on what is a really a multitude of issues lumped into one. A Ph.D does takes will-power, this cannot be argued against, but it also takes open-mindedness and the ability to not jump on every passing bandwagon, making Miller’s statement, like his theory, seriously doubtable, if not laughable. Oh, and one more thing Miller; brains love carbs. #truth.
References:
Berreby, David
2013 The Obesity Era: As the American people got fatter, so did marmosets, vervet monkeys and mice. The problem may be bigger than any of us, Aeon, published 6/19/13,
accessed 8/5/13.
Miller, Geoffrey (@matingmind). "Dear obese PhD applicants: if you didn’t have the willpower to stop eating carbs, you won’t have the willpower to do a dissertation. #truth." 6/2/13, 1:23pm. Tweet.
