Directed Attention & Human Civilization

It seems that directed attention is an evolutionary consequence of human civilization. We need directed attention because the important/purposeful and the interesting are not the same in our societies. In the modern world the split between the important and the interesting has become extreme (Kaplan 1995).

It is true that we have become less vulnerable to the natural environment because of human civilization. But we have also created a complex social environment, and we now have to adapt to both the natural and social environments. And the prices we pay for the benefit of human civilization are high.

First, civilization leads to economically successful societies in which life becomes dull (Hebb 1976), but we know that the need for excitement is very important for humans. Second, the split between the important and the interesting in the social environment makes directed attention necessary, and directed attention uses the very limited resources of the brain. Third, it has been suggested that natural evolution has given humans higher level of freedom in natural environment than lower species (Kummer 1995), but in the social environment our freedom is very much restricted by laws, regulations and norms. Overall, it is hard to say that we enjoy more freedom than other animals. Finally, it is taking longer and longer schooling to get the young people prepared for survival in the social environment (to survive a dull life).

An ideal society is the one, in which the interesting and the important/purposeful are the same, and therefore we would be able to accomplish much more with our limited brain resources, and life would be both purposeful and interesting. The society we live in now is far from this ideal, and it may be moving further away from this ideal.

References

Kummer, H. 1995. In Quest of the Sacred Baboon. Princeton University Press

Hebb, D.O. 1976. Physiological learning theory. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

Kaplan, S. 1995. The urban forest as a source of psychological well-being. In Bradley, G. (Ed.) Urban Forest Landscapes: Integrating Multidisciplinary Perspectives. University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA

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