The reference library

The whole evidence base, in the order the argument runs.

Modern human suffering is, in many cases, accurate biological signaling in a mismatched environment - not disorder inside the individual. This library holds the work behind that claim, in the order the argument runs: what the organism needs, how those systems work, where the environment breaks the fit, how the inputs can be repaired, and the evidence under all of it.

Library snapshot as of 2026-08-11.

Need

Foundations

The premises the framework builds on. Their canonical home is the locked stack, where the layers are laid out in order; this is a flat browse. Every code deep-links into its layer there.

OF1frameframe

Fitness Interface

Access to the world is mediated by evolved fitness interfaces, not guaranteed veridicality.

OF2frameframe

Signal-Default Epistemology

Motivational-emotional outputs are treated as prima facie informative about the organism's regulated conditions, by default. The signal is read as information about input conditions and current state, not as noise to be suppressed. This is a diagnostic default, not a presumption of veridicality (OF1 stands) and not a contraindication to symptom relief where indicated. The default is displaced by positive evidence of decoupling or direct physiological perturbation: developmental miscalibration carried forward, chronic dysregulation, acute organic disease or state shift (sleep deprivation, inflammation, endocrine perturbation, delirium), structural damage, and substance or medication effects.

P1premiseestablished

Inclusive Fitness

Inclusive fitness - survival and reproduction - is the loss function of selection, not of the organism's runtime computation.

P2premiseestablished

Domain-Sensitive Interacting Adaptations

The organism contains evolved, domain-sensitive, interacting functional adaptations.

P3premiseestablished

Systematic Mismatch

Modern environments often push these adaptations outside their expected or regulatable operating ranges.

DA1propertyestablished

Defensive Signals Under Mismatch

Many aversive outputs are intelligible defensive signals under mismatch, not evidence of defective design.

DA2propertyestablished

Socially Scaffolded Regulation

Human regulation is constitutively socially scaffolded; social context is likely the highest-leverage cross-cutting input dimension.

DA3propertyestablished

Recurrent Coupling and Cascading

Systems are recurrently coupled; perturbations propagate and can self-maintain across domains.

DA4propertyestablished

Proxy Hijacking via Open Loops

Proxy cues can activate systems without meeting the conditions that normally regulate or terminate them.

DA5propertyestablished

Defensive Over-Activation Bias

Defensive systems err toward over-activation under asymmetric error costs.

DA6propertyestablished

Competing Motivational Programs

The architecture contains partially competing motivational programs and tradeoff structures.

DA7propertyestablished

Developmental Calibration

The architecture calibrates to developmental and ongoing environmental input within evolved ranges.

DA8propertyestablished

Phylogenetic Priority

Motivational programs have phylogenetically determined priority relations. Older, survival-critical systems can suppress or commandeer newer systems.

DA9propertystrongly supported

Non-Substitutability of Mechanism Resolution

Mechanism resolution conditions are not fully interchangeable. Improvement in one mechanism can buffer or modulate consequences in another, especially where mechanisms are recurrently coupled (DA3), but cross-system buffering does not generally replace the specific resolution conditions of an impaired mechanism. Well-being is often bottlenecked by severe unresolved deficits in individual mechanisms and is not well described as a simple average across mechanism states.

DA10propertystrongly supported

Heritable Parameter Variation

Architecture parameters (drive gains, thresholds, calibration setpoints) vary between individuals within heritable ranges.

DC1consequenceestablished

Allostatic Load Accumulation

Chronic unresolved activation accumulates as allostatic load.

DC2consequencestrongly supported

Market Proxy Exploitation

Markets can industrialize proxy exploitation of unmet regulatory needs.

DC3consequenceplausible synthesis

Environment as Primary Intervention Layer

Cortical override of subcortical activation is metabolically expensive, and chronic defensive activation downregulates the cortical override machinery itself. Interventions that change the organism's actual input conditions are therefore frequently more durable and less effort-dependent than interventions targeting cognitive override alone. The environment is a primary intervention layer for systemic and population-scale change, and is currently underweighted by major institutions. This does not preclude individual-level cognitive, pharmacological, or psychotherapeutic interventions where indicated; the claim is about default leverage and systemic design, not exclusivity or head-to-head comparative efficacy in individual cases.

Operate

Convergences

Places where separate research traditions arrive at the same structure. That is harder to dismiss than any single study.

C1established

Inclusive Fitness as Loss Function

Natural selection operates on inclusive fitness - survival plus reproduction weighted by relatedness - establishing a single loss function that all evolved motivational architecture serves, as demonstrated independently by Darwinian selection theory, Hamilton's kin-selection formalism, and experimental altruistic-punishment findings that humans enforce cooperation at personal cost where inclusive-fitness logic predicts.

Independent literatures
  • Darwin natural selection theory
  • Hamilton inclusive fitness formalism
  • Fehr & Gächter experimental economics of altruistic punishment
C2established

Domain-Sensitive Organism Architecture

The human organism contains evolved, domain-sensitive, interacting functional adaptations rather than a general-purpose learner - supported independently by Tooby & Cosmides' design-principle derivation, Panksepp's conserved subcortical affective-motivational systems, and Bowlby's attachment-as-primary-motivational-system framework.

Independent literatures
  • Tooby & Cosmides evolutionary psychology design principle
  • Panksepp affective neuroscience seven-systems taxonomy
  • Bowlby attachment theory
C3established

Systematic EEA-Modern Environment Mismatch

Modern post-agricultural, post-industrial environments push evolved adaptations outside their expected operating ranges in systematic and predictable ways - established independently by Eaton & Konner's discordance hypothesis, Li/van Vugt/Colarelli's mismatch-identification framework, Boyd & Richerson's gene-culture coevolution constraint (matched must include cultural scaffolding), and Henrich's WEIRD empirical diagnostic showing Western populations anchor the extreme end of the cross-cultural distribution.

Independent literatures
  • Eaton & Konner evolutionary medicine / discordance hypothesis
  • Li van Vugt Colarelli mismatch hypothesis review
  • Boyd & Richerson gene-culture coevolution
  • Henrich WEIRD cross-cultural psychology
C4established

Phylogenetic Conservation of Subcortical Affective Systems

The core affective-motivational systems (SEEKING, FEAR, RAGE, CARE, PANIC/GRIEF, PLAY, LUST) are anatomically and functionally conserved across mammals and extend into birds for specific systems - established independently by Panksepp's deep-brain-stimulation and cross-species neuroscience, Bowlby's attachment cross-mammalian homology, and Hrdy's cross-primate parental/alloparental evidence.

Independent literatures
  • Panksepp affective neuroscience cross-species
  • Bowlby attachment cross-mammalian
  • Hrdy primatology and cooperative breeding
C5established

Socially Scaffolded Regulation via Attachment

Human regulation is constitutively socially scaffolded: the organism's default expectation is proximity to trusted co-regulators, and this scaffolding is architectural rather than optional - established independently by Coan's Social Baseline Theory fMRI program, Bowlby's attachment theory, Hrdy's cooperative-breeding thesis, Dunbar's social-brain hypothesis, and Holt-Lunstad's mortality meta-analysis showing 50% survival advantage from strong social relationships.

Independent literatures
  • Coan social baseline theory affective neuroscience
  • Bowlby attachment theory
  • Hrdy cooperative-breeding primatology
  • Dunbar social brain hypothesis
  • Holt-Lunstad social-relationships epidemiology
ForcesM3
C6established

Wanting-Liking Dissociation as Proxy Hijack

Motivational pursuit ('wanting', mediated by mesolimbic dopamine) is dissociable from hedonic satisfaction ('liking'), creating an open-loop vulnerability where proxy cues can activate the SEEKING system without providing the conditions that normally terminate or resolve it - established independently by Berridge & Robinson's incentive-salience neuroscience, Tinbergen's supernormal-stimuli ethology, and Panksepp's SEEKING-circuit affective neuroscience.

Independent literatures
  • Berridge & Robinson incentive salience / mesolimbic dopamine
  • Tinbergen ethology and supernormal stimuli
  • Panksepp SEEKING circuit affective neuroscience
ForcesM2
C7established

Adverse Experience Cascading Dose-Response

Chronic or developmental adverse experiences cascade across physiological systems in a dose-response manner, with effects that propagate and self-maintain across domains (metabolic, immune, neural, behavioral) - established independently by Felitti's ACE Study clinical epidemiology, McEwen's allostatic-load neuroendocrinology, and Panksepp's cross-system inhibition evidence for affective-system propagation.

Independent literatures
  • Felitti ACE Study clinical epidemiology
  • McEwen allostatic load neuroendocrinology
  • Panksepp cross-system inhibition affective neuroscience
C8established

Error Management Asymmetry in Defensive Systems

Defensive systems evolved under asymmetric error costs err reliably toward over-activation (false-positive) because the cost of missing a true threat historically exceeded the cost of reacting to a non-threat - established independently by Nesse's smoke-detector principle in evolutionary psychiatry, Haselton & Buss's Error Management Theory in evolutionary social psychology, and the Öhman/Mineka fear-module visual-attention program in cognitive neuroscience.

Independent literatures
  • Nesse smoke detector principle evolutionary psychiatry
  • Haselton & Buss Error Management Theory
  • Öhman & Mineka fear module cognitive neuroscience
C9established

Allostatic Load Accumulation

Chronic unresolved activation of stress-response systems produces cumulative physiological damage across multiple organ systems (allostatic load), reversible in part by environmental correction - established independently by McEwen's neuroendocrinology of allostasis and allostatic load, Felitti's ACE dose-response clinical epidemiology, and Sapolsky's primate stress physiology linking hierarchy type to cortisol and downstream pathology.

Independent literatures
  • McEwen allostasis and allostatic load neuroendocrinology
  • Felitti ACE clinical epidemiology
  • Sapolsky primate stress physiology
C10established

Threat-Detection via Ancient Subcortical Circuits

Threat detection and defensive response are mediated by phylogenetically ancient subcortical circuits (amygdala, periaqueductal gray, hypothalamus) that operate pre-attentively and can override cortical processing - established independently by Panksepp's FEAR-system neuroanatomy, the Öhman/Mineka backward-masking fear-module research program, and Nesse's clinical evolutionary psychiatry linking panic and anxiety to these defensive systems.

Independent literatures
  • Panksepp FEAR/RAGE circuit neuroanatomy
  • Öhman & Mineka fear module visual attention / backward masking
  • Nesse evolutionary psychiatry of panic and anxiety
ForcesM1
C11strongly supported

Reciprocity, Norm Enforcement, and Coalition Architecture

Humans have specialized architecture for reciprocal exchange, cheater detection, norm enforcement, and coalitional identity - supported independently by Fehr & Gächter's experimental altruistic-punishment findings, Boehm's reverse-dominance coalition dynamics in hunter-gatherer anthropology, and Tomasello's shared-intentionality comparative-cognition research.

Independent literatures
  • Fehr & Gächter experimental economics of cooperation
  • Boehm political anthropology of egalitarianism
  • Tomasello comparative cognition and shared intentionality
ForcesM11
C12established

Developmental Calibration within Evolved Ranges

Specific physiological and behavioral systems calibrate during specific developmental windows to environmental inputs within evolved parameters; inputs outside those parameters produce persistent miscalibration - established independently by Bowlby's attachment developmental calibration, McEwen's HPA-axis calibration neuroendocrinology, and Felitti's ACE Study dose-response evidence for durable effects of early-life exposure.

Independent literatures
  • Bowlby attachment developmental calibration
  • McEwen HPA-axis neuroendocrinology
  • Felitti ACE Study clinical developmental epidemiology
C13established

Aversive Outputs as Intelligible Defensive Signals

Many aversive psychological and physiological outputs (anxiety, low mood, pain, grief, fatigue, anger) are intelligible defensive signals produced by architecture that is functioning correctly in response to inputs outside its expected operating range - established independently by Nesse's 'good reasons for bad feelings' evolutionary psychiatry, Panksepp's affective neuroscience of conserved aversive systems, and Fehr & Gächter's finding that anger/moralistic outrage is the proximate mechanism for prosocial norm enforcement rather than a dysregulation.

Independent literatures
  • Nesse evolutionary psychiatry of defensive signals
  • Panksepp affective neuroscience of aversive systems
  • Fehr & Gächter experimental economics of moralistic outrage
C14established

Reproductive Motivation as Distinct Architecture

Reproductive motivation (desire, attraction, pair-bonding) is a distinct architectural system independent of general-purpose pursuit, with sex-differentiated substrates and a characteristic proxy gradient from real partner to pure proxy - established independently by Panksepp's LUST-circuit affective neuroscience, Buss's sexual strategies theory and sex-differentiated mate preferences research, and Haselton/Buss's error-management prediction of sex-differentiated perceptual biases around mating cues.

Independent literatures
  • Panksepp LUST circuit affective neuroscience
  • Buss sexual strategies theory
  • Haselton & Buss error management in cross-sex mind reading
ForcesM14
C15established

Heritable Individual Variation in Behavioral Traits

Individual differences in human behavioral and psychological traits are substantially heritable in every adequately measured domain, established independently by twin designs (Polderman et al. 2015 meta-analysis of fifty years of twin studies: 17,804 traits from 2,748 publications, average reported heritability 49%), adoption and family designs (the Plomin program: significant genetic influence on all psychological traits with corroborating adoption evidence), and molecular SNP-heritability estimated from unrelated individuals (the Yang et al. 2010 GCTA line), with Turkheimer's three laws of behavior genetics as the canonical framing. Heritability is a population statistic under a given environment distribution, not individual determinism.

Independent literatures
  • Polderman twin-study meta-analysis (behavior genetics)
  • Plomin adoption and family designs (behavior genetics)
  • Yang GCTA molecular SNP-heritability (statistical genetics)
  • Turkheimer three laws (framing)

Operate

Demonstrations

Empirical results that show the mechanism doing what the framework says it does. Each grounds specific mechanisms and foundations.

ED1biomarker change

Forest Troop Culture Change

Cortisol reduced ~30-40% vs baseline

What it demonstrates. Hierarchy type (not the mere existence of hierarchy) determines pathology, and a troop's social culture is transmissible and reversible within a single generation without genetic turnover.

Sapolsky's long-studied olive baboon troop in Kenya had its most aggressive adult males eliminated by a tuberculosis outbreak circa 1983 (the aggressive males were the ones willing to forgo morning socializing to raid a tourist-lodge garbage dump and consumed tubercular meat). The surviving troop - skewed to a 2:1 female-to-male ratio and disproportionately unaggressive, affiliative males - developed a dramatically more peaceful social style: more grooming, more sitting in contact, minimal displacement aggression, lower baseline cortisol. As new males transferred in over subsequent years (males leaving their natal troops at puberty), they were absorbed into the troop and adopted its low-aggression high-affiliation style, despite having grown up in typical aggressive troops. The culture was being transmitted horizontally without genetic change. This is a natural experiment, not a randomized intervention, but its explanatory power for the possibility of environmental correction of hierarchy-driven pathology is substantial.

GroundsM5M1
GroundsDA1DA6DC1

A Pacific Culture among Wild Baboons: Its Emergence and Transmission Sapolsky RM, Share LJ, 2004

ED2rates prevalence

Captive vs Wild Chimpanzee Abnormality

All 40 captive chimps abnormal; none reported in wild

What it demonstrates. Aversive behavioral outputs in captive primates are a function of environmental mismatch rather than defective design: every one of the 40 captive chimpanzees studied showed at least one abnormal behavior, while no comparable abnormal repertoire has been reported in wild chimpanzees. Strongest non-human demonstration of defensive signals under mismatch (DA1).

Birkett & Newton-Fisher (2011) systematically surveyed abnormal behaviors (stereotypies, coprophagy, self-mutilation, rocking, etc.) in captive chimpanzees across accredited zoos and sanctuaries. They found these behaviors present in every one of the 40 individuals studied. No comparable abnormal repertoire has been reported in wild chimpanzee observation. The implication: the chimpanzee phenotype includes a suite of 'abnormal' behaviors only when the environment falls outside the species' expected range. The hardware works; environment is wrong.

GroundsM1M4
GroundsDA1P3

How Abnormal Is the Behaviour of Captive, Zoo-Living Chimpanzees? Birkett LP, Newton-Fisher NE, 2011

ED3standardized effect

Bucharest Early Intervention Project

Foster care doubles IQ recovery vs institutional care

What it demonstrates. Early developmental calibration (DA7) depends on the presence of specific social input; institutional care without an alloparental network produces durable brain, attachment, and cognitive deficits that are partially reversible by foster placement but persistently worse than never-institutionalized outcomes.

The Bucharest Early Intervention Project (Zeanah, Nelson, Fox and colleagues) randomized institutionalized Romanian children to continued institutional care vs high-quality foster care and compared both groups to never-institutionalized community children. Across neurodevelopmental, attachment, cognitive, and psychiatric outcomes, the foster-care cohort showed substantial recovery (~2× IQ improvement, reduced disorganized attachment, reduced psychopathology) compared to the institutional-care cohort, with earlier placement predicting better outcomes. But neither ever caught up fully to the never-institutionalized community controls, confirming developmental calibration windows and the severity of the mismatch between institutional care and the evolved expectable environment.

GroundsM3M9
GroundsDA7DA2DA1

Cognitive Recovery in Socially Deprived Young Children: The Bucharest Early Intervention Project Nelson CA, Zeanah CH, Fox NA, Marshall PJ, Smyke AT, Guthrie D, 2007

ED4mortality

Roseto Effect

~50% lower heart disease mortality during cohesion era

What it demonstrates. Intense social cohesion can override standard cardiovascular risk factors to produce dramatically lower heart disease mortality - and the effect erodes within a generation once cohesion breaks down, confirming the causal role of the social input rather than any genetic or dietary confounder.

Roseto, Pennsylvania was a small Italian-American immigrant community with unusually strong intergenerational family structures, tight social cohesion, and community rituals through the 1950s-60s. Stewart Wolf and colleagues documented roughly half the heart disease mortality of surrounding communities despite comparable standard risk factors (diet, smoking, occupational exposures). As the younger generation assimilated into mainstream American individualism across the 1970s-80s, the social cohesion eroded and the mortality advantage disappeared on schedule. The Roseto effect is a natural experiment for DA2/DC1: strong social scaffolding can suppress the cardiovascular consequences of allostatic load, and its removal reveals the baseline.

GroundsM3M5
GroundsDA2DA3DC1

The Roseto effect: a 50-year comparison of mortality rates Egolf B, Lasker J, Wolf S, Potvin L, 1992

ED5clinical remission

Ilardi TLC Protocol for Depression

~75% response vs ~45% on SSRI monotherapy

What it demonstrates. Treating depression by restoring resolution conditions across multiple mechanisms simultaneously (exercise, omega-3, sleep, sunlight, anti-rumination, social connection) produces remission rates comparable to or exceeding SSRI monotherapy - consistent with depression-as-mismatch-signal rather than depression-as-broken-brain.

Stephen Ilardi's Therapeutic Lifestyle Change protocol is a six-lever intervention targeting M10 (movement), M7 (sleep and sunlight), M3 (social connection), M8/M13 (omega-3 / anti-inflammation), and cognitive anti-rumination. In his clinical trials and subsequent implementations, remission rates in moderate-to-severe depression have reached ~75%, comparable to or exceeding typical SSRI monotherapy rates (~45% remission). The protocol is consistent with Cor's prediction that many depression presentations are M1/M3/M5/M6 defensive-signal cascades resolvable by restoring the resolution conditions for the affected mechanisms.

GroundsM3M7M10M8
GroundsDA1DC1

The Depression Cure: The 6-Step Program to Beat Depression without Drugs Ilardi SS, 2009

ED6clinical remission

SMILES Trial: Diet and Depression

32% vs 8% remission at 12 weeks (NNT≈4)

What it demonstrates. A Mediterranean-style dietary intervention produces clinically meaningful remission from moderate-to-severe depression at ~4× the rate of social-support control over 12 weeks, supporting the causal role of M13 (energy regulation / diet quality) and M8 (inflammation) in depression onset/maintenance rather than treating diet as a correlate.

Jacka et al. 2017 (BMC Medicine) conducted the SMILES randomized controlled trial, comparing a Mediterranean-style dietary intervention to a befriending/social-support control in adults with moderate-to-severe major depressive disorder. At 12 weeks, 32% of the dietary intervention group met remission criteria vs 8% of the control group. NNT ≈ 4. The effect is unusually large for a dietary intervention in a psychiatric population and has subsequently been partially replicated (HELFIMED and follow-up trials). SMILES grounds a causal rather than merely correlational reading of diet-depression links and supports the M13/M8/DA3 cascade.

GroundsM13M8
GroundsDA1DA3

A randomised controlled trial of dietary improvement for adults with major depression (the 'SMILES' trial) Jacka FN, O'Neil A, Opie R, et al., 2017

ED7standardized effect

Exercise as Depression Treatment

Cohen's d ~0.8; non-inferior to SSRI in RCTs

What it demonstrates. Aerobic exercise at moderate intensity produces depression symptom reduction comparable to SSRI pharmacotherapy in head-to-head randomized trials and meta-analyses, supporting M10 (movement/regulatory) as a central mechanism in depression pathophysiology rather than a general-health adjunct.

Multiple meta-analyses (Schuch et al. 2016 J Psychiatr Res and subsequent updates) pooling dozens of randomized trials find moderate-intensity aerobic exercise produces Cohen's d ~0.8 reduction in depression severity, comparable to SSRI effect sizes in the same literatures. Several head-to-head trials (Blumenthal et al. and follow-ups) show no significant difference between exercise monotherapy and sertraline at 16 weeks, with exercise showing better long-term relapse prevention. Exercise is not a correlate or adjunct; it is a primary intervention in its own right, consistent with M10's role in the depression cascade.

GroundsM10M7M8
GroundsDA1

Exercise as a treatment for depression: A meta-analysis adjusting for publication bias Schuch FB, Vancampfort D, Richards J, Rosenbaum S, Ward PB, Stubbs B, 2016

ED8clinical remission

Chronotherapy in Depression

~60% bipolar depression response within first week

What it demonstrates. Total sleep deprivation combined with morning bright light and sleep-phase advance produces 60%+ response rates in bipolar depression within days - orders of magnitude faster than pharmacotherapy - by targeting M7 (circadian regulation) directly. Demonstrates M7 as a cascade entry point.

Wirz-Justice, Benedetti, and colleagues have developed chronotherapeutic protocols for treatment-resistant bipolar depression combining one night of total sleep deprivation (to rapidly shift circadian phase), morning bright light therapy (to re-entrain M7), and sleep-phase advance (to lock in the new timing). Response rates of 60%+ within the first week are consistent across multiple European trials, compared with ~30% for pharmacotherapy alone over the same interval. The protocol works because it targets the timing architecture that many depression cascades propagate through.

GroundsM7M8
GroundsDA1DA3

Chronotherapeutics for Affective Disorders: A Clinician's Manual for Light and Wake Therapy Wirz-Justice A, Benedetti F, Terman M, 2013

ED9mortality

Kangaroo Mother Care

~40% neonatal mortality reduction; benefits at 20 years

What it demonstrates. Skin-to-skin contact between premature infants and caregivers reduces mortality, improves physiological regulation, and produces long-term developmental benefits - demonstrating R1 (C-tactile touch as regulatory input to M3) as architecture rather than comfort measure, with effects that persist two decades.

Charpak et al. developed and studied Kangaroo Mother Care in Bogotá, Colombia for low-birth-weight infants: continuous skin-to-skin contact with the mother (or other caregiver) 24 hours a day, replacing or supplementing incubator care. In low-resource settings the intervention reduces neonatal mortality by ~40% compared to standard incubator care; in high-resource settings it produces improved physiological regulation (thermoregulation, heart rate variability, weight gain) and long-term cognitive and behavioral benefits demonstrated at 20-year follow-up (Charpak et al. 2017 Pediatrics). Feldman's longitudinal work confirms the effects on stress reactivity and executive function into adolescence. Kangaroo care is the strongest evidence that R1 (C-tactile input) is a genuine regulatory channel with architecture-level consequences, not a comfort measure.

GroundsR1M3M9
GroundsDA2DA7

Maternal-preterm skin-to-skin contact enhances child physiologic organization and cognitive control across the first 10 years of life. Feldman R, Rosenthal Z, Eidelman AI., 2014

Mismatch

Cases

The same operation at the scale of a life: name the mechanism, check whether the modern environment delivers its resolution conditions, correct the inputs. These end on recognition - the full case carries mechanism, mismatch, and intervention.

Same operation, 3 times. Each row: the presenting situation, the mechanism it is a signal from, the mismatch producing it, the conventional reply, and what Cor reads the signal as.

CaseMechanismMismatchConventional adviceCor prescription
Case 01 · The AI companion trapM3A proxy bond fires the attachment system without reciprocal human co-regulation.Use the tool responsibly; set screen limits.An AI must not occupy a Dunbar slot. Restore reliable human co-regulators; route AI toward human connection, not to replace it.
Case 02 · Instagram depressionM5Rank circuitry built for about 150 people is forced to compare against millions of algorithmically selected lives.Work on self-esteem; reframe comparison cognitively.Restore a bounded reference group where position is stable, fair, and visible. Remove the global proxy; the signal is accurate to the environment.
Case 03 · The synthetic childhoodM4Developmental windows calibrate to a world designed to hold attention, not to the inputs the systems evolved to need.Set screen-time limits; pick better apps.Restore outdoor unstructured play, stable adult relationships, morning daylight, and movement. The windows close on whatever is present.

Start with the life situation, not the terminology.

Case 01M3

The AI companion trap

A chatbot becomes the most responsive relationship in a lonely life, and the loneliness alarm goes quiet for the wrong reason.

Read the case
Case 02M5

Instagram depression

Status circuitry built for bounded groups is forced to compare upward against millions of algorithmically selected lives.

Read the case
Case 03M4

The synthetic childhood

Developmental windows close on a world designed to hold attention, not on a world calibrated to what those systems evolved to need.

Read the case

Repair

Applications

What the framework is for: places where reading distress as a signal changes what you build or do. AI alignment leads.

AI Alignment

Cor is the missing specification under AI alignment. Current alignment approaches treat human preferences as ground truth and train AI systems to satisfy them. But preferences are mechanism outputs - and under mismatch, mechanisms output preferences that point toward more mismatch (more variable-reward apps, more status comparison, more proxy satisfaction). Aligning AI to unverified preferences entrenches the mismatch rather than correcting it. Cor provides three things AI alignment needs: (1) a fourth evaluation axis - matched/mismatched - alongside helpful/harmless/honest; (2) constitutional knowledge of what a human organism needs before asking what it prefers; (3) a test applicable to every AI output: 'Is this creating conditions for real resolution of a mechanism, or is it activating the mechanism without resolving it?' The highest-risk patterns are AI companions (M3 proxy), status/engagement optimization (M5 proxy), and AI sexual/romantic content (M14 proxy) because the mechanisms hijacked are the deepest and most phylogenetically protected.

MechanismsM3M5M14M2
FoundationsP1P2P3DA4DC2

Clinical Practice

Current psychiatry classifies many aversive presentations as disorders and treats them with suppression (pharmacotherapy, CBT targeting the experience). Cor reframes many presentations as accurate signals of environmental mismatch: the architecture is working correctly, the environment is outside the expected range, and the signal is telling the clinician where to look. Clinical practice redesigned around Cor includes: (1) environmental audit against the mechanism inventory (M1-M14 + R1) before or alongside symptom treatment, (2) resolution-condition restoration as the first-line intervention where feasible, (3) pharmacotherapy and symptom-suppression reserved for genuinely dysregulated states (not for defensive-activation states that will resolve once the environmental input is corrected). The four categories the handoff distinguishes - defensive activation, dysregulation, damage, developmental miscalibration - each point to a different treatment approach.

FoundationsDA1DA3DA7

Environment Design

Architecture, urban planning, office design, product design, school design, and healthcare facility design currently proceed without a clear account of what the human organism requires to function. Cor provides the framework. Each evolved mechanism has resolution conditions (documented in Cor's mechanism architecture) that the designed environment either satisfies or degrades. The application: design environments that satisfy resolution conditions for each mechanism - M7 light/dark cycles, M10 movement integration, M3 social density, M4 unstructured play space for children, M9 alloparental-care commons, R1 touch-positive cultures. Designers should be able to audit any proposed environment against the Cor inventory and flag which mechanisms will be compromised by default.

FoundationsP3DA2DA4DA7

Personal Assessment and Self-Understanding

Individuals currently diagnose themselves through the cultural filter of psychiatric categories, productivity culture, wellness trends, or self-help frameworks. Cor provides a direct assessment: which mechanism's resolution conditions are unmet in your life right now? A tool built on the framework lets the user answer questions about their environment and get back a picture of which mechanisms are matched vs mismatched, with resolution-condition statements they can act on. This is not therapy, not diagnosis, not productivity advice; it is an audit of the inputs the user's evolved architecture currently is or is not receiving.

FoundationsOF1DA1

Education and Child Development

Current education treats children as cognitive agents to fill with information, organized around the economic value of the adult they will become. Cor reframes education as organism care: children are developing organisms with mechanism requirements that current school design routinely violates. M4 (play) requires unstructured, age-matched, unsupervised physical play - which contemporary schooling systematically removes. M7 (circadian) requires age-appropriate school start times and daylight exposure - routinely violated for adolescents. M10 (movement) requires embedded daily movement, not scheduled PE. M3 (attachment) requires stable caring relationships with specific adults - eroded by class-rotation designs. M9 (alloparenting) assumes children will be cared for by multiple trusted adults - which school + family-only models fail to provide. Educational reform under Cor begins by auditing the design against the mechanism inventory and redesigning to satisfy the resolution conditions of the developing organism.

MechanismsM3M4M6M7M9M10R1
FoundationsDA7P2DA2

Policy and Governance

Governance currently evaluates policy by economic metrics and preference aggregation. Both are defective evaluation axes: economic metrics measure proxies (GDP, employment) rather than organism-level flourishing; preference aggregation treats mismatched preferences as ground truth. Cor provides a human-organism evaluation axis: does this policy satisfy or degrade mechanism resolution conditions for the population? Applied to food policy (M13 resolution conditions vs ultra-processed food availability), urban design (M3 social density, M10 walkability, M7 light-pollution, M4 child play space), work regulation (M6 agency, M7 shift-work protection, M10 movement integration), digital platform regulation (DC2 engagement-based hijacking of M5 and M14), and environmental policy (M7 circadian disruption from light pollution, M8 air quality). A policy that degrades mechanism resolution conditions is costly regardless of its economic or preference-aggregation scores.

FoundationsDC2P3DA2DA4

Evidence

Interpretive calls

Places where Cor takes a position instead of reporting a consensus. The framework pulls together fields that do not agree on everything. Where the evidence converges we report the convergence. Where it does not, and we still need a position to stay coherent, that is an interpretive call. They are all listed here.

Affective architecture

The framework treats Panksepp's basic-affect architecture (SEEKING, FEAR, RAGE, LUST, CARE, PANIC/GRIEF, PLAY) as the primary structural reference for subcortical motivational systems. Lisa Feldman Barrett's constructionist account of emotion is a serious alternative the framework does not currently adopt. The reasoning: Panksepp's framework integrates more cleanly with comparative neuroscience and the phylogenetic depth principle, and gives the discrete-mechanism handles the application layer needs. The constructionist literature is acknowledged in the Challenges section.

Inclusive fitness and gene-culture coevolution

The framework treats inclusive fitness as the loss function the architecture was selected against (foundation P1). It does not treat gene-culture coevolution as a competing framework but as a refinement that operates within the same selection logic. Researchers who treat the two as fundamentally distinct frames may read this as an interpretive bet.

Strong vs weak mismatch

The framework takes the strong-mismatch position: the modern environment is systematically misaligned with the architecture, and that misalignment is the primary driver of widespread non-pathological distress. Weak-mismatch readings - environments are different but the architecture is sufficiently flexible that the mismatch is mostly absorbed - are addressed in the Challenges section but not adopted.

Domain-sensitive architecture vs general learning

The framework treats the human motivational-emotional architecture as domain-sensitive (domain-specific adaptations exist and can be enumerated), not as the output of a general-purpose learning system. This is a position in an ongoing argument and the framework is not neutral on it.

These are the largest interpretive calls. Smaller calls are noted on the individual mechanism page where they apply.

Evidence

Open Questions

What the framework does not know yet, in priority order. Nothing here is presented as settled when it is not.

G1high priority

DC2 empirical depth beyond Schüll and Moss

Missing. Dedicated empirical depth on Haugen's Facebook Files and on companion-AI harm. The companion-AI reference (Muldoon & Parke 2025, New Media & Society, DOI 10.1177/14614448251395192) has now been located and catalogued as a work; extractions from it remain to be added in v1.

Why it matters. DC2 (Market Proxy Exploitation) grounds A1 AI alignment and A6 platform regulation. It currently rests on Schüll (gambling) and Moss (food), which is narrow. Companion AI is the highest-risk contemporary case and does not yet have primary-source grounding in Cor.

Current approach. Muldoon & Parke 2025 catalogued and cited in DC2's derivation (resolved 2026-05-29). Deeper empirical grounding (Haugen Facebook Files; further companion-AI studies) remains v1 corpus work.

G6high priority

Matched-state measurement protocol

Missing. Cor specifies resolution conditions per mechanism (for example M3: reliable intimate co-regulators typically ~5+; M10: varied daily movement typically ~9-15km/day; M7: dark-cued sleep onset), but operationalizing 'matched' as a measurable state across all 14 mechanisms - with inter-rater and test-retest reliability - is unfinished.

Why it matters. The measurement-protocol gap limits A4 personal assessment from becoming a validated instrument and blocks quantitative A6 policy evaluation against mechanism resolution conditions.

Current approach. A public-facing tool built on the framework will prototype the measurement protocol for A4 individual-level audits. Formal psychometric validation is independent research downstream of the core framework.

G9high priority

AI alignment matched/mismatched evaluation axis operationalization

Missing. A1 proposes 'matched / mismatched' as a fourth evaluation axis alongside helpful, harmless, and honest. What is missing is a concrete set of test cases - what a 'matched' response to a specific user query looks like versus a 'mismatched' one - scored in a way that a red-team or evaluation harness can apply systematically.

Why it matters. A1's matched/mismatched evaluation proposal is currently a framework, not an evaluation instrument. Without concrete scorable test cases, the matched/mismatched axis is a conceptual contribution to alignment evaluation rather than a working protocol that labs can run against model outputs.

Current approach. A1's evaluation-criteria field carries the resolution-check and proxy-gradient tests as conceptual criteria. Operational red-team-scorable test cases are the next step of the alignment evaluation work.

G2medium priority

M14 cross-cultural variation evidence

Missing. M14 is sex-differentiated, with distinct female (VMH-centered) and male (POA-centered) neural architectures carrying different emphasis on commitment cues versus variety cues. Cross-cultural tests of these specific claims are thin, and the ovulatory-shift literature in particular has an active replication debate.

Why it matters. M14 is the most culturally contested mechanism and the one most likely to be challenged on grounds of cultural construction. A weak empirical cross-cultural base makes the mechanism vulnerable to legitimate challenge even though the core neuroarchitecture is well-supported.

Current approach. Haselton/Buss Error Management Theory and Buss sexual strategies work are the current evidence base. Ovulatory-shift-specific claims are explicitly flagged as contested in extraction caveats to preserve the nuance.

G3medium priority

M6 human neurobiology replication

Missing. The Maier & Seligman 2016 reformulation of learned helplessness (default passivity with vmPFC-DRN override) is well-supported in rodent models, but the human neurobiological translation - fMRI studies of controllability in humans - is thinner. Karasek's decision-latitude work provides strong human-level evidence but at a different level of analysis.

Why it matters. M6 is critical as a cascade-break point in Cor's applied framework (A2 clinical practice, A3 environment design, A6 work regulation). Strong rodent evidence combined with weaker human-specific neural evidence leaves the mechanism vulnerable to challenge at the human-specificity level.

Current approach. The rodent-level circuit claims are treated as settled; the human-level circuit mapping is treated as well-supported rather than definitively established. The distinction is preserved in the mechanism description.

G4medium priority

Bridge Thesis BT1 empirical discriminator

Missing. BT1 (Panksepp-Barrett Resolution) is defended conceptually - subcortical affective circuits are real, and folk emotion categories are constructed overlays on top of them. What is missing is a crisp empirical discriminator test that would adjudicate specific cases where the Panksepp and Barrett frameworks make divergent predictions.

Why it matters. Bridge theses are load-bearing for Cor's epistemic credibility. If a bridge is only conceptually defensible and cannot be tested against a concrete prediction, critics can characterize the resolution as rhetorical rather than substantive.

Current approach. BT1 is presented as a level-of-analysis distinction: Panksepp's cross-species deep-brain-stimulation results ground the primary-process claim; Barrett's cross-cultural folk-category variation grounds the tertiary-process claim. The discriminator gap is explicitly acknowledged in the bridge-thesis narrative.

G7medium priority

Cultural-matched vs ancestrally-matched distinction

Missing. Boyd & Richerson's gene-culture coevolution constraint requires that 'matched' include cultural scaffolding, not just ancestral surface forms. But operationalizing which cultural configurations count as matched versus mismatched requires a criterion that does not collapse into either ancestral essentialism (only hunter-gatherer life counts) or cultural relativism (everything counts).

Why it matters. Without this distinction sharpened, P3 (Systematic Mismatch) can be attacked as either too permissive (all cultures are matched by definition) or too restrictive (only hunter-gatherer configurations count).

Current approach. The constraint is treated as 'matched must lie within the envelope of culturally-scaffolded human variation historically observed.' The criterion is acknowledged to be not fully sharp and flagged for sharper operationalization in future theoretical work.

G8medium priority

M14 proxy gradient clinical validation

Missing. The five-level M14 proxy gradient (real partner → attenuated real → partial proxy → pure proxy soft → pure proxy hard) is architecturally derived but lacks clinical validation metrics. Which clinical presentations map to which proxy level, and what are the dose-response clinical consequences of sustained use at each level, remain open questions.

Why it matters. A1 AI alignment risk analysis and A2 clinical practice both depend on being able to locate specific proxy products on the gradient with some reliability.

Current approach. The gradient is used as a theoretical organizing device. Clinical validation is flagged as a priority research program for A2 clinical applications.

G10medium priority

Convergence coverage for 10 of 15 mechanisms

Missing. Cor's forcing-convergence layer currently covers 5 of 15 mechanisms (M1, M2, M3, M11, M14) with explicit multi-literature convergences. The remaining 10 mechanisms (M4, M5, M6, M7, M8, M9, M10, M12, M13, R1) have supporting extractions populating their evidence junctions but do not yet have explicit convergence rows forcing them from multi-stream replication.

Why it matters. Convergences are the forcing-set level of Cor's evidence pyramid. A mechanism without an explicit convergence is an admission that the evidence does not yet force it from multi-stream convergence, even when Tier-1 status is warranted on single-literature grounds.

Current approach. The original convergence pass followed a strict rule (≥3 independent literatures each). A follow-up convergence pass should be able to add convergences for M6 (Maier/Seligman + Karasek + Amat/Baratta), M7 (Walker + Roenneberg + Czeisler), M12 (Rozin + Curtis + Schaller), and possibly M10 (Pontzer/Lieberman + Chekroud large-cohort + Schuch meta-analysis).

G11medium priority

Challenge layer depth

Missing. The current challenge layer holds 5 challenge extractions (EAAT philosophical critique, social-media-effect-size meta-analyses, Landy disgust-moral meta-analysis). Dedicated challenges from Active Inference (Friston) as a competing framework, substance-specific addiction neuroscience (Volkow/Kreek), and cultural-construction critiques of specific mechanism claims beyond Barrett are not yet in the corpus.

Why it matters. A credible framework must engage its strongest critics. The current challenge layer is thin and leans on methodological critiques rather than framework-level competitors like Active Inference or RDoC.

Current approach. The current challenge layer is treated as sufficient for initial framing. A dedicated challenge-layer expansion is a priority for the next round of work, covering Active Inference, addiction neuroscience, and RDoC comparisons.

G13medium priority

v2_extractions evidence_quality schema narrowing

Missing. The current evidence_quality categories compress some distinctions that matter for specific epistemic claims - cross-species biological replications, landmark longitudinal cohorts, ethnographic evidence from non-WEIRD populations, and contested findings each carry different epistemic weight but can currently collapse into broader buckets such as 'replicated' or 'clinical'.

Why it matters. Cross-species replication is especially load-bearing for Cor's phylogenetic-priority claims (DA8, ancient affective circuits). Longitudinal cohort depth matters for ACE-dose-response claims. Contested findings should be first-class flaggable to surface scope questions to readers drilling into primary evidence.

Current approach. The broader buckets are used as the machine-readable tag; finer-grained epistemic nuance is preserved in the caveats field per row. Expansion of the first-class tag list is under review.

G15medium priority

Restorative Environments domain primary-source grounding

Missing. The new Restorative Environments domain has no primary extractions yet. A primary-source ingestion queue is defined, each item to be grabbed under v2 standards (full text, fresh extraction, verbatim author_quote, DOI/PMID or physical collection) and never ingested via a review: (1) Ulrich 1984, "View through a window may influence recovery from surgery," Science, the anchor stress-recovery result; (2) Kaplan and Kaplan 1989, The Experience of Nature (Attention Restoration Theory), with Berman, Jonides and Kaplan 2008, Psychological Science, as the experimental test; (3) Miyazaki and Li forest-medicine primaries on phytoncides, NK-cell activity, and cortisol/HRV (strongest primary studies, not review-of-reviews); (4) Hartig et al. 2014, "Nature and health," Annual Review of Public Health, itself a review, so treat as a routing source only under the same rule as the Yong review; (5) Bratman et al. 2015, PNAS, nature walk reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal activity, a strong mechanism-level primary.

Why it matters. Restorative-environment mismatch is the cleanest non-social mismatch available to Cor: strong evidence, an obvious resolution condition, and a delivery form that need not be literal wilderness. It makes the atlas visibly more than a social-mismatch account. Until the primaries are extracted, the domain is a container without grounding.

Current approach. Domain created as a cross-cutting input-resolution domain with no new mechanism. Evidence-tagging discipline recorded in the domain description (stress-recovery and attention-restoration core well-supported and partly replicated; forest-medicine immune findings thinner and often small-sample, so tag down when in doubt). Queue to be worked as future v2 extraction work.

G16medium priority

Social-mismatch competition: candidate convergence versus downstream expression

Missing. Yong, Lim, Tan and Chan 2026 (DOI 10.3390/bs16050650) advance a "social evolutionary mismatch and competition hypothesis": social features of mismatch (increasing population size, fragmented communities, rising socioeconomic inequality, constant exposure to inflated social-status cues) jointly inflate real and perceived competition, driving obsessive status pursuit, hostility, risk appetite, ultralow fertility, and social withdrawal (tang ping, quiet quitting, hikikomori). Open question: is this a distinct convergence Cor is currently missing, or a downstream expression of existing structure, namely C9 (Allostatic Load Accumulation) plus C11 (Reciprocity, Norm Enforcement, and Coalition Architecture) plus M5 status and rank regulation and DC2 market proxy exploitation?

Why it matters. It is the one original theoretical move in an otherwise routing-only review, and it bears directly on whether Cor's convergence layer is complete. Resolving it either surfaces a genuine gap in the forcing-set layer or sharpens the claim that competition intensification is already entailed by existing convergences and mechanisms.

Current approach. Logged as an open derivation question, not added to the locked convergence inventory. Evaluate the theoretical spine first: Sng, Neuberg and Kenrick 2017 (resource competition and life-history, density-dependent life-history strategy) as candidate mechanism-level grounding, then test whether the Yong competition construct reduces to C9 plus C11 plus M5 plus DC2 or requires its own forcing convergence.

G5low priority

Tier 3 regulatory-input candidates beyond R1

Missing. R1 (Touch) is currently the only Tier 3 regulatory input in the inventory. Other candidate regulatory inputs deserve architectural consideration: thermoregulation signaling to M2/M6, gut-brain axis signaling to M3/M8, hydration signaling, and proprioceptive/vestibular input regulation.

Why it matters. R1's inclusion establishes the Tier 3 category - but leaving it as a set of one invites scope questions about why touch and not other regulatory inputs are architecturally load-bearing.

Current approach. R1 is treated as the template for the Tier 3 category. Additional regulatory inputs are candidates for future architectural work but are not added retroactively without explicit review.

G12low priority

Phase 8 provenance mis-classification risk

Missing. Some extractions imported from prior cleanup passes may be mis-classified at the source_type level - for example, an extraction marked as 'primary' research that on closer reading of the source paper turns out to be a propagation of another researcher's finding through a later author's lens.

Why it matters. The primary/propagation distinction is important for citation-chain auditability - readers tracing an evidence claim back to its source should land on the original research, not a secondary interpretation. Mis-classification creates downstream drift in this chain.

Current approach. Imported source_type labels are trusted pending a content-level audit against the original source papers. Rows where a discrepancy is suspected are flagged for review.

G14low priority

Joint-authorship FK limitation on v2_works

Missing. Jointly-authored works are currently credited to a single primary researcher in the database, with co-authors listed only in the free-text authors field. For example, The Adapted Mind is credited to Tooby but also co-authored by Cosmides; Not by Genes Alone is credited to Boyd but also co-authored by Richerson; Paleolithic Nutrition to Eaton and Konner; The Mismatch Hypothesis to Li, van Vugt, and Colarelli.

Why it matters. Researcher-coverage queries against the primary-researcher field undercount jointly-authored contributors. Cosmides, Richerson, Konner, and van Vugt each show zero distinct work rows under this query even though they are substantive co-authors of pillar works.

Current approach. Joint authorship is handled via the free-text authors field. A dedicated author-join table is a candidate future improvement if per-author granular queries become necessary.

Evidence

Domains

The applied and research fields the framework touches, each tied to a primary mechanism. Cross-cutting domains span several.

Agency and Controllability

Learned helplessness research (Maier & Seligman reformulation), decision latitude, vmPFC-DRN circuitry, and the agency-as-override-of-default-passivity framework. Maps to M6; critical cascade-break point for A2 clinical work.

PrimaryM6

Alloparenting and Distributed Care

Hrdy's cooperative-breeding thesis, parental-burnout research, the alloparental-network requirement, and the consequences of nuclear-family isolation for child development and parent wellbeing. Maps to M9; relevant to A3, A4, A5.

PrimaryM9
Cross-cutting

Allostatic Load

Research on cumulative physiological cost of chronic activation: McEwen's allostasis framework, Whitehall socioeconomic-gradient work, Felitti ACE dose-response, Sapolsky primate hierarchy-cortisol links. Grounds DC1. Critical for A6 policy and A2 clinical.

Attachment and Social Bonding

Attachment theory, co-regulation research, grief, loneliness epidemiology, and the social-baseline literature. Maps to M3; primary domain for DA2 evidence and for A2, A3, A4, A5 applications.

PrimaryM3
Cross-cutting

Bridge Thesis Research

Research areas where seemingly conflicting frameworks admit a level-of-analysis resolution - notably the Panksepp-Barrett debate on emotion natural kinds vs constructed emotions. Grounds BT1.

Cross-cutting

Cascade Dynamics

Cross-mechanism cascade research: depression cascades, anxiety-insomnia spirals, social isolation cascades, sickness behavior traps, status-defeat cascades, parent burnout, proxy hijacking spirals, and reproductive disruption cascades. Grounds DA3 (cascading) and DA8 (phylogenetic priority). Central for A2 clinical reasoning about which lever to pull first.

Contamination and Behavioral Immunity

Three-domain disgust research (Rozin), behavioral immune system (Schaller, Curtis), pathogen-prevalence cross-cultural psychology, and the moral/social extensions of contamination avoidance. Maps to M12.

PrimaryM12

Cooperation and Alliance

Reciprocal altruism research, norm enforcement, altruistic punishment (Fehr & Gächter), reverse dominance (Boehm), and shared intentionality (Tomasello). Maps to M11; grounds social-contract claims in A6 policy.

PrimaryM11
Cross-cutting

Defensive Signals and Symptom Reframing

Research on aversive psychological and physiological outputs as intelligible defensive signals rather than malfunctions - Nesse evolutionary psychiatry, Birkett & Newton-Fisher captive-chimp abnormality, Bowlby environment of evolutionary adaptedness. Grounds DA1. Directly reframes A2 clinical practice.

Cross-cutting

Developmental Calibration

Research on developmental windows in which specific systems calibrate to environmental inputs within evolved parameters - attachment (Bowlby), HPA axis (Meaney), adolescent circadian shift (Walker), Bucharest early-intervention studies. Grounds DA7. Supports A2 clinical, A5 education.

Energy Regulation and Diet

Satiety signaling research, constrained energy expenditure, ultra-processed food effects, and the dietary-intervention trials (SMILES, HELFIMED). Maps to M13; grounds A6 food policy work.

PrimaryM13

Inflammation and Immune Regulation

Sickness behavior research, cytokine signaling, inflammation-depression links, and the cascading role of chronic low-grade inflammation. Maps to M8; key hub for DA3 cascading and A2 clinical rethinking.

PrimaryM8
Cross-cutting

Mismatch Architecture

The mismatch hypothesis literature proper - Eaton & Konner discordance, Li/van Vugt/Colarelli mismatch review, Boyd & Richerson gene-culture coevolution, Henrich WEIRD psychology. Grounds P3. Central to the whole framework and all applications.

Movement and Regulatory Physiology

Exercise-as-regulator research, Pontzer's constrained-energy model, movement-as-zeitgeber, and the anti-inflammatory and mood-regulatory effects of embedded daily movement. Maps to M10; supports A2 clinical, A3 environment design, A6 policy.

PrimaryM10

Play and Social Calibration

Rough-and-tumble play research, developmental play deprivation, play circuits, and the education-policy consequences of structured-activity substitution. Maps to M4; critical domain for A5 education application.

PrimaryM4
Cross-cutting

Proxy Exploitation

Research on how industrial proxies (variable-reward apps, ultra-processed food, pornography, AI companions, social-media status metrics) hijack evolved mechanisms by supplying input cues without resolution conditions. Grounds DA4 (open-loop vulnerability) and DC2 (market exploitation). Central to A1 AI alignment and A6 platform regulation.

Pursuit and Exploration

SEEKING-system research on goal pursuit, reward, engagement, motivation, and the open-loop vulnerabilities that variable-reward applications and proxy cues exploit. Maps to M2; central to DC2 and DA4 application analysis.

PrimaryM2

Reproductive Motivation

Sexual strategies theory, sex-differentiated mate preferences, pair bonding research, LUST circuit neuroscience, and the proxy gradient from real partner to pure proxy. Maps to M14; central to A1 AI alignment risk-pattern analysis.

PrimaryM14
Cross-cutting

Restorative Environments

Restricted contact with natural and restorative environments as an input mismatch. Framed resolution-condition-first, not form-first: the target is the functional restorative property (fractal visual complexity, soft-fascination attention recovery, non-threatening biological motion, restorative soundscape, phytoncide exposure), not "return to nature" and not an innate biophilia drive. Forest exposure is one delivery form; built and urban environments can supply the same properties, which keeps the domain scalable and out of the naturalistic-fallacy trap. Classified cross-cutting because restorative input resolves several existing systems rather than one: threat and vigilance de-arousal with parasympathetic recovery (Ulrich Stress Reduction Theory), directed-attention restoration (Kaplan Attention Restoration Theory), allostatic offloading (DC1 and C9), immune and inflammatory modulation (M8; forest-medicine phytoncide and NK-cell work), and reduced rumination (Bratman). No new mechanism is asserted; nature contact is treated as an environmental input that lets existing systems stand down, consistent with the core thesis that the fix is the environment. Evidence discipline: the stress-recovery and attention-restoration core is well-supported and partly replicated; forest-medicine immune findings are thinner and often small-sample, so tag down at extraction time. Primary-source grounding is pending (see the ingestion-queue gap, G15). Note: the biophilia literature is the umbrella term for this territory, but Cor treats it as an input-resolution domain, not an innate-drive claim.

Sleep and Circadian Regulation

SCN master clock research, chronotype variation, social jetlag, sleep deprivation consequences, and chronotherapy in psychiatric conditions. Maps to M7; large evidence base and central to A2 clinical and A3 environment design.

PrimaryM7

Status and Rank Regulation

Hierarchy physiology, rank vigilance, shame and submission, Whitehall-style socioeconomic gradient research, and the status-defeat cascade. Maps to M5; central to the DC2 platform-regulation case.

PrimaryM5

Threat Management

Research and applied work on defensive responses to threat cues: fear circuitry, frustration-aggression, panic disorder, PTSD, and the conditions under which safety can be established. Maps to M1; feeds A2 clinical and A3 environment design applications.

PrimaryM1

Touch and C-Tactile Input

C-tactile afferent research (McGlone), skin-to-skin contact trials (Feldman, Charpak kangaroo care), and touch as a regulatory input to M3 rather than a standalone motivational system. Maps to R1.

PrimaryR1

Evidence

Thinkers & works

The researchers whose work the framework draws on, grouped by the role they play, and the bibliography behind the whole account.

Foundational 36

  • Ainsworth
  • Barrett (Lisa Feldman)
  • Berridge (Kent)
  • Boehm
  • Bowlby
  • Boyd
  • Buss
  • Coan (James)
  • Cosmides
  • Curtis (Val) London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
  • Darwin
  • Dunbar
  • Eaton
  • Fehr & Gächter
  • Felitti
  • Gilbert (Paul)
  • Hamilton
  • Haselton
  • Henrich
  • Henrich & Gil-White Joseph Henrich (Harvard); Francisco Gil-White
  • Hoffman
  • Hrdy
  • Konner
  • LeDoux
  • Li (Norman)
  • McEwen
  • Nesse
  • Panksepp
  • Richerson
  • Rozin
  • Sapolsky
  • Tinbergen
  • Tomasello
  • Tooby
  • Trivers
  • van Vugt

Empirical 36

  • Baumeister & Leary
  • Birkett & Newton-Fisher
  • Bullmore (Edward) University of Cambridge (Department of Psychiatry)
  • Cacioppo (John T.)
  • Christopher von Rueden University of Richmond (fieldwork with the Tsimane Health and Life History Project, UCSB)
  • de Waal
  • Feldman (Ruth) Reichman University / Yale Child Study Center
  • Field (Tiffany) Touch Research Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
  • Fischer (Dorothee) Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health / LMU Munich (Roenneberg lab)
  • Fisher (Helen)
  • Garfield & Hagen Zachary H. Garfield & Edward H. Hagen, Washington State University
  • Gettler University of Notre Dame
  • Harlow
  • Haugen (Frances)
  • Hazan
  • Holt-Lunstad
  • Jacka
  • Joey T. Cheng York University (work conducted at University of British Columbia)
  • Khalsa (Sat Bir S.) Harvard Medical School / Brigham and Women's Hospital
  • Lieberman (Daniel) Harvard University (Edwin M. Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences)
  • Mark R. Leary Duke University (formerly Wake Forest University)
  • Marmot
  • McLanahan Princeton University
  • Meaney
  • Morris (Christopher J.) Brigham and Women's Hospital / Harvard Medical School
  • Moss (Michael)
  • Muldoon & Parke
  • Öhman
  • Pellis (Sergio & Vivien) University of Lethbridge (Canada)
  • Plomin King's College London
  • Pontzer (Herman) Duke University (Department of Evolutionary Anthropology; previously Hunter College)
  • Scheer (Frank A. J. L.) Brigham and Women's Hospital / Harvard Medical School
  • Schüll (Natasha Dow)
  • Turkheimer University of Virginia
  • Vyas (Manav V.) Western University (Canada)
  • Zeitzer (Jamie M.) Stanford University (work conducted at Brigham and Women's Hospital)

Adjacent 8

  • ACT-R / SOAR / CLARION
  • Active Inference / Friston
  • Borsboom
  • Chollet / ARC-AGI
  • Kenrick et al.
  • Liebig
  • RDoC
  • SDT / Deci & Ryan

Other 1

  • Lindenfors, Wartel & Lind Institute for Futures Studies / Stockholm University (Centre for Cultural Evolution)
Bibliography 148

Pillar works 60

  • Fitness Beats Truth in the Evolution of Perception Prakash C, Stephens KD, Hoffman DD, Singh M, Fields C, 2021 paper
  • The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous Joseph Henrich, 2020 book
  • Good Reasons for Bad Feelings: Insights from the Frontier of Evolutionary Psychiatry Randolph M. Nesse, 2019 book
  • The Evolutionary Mismatch Hypothesis: Implications for Psychological Science Li NP, van Vugt M, Colarelli SM, 2018 review
  • Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst Robert M. Sapolsky, 2017 book
  • How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain Lisa Feldman Barrett, 2017 book
  • Constrained Total Energy Expenditure and Metabolic Adaptation to Physical Activity in Adult Humans Pontzer, Herman; Durazo-Arvizu, Ramon; Dugas, Lara R.; Plange-Rhule, Jacob; Bovet, Pascal; Forrester, Terrence E.; Lambert, Estelle V.; Cooper, Richard S.; Schoeller, Dale A.; Luke, Amy, 2016 paper
  • The Secret of Our Success: How Culture is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter Henrich, Joseph, 2016 book
  • Interface Theory of Perception Hoffman DD, Singh M, Prakash C, 2015 paper
  • Meta-analysis of the heritability of human traits based on fifty years of twin studies Polderman TJC, Benyamin B, de Leeuw CA, Sullivan PF, van Bochoven A, Visscher PM, Posthuma D, 2015 meta analysis
  • Social Baseline Theory: the social regulation of risk and effort Coan JA, Sbarra DA, 2015 review
  • A Natural History of Human Thinking Michael Tomasello, 2014 book
  • Touch Field, Tiffany, 2014 book
  • The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease Lieberman, Daniel, 2013 book
  • Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas Schull ND, 2012 book
  • Stress and anxiety: Structural plasticity and epigenetic regulation as a consequence of stress McEwen, Bruce S.; Eiland, Lisa; Hunter, Richard G.; Miller, Melinda M., 2012 review
  • The Archaeology of Mind: Neuroevolutionary Origins of Human Emotions Jaak Panksepp and Lucy Biven, 2012 book
  • Disgust as an Adaptive System for Disease Avoidance Behaviour Curtis V, de Barra M, Aunger R, 2011 paper
  • The basic emotional circuits of mammalian brains: Do animals have affective lives? Panksepp J, 2011 review
  • Why Does Depression Hurt? Ancestral Primary-Process Separation-Distress (PANIC/GRIEF) and Diminished Brain Reward (SEEKING) Processes in the Genesis of Depressive Affect Panksepp J, Watt D, 2011 paper
  • How Many Friends Does One Person Need? Dunbar's Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks Robin Dunbar, 2010 book
  • Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, 2009 book
  • The Evolutionary Psychology of the Emotions and Their Relationship to Internal Regulatory Variables Tooby J, Cosmides L, 2008 chapter
  • Evolution in the Social Brain Dunbar RIM, Shultz S, 2007 paper
  • Affective consciousness: Core emotional feelings in animals and humans Panksepp J, 2005 paper
  • Natural selection and the regulation of defenses: A signal detection analysis of the smoke detector principle Nesse RM, 2005 paper
  • Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution Peter J. Richerson and Robert Boyd, 2005 book
  • The Influence of Social Hierarchy on Primate Health Sapolsky RM, 2005 paper
  • A Pacific Culture among Wild Baboons: Its Emergence and Transmission Sapolsky RM, Share LJ, 2004 paper
  • Epigenetic programming by maternal behavior Weaver ICG, Cervoni N, Champagne FA, D'Alessio AC, Sharma S, Seckl JR, Dymov S, Szyf M, Meaney MJ, 2004 paper
  • Altruistic Punishment in Humans Fehr E, Gächter S, 2002 paper
  • Emotion Circuits in the Brain LeDoux JE, 2000 review
  • Error Management Theory: A New Perspective on Biases in Cross-Sex Mind Reading Haselton MG, Buss DM, 2000 paper
  • Is Depression an Adaptation? Nesse, Randolph M., 2000 paper
  • Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior Christopher Boehm, 1999 book
  • Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants, and Natural Selection Hrdy, Sarah Blaffer, 1999 book
  • Stability, Precision, and Near-24-Hour Period of the Human Circadian Pacemaker Charles A. Czeisler, Jeanne F. Duffy, Theresa L. Shanahan, Emery N. Brown, Jude F. Mitchell, David W. Rimmer, Joseph M. Ronda, Edward J. Silva, James S. Allan, Jonathan S. Emens, Derk-Jan Dijk, Richard E. Kronauer, 1999 paper
  • Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions Jaak Panksepp, 1998 book
  • Evolution and the origins of disease Nesse RM, Williams GC, 1998 paper
  • Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators McEwen BS, 1998 review
  • Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults Felitti VJ, Anda RF, Nordenberg D, et al., 1998 paper
  • The Social Brain Hypothesis Dunbar RIM, 1998 paper
  • What is the role of dopamine in reward: hedonic impact, reward learning, or incentive salience? Berridge KC, Robinson TE, 1998 review
  • Stress and the Individual: Mechanisms Leading to Disease McEwen BS, Stellar E, 1993 paper
  • Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates Dunbar RIM, 1992 paper
  • The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture Jerome H. Barkow, Leda Cosmides, John Tooby (editors), 1992 book
  • The Psychological Foundations of Culture Tooby J, Cosmides L, 1992 chapter
  • The logic of social exchange: Has natural selection shaped how humans reason? Cosmides L, 1989 paper
  • Paleolithic Nutrition: A Consideration of Its Nature and Current Implications Eaton SB, Konner M, 1985 paper
  • The psychobiology of play: Theoretical and methodological perspectives Panksepp J, Siviy S, Normansell L, 1984 paper
  • Toward a general psychobiological theory of emotions Panksepp J, 1982 paper
  • Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation Ainsworth MDS, Blehar MC, Waters E, Wall S, 1978 book
  • Attachment and Loss, Volume 2: Separation: Anxiety and Anger Bowlby J, 1973 book
  • The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism Trivers RL, 1971 paper
  • Attachment and Loss, Volume 1: Attachment John Bowlby, 1969 book
  • The genetical evolution of social behaviour. I Hamilton WD, 1964 paper
  • The Nature of Love Harlow HF, 1958 paper
  • The Nature of the Child's Tie to His Mother Bowlby J, 1958 paper
  • The Study of Instinct Tinbergen N, 1951 book
  • On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection Charles Darwin, 1859 book

Key works 63

  • Darwin's "Horrid" Doubt Revisited: A Critical Reassessment of Evolutionary Arguments against Truth Maurizio Esposito, 2025 paper
  • Digitally Connected, Evolutionarily Wired: An Evolutionary Mismatch Perspective on Digital Work van Vugt, M., Colarelli, S. M., & Li, N. P., 2024 paper
  • Sexual incentive motivation, sexual behavior, and general arousal: Do rats and humans tell the same story? Agmo A, Laan E, 2022 review
  • 'Dunbar's number' deconstructed Lindenfors P, Wartel A, Lind J, 2021 paper
  • Exercised: The Science of Physical Activity, Rest and Health Lieberman, Daniel, 2021 book
  • A meta-analysis of the association between adolescent social media use and depressive symptoms. Ivie EJ, Pettitt A, Moses LJ, Allen NB, 2020 meta analysis
  • Emotional Expressions Reconsidered: Challenges to Inferring Emotion From Human Facial Movements Barrett LF, Adolphs R, Marsella S, Martinez AM, Pollak SD, 2019 review
  • Screens, Teens, and Psychological Well-Being: Evidence From Three Time-Use-Diary Studies. Orben A, Przybylski AK, 2019 paper
  • Tinbergen's four questions: Two proximate, two evolutionary Nesse RM, 2019 paper
  • Association between physical exercise and mental health in 1.2 million individuals in the USA between 2011 and 2015: a cross-sectional study Chekroud SR, Gueorguieva R, Zheutlin AB, Paulus M, Krumholz HM, Krystal JH, 2018 paper
  • The Inflamed Mind: A Radical New Approach to Depression Bullmore, Edward, 2018 book
  • A randomised controlled trial of dietary improvement for adults with major depression (the 'SMILES' trial) Jacka FN, O'Neil A, Opie R, et al., 2017 paper
  • Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Walker M, 2017 book
  • Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray Fisher, Helen, 2016 book
  • Do online social media cut through the constraints that limit the size of offline social networks? Dunbar RIM, 2016 paper
  • Exercise as a treatment for depression: A meta-analysis adjusting for publication bias Schuch FB, Vancampfort D, Richards J, Rosenbaum S, Ward PB, Stubbs B, 2016 meta analysis
  • Kangaroo mother care to reduce morbidity and mortality in low birthweight infants Conde-Agudelo A, Díaz-Rossello JL, 2016 meta analysis
  • Learned Helplessness at Fifty: Insights from Neuroscience Maier SF, Seligman MEP, 2016 review
  • The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, Volume 1: Foundations (2nd ed.) David M. Buss (editor), 2016 book
  • Top 10 Replicated Findings From Behavioral Genetics Plomin R, DeFries JC, Knopik VS, Neiderhiser JM, 2016 review
  • Does Incidental Disgust Amplify Moral Judgment? A Meta-Analytic Review of Experimental Evidence Landy JF, Goodwin GP, 2015 meta analysis
  • Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness Chang AM, Aeschbach D, Duffy JF, Czeisler CA, 2015 paper
  • Coming to terms with fear LeDoux JE, 2014 paper
  • Maternal-preterm skin-to-skin contact enhances child physiologic organization and cognitive control across the first 10 years of life. Feldman R, Rosenthal Z, Eidelman AI., 2014 paper
  • Disgust: Evolved Function and Structure Tybur JM, Lieberman D, Kurzban R, DeScioli P, 2013 review
  • Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us Moss M, 2013 book
  • The Causal Effects of Father Absence McLanahan S, Tach L, Schneider D, 2013 review
  • Two Ways to the Top: Evidence That Dominance and Prestige Are Distinct Yet Viable Avenues to Social Rank and Influence Cheng, Joey T.; Tracy, Jessica L.; Foulsham, Tom; Kingstone, Alan; Henrich, Joseph, 2013 paper
  • Hunter-Gatherer Energetics and Human Obesity Pontzer, Herman; Raichlen, David A.; Wood, Brian M.; Mabulla, Audax Z. P.; Racette, Susan B.; Marlowe, Frank W., 2012 paper
  • Internal Time: Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You're So Tired Roenneberg T, 2012 book
  • Oxytocin and Social Affiliation in Humans Ruth Feldman, 2012 review
  • Relationships and the social brain: Integrating psychological and evolutionary perspectives Sutcliffe A, Dunbar RIM, Binder J, Arrow H, 2012 paper
  • Shift work and vascular events: systematic review and meta-analysis Vyas MV, Garg AX, Iansavichus AV, Costella J, Donner A, Laugsand LE, Janszky I, Mrkobrada M, Parraga G, Hackam DG, 2012 meta analysis
  • Social Jetlag and Obesity Till Roenneberg, Karla V. Allebrandt, Martha Merrow, Celine Vetter, 2012 paper
  • Longitudinal evidence that fatherhood decreases testosterone in human males Gettler LT, McDade TW, Feranil AB, Kuzawa CW, 2011 paper
  • The Behavioral Immune System (and Why It Matters) Mark Schaller, Justin H. Park, 2011 review
  • Allostatic load biomarkers of chronic stress and impact on health and cognition Juster, Robert-Paul; McEwen, Bruce S.; Lupien, Sonia J., 2010 review
  • Common SNPs explain a large proportion of the heritability for human height Yang J, Benyamin B, McEvoy BP, Gordon S, Henders AK, Nyholt DR, Madden PA, Heath AC, Martin NG, Montgomery GW, Goddard ME, Visscher PM, 2010 paper
  • Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Layton JB, 2010 meta analysis
  • Adverse metabolic and cardiovascular consequences of circadian misalignment Scheer FAJL, Hilton MF, Mantzoros CS, Shea SA, 2009 paper
  • Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior Miller, G. F., 2009 book
  • The Playful Brain: Venturing to the Limits of Neuroscience Pellis, Sergio & Pellis, Vivien, 2009 book
  • The social brain hypothesis and its implications for social evolution Dunbar RIM, 2009 paper
  • Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection Cacioppo, John T.; Patrick, William, 2008 book
  • Behavioral functions of the mesolimbic dopaminergic system: An affective neuroethological perspective Alcaro A, Huber R, Panksepp J, 2007 review
  • The Debate over Dopamine's Role in Reward: The Case for Incentive Salience Kent C. Berridge, 2007 review
  • Resolving the paradox of common, harmful, heritable mental disorders: Which evolutionary genetic models work best? Keller, M. C., & Miller, G. F., 2006 paper
  • The neurobiology of positive emotions Burgdorf J, Panksepp J, 2006 review
  • Social Status and Health in Humans and Other Animals Sapolsky RM, 2004 review
  • The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity Marmot, Michael, 2004 book
  • A phase response curve to single bright light pulses in human subjects Khalsa SBS, Jewett ME, Cajochen C, Czeisler CA, 2003 paper
  • Fears, Phobias, and Preparedness: Toward an Evolved Module of Fear and Fear Learning Öhman A, Mineka S, 2001 paper
  • The evolution of prestige: freely conferred deference as a mechanism for enhancing the benefits of cultural transmission Henrich, Joseph; Gil-White, Francisco J., 2001 paper
  • Sensitivity of the human circadian pacemaker to nocturnal light: melatonin phase resetting and suppression Zeitzer JM, Dijk DJ, Kronauer RE, Brown EN, Czeisler CA, 2000 paper
  • The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature Miller, G. F., 2000 book
  • Three Laws of Behavior Genetics and What They Mean Turkheimer E, 2000 paper
  • The Evolution of Social Attractiveness and Its Role in Shame, Humiliation, Guilt, and Therapy Gilbert P, 1997 paper
  • Why Stress Is Bad for Your Brain Sapolsky RM, 1996 paper
  • Self-Esteem as an Interpersonal Monitor: The Sociometer Hypothesis Leary, Mark R.; Tambor, Ellen S.; Terdal, Sonja K.; Downs, Deborah L., 1995 paper
  • Romantic Love Conceptualized as an Attachment Process Hazan C, Shaver P, 1987 paper
  • Infant-Mother Attachment Ainsworth MDS, 1979 paper
  • Total Social Isolation in Monkeys Harlow HF, Dodsworth RO, Harlow MK, 1965 paper
  • Affectional Responses in the Infant Monkey Harlow HF, Zimmermann RR, 1959 paper

Supporting works 25

  • Evolutionary Mismatch, Stress, and Competition: Making Sense of Psychosocial Problems in the Polycrisis Era Yong JC, Lim AJ, Tan E, Chan SHM, 2026 review
  • Cruel companionship: How AI companions exploit loneliness and commodify intimacy Muldoon J, Parke JJ, 2025 paper
  • Social Media Use and Internalizing Symptoms in Clinical and Community Adolescent Samples: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Fassi L, Thomas K, Parry DA, Leyland-Craggs A, Ford TJ, Orben A, 2024 meta analysis
  • Investigating evolutionary models of leadership among recently settled Ethiopian hunter-gatherers Garfield, Zachary H.; Hagen, Edward H., 2020 paper
  • Sitting, Squatting, and the Evolutionary Biology of Human Inactivity Raichlen, David A.; Pontzer, Herman; Zderic, Theodore W.; Harris, Jacob A.; Mabulla, Audax Z. P.; Hamilton, Marc T.; Wood, Brian M., 2020 paper
  • Hunter-gatherers maintain assortativity in cooperation despite high levels of residential change and mixing Smith KM, Larroucau T, Mabulla IA, Apicella CL, 2018 paper
  • Chronotypes in the US - Influence of age and sex Fischer D, Lombardi DA, Marucci-Wellman H, Roenneberg T, 2017 paper
  • Circadian Entrainment to the Natural Light-Dark Cycle across Seasons and the Weekend Stothard ER, McHill AW, Depner CM, Birks BR, Moehlman TM, Ritchie HK, Guzzetti JR, Chinoy ED, LeBourgeois MK, Axelsson J, Wright KP Jr, 2017 paper
  • Circadian misalignment increases cardiovascular disease risk factors in humans Morris CJ, Purvis TE, Hu K, Scheer FAJL, 2016 paper
  • Father's brain is sensitive to childcare experiences Abraham E, Hendler T, Shapira-Lichter I, Kanat-Maymon Y, Zagoory-Sharon O, Feldman R, 2014 paper
  • Hunter-Gatherer Inter-Band Interaction Rates: Implications for Cumulative Culture Hill KR, Wood BM, Baggio J, Hurtado AM, Boyd RT, 2014 paper
  • Night waking among breastfeeding mothers and infants: Conflict, congruence or both? McKenna JJ, 2014 paper
  • Chronotherapeutics for Affective Disorders: A Clinician's Manual for Light and Wake Therapy Wirz-Justice A, Benedetti F, Terman M, 2013 book
  • Entrainment of the Human Circadian Clock to the Natural Light-Dark Cycle Wright KP Jr, McHill AW, Birks BR, Griffin BR, Rusterholz T, Chinoy ED, 2013 paper
  • Social networks and cooperation in hunter-gatherers Apicella CL, Marlowe FW, Fowler JH, Christakis NA, 2012 paper
  • How Abnormal Is the Behaviour of Captive, Zoo-Living Chimpanzees? Birkett LP, Newton-Fisher NE, 2011 paper
  • Why do men seek status? Fitness payoffs to dominance and prestige von Rueden, Christopher; Gurven, Michael; Kaplan, Hillard, 2011 paper
  • Beauty sleep: experimental study on the perceived health and attractiveness of sleep deprived people Axelsson J, Sundelin T, Ingre M, Van Someren EJW, Olsson A, Lekander M, 2010 paper
  • The Depression Cure: The 6-Step Program to Beat Depression without Drugs Ilardi SS, 2009 book
  • Cognitive Recovery in Socially Deprived Young Children: The Bucharest Early Intervention Project Nelson CA, Zeanah CH, Fox NA, Marshall PJ, Smyke AT, Guthrie D, 2007 paper
  • Sociometer theory and the pursuit of relational value: Getting to the root of self-esteem Leary, Mark R., 2005 review
  • They starved so that others be better fed: remembering Ancel Keys and the Minnesota experiment Kalm LM, Semba RD, 2005 paper
  • Making Sense of Self-Esteem Leary, Mark R., 1999 review
  • The Roseto effect: a 50-year comparison of mortality rates Egolf B, Lasker J, Wolf S, Potvin L, 1992 paper
  • Die organische Chemie in ihrer Anwendung auf Agricultur und Physiologie Liebig, Justus von, 1840 book

Evidence

Challenges

The strongest counter-evidence and live disputes, stated in their own terms.

theoretical

Darwin's "Horrid" Doubt Revisited: A Critical Reassessment of Evolutionary Arguments against Truth

Bears onOF1

Maurizio Esposito, 2025

replicated

Screens, Teens, and Psychological Well-Being: Evidence From Three Time-Use-Diary Studies.

Bears onP3

Orben A, Przybylski AK, 2019

meta analysis

A meta-analysis of the association between adolescent social media use and depressive symptoms.

Bears onM5
Bears onP3

Ivie EJ, Pettitt A, Moses LJ, Allen NB, 2020

meta analysis

Social Media Use and Internalizing Symptoms in Clinical and Community Adolescent Samples: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Bears onM5
Bears onP3

Fassi L, Thomas K, Parry DA, Leyland-Craggs A, Ford TJ, Orben A, 2024

meta analysis

Does Incidental Disgust Amplify Moral Judgment? A Meta-Analytic Review of Experimental Evidence

Bears onM12

Landy JF, Goodwin GP, 2015

thin

Resolving the paradox of common, harmful, heritable mental disorders: Which evolutionary genetic models work best?

Bears onDA1

Keller, M. C., & Miller, G. F., 2006

contested

Resolving the paradox of common, harmful, heritable mental disorders: Which evolutionary genetic models work best?

Bears onDA1

Keller, M. C., & Miller, G. F., 2006

contested

'Dunbar's number' deconstructed

Bears onM3M11M5
Bears onDA2P3

Lindenfors P, Wartel A, Lind J, 2021

Papers

Papers

The long-form papers. Each one stands alone, so read them in any order.

BT1Bridge thesis

Panksepp-Barrett Resolution

Conflicting frameworks
  • Panksepp basic emotions (subcortical affective systems as natural kinds)
  • Barrett theory of constructed emotion (no emotion natural kinds; emotions are constructed)
Barrett's challenge is stronger than a disagreement about emotion categories. She attacks three pillars of the classical view: (1) dedicated emotional brain regions do not exist - every region claimed as a home of emotion is actually a body-budgeting region within the interoceptive network; (2) emotions are not natural kinds - no consistent neural, autonomic, or facial fingerprint has been found for any single emotion category despite a century of search; (3) the brain is predictive, not reactive - it constructs experience through prediction and correction rather than responding to triggering stimuli via dedicated circuits. Barrett replaces the reactive-modular architecture with a predictive-constructive one grounded in interoception and body-budget regulation.

What survives Barrett's critique: Panksepp's conserved subcortical motivational circuitry is real. Cross-species electrical stimulation, lesion, and pharmacological evidence demonstrates that SEEKING, FEAR, RAGE, CARE, PANIC/GRIEF, PLAY, and LUST systems exist as identifiable neural networks with conserved neuroanatomy and neurochemistry across all mammals. These are not folk-emotion categories but motivational-affective systems identified via the triangulation method (human self-report + animal brain manipulation + natural behavior).

The resolution: Panksepp's circuits exist but do NOT map one-to-one onto vernacular emotion categories. The subcortical systems are motivational substrates - they generate valenced states that the brain then constructs into culturally specific emotional experiences via the predictive-interoceptive process Barrett describes. The specification uses Panksepp's systems as mechanism substrates (M1-M14), not as emotion labels. What people experience as 'anger' or 'sadness' is a constructed category that may recruit multiple subcortical systems in different combinations on different occasions - exactly as Barrett's population thinking predicts.

Barrett forces an explicit structural acknowledgment: the interoceptive-predictive layer (body budgeting, allostatic regulation, prediction error processing) is not merely distributed across M1-M14 but constitutes its own architectural level. The specification currently harvests this layer through individual mechanism descriptions but does not name it as a unified process. Whether this warrants a dedicated structural home (a 'body-budget regulation' foundation or meta-mechanism) or remains an emergent property of the mechanism interactions is an open architectural question that the evidence base now supports asking.