What Does Social Darwinism Say About Mental Health?

Social Darwinism refers to a now-discredited theory that societies evolve according to the same process of natural selection that organisms do.

Herbert Spencer and other early proponents of this belief used Charles Darwin’s principles of evolution to justify everything from racial inequality and eugenics to imperialism and laissez-faire capitalism.

Keep reading to learn why this theory is discredited and what evolutionary psychology actually has to say about the origins of human thought, behavior, and social relationships.

What Is the Concept of Social Darwinism?

Social Darwinism has been used and defined in many ways which often contradict each other. But generally, it uses the idea of natural selection as the “survival of the fittest” to argue that the rich and powerful in society are inherently or biologically superior to those who aren’t as wealthy or powerful—and that their political, economic, or social success is proof of that innate superiority.

“It has been used to justify eugenics and discrimination based upon genetic determinism, the idea that human behavior or success is solely determined by genetic factors,” said Rebecca Heiss, PhD, an evolutionary biologist, and stress physiologist.

In the United States, meanwhile, more than 30 states had passed sterilization laws around the same time period that the Nazi regime was carrying out its genocidal campaign. These laws were based on the same pseudo-scientific Social Darwinist beliefs and led to the forced sterilization of approximately 70,000 people deemed genetically inferior under the laws. Those targeted included people with disabilities, poor people, and women who had children out of wedlock.

Why Is Social Darwinism Discredited?

While its use as a justification for eugenics and oppression is reason enough to discount Social Darwinism, the belief has also been criticized for fundamentally misunderstanding how evolution works.

Social Darwinism Misunderstands How Evolution Really Works

To start, Social Darwinism conflates “survival of the fittest” with genetic superiority. In fact, a common misconception about evolution is that only the most advantageous traits continue. But that’s not necessarily the case according to Joseph Shrand, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Riverside Community Care, and psychiatry lecturer at Harvard Medical School.

“Many psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia do not emerge until late teens or early twenties,” Dr. Shrand said. “Hundreds of thousands of years ago many of those humans already had procreated. The genetic material would in essence hide until after the individual already had babies.”

Superior Traits Are Subjective

These pseudo-scientific policies also ignore just how relative “superior traits” are. There are no objectively superior genes or universally advantageous traits. Moreover, the traits that are most beneficial to us now might be harmful or at least useless to us later.

But now, Dr. Heiss said, “they are actually highly detrimental in the modern environment where fats and sugars aren't scarce resources, and we can get 5,000 calories in under 5 minutes by stopping at our local fast-food restaurant.” That same intense craving that helped us overcome the odds to find nutritious, calorie-dense foods thousands of years ago is now making us prone to diabetes, heart disease, and other debilitating conditions today.

In other cases, genes can be both beneficial and harmful depending on how they present. “For example, sickle cell anemia (a recessive disorder) is protective against malaria,” said Dr. Heiss. With two copies of the recessive gene for sickle cell anemia, the harmful effects of the disease outweigh the protective advantage against malaria. But people with just one copy of the recessive gene are both resistant to malaria and free of the painful, life-threatening symptoms of sickle cell anemia.

Emotions Help Keep Humans Safe and in Check

Charles Darwin is most widely known for his concepts of natural and sexual selection, but the naturalist also wrote extensively about psychology and human behavior, chiefly in his third book, "
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals."

This work laid the foundation for later research on the adaptive value of emotions and emotional expression, including the fundamental role they play in guiding behavior and promoting cooperation in a social species like human beings.

“Emotions are incredibly adaptive,” Dr. Heiss said. For example, “in moderate amounts, anxiety might have increased vigilance and preparedness for danger.” Meanwhile, anger can motivate us to fight back or change things that are harmful to us. While emotions like these can be overwhelming, their fundamental role in guiding behavior and decision-making has played a key role in human survival.

For Darwin, the ability to express emotions may have been even more important than the emotions themselves. “Because humans are such a social species, we needed to be able to communicate honestly and effectively in order to be able to cooperate and rely on one another for survival,” Dr. Heiss said. Emotional expression helps us signal to others not only that we need help, but the specific kind of help we might need.

What Does Darwinian (aka Evolutionary) Psychology Say About Mental Health Conditions?

The field of evolutionary psychology was inspired by Darwin’s work on evolution and emotional expression attempts to understand how emotions become dysregulated and when they transition from adaptive to maladaptive.

Mild Anxiety Can Make People More Cautious

One hypothesis is that psychiatric disorders persist for the same reason that diseases like sickle cell anemia persist. In extreme cases, for example, anxiety disorders can be debilitating.

However, mild cases of anxiety can make a person more cautious and prevent them from taking dangerous risks. That could, in turn, make them more likely to survive—and pass on their genes—compared to their more reckless peers.

Traits of ADHD May Have Been Beneficial in the Past

Another hypothesis is that, like our craving for fats and sugar, traits that are currently non-adaptive were once beneficial in the past. ADHD is one of the more common examples of this hypothesis. “The traits associated with ADHD, such as impulsivity and hyperactivity, might have been beneficial in ancestral environments where quick responses and exploration were crucial for survival,” said Dr. Heiss.

The tendency to seek novelty would have made someone with ADHD more likely to discover new food sources and generally be more readily adaptable to the ever-changing demands of their environment.

Dr. Shrand added, “It paid to have a scanner, alert and easily distracted by a movement in a bush, quickly detecting a potential predator.” In an environment where it was important to be constantly aware of your surroundings and ready to respond at a moment’s notice, what’s now called “distractibility” would have been more advantageous than the ability to sustain focus on one task for a prolonged period of time.

Certain Traits Can Become Unhelpful in New Environments

But now, those same traits that were once advantageous can end up being maladaptive in the modern world, where survival depends on consistency and routine (e.g., adhering to a standard 40-hour work week). Jobs like these require sustained focus on the same set of tasks. 

“Recognizing that certain traits associated with psychiatric disorders might have had adaptive value in the past might help reduce stigma and promote empathy and understanding,” Dr. Heiss said.