Biological Anthropology
Ever since I was young, I would always wonder why certain things are the way they are. Are there aliens living in a far away galaxy? What happens after we die? Why do humans act the way they do in social situations? The question that stood out to me the most is why have humans evolved certain evolutionary traits; how do these traits help them in survival? For example, I’ve always been fascinated by the human’s innate sexual and survival drive. Are we truly doing things for our own pleasure or are we doing things because of our biological need to survive? Not only do these questions lead to answers, they lead to more unanswered questioned.
In the Fall of 2021, I decided to begin my personal self-improvement journey. In my self-improvement journey, I went on a dopamine detox, which is detaching from high-stimulating dopamine activities(video games, Netflix, junk food, etc.). To do this, I did research on the effects that dopamine had on the brain. Constantly engaging in high dopamine activities causes your reward system to become desensitized. This leads to unpleasant experiences in life. It was intriguing to me that after I stopped engaging in these activities, my enjoyment of life returned. I found little things in life to be fun again: going on walks, hanging out with friends, and exercising. Experiencing the success of a dopamine detox, I wanted to learn more about the brain. This passion led me to discover Biological Anthropology.
In Biological Anthropology, I was able to analyze human behaviors from an evolutionary standpoint. What stressors in our ancestor’s history force us to develop certain human behaviors. At first, Biological Anthropology intrigued me because it opened me up new ideas on human behavior, it also taught me a lot about the brain and past extinctions. My hope is to use this knowledge to help others become their best selves.
