    37

    How The Pecking Order Reshapes The Mind

    A rise or fall in the hierarchy of superorganisms has other profound

    effects on a society's collective psyche.  It transforms the emotions and shared

    values of the human herd.  The nation moving up embraces adventure. The

    country moving down abandons the strange and buries its head in the

    familiar.  It tries to march backward in time.

    These shifts in attitude are the result of pre-wired natural strategies.

    One of the most basic biological mood loops in our animal brain dictates a

    simple set of alternatives.  It makes us conservative in times of difficulty and

    exploratory when times are good.

    When birds are hungry and desperate for food, you might expect them

    to sample everything they run across that looks edible.  After all, with

    starvation at hand, some peculiar-looking berry the feathered flier has never

    noticed before could be the key to survival.  But hungry birds do not

    methodically nibble every unusual item to see if it can be turned into a meal.

    Far from it.  They shy away from food that seems strange.  Their fear of the

    unfamiliar renders them culinary conservatives.

    Birds benefiting from a bonanza in the food supply are a very different

    story.  As these creatures strut around with full stomachs, you'd expect them

    to ignore any unfamiliar morsels they come across.  They've already got

    more than enough to eat, so why try anything new?  But well-fed birds are

    up for every potential adventure in dining.88

    There is a logic behind this genetically-ordained strategy.  Exploring

    the unknown is a risk.  A creature in genuine need can't take a chance on

    being immobilized a day or two by food poisoning.89  Those long hours with

    nothing to eat could kill him.  But the bird who's already stored up his

    calories can afford to toy with novelty.

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