creators_name: Hagen, Edward H
editors_name: Hammerstein, Peter
type: bookchapter
datestamp: 2005-03-27
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:55:52
metadata_visibility: show
title: The Bargaining Model of Depression
ispublished: pub
subjects: evol-psy
subjects: clin-psy
full_text_status: public
keywords: depression, suicide, psychiatry, psychopathology
abstract: Minor depression — low mood often accompanied by a loss of motivation — is almost certainly an adaptation to circumstances that, in ancestral environments, imposed a fitness cost. It is, in other words, the psychic equivalent of physical pain. Major depression is characterized by additional symptoms — such as loss of interest in virtually all activities and suicidality — that have no obvious utility. The frequent association of these severe and disabling symptoms with apparently functional symptoms, like sadness and low mood, challenges both dysfunctional and functional accounts of depression. Given that the principal cause of major unipolar depression is a significant negative life event, and that its characteristic symptom is a loss of interest in virtually all activities, it is possible that this syndrome functions somewhat like a labor strike. When powerful others are benefiting from an individual’s efforts, but the individual herself is not benefiting, she can, by reducing her productivity, put her value to them at risk to compel their consent and assistance in renegotiating the social contract so that it will yield net fitness benefits for her. In partial support of this hypothesis, depression is associated with the receipt of considerable social benefits despite the negative reaction it causes in others.
date: 2003
date_type: published
publication: Genetic and Cultural Evolution of Cooperation
publisher: MIT Press
pagerange: 95-123
refereed: TRUE
referencetext: Abramson L. Y., Metalsky G. I. and Alloy L. B. (1989) Hopelessness depression: A theory-based subtype of depression. Psychological Review 96: 358-372.
Alexander R. D. Ostracism and indirect reciprocity: The reproductive significance of humor. Ethology & Sociobiology 7: 253-270.  1986.
APA (1994) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.  Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association.
Austin M., Mitchell P., and Goodwin G. M. (2001) Cognitive deficits in depression. British Journal of Psychiatry 178:200-206.
Axelrod R. and Dion D. (1988) The Further Evolution of Cooperation. Science 242: 1385-1390.
Bancroft J, Hawton K, Simkin S, Kingston B, Cumming C, Whitwell D (1979) The reasons people give for taking overdoses: a further inquiry. British Journal of Medical Psychology 52: 353-365.
Beck A. T. (1996) Depression as an evolutionary strategy. Presented at: Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, June 27, Evanston, Ill.
Beck C. T. (1996) A meta-analysis of the relationship between postpartum depression and infant temperament. Nursing Research 45: 225-230.  
Bell C., Abrams J. and Nutt D. (2001) Tryptophan depletion and its implications for psychiatry. British Journal of Psychiatry 178: 399-405.
Benassi V. A., Sweeney P. D. and Dufour C. L. (1988) Is there a relation between locus of control orientation and depression? Journal of Abnormal Psychology 97: 357-367.
Bhattacharyya, Deborah Poole (1981) Bengali conceptions of mental illness. Dissertation: Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Bierut L. J., Heath A. C., Bucholz K. K., Dinwiddie S. H., Madden P. A. F., Statham D. J., Dunne M. P., Martin N. G. (1999) Major depressive disorder in a community-based twin sample: Are there different genetic and environmental contributions for men and women? Archives of General Psychiatry 56: 557-563.
Boergers J., Spirito A. and Donaldson D. (1998) Reasons for Adolescent Suicide Attempts: Associations with Psychological Functioning. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 37: 1287-1293.
Boehm C. (1996) Emergency Decisions, Cultural-Selection Mechanics, and Group Selection. Current Anthropology 37: 763-793.
Bostwick J. M. and Pankratz V. S. (2000) Affective disorders and suicide risk: a reexamination. American Journal Psychiatry 157:1925-1932.
Boyd R. and Richerson P. J. (1988) The evolution of reciprocity in sizable groups. Journal of Theoretical Biology 132: 337-356.
Boyd R. and Richerson P. J. (1992) Punishment Allows the Evolution of Cooperation (or Anything Else) in Sizable Groups. Ethology and Sociobiology 13: 171-195.
Brown M. F. (1986) Power, gender, and the social meaning of Aguaruna suicide. Man New Series 21: 311-328.
Clutton-Brock T. H. (1991) The evolution of parental care.  Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.  
Clutton-Brock T. H. and Parker G. A. (1995) Punishment in animal societies. Nature 373: 209-216.
Conner K. R., Duberstein P. R., Conwell Y., Seidlitz L. and Caine E. D. (2001) Psychological vulnerability to completed suicide: A review of empirical studies. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior 31: 367-385.
Coyne J. C. (1976) Depression and the response of others. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 85: 186–193.
Daly M. and Wilson M. (1984) A Sociobiological Analysis of Human Infanticide. In Infanticide: Comparative and Evolutionary Perspectives. G. Hausfater and S. B. Hrdy (Eds.). New York: Aldine.  pp. 487-502.
deCatanzaro D. (1981) Suicide and Self-Damaging Behavior: A Sociobiological Perspective. New York: Academic Press.
Fessler D. M. T. (in press) The Male Flash of Anger: Violent Response to Transgression as an Example of the Intersection of Evolved Psychology and Culture. In: Missing the Revolution: Darwinism for Social Scientists, J. Barkow (ed). Oxford University Press.
Figueredo A. J., Corral-Verdugo V., Frias-Armenta M., Bachar K. J., White J., McNeill P. L., Kirsner B. R. and del Pilar Castell-Ruiz I. (2001) Blood, solidarity, status, and honor: The sexual balance of power and spousal abuse in Sonora, Mexico.  Evolution and Human Behavior; 22:295–328.
Finch J. F., Okun M. A., Pool G.J. and Ruehlman L. S. (1999) A Comparison of the Influence of Conflictual and Supportive Social Interactions on Psychological Distress. Journal of Personality 67: 581-621.
Giddens A. (1964) Suicide, attempted suicide, and the suicide threat. Man 64: 115-116.
Goldberg D. (2001) Vulnerability factors for common mental illnesses. British Journal of Psychiatry 178 (suppl. 40): s69-s71.
Goldney R. D., Dal Grande E., Fisher L. J. and Wilson D. (2002) Population attributable risk of major depression for suicidal ideation in a random and representative community sample. Journal of Affective Disorders
Hagen E. H.  (1996) Postpartum depression as an adaptation to paternal and kin exploitation. Human Behavior and Evolution Society 8th Annual Conference, Northwestern University.
Hagen E. H. (1999) The functions of postpartum depression. Evolution and Human Behavior 20: 325-359.
Hagen E. H. (2002) Depression as bargaining: the case postpartum. Evolution and Human Behavior 23:323-336.
Harris T. (2001) Recent developments in understanding the psychosocial aspects of depression.  British Medical Bulletin 57: 17–32.
Hawton K., Cole D., O'Grady J. and Osborn M. (1982) Motivational aspects of deliberate self-poisoning in adolescents. British Journal of Psychiatry 141:286-291.  
Henderson S. (1974) Care-eliciting behavior in man. Journal of Nervous Mental Disorders 159: 172-181.
Hess N. C. and Hagen E. H. (n.d.) Informational warfare.
Hirschfeld R. M. (2000) History and evolution of the monoamine hypothesis of depression. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 61 Suppl 6: 4-6.
Holsboer F. (2000) The Corticosteroid Receptor Hypothesis of Depression. Neuropsychopharmacology 23: 477-501.
James D., Hawton K. (1985) Overdoses: explanations and attitudes in self-poisoners and significant others. British Journal of Psychiatry 146: 481-485.
Kendler K. S., Gardner C. O. and Prescott C. A. (2002) Toward a Comprehensive Developmental Model for Major Depression in Women.  American Journal of Psychiatry 159: 1133-1145.
Kendler K. S., Kessler R. C., Neale M. C., Heath A. C. and others. (1993) The prediction of major depression in women: Toward an integrated etiologic model. American Journal of Psychiatry 150:1139-114.
Kendler K. S., Thornton L.M. and Gardner C.O. (2000) Stressful life events and previous episodes in the etiology of major depression in women: an evaluation of the "kindling" hypothesis. American Journal of Psychiatry 157: 1243-51.
Kendler K. S., Thornton L. M. and Gardner C. O. (2001) Genetic risk, number of previous depressive episodes, and stressful life events in predicting onset of major depression. American Journal of Psychiatry 158: 582-6.
Kennan J. and Wilson R. (1993) Bargaining with Private Information. Journal of Economic Literature 31: 45-104.
Kreitman N. (1977) Parasuicide. Wiley & Sons, London.
Lewis A. J. (1934) Melancholia: A clinical survey of depressive states. Journal of Mental Science 80: 1-43.
MacKey W. C. and Immerman R. S. (2000) Depression as a counter for women against men who renege on the sex contract. Psychology, Evolution & Gender 2: 47-71. 
Maier W., Gansicke M., Gater R., Rezaki M., Tiemens B., Florenzano Urzua R. (1999) Gender differences in the prevalence of depression: a survey in primary care. Journal of Affective Disorders 53: 241– 252.
Mazure C. M., Bruce M. L., Maciejewski P. K. and Jacobs S. C. (2000) Adverse life events and cognitive-personality characteristics in the prediction of major depression and antidepressant response. American Journal of Psychiatry 157: 896-903.
McElreath R (2003) Reputation and the evolution of conflict. Journal of Theoretical Biology 220: 345-357.
Nemeroff C. B. (1996) The Corticotropin-Releasing Factor (CRF) Hypothesis of Depression: New Findings and New Directions. In Molecular Psychiatry 1: 336-342.
Nesse R. (1991) What Good Is Feeling Bad - The Evolutionary Benefits Of Psychic Pain. Sciences 31: 30-37.
Nesse R. (1999) What Darwinian Medicine Offers Psychiatry.  In Evolutionary Medicine, W. R. Trevathan, E. O. Smith and J. J. McKenna, eds. Oxford University Press. pp.351-373.
Nesse R. (2000) Is Depression an Adaptation? Archives of General Psychiatry 57:14-20.
NIMH (2000) Frequently Asked Questions about Suicide. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/research/suicidefaq.cfm
Pariante C. M. and Miller A. H. (2001) Glucocorticoid Receptors in Major Depression: Relevance to Pathophysiology and Treatment.  Biological Psychiatry 49: 391– 404.
Patel V. (2001) Cultural factors and international epidemiology. British Medical Bulletin 57:33–45.
Platt S., Bille-Brahe U., Kerkhof A., Schmidtke A., Bjerke T., Crepet P., De Leo D., Haring C., Lonnqvist J., Michel K., et al. (1992) Parasuicide in Europe: the WHO/EURO multicentre study on parasuicide. I. Introduction and preliminary analysis for 1989. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 85: 97-104.
Presson P. K. and Benassi V. A. (1996) Locus of control orientation and depressive symptomatology: A meta-analysis. Journal of Social Behavior & Personality 11: 201-212.  
Price J., Sloman L., Gardner R., Gilbert P. and Rohde P. (1994) The Social Competition Hypothesis of Depression. British Journal of Psychiatry 164: 309-315.
Rodseth L., Wrangham R. W., Harrigan A. M., and Smuts B. B. (1991) The human community as a primate society. Current Anthropology 32:221-254.
Rotter J. B. (1966) Generalized Expectancies for Internal Versus External Control of Reinforcement. Psychological Monographs: General & Applied 80: 1-28.  
Schieffelin E. L. (1985) The cultural analysis of depressive affect: An example from New Guinea.  In A. M. Kleinman & B. Good (Eds.), Culture and Depression, Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 101-133.
Segrin C. and Dillard J. P. (1992) The interactional theory of depression: A meta-analysis of the research literature. Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology 11: 43-70.  
Seres M., Aureli F., and B. M. de Waal F. (2001) Successful Formation of a Large Chimpanzee Group out of Two Preexisting Subgroups Zoo Biology 20: 501–515.
Sheeber L., Hops H., and Davis B. (2001) Family Processes in Adolescent Depression Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review 4: 19-35.
Shimbo D., Child J., Davidson K., Geer E., Osende J. I., Reddy S., Dronge A., Fuster V. and Badimon J. J. (2002) Exaggerated Serotonin-Mediated Platelet Reactivity as a Possible Link in Depression and Acute Coronary Syndromes.  The American Journal of Cardiology 89: 331-333.
Shostak M. (1981) Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman. Vintage Books: New York.
Sommer V., Denham A. and Little K. (2002) Postconflict behaviour of wild Indian langur monkeys: avoidance of opponents but rarely affinity. Animal Behaviour 63:637–648.
Spence M. (1974) Market Signaling. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Stengel E. (1974) Suicide and attempted suicide.  New York: Penguin.
Suarez S. D. and Gallup G. G. (1985) Depression as a response to reproductive failure. Journal of social and biological structures 8: 279-287.
Thornhill R. and Furlow B. (1998) Stress and human reproductive behavior: Attractiveness, women's sexual development, postpartum depression, and baby's cry. In Stress and behavior. A. P. Moller, M. Milinski, and P. J. B. Slater (Eds.), San Diego, California: Academic Press.  pp. 319-369.
Thornhill R. and Thornhill N. W. (1989) The Evolution of Psychological Pain. In Sociobiology and the Social Sciences. R. W. Bell and N. J. Bell (Eds.). Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press. pp. 73-103.
Tooby, J. and Cosmides, L. (1990) The past explains the present: Emotional adaptations and the structure of ancestral environments. Ethology & Sociobiology 11: 375-424.
Tooby J. and Cosmides L. (2000) Evolutionary Psychology and the Emotions. In Handbook of Emotions, 2nd Edition M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), NY: Guilford.
Tousignant M. and Moldonado M. (1989) Sadness, depression and social reciprocity in highland Ecuador.  Social Science and Medicine 28: 899-904.
Trivers R. L. (1972) Parental investment and sexual selection. In Campbell, Sexual Selection and the Descent of Man, 1871–1971.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1993) Depression in Primary Care: Vol. 2. Treatment of Major Depression. AHCPR Publication No 93-0551.
Ustun,T. B., & Sartorius N. (1995) Mental illness in General Health Care: An international study John Wiley on behalf of the World Health Organization.
Vinokur A. D. and van Ryn M. (1993) Social support and undermining in close relationships: Their independent effects on the mental health of unemployed persons. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 65: 350–359.
Watson, P. J. and Andrews, P. W. (2002) Toward a revised evolutionary adaptationist analysis of depression: The social navigation hypothesis.  Journal of Affective Disorders.
Weissman M. M., Bland R. C., Canino G. J., Greenwald S., Hwu H.-G., Joyce P. R., Karam E. G., Clee.-K., Lellouch J., Lepine J.-P., Newman S. C., Rubio-Stipec M., Wells J. E., Wickramaratne P. J., Wittchen H.-U. And E.-K. Yeh. (1999) Prevalence of suicide ideation and suicide attempts in nine countries. Psychological Medicine 29: 9-17.
Wells K. B., Stewart A., Hays R.D., Burnam M.A., Rogers W., Daniels M., Berry S., Greenfield S., Ware J. (1989) The functioning and well-being of depressed patients. Results from the Medical Outcomes Study. Journal of the American Medical Association 262: 914-9.
Wenegrat B. (1995) Illness and Power. New York, NY: University Press.
Whiffen V. E. and Gotlib I. H. (1993) Comparison of postpartum and nonpostpartum depression: Clinical presentation, psychiatric history, and psychosocial functioning. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology 61: 485-494.  
Wolman, B. B. (1990) Preface. In Depressive disorders: Facts, theories, and treatment methods. B. B. Wolman and G. Stricker (Eds.), New York: John Wiley & Sons. 
World Health Organization (2001) The World Health Report 2001 - Health systems: improving performance. Geneva: World Health Organization.
Wulsin L. R., Vaillant G. E. and Wells V. E. (1999) A Systematic Review of the Mortality of Depression. Psychosomatic Medicine 61: 6–17.
Zahavi, A. (1975) Mate selection—a selection for a handicap. Journal of Theoretical Biology 53: 205-214.
citation:   Hagen, Edward H  (2003) The Bargaining Model of Depression.  [Book Chapter]     
document_url: http://cogprints.org/4135/1/Hagen_2003.pdf