Human nature, a term that is widely used to describe the feelings, characteristics and behavioral traits shared by all humans, according to Wikipedia. However, to fully comprehend what human nature is we should examine both the physical and psychological aspects in more depth. Through the required readings for this essay, cited on the reference page, I was able to explore several views that help support my position on human nature. I believe that human nature is derived from a complex combination of genetic, or physiopsychology, behavioral, or cognitive psychology, and environmental, or social psychology. Simply put, human nature is a combination of both trait and state psychology. There are certainly practical advantages for considering even the simplest understanding of human nature as it relates to business, culture and productivity all of which I intend to prove throughout this reaction paper. Let’s examine physical psychology in more depth. Research has provided us with information suggesting that a person is born with certain abilities as it relates to the make-up of the brain, nerves, hormones and other physical factors. These items collectively create our psychological core of which sets limits as to how much information we can process. In other words, when we are born we’re “hard-wired” with a certain capacity to process and interpret information at some level. According to Nicolson (1998), humans are hard-wired due our drive for survival which stems from Darwin’s theory of evolution. This theory suggests that human nature, or life for that matter, all stems from the human ability to naturally evolve for survival and efficiency over the span of our existence. Aligned is the theory of natural selection which specifies that nature will automatically work to eliminate weak or mutant genes which in turn leads to the stronger, healthier and smarter humans being selected to survive. For example, in early civilization humans consisted of hunters and gatherers of which only the strong survive. The folks who didn’t possess the ability of adaptive learning couldn’t figure out how to find food or shelter and thus were not “naturally selected” as it relates to Darwin’s theory of natural selection. One could make the argument that the same is true in today’s business world. Throughout the years our physiopsychology should have evolved allowing the modern day humans the ability to adapt in the ever-changing business world. This ability to adapt, reposition ourselves is part of the physical (physiological) psychology. A more complex brain, nerves, emotions and hormone distribution is what creates our evolved psychological core. As we continue to make advancements in the science, which is happening rapidly, we should have more evidence to prove how new methods of management both in life and business can be correlated to greater success. When looking in more depth at how human nature plays a role in a person’s behavioral patterns we need to examine emotion and cognitive psychology. The ability to infer the internal stages of others including intensions, knowledge, desires and goals is likely to have significant benefits including the benefit of interpreting the behavior of others and adjusting one’s own behaviors accordingly. However, the internal states of others can’t be directly observed. Thus natural selection have favored the evolution of mechanisms that use perceptual cues to generate inferences about goals and intensions that underlie others behaviors. An evolutionary approach to human intelligence leads to the radically different and highly counterintuitive view that our cognitive architecture includes evolved reasoning programs that were specialized by selection for distinct adaptive problems, such as social exchange and evading hazards. Although such a view strikes many as implausible in the extreme, why would anything in the mind be so strangely specialized? The careful analysis of adaptive problems allows the derivation of rich sets of testable and unique predictions about our cognitive architecture. (Pierce & White 1999) With that being said, while I agree that Darwinism has certainly allowed for continued growth and adaptation for humans I only partially agree that human nature is “hard-wired.” This then ties back to the concept of nature versus nurture. If we examine the “nurture” part a little further we can consider the implications our environment or social psychology play in human nature. In essence, we should examine the cultural evolution of human behavior. (Richerson, Collins, Genet 2006) Psychologists have proven that the series of events that happen in our lives play a role in how a person’s psychology is sculpted. These events are regarded as environmental-centered and have been proven to play a role in human nature as it relates to emotional responses, the ability to adapt in challenging situations and a person’s overall mental perspective. Richerson, Collins & Genet (2006) suggest that the evolution of humans from primate ancestors involved the evolution of sympathy, loyalty and pride in one’s contribution to the group. These qualities originally supported simple tribes in which food was shared, territory defended and rules enforced without any top-down leadership. Just as companies today with too many employees who look out for themselves tend to lose in competition with ones where more look out for the welfare of the firm, tribes with good rules and enough people willing to follow them triumphed over more chimpanzeelike tribes as human nature gradually diverged from that of our ape ancestors. Evolutionists call this mechanism group selection. Modern cultural evolutionary theory and much evidence are consistent with the same basic idea. Group selection happens to operate much more effectively on cultural variation than genetic variation, explaining why human patterns of cooperation are so unusual. This aligns with my stance that while human behavior has a “hard-wired” natural selection aspect there is strong research proving that environmental or social psychological impacts human nature. As demonstrated throughout this reaction paper, human nature is complex. However, understanding even the basic level of cognitive, social and physiological psychology and its evolution can be extremely beneficial and applicable in the business world. Motivation is an important part of productivity for any career. Since we know that human nature includes behaviors that have evolved due to natural selection we need to consider what “really” motivates our employees by getting to know them better. This means that our “biological incentive system” was molded by natural selection and our behavioral intentions have deep biological underpinnings (Irvine, 2006). That our evolved innate biological incentive system coordinates our inner experiences of pleasure, fear, anger, and pain has several implications for managing people in contemporary organizations. (Yang, Colarelli, Holston 2011) Additionally, we have learned that emotions first screen the information we receive, meaning that as managers we should consider the setting, mood and delivery before communicating important information with employees. With that, it has also been determined that humans are more sensitive to perceived loss when gain is possible but generally still prefer to accept risk even if loss is possible. From this I gather that when motivating it would be advantageous to use a calculated balance of high incentives with a known chance of failure. By strategically utilizing leverage, it is possible to increase the overall performance of employees through human nature. Another applicable aspect to implement in the business world would be as it relates to culture through group adhesiveness. Experts say that workers who believe they are free to make choices in the workplace and be accountable for their decisions are happier and more productive. Although the desire for freedom from micromanagement may be universal, there is no cross-cultural definition of autonomy. What people from one culture perceive as workplace freedom, those from another may view as simple disorganization. Autonomy is not just something that companies crave, a sense of autonomy is a big driver of reward or threat for human-beings. A study from the University of Boulder says that the degree of control that organisms exert over something, determines whether or not the stressor alters an organism's functioning. The findings indicate that only uncontrollable stress causes damaging effects. Uncontrollable stress can be destructive, whereas the same stress that feels escapable is less destructive, significantly so. Consequentially, human nature is to feel comfortable and part of the group as to feel a sense of autonomy and confidence. As managers, we need to regularly find ways to unite the group by creating a productive, friendly culture. For example, off-site team building meetings or activities can be helpful in building trust and a sense of belonging. This way employees exhibit a sense of autonomy that is self-generated. If a manager forces the autonomy it will result in failure as the employees could see it as a threat which in turn leads to higher anxiety and stress. (Yang, Colarelli & Holston 2011) Finally, a need for organization structure is imperative for success. Biologically it has been researched and proven that humans have a need to be in small group of equal or less status then us. It is the need to feel important, less threatened and fittest that drives this. So, in creating teams for projects we should take this into consideration. It would be inaccurate to say that every group is going to be formed equal however, but knowing the strengths and weaknesses as it relates to employees and their organizational structure we remain aware of potential moves that need to take place. Additionally, we know that human nature has proven that when given resources there will be a desire to compete for ownership for the largest percent or closer proximity to them. To help assure satisfaction and productivity we as employers need to be sure there are ample resources with easy access. This ensures that the human need to monopolize items and/or undercut other employees is controlled. In turn, your employees should feel as if they have what they need to be successful and don’t need to compete for it. By acknowledging and accepting the complexity of human nature humans could inevitably perform at a higher level resulting in increased productivity continued healthy evolution. From a practicality stand point, a manager isn’t going to be able to fully control every aspect of the psychology of the workplace or organizational behavior there are a variety of strategies that can be done leverage human nature to our benefit. For example, having excellent new employee orientations in which employees are enabled to network and create internal resources could be of advantage. Another example would be to offer ongoing feedback related meetings to discuss company policy, mission statements and what needs the employees have. This can provide a beneficial in making the employees feel welcome while keeping them in line with company cultural initiatives. Through these methodologies we can continue to made advancements in human productivity and continue to compete in the world of business. Additionally, we’ll be contributing to evolution of human nature through knowledge, exposure and adaptation. As a manager I find the information to be intriguing and will plan to find more ways to learn about and implement strategies to benefit company success through understanding human nature of past and present.

References 1. Bowler, P. J. (2009). Darwin’s originality. Science, 323, 223 – 226.

2. Coyne, J. A. (2009). Why evolution is true. New York: Penguin.

3. Nicholson, N. (1998). How hardwired is human behavior? Harvard Business Review, 76 (4), 134 – 147.

4. Pierce, B. D., & Roderick, W. (1999). The evolution of social structure: Why biology matters. Academy of Management review, 24(4), 843 – 853.

5. Richerson, P. J., Collins, D., & Genet, R. M. (2006). Why managers need an evolutionary theory of organizations. Strategic Organization, 4(2), 201- 211.

6. Yang, C., Colarelli, S. M., Holston, K. (2011). Understanding human nature: From an evolutionary psychological perspective. Journal of International Business Disciplines, 6(1).