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Applying Darwinian principles in designing effective intervention strategies: The case of sun tanning
Author(s) -
Saad Gad,
Peng Albert
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
psychology and marketing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.035
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1520-6793
pISSN - 0742-6046
DOI - 10.1002/mar.20149
Subject(s) - darwinism , intervention (counseling) , psychology , sunbathing , social psychology , epistemology , medicine , philosophy , dermatology , psychiatry
Public‐service announcements typically seek to educate consumers regarding a given unhealthy practice, the assumption being that individuals will cease the harmful behavior once they are fully informed. Many intervention strategies have failed in curbing the targeted behaviors because these are not due to incomplete information but instead may also have a Darwinian‐based etiology. Using sunbathing as a case analysis, it is shown how Darwinian theorizing (evolutionary psychology, life‐history theory, gene‐culture co‐evolution, and memetic theory) can augment social marketers' ability to develop efficacious intervention strategies. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.