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Evolutionary Psychology
The First Three Instincts of Masculinity
A Personal Perspective: I asked GPT-3 to tell me what it "thinks" about males.
Posted February 22, 2023 Reviewed by Ekua Hagan
Hiking a glacier with my family and dog, Lovie, I was thinking about the nature of instincts and how both humans and dogs share them—how they help us get along in the world, not having to ponder or plan too far ahead. This way, we can give all our attention to the next step up the mountain.
Miles in, Lovie’s paws appeared to be getting crusted with ice, so my little son was getting worried about her. She’s an Eskimo runt, and I decided to stuff her into my oversized yellow coat somehow and zip it up for 10 to 20 minutes. It was 11,000 feet up, and the wind and temperature were predicted to get as high as 40 mph and low as 10°F later in the day.
We had just reached the top, but it was already time to descend. Warming Lovie against my chest appeared effective, leaving me feeling like a proud dog father. She is our only “little girl.”
My wife effortlessly took the dog to a lower elevation while I pulled my son down in a sled, and not without a strenuous effort. By the time we got back to the car in the valley below, I had found myself remembering a study on instincts I had once read.
The article was about the parenting habits of male Adelie penguins who protect unhatched eggs with their feet. Meanwhile, the mother goes into the wild to hunt for food for her new arrivals. Generation after generation, Adelie penguins do this.
The study struck me as illustrating instincts in penguins that I sense myself—protecting my family and our dog.
Like penguins, I didn’t learn this in a class, nor do I portray it as a “role.”
I just do it.
Myths and Instincts
My Ukrainian immigrant grandfather was known for hauling children from his neighborhood up and down winter roads—using a sleigh meant to be pulled by a horse, not a man. I had never met him because he died before I was born, yet the myth of his dogged generosity still travels with me.
Psychology Today blogger John A. Johnson, Ph.D., writes: “A myth is neither completely true nor completely false. A good myth is one that artfully represents human experience…”
Mythology may factor into recent studies that appear to posit the existence of “masculine instincts.”
Universal behaviors (instincts) give rise to myths, not the other way around. The latter is a “role”—what an actor might portray in a “script” to satisfy the need of today’s audience to be entertained.
An instinct doesn’t exist to please an audience. It originates in genetics and biology, and manifests in psychology, navigating us through the outer world of sociology. The biopsychosocial model is very useful for teasing apart the working parts inside us from the stressors outside us, and masculinity is no exception.
In the myths of the ancient Greeks, the war god Ares inspired soldiers to have a fighting spirit, and the god Zeus harkened behaviors of provider and protector in them. Hades was the god of the underworld, symbolic of men’s emotions and the unconscious—retreating to the interior of one’s psychology to work on one’s self.
In Martin Seager's chapter within The Palgrave Handbook of Male Psychology by John Barry, et al., the author outlines three significant drivers of male behavior. These are found throughout human history in archaeological findings, folklore, and literature, in every culture on the planet.
I have taken to myths to give names to these three universal male behaviors found by the authors:
- Fighting and winning (which I term the “Ares Instinct”)
- Providing and protecting ( the “Zeus Instinct”)
- Mastery and control of one’s own emotions (the “Hades Instinct”)
It dawned on me why I had remembered the penguin research. My fatherly experience on the glacier had something in common with my grandfather’s sleigh—experiences of this “Zeus Instinct"—while finding myself pondering the emotions and instincts of the trek was the “Hades Instinct” at work.
Will AI Ever Know Men as Well as They Know Themselves?
Once home, I got news of the new technology, GPT-3, and was intrigued by some claims that it could write the equivalent of a master’s-level thesis with a prompt. See Dr. Paul Thagard’s excellent article on GPT-3 here.
I’ve suspected that synthesizing evolutionary psychology and Jungian psychology might help define the concept of masculine and feminine instincts, and so—tired and still a bit cold late that night—I prompted GPT-3: “Teach me about masculine instincts.”
It responded that there was no material on male instincts, instead citing social determinism to explain masculinity (in “roles” and “scripts").
Undeterred, I took heart in having no less curiosity in Lovie, my response to her distress, or our family dynamics.
I prompted: “That’s not what I want. Advise me on researching men and masculinity.”
This time it produced a helpful answer: “Designing a research study to investigate the existence of “masculine instincts” would require a clear definition and operationalization of what is meant by “masculine instincts.”
I had one in mind as a prompt: “Male archetypes whose expression and use lead to more male passion for life.”
GPT-3 responded: “It would also require a theoretical framework, such as Jungian psychology, which posits the existence of archetypes, including the 'masculine archetype.'” (Barry, Kingerlee, and Seager already do this.)
“One way to investigate the existence of “masculine instincts” would be to conduct a qualitative study using in-depth interviews with men. The interviews could explore participants’ experiences and understanding of their own masculinity...to investigate the existence of “masculine instincts” would be to conduct a quantitative study using a survey or questionnaire…about participants’ self-perception of their masculinity, as well as…the prevalence of certain behaviors and characteristics among men...to investigate the existence of masculine instincts, it will also be important to consider biological and evolutionary perspectives. A study that includes measures of hormones such as testosterone, brain structure, function, or genetic markers...”
Evolutionary psychology describes Darwin’s “survival and reproduction” as consistent objectives of an instinct, and there is only one word we could consider a synonym for both domains of behavior: “passion.”
Simultaneously, Jung has referred to “archetypes” as being universal sources of “libido” or “passion,” so perhaps this word is a starting point for unifying Jungian and evolutionary psychology.
It would mean that “masculine instincts” are unconscious processes that inspire male passion for those we love and passion for the tools of survival, which today pertain to one's career. These instincts make us “feel more alive” and have more vitality.
I’m not going to let GPT-3 replace my instincts. An authentic experience on a mountaintop lends far more inspiration. If nothing else, it did provide clues that by starting to identify ancient instincts in males, we are on the right track to further research the psychology of males.
While GPT-3 is an excellent resource sparking us to think with more organization and precision, only humans can have the embodied experience that algorithms artificially portray. Software “scripts” merely “play the role” of Ares, Zeus, or Hades while men actually feel the instincts in their bones—using them authentically, not in roles, but in reality.
References
Marks, E., A. Rodrigo, et al. (2010). “Ecstatic display calls of the Adelie penguin honestly predict male condition and breeding success.” Behavior 147(2): 165-184
Johnson, John, Ph.D. (2019). "What Mythology Reveals About the Mind." Psychology Today Blog, Cui Bono.
Barry, J.A., Kingerlee, R., Seager, M., Sullivan, L. (2019). The Palgrave Handbook of Male Psychology and Mental Health. Palgrave Macmillan.
Francesc Borrell-Carrió, MD, Anthony L. Suchman, MD, and Ronald M. Epstein, MD (2004). The Biopsychosocial Model 25 Years Later: Principles, Practice, and Scientific Inquiry. Ann Fam Med. 2004 Nov-Dec;2(6):576-82.
