I think natural selection would favor humans best able to outsmart the tiger — those who handle stress the best and stay calm, have the most resources, and have the most and healthiest offspring. The types of stress humans are under with civilization haven’t been around long enough for any real evolution to have taken place. But the folks who accumulate the most money and power are going to be those who take the risks, work the hardest and longest, and have the most ability to manage many different things at once. Those who can’t cope with stress as well would have fewer resources, more fear, and opt for fewer offspring. So over thousands and thousands of years, I would predict that humans will evolve to handle civilization stress better. That’s my completely unprofessional off-the-cuff Darwinian analysis, anyway ;-).

For the past 10 years I’ve researched, written and now present a unique classroom project, Brain Works for Kids. This focuses on teaching brain-based coping skills for pre-teens (grades 4-6). Yes, there may be a brain “structure” which influences an individual’s ability to cope with stress. But my work the past five years with over 700 students shows they can LEARN these skills by understanding brain FUNCTIONS that affect how our ability to recover and manage stressful, emotionally wounding experiences.
The bio-medical model is often the “gold standard” for brain research. We now know through fMRI (functional) brain imaging that we can actually regulate the way different human brain levels interact which sometimes make it difficult get over simple, everyday emotionally wounding (painful)experiences. We do this in 3 classroom sessions taking less than 3 hours total time. Early next year we plan to post information about this pioneering, preventive health education project on a new website called “copingskills4kids.”