![]() ![]() Adults in the ADHD group were uniquely able to postpone eating, sleeping and other personal needs and stay absorbed in the "urgent task" for an extended time. Glickman & Dodd (1998) found that adults with self-reported ADHD scored higher than other adults on self-reported ability to hyper-focus on "urgent tasks", such as last-minute projects or preparations. Ko further states that the decreased need for 'hyperfocus' was building the conditions favourable for human language. Humans devised better innovations and organizational structures to boost their living and the need for hyperactivity slowly diminished over a long period of time regardless of whether they were in a gathering or farming society. Also, hominins have been hunter gatherers throughout 90% of human history from the beginning, before evolutionary changes, fire-making, and countless breakthroughs in stone-age societies. Scientific basis Hyperfocus įrom an evolutionary viewpoint, "hyperfocus" was advantageous, conferring superb hunting skills and a prompt response to predators. Over many years, most humans adapted to farming cultures, but Hartmann speculates that people with ADHD retained some of the older hunter characteristics. Hartmann claims that most or all humans were nomadic hunter-gatherers for hundreds of thousands of years, but that this standard gradually changed as agriculture developed in most societies, and more people worldwide became farmers. It was also stated that the lack of 'hyperfocus' should not be the only dichotomy of 'Farmers versus Hunter-gatherers' that was identified in Hartman's theory. ![]() The hunter versus farmer hypothesis proposes that the high frequency of ADHD in contemporary settings "represents otherwise normal behavioral strategies that become maladaptive in such evolutionarily novel environments as the formal school classroom." One example such as migration in the hunter-gatherer society, is that some of these hunter-gatherers that naturally predisposed to these various amounts of this same gene may have value in certain kinds or qualities of social groups. It is argued that in the hunter-gatherer cultures that preceded farming societies, hunters needed hyperfocus more than gatherers. ![]() The hypothesis also explains the distractibility factor in ADHD individuals and their short attention span for subject matter that does not interest the individual (which may or may not trigger hyperfocus), along with various other characteristics such as difficulty adhering to social norms, poor planning and organizing ability, distorted sense of time, impatience, attraction to variety or novelty or excitement, and impulsiveness. Hartmann developed the idea first as a mental model after his own son was diagnosed with ADHD, stating, "It's not hard science, and was never intended to be." Ī key component of the hypothesis is that the proposed " hyperfocus" aspect of ADHD is a benefit under appropriate circumstances. This hypothesis proposes that ADHD represents a lack of adaptation of members of hunter-gatherer societies to their transformation into farming societies. The hunter versus farmer hypothesis is a proposed explanation of the nature of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) first suggested by radio host Thom Hartmann in his book Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception. ![]()
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