If cortisol (stress) is supposed to help us be prepared for life or death situations, then why do a lot of people (incl. me) make such stupid mistakes when under it’s influence?

Question

I’m mostly talking about social interactions mostly – like when you forget the most important thesis during exam, getting pizza sizes wrong when ordering or when prompted a question “what are chips made from?” and you answer “fries”

In: 23

Answer 1

In general evolutionary traits only have to be more successful in a population than the alternative, additionally their can be other cultural or biological factors that can mask or mitigate the negative aspects.