Toba catastrophe theory

Examples of Toba catastrophe theory in the following topics:

• The Evolution of Humans

  • The Toba catastrophe theory states that there was a near-extinction event for early humans about 70,000 years ago.

• Malthus' Theory of Population Growth

  • Advocates of Malthusian theory point to epidemics that diminished urban populations after early periods of urbanization as evidence that Mathus' predictions were correct.
  • According to Malthus, the only alternative to moral restraint was certain disaster: if allowed to grow unchecked, population would outstrip available resources, resulting in what came to be known as Malthusian catastrophes: naturally occurring checks on population growth such as famine, disease, or war.
  • Proponents of this theory, Neo-Malthusians, state that these famines were examples of Malthusian catastrophes.
  • Discuss Malthus's controversial theory on population growth, in terms of the concept of "moral restraint"

• Somatic Symptom Disorders

  • One of the oldest theories proposes that it is a result of the body's attempt to cope with emotional and psychological stress; another hypothesis is that people with the disorder have heightened sensitivity to internal physical sensations and pain.
  • Cognitive theories explain the disorder as arising from negative, distorted, and catastrophic thoughts and reinforcement of these thoughts.
  • A recent review of cognitive–affective neuroscience research suggests that catastrophization in patients with these disorders tends to correlate with a greater vulnerability to pain.
  • CBT aims to help patients realize that their symptoms are not catastrophic and to help them gradually return to activities they previously engaged in without fear of “worsening their symptoms.”

• What is Evolution?

  • Evolution, the unifying theory of biology, describes a mechanism for the change and diversification of species over time.
  • The theory of evolution is the unifying theory of biology, meaning it is the framework within which biologists ask questions about the living world.
  • This theory contrasted with the predominant view of the time: that the geology of the planet is a consequence of catastrophic events that occurred during a relatively brief past.

• Implications for Variance

  • insurance products (an annuity , a life settlement , a catastrophe bond , personal life insurance products, etc.)
  • A fundamental justification for asset allocation (or Modern Portfolio Theory) is the notion that different asset classes offer returns that are not perfectly correlated, hence diversification reduces the overall risk in terms of the variability of returns for a given level of expected return.

• Institutions and Costs

  • George Stigler (1911-1991) described a "capture theory of regulation. " (Stigler, 1971, Published first in 1962 with Claire Friedland) He argues that when an industry is regulated, it is in the interests of that industry to capture the regulatory agency and influence its policies.
  • Health insurance emerged in the mid 1930's as a solution to the problems of random, catastrophic health care costs and how hospitals and doctors would receive financial payment.

• The Fight-or-Flight Response

  • His theory states that animals react to threats with a general discharge of the sympathetic nervous system, priming the animal for fighting or fleeing.
  • Stress responses are sometimes a result of mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, in which the individual shows a stress response when remembering a past trauma; and panic disorder, in which the stress response is activated by the catastrophic misinterpretations of bodily sensations.

• The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

  • The various theories and explanations for the fall of the Roman Empire in the West may be very broadly classified into four schools of thought, although the classification is not without overlap:
  • On the other hand, the school of catastrophic collapse holds that the fall of the Empire had not been a pre-determined event and need not be taken for granted.

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder

  • People with GAD also tend to catastrophize, meaning they may assume the absolute worst in anxiety-inducing situations.
  • Cognitive theories of GAD suggest that worry represents a mental strategy to avoid more powerful negative emotions (Aikins & Craske, 2001), perhaps stemming from earlier unpleasant or traumatic experiences.
  • According to these theories, generalized anxiety may serve as a distraction from remembering painful childhood experiences.

• Panic Disorder and Panic Attacks

  • Neurobiological theories of panic disorder suggest that a region of the brain called the locus coeruleus may play a role in this disorder.
  • Such findings have led to the theory that panic disorder may be caused by abnormal norepinephrine activity in the locus coeruleus (Bremner, Krystal, Southwick, & Charney, 1996).
  • Conditioning theories of panic disorder propose that panic attacks are classical-conditioning responses to subtle bodily sensations resembling those normally occurring when one is anxious or frightened (Bouton, Mineka, & Barlow, 2001).
  • Similarly, cognitive theories (Clark, 1996) argue that those with panic disorder are prone to interpret ordinary bodily sensations catastrophically, and these fearful interpretations set the stage for panic attacks.