Innate aversions to capsaicin can be overridden by cultural learning

Evidence

Chili peppers have evolved chemical defenses, based on capsaicin, that make them aversive to mammals and rodents but desirable to birds. In mammals, capsicum directly activates a pain channel (TrpV1), which creates a burning sensation in response to various specific stimuli, including acid, high temperatures, and allyl isothiocyanate (which is found in mustard and wasabi). These chemical weapons aid chili pepper plants in their survival and reproduction, because birds provide a better dispersal system for the plants’ seeds than other options (like mammals). Consequently, chilies are innately aversive to nonhuman primates, babies, and many human adults. Capsaicin is so innately repellent that nursing mothers are advised to avoid chili peppers lest their infants reject their breast milk, and in some societies, capsicum is even put on a mother’s breasts to initiate weaning. … Yet adults who live in hot climates regularly incorporate chilies into their recipes. And those who grow up among people who enjoy eating chili peppers not only eat chilies but love eating them. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 373

Categorization

• XREF: This exemplifies the chapter’s core conformist/social-learning theme: children acquire preferences by copying admired models rather than from direct payoff, connecting to developmental-timing question. — connects to: Natural selection built cultural learning that can overwrite innate preferences — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 365