For years, men have failed to provide an answer as to why human beings suicide. In a more recent study conducted at the Florida State University (FSU), it was found that man's propensity to commit suicide is akin to the colony-like (eusocial) behavior of some insects such as ants and honeybees.
A team of researchers from FSU, led by Thomas Joiner, a FSU professor in psychology, examined the parallelism between the self-sacrificial behavior of ants, honeybees, and other insects to that of suicide in humans. The study showed that humans exhibit eusocial behavior as manifested by their inclination to divide labor for better survival and joint efforts in caring for their offspring.
The study was published in Psychological Review Journal, where it highlighted Joiner's statement, "Humans are a species that is eusocial, and that's an important starting point." He further added that it suggests similar characteristics between humans and insects, one of which is the ability to self-sacrifice.
In Science Daily's report, Joiner said, "The idea is if you give up yourself, which would include your genes, it can be evolutionarily speaking 'worth it' if you spare or save multiple copies of your genes in your relatives." He also described it as a "net benefit on the gene level."
When the researchers looked at suicide in today's times however, they view it as the irrational side of the supposedly positive side of self-sacrifice in the concept of eusociality. Joiner regards it as, "It seems highly maladaptive and very psychopathological."
Because of this, Joiner and his team faced a quandary. He expressed his thoughts in a question asking, "Is it possible that modern human suicide is a maladaptive or deranged version of the adaptive, behavioral model for self-sacrifice that all eusocial species have?"
As recounted by Siasat Daily, Joiner further said, "If you can identify animal models for this behavior and understand its circuitry at the neurochemical and neurophysiological levels, then it might lead to new insights about similar circuitry that fail in human suicide."
