When two or more conflicting behavioral patterns coexist in the same adult, Darwinian natural selection isn't much help in choosing between them. There is a standard for the best possible human functioning, often called self-actualization , which has some biological basis that is yet to be well understood. But human behavior doesn't always self-actualize or optimize potential. The fact that we don't always act optimally should be a cause for hope, not despair. This is because it means that war, poverty, environmental pollution, and rigid dominance hierarchies are not the result of optimal functioning, so they can be improved on.
Common nonsense falls into one or more of a few repeating patterns.
Some of our common nonsense beliefs can be characterized as promoting dominator relationships based on hierarchical rankings, as opposed to partnership relations based on equality and mutual respect. Still others result from confusing the average attributes of a group with the attributes of every individual in the group, or confusing the way someone acts most of the time with the way he or she acts all the time . Our common sense, creative responses to problems often come from seeing through appearances to the variability in each person or group. Attitudes we take on in any one of these spheres, whether helpful or harmful, tend to carry over into other spheres.