Hunter vs. Farmers
Concept of Hunters vs. Farmers in ADHD
Humans have natural variability in attention, characterized by “hunters” with dynamic attention vs. “farmers” who thrive on routine. Hunters struggle with repetition but excel in changing environments. This concept prompted research into evolutionary origins of ADHD.
ADHD appears to be highly heritable, with a strong genetic component that can be passed down. Twin studies show that genetically identical twins are likely to both have or not have ADHD. However, having a parent with ADHD doesn’t guarantee the child will have it.
There is still debate about this topic. But there are some very large studies that look at sort of global populations, and have actually demonstrated that over the last 35,000 years, there’s been negative selection for ADHD genes.
- Could the modern world’s demands for sustained focus be mismatched with our evolutionary history?
- How might society better accommodate the natural variability in human attention?
Environmental Influence on ADHD Diagnosis
The same child in different environments may or may not be diagnosed with ADHD. Factors like student-teacher ratio heavily influence diagnosis rates. More favorable ratios allow teachers to provide structure and keep students on track, reducing ADHD diagnoses.
ADHD as a Natural Fluctuation of Attention
ADHD is a natural fluctuation of attention that can cause problems in certain environments but be advantageous in others. The key is understanding one’s unique attentional fingerprint and structuring life accordingly to maximize success.
Real estate is a lot more dynamic than a corporate finance job. So that sort of corporate finance job would be you know, go to the office at 8am and they sort of have meetings and they have to make these PowerPoint presentations and do all these like models and analysis and stuff like that. And then like they’d work until eight o’clock, nine o’clock in the evening. So they’d have really long workdays with sort of repetitive kind of like staring at a screen sort of work, but in the world of real estate, it was a lot more dynamic.
- In what environments do you tend to thrive or struggle with attention?
- How can you structure your life to better suit your attentional strengths?
People with ADHD can experience hyperfocus, becoming completely absorbed in a task for hours. While this can lead to incredible productivity, it’s not always controllable or directed towards the most important tasks. There’s debate about whether hyperfocus is an advantage or impairment.
And so there has been a lot of debate about Okay, so is ADHD, is it an illness or does it have some advantages? Some people sort of say that even that amount of hyperfocus is actually an impairment in our attention because we don’t control it.
- When have you experienced hyperfocus, and was it ultimately productive or distracting?
- How might you harness hyperfocus more intentionally towards your goals?
Importance of Understanding Your Unique Attentional Fingerprint
Whether you have clinical ADHD or subclinical struggles with focus, the key is understanding your unique attentional fingerprint. Are you more of a hunter or farmer? What environments support or hinder your attention? Answering these questions allows you to structure your life for success.
The key thing to take away here is that we each have a unique cognitive fingerprint. And if you want to structure your life, to be successful, one of the most important things that you need to do is account for whatever your unique attentional fingerprint is.
- What metaphor best captures your attentional tendencies - hunter, farmer, or something else?
- What changes could you make to better align your environment with your attentional needs?
see also:: Hunter vs. Farmer Worksheet