Despite knowing that "the house always wins," gambling remains popular, defying rationality. This enduring paradox exposes the interplay between economic, cognitive, and emotional factors. Some individuals experience a loss of control over gambling, leading to harms like debt, illegal activities, and conflicts.

Learning from and about others – social learning – is key for our success as a species. Ideas and behaviors are transmitted between individuals and across generations via social learning, which gives rise to the evolution of human cultures.

According to Robert Trivers and Dan Willard's hypothesis, parents in good condition should favour male offspring, while parents in poor condition should favour female offspring. Why? First, parents with more resources can support more offspring. Second, males with more resources are more likely to have many offspring. Natural selection should therefore favour investment in male offspring when parents are in good condition, since their sons will have a chance to have many children in turn.