Abstract: The construction of “the resources-economical and environment-friendly society” calls for sustainable consumption behaviors， whereas unsustainable behaviors are deeply rooted in the evolutionary history of human beings， who have been adapting themselves to the natural and social environments. Many such unsustainable consumption behaviors are caused by the five adaptive tendencies— propensity for self-interest， propensity for relative status， propensity for copying others， propensity for being shortsighted and propensity for disregarding impalpable concerns. Although these adaptive tendencies are difficult to eliminate， such theories as kinship selection， reciprocal altruism， costly signaling and life history might provide possibilities to promote sustainable consumption.

Key words: sustainable consumption behavior, evolutionary theory, adaptive behavior tendency, behavior influence strategy