There may be something inherited through our survival instinct, but other than that I doubt it has much to do with our DNA. A more likely explanation is past experience. Some people are able to learn from the experience of others, some need to go through it themselves and others never learn.

Take something simple such as the tendency to carry a knife. I've had a knife on me pretty much continually since I was 10 yo. My father never carried a knife. If he needed one he'd borrow mine (what are kids for ). One of my brothers usually has a knife handy, the other is just like Dad, he borrows one.

So on the evolutionary scale, did I devolve? I don't think so. Dad was raised in an urban neighborhood, but he moved to the country and I was raised in a rural environment.