Low fertility is a growing concern in modern societies. While economic and structural explanations of reproductive hindrances have been informative to some extent, they do not address the fundamental motives that underlie reproductive decisions and are inadequate to explain why East Asian countries, in particular, have such low fertility rates. The current paper advances a novel account of low fertility in modern contexts by describing how modern environments produce a mismatch between our evolved mechanisms and the inputs they were designed to process, leading to preoccupations with social status that get in the way of mating and reproductive outcomes. We also utilize developed East Asian countries as a case study to further highlight how culture may interact with modern features to produce ultralow fertility, sometimes to the extent that people may give up on parenthood or even mating altogether. Through our analysis, we integrate several lines of separate research, elucidate the fundamental dynamics that drive trade-offs between social status and reproductive effort, add to the growing literature on evolutionary mismatch, and provide an improved account of low fertility in modern contexts.
{"title":"When social status gets in the way of reproduction in modern settings: An evolutionary mismatch perspective","authors":"J. C. Yong, Amy J. Y. Lim, Norman P. Li","doi":"10.1556/2055.2022.00028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2055.2022.00028","url":null,"abstract":"Low fertility is a growing concern in modern societies. While economic and structural explanations of reproductive hindrances have been informative to some extent, they do not address the fundamental motives that underlie reproductive decisions and are inadequate to explain why East Asian countries, in particular, have such low fertility rates. The current paper advances a novel account of low fertility in modern contexts by describing how modern environments produce a mismatch between our evolved mechanisms and the inputs they were designed to process, leading to preoccupations with social status that get in the way of mating and reproductive outcomes. We also utilize developed East Asian countries as a case study to further highlight how culture may interact with modern features to produce ultralow fertility, sometimes to the extent that people may give up on parenthood or even mating altogether. Through our analysis, we integrate several lines of separate research, elucidate the fundamental dynamics that drive trade-offs between social status and reproductive effort, add to the growing literature on evolutionary mismatch, and provide an improved account of low fertility in modern contexts.","PeriodicalId":267438,"journal":{"name":"Culture and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128537805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Individual danger and collective danger have very different effects according to the predictions of a theory called regality theory, based on evolutionary psychology. This study explores the effects of different kinds of danger on 37 different indicators of psychological and cultural responses to danger based on data from two waves of the World Values Survey, including 173,000 respondents in 79 countries.The results show that individual danger and collective danger have very different – and often opposite – psychological and cultural effects. Collective dangers are positively correlated with many indicators related to authoritarianism, nationalism, discipline, intolerance, morality, religiosity, etc. Individual dangers have neutral or opposite correlations with many of these indicators. Infectious diseases have little or no effects on these indicators. Many previous studies that confound different kinds of danger may be misleading.Several psychological and cultural theories are discussed in relation to these results. The observed effects of collective danger are in agreement with many of these theories while individual danger has unexpected effects. The findings are not in agreement with terror management theory and pathogen stress theory.
{"title":"Psychological and cultural effects of different kinds of danger. An exploration based on survey data from 79 countries","authors":"A. Fog","doi":"10.1556/2055.2023.00029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2055.2023.00029","url":null,"abstract":"Individual danger and collective danger have very different effects according to the predictions of a theory called regality theory, based on evolutionary psychology. This study explores the effects of different kinds of danger on 37 different indicators of psychological and cultural responses to danger based on data from two waves of the World Values Survey, including 173,000 respondents in 79 countries.The results show that individual danger and collective danger have very different – and often opposite – psychological and cultural effects. Collective dangers are positively correlated with many indicators related to authoritarianism, nationalism, discipline, intolerance, morality, religiosity, etc. Individual dangers have neutral or opposite correlations with many of these indicators. Infectious diseases have little or no effects on these indicators. Many previous studies that confound different kinds of danger may be misleading.Several psychological and cultural theories are discussed in relation to these results. The observed effects of collective danger are in agreement with many of these theories while individual danger has unexpected effects. The findings are not in agreement with terror management theory and pathogen stress theory.","PeriodicalId":267438,"journal":{"name":"Culture and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124250642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Mosuo, arguably the last surviving matrilineal society in China, offers interesting insights into kinship practices that support reproduction. In particular, the modes of courtship and reproduction of the traditional Mosuo revolve around a practice known as walking marriages, which involves no contract or obligations, where the men do not use social status or resources to court women, women do not expect commitment from men, and multiple sexual relationships are permitted for both sexes and seldom incite conflict. Children borne from walking marriages are cared for not so much by fathers but rather their mothers' brothers, and wealth and property are controlled by women and passed on to daughters rather than to sons. By analyzing how familial and mating practices interact with evolved preferences and ecological affordances, we highlight the ways that traditional Mosuo practices facilitate reproductive success despite differing vastly from those familiar to modern, industrialized societies. We suggest that cases that appear like evolutionary exceptions, such as the traditional Mosuo, can bring into question the mating practices and preferences we take for granted as relatively universal and prompt a nuanced understanding of how environments, culture, and evolution mutually constrain and shape one another.
{"title":"Elucidating evolutionary principles with the traditional Mosuo: Adaptive benefits and origins of matriliny and “walking marriages”","authors":"J. C. Yong, Norman P. Li","doi":"10.1556/2055.2022.00017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2055.2022.00017","url":null,"abstract":"The Mosuo, arguably the last surviving matrilineal society in China, offers interesting insights into kinship practices that support reproduction. In particular, the modes of courtship and reproduction of the traditional Mosuo revolve around a practice known as walking marriages, which involves no contract or obligations, where the men do not use social status or resources to court women, women do not expect commitment from men, and multiple sexual relationships are permitted for both sexes and seldom incite conflict. Children borne from walking marriages are cared for not so much by fathers but rather their mothers' brothers, and wealth and property are controlled by women and passed on to daughters rather than to sons. By analyzing how familial and mating practices interact with evolved preferences and ecological affordances, we highlight the ways that traditional Mosuo practices facilitate reproductive success despite differing vastly from those familiar to modern, industrialized societies. We suggest that cases that appear like evolutionary exceptions, such as the traditional Mosuo, can bring into question the mating practices and preferences we take for granted as relatively universal and prompt a nuanced understanding of how environments, culture, and evolution mutually constrain and shape one another.","PeriodicalId":267438,"journal":{"name":"Culture and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123420118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cultural evolution theory proposes that information transmitted through social learning is not transmitted indiscriminately but is instead biased by heuristics and mechanisms which increase the likelihood that individuals will copy particular cultural traits based on their inherent properties (content biases) and copy the cultural traits of particular models, or under particular circumstances (context biases). Recent research suggests that content biases are as important, or more important, than context biases in the selection and faithful transmission of cultural traits. Here, evidence for biases for emotive, social, threat-related, stereotype consistent and counterintuitive content is reviewed, focusing on how these biases may operate across three phases of transmission: choose-to-receive, encode-and-retrieve, and choose-to-transmit. Support for some biases primarily functioning as biases of attention and memory, while others primarily function as biases of selection to share with others, and the implications for this in wider cultural evolution is discussed. Ultimately, a more consistent approach to examining content biases, and greater engagement with wider literature, is required for clear conclusions about their mechanism and potential differences across the three phases of transmission.
{"title":"Content biases in three phases of cultural transmission: A review","authors":"Joseph M. Stubbersfield","doi":"10.1556/2055.2022.00024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2055.2022.00024","url":null,"abstract":"Cultural evolution theory proposes that information transmitted through social learning is not transmitted indiscriminately but is instead biased by heuristics and mechanisms which increase the likelihood that individuals will copy particular cultural traits based on their inherent properties (content biases) and copy the cultural traits of particular models, or under particular circumstances (context biases). Recent research suggests that content biases are as important, or more important, than context biases in the selection and faithful transmission of cultural traits. Here, evidence for biases for emotive, social, threat-related, stereotype consistent and counterintuitive content is reviewed, focusing on how these biases may operate across three phases of transmission: choose-to-receive, encode-and-retrieve, and choose-to-transmit. Support for some biases primarily functioning as biases of attention and memory, while others primarily function as biases of selection to share with others, and the implications for this in wider cultural evolution is discussed. Ultimately, a more consistent approach to examining content biases, and greater engagement with wider literature, is required for clear conclusions about their mechanism and potential differences across the three phases of transmission.","PeriodicalId":267438,"journal":{"name":"Culture and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132380138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sex differences in jealousy are a well-established research finding that suggests men (relative to women) will find the sexual components of an infidelity more distressing, whereas women (relative to men) will find the emotional components of an infidelity more distressing. This study uses a relatively novel sample of participants (individuals who engage in consensual non-monogamy) to test both cultural and evolutionary influences on jealousy. In our study using hypothetical scenarios, we found that men (relative to women) were more upset about the sexual components of the infidelity and that women (relative to men) were more upset about the emotional components of the infidelity. This occurred in both samples to the same magnitude suggesting that the differences between the men and women may be driven by evolutionary influences. Additionally, we found a main effect of relationship type such that participants who engaged in consensual non-monogamy had lower levels of jealousy overall. As such, this study provides relatively unique evidence for the ultimate origins of sex differences in jealousy.
{"title":"Sex differences in jealousy and personality differences: Comparing consensually non-monogamous participants to a monogamous cohort","authors":"J. Edlund, K. Kinner, Darius Seda","doi":"10.1556/2055.2022.00015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2055.2022.00015","url":null,"abstract":"Sex differences in jealousy are a well-established research finding that suggests men (relative to women) will find the sexual components of an infidelity more distressing, whereas women (relative to men) will find the emotional components of an infidelity more distressing. This study uses a relatively novel sample of participants (individuals who engage in consensual non-monogamy) to test both cultural and evolutionary influences on jealousy. In our study using hypothetical scenarios, we found that men (relative to women) were more upset about the sexual components of the infidelity and that women (relative to men) were more upset about the emotional components of the infidelity. This occurred in both samples to the same magnitude suggesting that the differences between the men and women may be driven by evolutionary influences. Additionally, we found a main effect of relationship type such that participants who engaged in consensual non-monogamy had lower levels of jealousy overall. As such, this study provides relatively unique evidence for the ultimate origins of sex differences in jealousy.","PeriodicalId":267438,"journal":{"name":"Culture and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133705708","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Population size has been proposed to promote cumulative culture in humans. Experimental evidence from adult humans suggests that one explanatory mechanism might involve combining beneficial information from multiple models. However, it is possible that such combinatory social learning requires cognitive capacities restricted to adult humans. In our task, children aged 5–10 were exposed to two models who consecutively searched a 3×3 array for rewards. Models revealed different correct and incorrect reward locations. This information could be used by the child to maximise their own score on the same task. We were interested in children's ability to select rewarded locations, and avoid unrewarded ones, revealed by both models. We also manipulated the spatial and temporal displacement of the information available. Results showed that the youngest children were unable to fully benefit from the additional information provided by the two models under spatial and/or temporal displacement. Such displacement likely applies in most real-world cases of cumulative culture therefore our result may offer insight into the constraints on cumulative culture in nonhumans.
{"title":"Children's use of social information from multiple models: Cognitive capacities underlying population size effects on cumulative culture","authors":"C. Wilks, M. Atkinson, C. Caldwell","doi":"10.1556/2055.2021.00005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2055.2021.00005","url":null,"abstract":"Population size has been proposed to promote cumulative culture in humans. Experimental evidence from adult humans suggests that one explanatory mechanism might involve combining beneficial information from multiple models. However, it is possible that such combinatory social learning requires cognitive capacities restricted to adult humans. In our task, children aged 5–10 were exposed to two models who consecutively searched a 3×3 array for rewards. Models revealed different correct and incorrect reward locations. This information could be used by the child to maximise their own score on the same task. We were interested in children's ability to select rewarded locations, and avoid unrewarded ones, revealed by both models. We also manipulated the spatial and temporal displacement of the information available. Results showed that the youngest children were unable to fully benefit from the additional information provided by the two models under spatial and/or temporal displacement. Such displacement likely applies in most real-world cases of cumulative culture therefore our result may offer insight into the constraints on cumulative culture in nonhumans.","PeriodicalId":267438,"journal":{"name":"Culture and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127932062","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Artistic behavior as aesthetically enhancing activities is conceptualized as a functionally autonomous activity within the evolved human behavioral repertoire. Accordingly, it should be intrinsically motivated, and it might also be expected to be temporally stable and domain specific. Preferential freely-pursued activities reflect intrinsic motivation and offer a valuable measure of artistic motivation. We used a large decades-long real-life public Brazilian data set from university applications to test these ideas. We analysed data on extra-class activities from 674.699 late-adolescents applying for university courses between 1987 and 2004, mostly between 17 and 19 years of age; approximately half men and half women. We found that 27% of individuals reported that Artistic/cultural activities were the leisure-time activity they participated in most frequently, and 32% reported they spent the longest period of free-time doing Artistic-activities (theater/cinema, music, dance, art-craft/plastic arts). Interestingly, from this whole sample, only less than 3% actually applied for artistic careers, which suggests that the prevalence of prioritizing artistic activities is higher than commonly assumed and includes not only professional artists, but also many hobbyists, amateurs and dedicated fans. Further, artistic careers applicants prioritize art almost three times more than the total of applicants, suggesting its specificity. After controlling for inconsistency of answer options during the period, prioritizing both Artistic/cultural and Artistic-activities remained temporally stable, as predicted. Despite limitations, overall results supported the hypotheses that artistic behavior is more intrinsically motivated, domain specific, and temporally stable. This plausibly demonstrates that artistic propensity has at least partly an evolved nature.
{"title":"Artistic motivations are intrinsic, specific, and temporally stable by nature: Evidence from large real-life Brazilian public data between 1987–2004","authors":"M. A. Varella","doi":"10.1556/2055.2022.00012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1556/2055.2022.00012","url":null,"abstract":"Artistic behavior as aesthetically enhancing activities is conceptualized as a functionally autonomous activity within the evolved human behavioral repertoire. Accordingly, it should be intrinsically motivated, and it might also be expected to be temporally stable and domain specific. Preferential freely-pursued activities reflect intrinsic motivation and offer a valuable measure of artistic motivation. We used a large decades-long real-life public Brazilian data set from university applications to test these ideas. We analysed data on extra-class activities from 674.699 late-adolescents applying for university courses between 1987 and 2004, mostly between 17 and 19 years of age; approximately half men and half women. We found that 27% of individuals reported that Artistic/cultural activities were the leisure-time activity they participated in most frequently, and 32% reported they spent the longest period of free-time doing Artistic-activities (theater/cinema, music, dance, art-craft/plastic arts). Interestingly, from this whole sample, only less than 3% actually applied for artistic careers, which suggests that the prevalence of prioritizing artistic activities is higher than commonly assumed and includes not only professional artists, but also many hobbyists, amateurs and dedicated fans. Further, artistic careers applicants prioritize art almost three times more than the total of applicants, suggesting its specificity. After controlling for inconsistency of answer options during the period, prioritizing both Artistic/cultural and Artistic-activities remained temporally stable, as predicted. Despite limitations, overall results supported the hypotheses that artistic behavior is more intrinsically motivated, domain specific, and temporally stable. This plausibly demonstrates that artistic propensity has at least partly an evolved nature.","PeriodicalId":267438,"journal":{"name":"Culture and Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115716075","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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