Evolutionary Psychology最新文献

Evolutionary criminology is an approach to the understanding of crime and criminality that is based in part on key aspects of evolutionary psychology. The approach allows for a renewed examination of traditional criminological assumptions and can serve to further enhance theoretical viewpoints on antisocial behavior. The recently developed evolutionary taxonomy theory is an example of such an approach. Relying on the tenets of life history theory, the evolutionary taxonomy was proposed as a theoretical scaffolding for Moffitt's developmental taxonomy of offending. While recent tests of the evolutionary taxonomy have been informative, lacking from the existing literature is an assessment of the extent to which measures of life history theory can predict classification into offending groups based on Moffitt's developmental taxonomy. The current study provided a partial test of classification predictions using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescence to Adult Health study (n  =  12,012). Results of multivariable regression analyses indicated that measures associated with somatic effort and aspects of the developmental environment were predictive of group classification, but measures associated with reproductive effort were not. Implications for evolutionary criminology and traditional criminology are discussed.

Forming long-term intimate relationships is a human universal, with most people across different times and cultures doing so. Such relationships should be associated with important benefits otherwise individuals would not engage in them, with the current research aiming to identify what people consider as beneficial in a long-term intimate relationship. More specifically, Study 1 employed qualitative research methods in a sample of 221 Greek-speaking participants, and identified 82 perceived benefits. Study 2 employed quantitative research methods in a sample of 545 Greek-speaking participants, and classified these benefits into 10 broad factors and two broader domains. Experiencing positive emotions, including love and passion, as well as having someone to provide support and do things together, were considered among the most important benefits. Although there were a few significant differences, the evaluations of the perceived benefits of intimate relationships were generally consistent across participants of different sex, age, and relationship status.

Several previous studies have shown that in mammals, the health status of conspecifics can be assessed based on perceptual cues. Olfactory, visual, or acoustic cues may lead to avoidant behavior, thus reducing the risk of contagion by close contact with infected individuals. We tested whether immune system activation after immunization leads to perceptible changes in body odor and facial and vocal attractiveness in humans. We have experimentally activated the immune system of male participants using vaccination against hepatitis A/B and meningococcus. Their body odor, facial photographs, and vocal recordings were collected before and 14 days after vaccination. Subsequently, the body odor samples, facial photographs, and vocal recordings were assessed by female raters for their attractiveness and healthiness. We have also measured skin coloration (from facial photographs and in vivo using a spectrophotometer), vocal parameters, and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels as a marker of inflammation. We found an increase in perceived body odor attractiveness, a decrease in facial attractiveness and healthiness, and no change in vocal attractiveness 14 days after vaccination compared to the prevaccination condition. Moreover, there was no change in facial coloration or vocal parameters between the prevaccination and postvaccination conditions. Prevaccination CRP levels were negatively associated with body odor and facial attractiveness and positively associated with body odor intensity. Overall, our results suggest that perceived body odor as well as facial but not vocal attractiveness may provide cues to activation of the immune response and that each modality may carry specific information about the individual's condition.

Gender role attitudes refer to attitudes toward the appropriate roles, rights, and responsibilities of men and women in society. Evidence indicates that individuals with traditional gender role attitudes tend to prefer mates with sex-typical opposite-sex characteristics in heterosexual men and women. This study examined whether gender role attitudes were associated with vocal masculinity preference in gay men in China. Five hundred and sixty-seven participants aged between 16 and 49 years completed the vocal masculinity preference (voice pitch and vocal tract length; VTLs) and gender role attitudes scale. The results indicated that gay men generally preferred masculine voices (lower voice pitch and longer VTLs) and gender role attitudes were positively correlated with preferences for masculine cues in the voices of men. While individuals indicating an affinity with traditional gender roles exhibited stronger preferences for feminine voices, which were inconsistent with the present hypotheses. The results help us understand the role of traditional gender beliefs in the mate preferences of gay men in China. Furthermore, based on the results, understanding one's gender-role attitudes can help cultivate more diversified criteria for mate selection and facilitate gay men in better choosing suitable mates. Future longitudinal studies should examine the relationship between gender role attitudes and masculine preference changes over time. Whether this relationship differs in the different sexual roles of gay men should also be explored.

Studies examining the impact of early adversity on physiological responsivity to environmental challenges in later life yield a complex pattern of findings and ambiguity regarding the direction of effect, with some studies reporting heightened responses and others reporting dampened responses. One potential reason for these mixed findings is an oversimplified theoretical model surrounding the connection between early life stressor exposure and subsequent stress responsivity. The adaptive calibration model offersa contemporary set of assumptions aimed at providing a better understanding of the ways that early life experiences shape the stress response system to better align with current and future environments. The current study utilized a large subsample from the National Study of Daily Experiences (N = 1,605) to examine the extent to which the association between daily stressor exposure and cortisol levels varies across levels of early life adversity. Results revealed that those individuals who experienced extremely low levels of early life adversity displayed the greatest increase in cortisol levels across the day as daily stressor exposure increased. Alternatively, those individuals who experienced extremely high levels of early life adversity displayed almost no change in diurnal production of cortisol as daily stressor exposure increased. The results are discussed within the evolutionary-developmental context of the adaptive calibration model along with suggestions for future research.

Previous research indicates that the anticipatory shame an individual feels at the prospect of taking a disgraceful action closely tracks the degree to which local audiences, and even foreign audiences, devalue those individuals who take that action. This supports the proposition that the shame system (a) defends the individual against the threat of being devalued, and (b) balances the competing demands of operating effectively yet efficiently. The stimuli events used in previous research were highly variable in their perceived disgracefulness, ranging in rated shame and audience devaluation from low (e.g., missing the target in a throwing game) to high (e.g., being discovered cheating on one's spouse). But how precise is the tracking of audience devaluation by the shame system? Would shame track devaluation for events that are similarly low (or high) in disgracefulness? To answer this question, we conducted a study with participants from the United States and India. Participants were assigned, between-subjects, to one of two conditions: shame or audience devaluation. Within-subjects, participants rated three low-variation sets of 25 scenarios each, adapted from Mu, Kitayama, Han, & Gelfand (2015), which convey (a) appropriateness (e.g., yelling at a rock concert), (b) mild disgracefulness (e.g., yelling on the metro), and (c) disgracefulness (e.g., yelling in the library), all presented un-blocked, in random order. Consistent with previous research, shame tracked audience devaluation across the high-variation superset of 75 scenarios, both within and between cultures. Critically, shame tracked devaluation also within each of the three sets. The shame system operates with high precision.

Facial femininity in men is purportedly used as a cue by women as a signal of parental quality and willingness to provide resources. Accordingly, in contexts where choosing a partner that will provide resources is more beneficial (e.g., when resources are scarce), women have shown an increase preference for facial femininity in male faces. However, domains of scarcity often covary, and it is, therefore, unclear whether these contextual shifts in facial masculinity/femininity preferences are specific to material scarcity (as implied by previous theory), or due to an unrelated domain of scarcity (e.g., time or psychological scarcity). Here, a sample of 823 women completed the Perceived Scarcity Scale, which measures three separate domains of scarcity: material scarcity, time scarcity, and psychological scarcity. Participants also rated the attractiveness of 42 male faces, which were measured on objective sexual dimorphism and perceived masculinity. Consistent with theory, material scarcity, and not time or psychological scarcity, was associated with a decreased preference for objective sexual dimorphism (i.e., an increased preference for facial femininity). This study provides evidence that women use sexual dimorphism as a cue to material resource provisioning potential when assessing men as a mate.