Evolutionary Psychological Science最新文献

Physical features in men, such as height and shoulder-to-hip ratio (SHR), have been shown to contribute to women’s mate preferences. The independent and interactive effects of height and SHR have been shown to be associated with attractiveness, masculinity, dominance, and fighting ability. It is suggested that these sexually dimorphic features are a reflection of men’s genetic quality, in addition to the ability to provide direct benefits (e.g., protection, resource provisioning). The current study investigated how ecological harshness may modulate women’s mate preferences to men displaying variations in height and SHR ratio. In a sample of predominately Hispanic women (N = 247), manipulating ecological harshness did not affect their ratings of men. Women considered taller men with larger SHRs as more attractive, masculine, dominant, and higher in fighting ability. Interestingly, these ratings were moderated by individual differences in women’s mate value but not sociosexuality. Women with higher mate value rated all men who were taller than the anchor woman (172 cm) in the presentation sequence as more attractive, masculine, dominant, and higher in fighting ability. The findings replicated previous research on the interactive effects of men’s height and SHR and showed that women calibrate their mating preferences as a function of their overall mate quality (i.e., mate value).

Population-level life history research on humans has proven to be a fruitful research program, establishing numerous socioeconomic and behavioral correlates of life history strategy. Herein, this research program is extended to the Republic of Poland. Life history speed is estimated for 380 powiats and cities with powiat status. To investigate how life history associates with socioeconomic development, the general socioeconomic factor (S factor) is also extracted. Presidential election results are used to emulate differences in political behavior. In line with previous research, the data show that fast life history strategy is negatively correlated with the S factor and percentage of votes for the conservative presidential candidate. Notably, powiats located within Western Borderlands (territories that were part of Germany prior to World War II) tend to have faster life history strategy. This pattern could be explained by forced population displacement of over 1.5 million people that were resettled from USSR into Western Borderlands, thus replacing prior German inhabitants. Forced population displacement can be understood as a disruptive life event that accelerates life history strategy. This can have long-lasting effects, and the present study provides additional insight into the detrimental consequences of population displacement.

Collective dances are considered to serve as a strategic tool to convey information about the internal stability and collective action capabilities of performing coalitions. This communicative function not only aids in ally recruitment but also facilitates decision-making to manage conflicts within coalitions. While previous empirical studies mainly focused on mechanical aspects such as dance simultaneity, the influential role of dancers’ sex, a crucial coalitional component, is often overlooked. Considering that sex is rapidly and automatically detected by others, neglecting dancers’ sex may raise questions about the ecological validity of previous findings. Moreover, no current research examines how dancers’ sex influences the coalition quality assessments made by passive observers. To address this gap, the present study investigates potential differences in coalition quality ratings between dances performed solely by males and females. Drawing from the evolutionary perspective on male participation in coalitional dynamics, particularly the outgroup male target hypothesis, we propose that male dancers would be perceived as having higher coalition quality than female dancers, and dancers’ sex effect would exceed the effect of movement simultaneity type. The results confirm our hypothesis, highlighting that it is dancers’ sex, rather than movement simultaneity type, plays a primary role in coalition evaluations. Implications are discussed through the lenses of error management theory, the outgroup male target hypothesis, and the recognition of sex as a dominant social cue.

Sexual violence has likely been a feature of warfare throughout human history and may even have been present during prehistoric conflicts. In recent decades, international policymakers have improved efforts to prohibit and prosecute wartime sexual violence, including holding criminal tribunals for suspected perpetrators of wartime rape. Social scientists have offered a range of potential explanations for wartime rape and have attempted to bring the data on wartime rape under a single, unified theory. Many such theories have identified sociocultural factors such as patriarchal values, hostile attitudes toward women, or hatred toward specific ethnic groups as potential causes of wartime rape. We review the competing sociocultural theories of wartime rape citing evidence from evolutionary psychology, biology, and anthropology. We highlight strengths of the biosocial theory, which consider the influence of both social and biological factors on wartime rape, and enjoy strong theory-data fit. Specifically, we emphasize the ability of the biosocial theory to not only explain the existence of wartime rape as a near-universal phenomenon, but also its ability to explain variation in rates of wartime rape across armed conflicts.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, various social norms emerged from which individuals began to glean relevant social information about others. Such information included the extent to which individuals adhered to protocols that sought to limit disease spread (e.g., masking, vaccination) and public displays that could communicate one’s coalitional status. Two experiments examined how this signaling informed perceptions of prospective mates in an online dating setting. In Study 1, participants evaluated prospective mates on a hypothetical dating app reporting themselves as having or not having gotten vaccinated and wearing or not wearing medical masks in their profile. Despite vaccination conveying limited social information to perceivers, masking fostered perceptions of likability during the pandemic. Study 2 employed a similar evaluation procedure but did so following an experimental induction of social exclusion. Exclusion fostered preferences for unmasked targets during a later stage of the pandemic. This research explores the dual signaling functions of masks, revealing their role in conveying both coalitional and interpersonal affiliations. Findings indicate heightened sensitivity to coalitional values, such as political affiliations, in Study 1. In contrast, Study 2 highlights the evaluation of masked and unmasked individuals based on their effectiveness in meeting interpersonal goals, particularly as the pandemic waned.

Abstract

The “Aberrant Salience Hypothesis” (ASH) is arguably the pre-eminent proximate, theoretical model of psychosis in the current literature. As well as its consilience with phenomenological accounts, since its initial proposal, subsequent neuroscientific work has updated its empirical basis by demonstrating a functionally distinct large-scale brain network known as the “salience network” (SN), and crucially, demonstrated SN dysregulation in psychosis. Here, we elaborate upon this hypothesis through the application of evolutionary thinking, structured upon Tinbergen’s 4 questions. After delineating how the mechanism proposed by the ASH has been bolstered by subsequent neuroscientific advances, the ontogeny of psychosis is then considered. A critical aetiological role is attributed to toxic stress resulting from complex interactions between factors including urban living, migrant-status, male-sex, low socioeconomic status, subjective social status, and adverse childhood experiences. Our model, the modified ASH (“MASH”), seeks to provide a crucial bridge to the consideration of the evolutionary roots of psychosis. Environmental mismatch is implicated as the key evolutionary process. The model helps resolve the apparent puzzle of the persistence of psychosis, despite its detrimental effect on fitness. The adaptive significance of what shall be termed the “Salience Evaluation System” in humans is discussed, with particular reference to the uniquely complex human social environment. This provides an explanation for a further puzzle: that psychosis appears to be a human, species-specific phenomenon. Finally, we offer a number of testable predictions for future research.

Henrich et al. (Behavioral and Brain Science 33:61–135, 2010), with their call to increase the number of samples from non-WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) societies, represented a major roadblock in the steady progress of the science of evolutionary psychology and caused a significant detour. Whatever merit Henrich et al.’s (Behavioral and Brain Science 33:61–135, 2010) article might have had for social and behavioral sciences in general, it is the wrong call for evolutionary psychology. In this essay, I explain why evolutionary psychologists must continue to test their general theories about evolved human nature mainly in WEIRD societies.