Evolution and Human Behavior最新文献

Why do people categorize others by race? Building on recent work integrating affordance management with a life history perspective, we propose that one reason perceivers categorize others by race is because race is a cue to the environments/ecologies in which groups live. In the U.S., because Black and White individuals differentially live in environments that vary in ecological harshness/unpredictability, race may be used as a cue of a person's home ecology. In three experiments (undergraduate and online U.S. samples; N = 1260) with the memory confusion paradigm (“who-said-what”), when American perceivers are presented with information on both a person's race (i.e., Black/White) and the ecologies in which they live (i.e., harsh/hopeful), racial categorization decreases, and ecology categorization emerges (Studies 1–3). Hence, in the minds of perceivers, the ecologies that others come from “replaces” others' race. However, counter to expectations, instructing perceivers to form social impressions of others on traits linked to ecological harshness (i.e., “planfulness”) led to ecology categorization disappearing (Study 3). We discuss implications of our findings for race perception and for social perception at large.

Social bonds can be a way for individuals to gain access to crucial resources and services that cannot be taken by force and are therefore subject to leverage. Bonds between the sexes can provide access to services that are specific to the other sex. Females exert leverage over males in terms of mating access, males have leverage over females in terms of the service protection, and both sexes exert leverage over the other sex in terms of tolerance and agonistic support. While mating access can be coerced in some circumstances, most services cannot be forced. Here, we use theoretical considerations to explore when sources of leverage over the opposite sex lead to between-sex bonds. Focussing on primates living in multi-male multi-female groups, we predict that leverage over the other sex will be higher, when 1) the receiver benefits on average more than the provider, 2) receivers cannot share the resource, and 3) the resource is rare and valuable. If these conditions are fulfilled, and given the mutual nature of a social bond, we expect bonds to be found, 4) when long-term targeting of the same partner yields benefits. We argue that a female's main source of leverage is mating access, whereas males mainly exert leverage over females in terms of protection of females and offspring. The combination of female mate choice with male protection and care for young is expected to promote between-sex bonds; reduced female cohesion and/or secondary female dispersal are expected to further increase the strength of between-sex bonds. The investment in shared offspring results in interdependency between male and female strategies, but the different services provided by females and males indicate that affiliative exchanges associated with bonds between the sexes will be typically asymmetric and vary over time. Thus, bonds between the sexes are expected to form in a limited number of circumstances where both sexes have leverage over the other sex in terms of their respective sex-specific services. While a systematic test of this proposal is hampered by the dearth of data on species lacking social bonds between the sexes, the data currently available are consistent with our hypothesis.

People worldwide invest substantial resources in improving their physical attractiveness. We employed a qualitative approach to investigate the ‘what’, ‘how intensely’, and ‘why’ behind this phenomenon. We conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with 96 members of four distinct societies, including the Cook Islands, Guatemala, Pakistan, and Poland. The thematic analysis, guided by the four Tinbergen's questions, provided valuable insight on the beauty-enhancing practices across the studied societies. Commonly shared practices included maintaining hygiene, using make-up, cosmetics, accessories, perfumes, exercising, and caring for clothing and hair. Additionally, interviewees from different countries placed particular importance on some distinctive characteristics, such as flowers in the Cook Islands, fashionable clothing in Guatemala, beards and golden jewelry in Pakistan, and body shape in Poland. Conforming with evolutionary theories, all interviewees unanimously agreed that women devote more time than men to the pursuit of beauty, albeit with variations across the four societies. Furthermore, aligning with basic principles of mate choice, the present research delineated fundamental motives driving appearance enhancement, that is, inter-sexual and intra-sexual competition. We also shed more light on other motives, seldomly investigated in the past, including, for instance, religious reasoning. By juxtaposing perspectives from culturally and geographically diverse societies, we offer a nuanced understanding of the multifaceted nature of self-enhancement practices.

Interest in dealbreakers has blossomed over the last decade, but we do not know how dealbreakers are used in mate choice. Here, we propose that some dealbreaker traits may act as disqualifiers, traits that we use to recognize others as potential mates. Alternatively, other dealbreaker traits may act like mate preferences and influence how attractive we find a potential mate relative to other potential mates. We use agent-based modeling and two samples of real-life couples, n = 1044, and n = 518, collected through Qualtrics' panel service, to test between these two possibilities. We find evidence that many of the traits colloquially considered to be dealbreakers, such as smoking status, height, and religion, are not used by the mind as disqualifiers, rather they act like preferences and are integrated into overall assessments of mate value. However, we find evidence that a person's sex is incorporated into mate choice like a disqualifier. Overall, considering and testing the evolved function of dealbreakers in the long-term mating process illuminates new directions for future research.