Pub Date : 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106788
Matilda Brindle , Catherine F. Talbot , Stuart West
Kissing can be observed across the animal kingdom. This presents an evolutionary puzzle, since the fitness benefits of kissing are unclear. We use a non-anthropocentric approach to define kissing as a non-agonistic interaction involving directed, intraspecific, oral-oral contact with some movement of the lips/mouthparts and no food transfer. Using this definition we collate basic observational data across the Afro-Eurasian primates and employ Bayesian phylogenetic methods to reconstruct the evolutionary history of kissing. We find that kissing occurs in most extant large apes, and likely also occurred in Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis), first evolving in the ancestor to this group ∼21.5–16.9 mya. Additionally, we highlight various life history variables that correlate reasonably, but not perfectly, with kissing across the apes (multi-male mating systems, non-folivorous diets, and premastication). With a major caveat about the quantity of available data at present, we hope that our results provide a useful starting point for further research into the adaptive function of kissing that highlights hypothesis generation and testing within a phylogenetic framework.
{"title":"A comparative approach to the evolution of kissing","authors":"Matilda Brindle , Catherine F. Talbot , Stuart West","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106788","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106788","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Kissing can be observed across the animal kingdom. This presents an evolutionary puzzle, since the fitness benefits of kissing are unclear. We use a non-anthropocentric approach to define kissing as a non-agonistic interaction involving directed, intraspecific, oral-oral contact with some movement of the lips/mouthparts and no food transfer. Using this definition we collate basic observational data across the Afro-Eurasian primates and employ Bayesian phylogenetic methods to reconstruct the evolutionary history of kissing. We find that kissing occurs in most extant large apes, and likely also occurred in Neanderthals (<em>Homo neanderthalensis</em>), first evolving in the ancestor to this group ∼21.5–16.9 mya. Additionally, we highlight various life history variables that correlate reasonably, but not perfectly, with kissing across the apes (multi-male mating systems, non-folivorous diets, and premastication). With a major caveat about the quantity of available data at present, we hope that our results provide a useful starting point for further research into the adaptive function of kissing that highlights hypothesis generation and testing within a phylogenetic framework.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"47 1","pages":"Article 106788"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145924568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106784
Stefan M.M. Goetz, Samuele Zilioli
{"title":"A homage to Glenn E. Weisfeld","authors":"Stefan M.M. Goetz, Samuele Zilioli","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106784","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106784","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"47 1","pages":"Article 106784"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145924244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106787
Gillian R. Brown
{"title":"Corrigendum to ‘The pitfalls of an impoverished approach to culture: Commentary on Baumard and André’ [Evolution and Human Behavior 46 (2025) 106746]","authors":"Gillian R. Brown","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106787","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106787","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"47 1","pages":"Article 106787"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145920759","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106792
Marlise K. Hofer , Tianqi Peng , Jennifer C. Lay , Frances S. Chen
{"title":"Corrigendum to “The role of testosterone in odor-based perceptions of social status” [Evolution and Human Behavior, Volume 46 (2025) 106752].","authors":"Marlise K. Hofer , Tianqi Peng , Jennifer C. Lay , Frances S. Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106792","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106792","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"47 1","pages":"Article 106792"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145920760","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106756
Athena Aktipis
{"title":"Beyond inclusive fitness: Why dual inheritance still matters in the age of memes","authors":"Athena Aktipis","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106756","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106756","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"47 1","pages":"Article 106756"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145924077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106782
Monique Borgerhoff Mulder
{"title":"A smart challenge but ultimately mistimed and misleading: Commentary on Baumard and André","authors":"Monique Borgerhoff Mulder","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106782","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106782","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"47 1","pages":"Article 106782"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145924076","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-31DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106817
Paul W. Ewald
When evaluating whether kissing is an evolutionary adaptation, fitness costs and benefits need to be considered. Any disease transmitted by kissing needs to be considered on the cost side. Infectious mononucleosis is the prototypical disease transmitted by intimate kissing, so much so that it is commonly known as the kissing disease. When the Epstein Barr virus was first accepted as the primary cause of infectious mononucleosis in 1968, it was generally considered a relatively benign pathogen in affluent populations. Infectious mononucleosis caused fatigue but was self limited and EBV usually caused asymptomatic infection. If that were the whole story then EBV would impose a relatively small fitness cost when spread by intimate kissing. Over the past half-century, however, EBV has been associated with severe diseases such as cancers, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus, which would impose higher fitness costs that would offset the mating advantages of kissing, and make adaptive explanations based on mating advantages less tenable. This paper evaluates whether the severe consequences of EBV infection extend back deeply into human evolution or arose more recently, reflecting a mismatch between modern and ancestral conditions. Comparative evidence indicates that infectious mononucleosis has been largely a recent consequence of EBV infection resulting from increased hygienic activites that reduce the probability of infection prior to adolescence. Infections during and after adolescence are sufficiently severe to generate symptomatic infection recognized as infectious mononucleosis, which in turn is associated with even more severe chronic diseases, such as breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, and Hodgkin's lymphoma. The recency of these associations indicates that this collection of severe diseases would not have imposed a fitness cost on intimate kissing. The flip side of this conclusion is that intimate kissing is now more unsafe than it used to be during our evolutionary history, and humans are left without innate avoidance mechanisms that would be more consistent with the present costs of intimate kissing.
{"title":"Epstein Barr virus, infectious mononucleosis and associated diseases as contributors to the costs of intimate kissing","authors":"Paul W. Ewald","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106817","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106817","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>When evaluating whether kissing is an evolutionary adaptation, fitness costs and benefits need to be considered. Any disease transmitted by kissing needs to be considered on the cost side. Infectious mononucleosis is the prototypical disease transmitted by intimate kissing, so much so that it is commonly known as the kissing disease. When the Epstein Barr virus was first accepted as the primary cause of infectious mononucleosis in 1968, it was generally considered a relatively benign pathogen in affluent populations. Infectious mononucleosis caused fatigue but was self limited and EBV usually caused asymptomatic infection. If that were the whole story then EBV would impose a relatively small fitness cost when spread by intimate kissing. Over the past half-century, however, EBV has been associated with severe diseases such as cancers, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus, which would impose higher fitness costs that would offset the mating advantages of kissing, and make adaptive explanations based on mating advantages less tenable. This paper evaluates whether the severe consequences of EBV infection extend back deeply into human evolution or arose more recently, reflecting a mismatch between modern and ancestral conditions. Comparative evidence indicates that infectious mononucleosis has been largely a recent consequence of EBV infection resulting from increased hygienic activites that reduce the probability of infection prior to adolescence. Infections during and after adolescence are sufficiently severe to generate symptomatic infection recognized as infectious mononucleosis, which in turn is associated with even more severe chronic diseases, such as breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, and Hodgkin's lymphoma. The recency of these associations indicates that this collection of severe diseases would not have imposed a fitness cost on intimate kissing. The flip side of this conclusion is that intimate kissing is now more unsafe than it used to be during our evolutionary history, and humans are left without innate avoidance mechanisms that would be more consistent with the present costs of intimate kissing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"47 2","pages":"Article 106817"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145886226","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-29DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106816
Ana María Fernández , María Teresa Barbato , Michele Dufey , Belén Zavalla , María Luíza Rodrigues Sampaio de Souza
Romantic jealousy is theorized to have evolved as an adaptive mechanism triggered by sex-specific threats to reproductive fitness. In men, sexual infidelity poses risks of paternal uncertainty, whereas in women, emotional infidelity threatens resource diversion. To test evolutionary predictions about sex differences in jealousy responses, the present study employed an improved economic game paradigm with heterosexual couples. Specifically, the modified dictator game was refined to explicitly state that the participant's partner would not only allocate resources to a newly introduced intrasexual rival but also receive resources that the partner would directly accept from this rival, thereby clarifying the intentionality and directionality of the exchange. This adjustment enhances ecological validity by modeling both partner-initiated and rival-initiated threats in a more realistic mate-poaching context. Seventy-nine heterosexual couples participated in a laboratory setting. Controlling for individual differences such as attachment anxiety and digital jealousy, it was hypothesized that women would experience greater jealousy than men when their partner allocated resources to a rival, while men would experience greater jealousy than women when their partner received resources from a rival to the detriment of the rival's partner. Results partially supported these hypotheses: resource allocation to a rival triggered greater jealousy responses in all participants, particularly among women, consistent with emotional infidelity models, whereas the reception condition yielded weaker and less differentiated effects. These findings suggest that allocation-based paradigms effectively model generalized romantic jealousy in partner–rival contexts involving resource exchange but may have limited sensitivity for detecting mate-poaching-related jealousy. More broadly, the study highlights the promise and constraints of economic games for experimentally investigating sex-specific adaptations in emotional responses.
{"title":"Resource allocation and romantic jealousy: An experimental test of sex differences using economic games","authors":"Ana María Fernández , María Teresa Barbato , Michele Dufey , Belén Zavalla , María Luíza Rodrigues Sampaio de Souza","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106816","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106816","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Romantic jealousy is theorized to have evolved as an adaptive mechanism triggered by sex-specific threats to reproductive fitness. In men, sexual infidelity poses risks of paternal uncertainty, whereas in women, emotional infidelity threatens resource diversion. To test evolutionary predictions about sex differences in jealousy responses, the present study employed an improved economic game paradigm with heterosexual couples. Specifically, the modified dictator game was refined to <em>explicitly state</em> that the participant's partner would not only allocate resources to a newly introduced intrasexual rival but also receive resources that the partner would directly accept from this rival, thereby clarifying the intentionality and directionality of the exchange. This adjustment enhances ecological validity by modeling both partner-initiated and rival-initiated threats in a more realistic mate-poaching context. Seventy-nine heterosexual couples participated in a laboratory setting. Controlling for individual differences such as attachment anxiety and digital jealousy, it was hypothesized that women would experience greater jealousy than men when their partner allocated resources to a rival, while men would experience greater jealousy than women when their partner received resources from a rival to the detriment of the rival's partner. Results partially supported these hypotheses: resource allocation to a rival triggered greater jealousy responses in all participants, particularly among women, consistent with emotional infidelity models, whereas the reception condition yielded weaker and less differentiated effects. These findings suggest that allocation-based paradigms effectively model generalized romantic jealousy in partner–rival contexts involving resource exchange but may have limited sensitivity for detecting mate-poaching-related jealousy. More broadly, the study highlights the promise and constraints of economic games for experimentally investigating sex-specific adaptations in emotional responses.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"47 2","pages":"Article 106816"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145886227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-26DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106812
Joseph G. Guerriero , Mary K. Shenk , Robert F. Lynch , Madeleine Zoeller , Lisa S. McAllister , Nurul Alam
The Trivers-Willard hypothesis (TWH) posits that parents who can easily provide for their children are expected to have more sons and invest more in sons while parents who have difficulty providing for their children are expected to have and invest more in daughters. In the present study, we test plausible proxies of parental condition largely ignored by prior investigations: worry about family member mortality and perceptions of community mortality risk. We administered an in-person survey to 302 married women living in Matlab, Bangladesh, and captured both mortality and financial-related proxies of parental condition and three parental bias variables (hypothetical investment in sons vs. daughters, preferences for sons vs. daughters, and the sex ratio of respondents' children). Using Bayesian regression, we found only two of nine of our a-priori predictions were supported: there is a 61 % probability that perceptions of community mortality risk are positively associated with preferring daughters over sons and a 66 % probability that financial standing is positively associated with preferring more sons than daughters. Other tests did not reveal clear effects or revealed an effect opposite to what was expected. However, in line with our TWH-inspired hypotheses, exploratory tests revealed that early life exposure to mortality is positively associated with having more daughters than sons and early life financial standing is positively associated with having more sons than daughters. We conclude that tests of the TWH remain sensitive to how parental condition and bias are operationalized, and that assessments of parental condition earlier in life may be particularly predictive of parental bias patterns in accordance with the Trivers-Willard hypothesis.
{"title":"Mortality perceptions in the context of the Trivers-Willard hypothesis","authors":"Joseph G. Guerriero , Mary K. Shenk , Robert F. Lynch , Madeleine Zoeller , Lisa S. McAllister , Nurul Alam","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106812","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106812","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Trivers-Willard hypothesis (TWH) posits that parents who can easily provide for their children are expected to have more sons and invest more in sons while parents who have difficulty providing for their children are expected to have and invest more in daughters. In the present study, we test plausible proxies of parental condition largely ignored by prior investigations: worry about family member mortality and perceptions of community mortality risk. We administered an in-person survey to 302 married women living in Matlab, Bangladesh, and captured both mortality and financial-related proxies of parental condition and three parental bias variables (hypothetical investment in sons vs. daughters, preferences for sons vs. daughters, and the sex ratio of respondents' children). Using Bayesian regression, we found only two of nine of our a-priori predictions were supported: there is a 61 % probability that perceptions of community mortality risk are positively associated with preferring daughters over sons and a 66 % probability that financial standing is positively associated with preferring more sons than daughters. Other tests did not reveal clear effects or revealed an effect opposite to what was expected. However, in line with our TWH-inspired hypotheses, exploratory tests revealed that <em>early life</em> exposure to mortality is positively associated with having more daughters than sons and <em>early life</em> financial standing is positively associated with having more sons than daughters. We conclude that tests of the TWH remain sensitive to how parental condition and bias are operationalized, and that assessments of parental condition earlier in life may be particularly predictive of parental bias patterns in accordance with the Trivers-Willard hypothesis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"47 2","pages":"Article 106812"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145842473","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-16DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106809
Sophie Lund Rasmussen
Only a few species perform lip kissing. However, nose-to-nose contact is a common yet less explored behaviour observed across various animal taxa. This review investigates the multifaceted suggested roles and functions of nose-to-nose contact by including existing literature describing this behaviour in combination with field observations from mammal researchers. Documentation of this behaviour in mammalian species with varying social strategies ranging from solitary to eusocial attest how these nose-to-nose interactions serve distinct, but apparently very diverse purposes. Insights from ethology and evolutionary biology suggest different adaptive advantages of nose-to-nose contact, such as enhanced social cohesion and increased reproductive success, although in some cases caused by reproductive suppression of conspecifics through nose-to-nose contact.
{"title":"Exploring nose-to-nose contact in mammals","authors":"Sophie Lund Rasmussen","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106809","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106809","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Only a few species perform lip kissing. However, nose-to-nose contact is a common yet less explored behaviour observed across various animal taxa. This review investigates the multifaceted suggested roles and functions of nose-to-nose contact by including existing literature describing this behaviour in combination with field observations from mammal researchers. Documentation of this behaviour in mammalian species with varying social strategies ranging from solitary to eusocial attest how these nose-to-nose interactions serve distinct, but apparently very diverse purposes. Insights from ethology and evolutionary biology suggest different adaptive advantages of nose-to-nose contact, such as enhanced social cohesion and increased reproductive success, although in some cases caused by reproductive suppression of conspecifics through nose-to-nose contact.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"47 1","pages":"Article 106809"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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