Showing papers in "Evolutionary Psychological Science in 2021"

Outbreaks and Outgroups: Three Tests of the Relationship Between Disease Avoidance Motives and Xenophobia During an Emerging Pandemic.

Abstract: Given the persistent threat posed by infectious disease throughout human history, people have a sophisticated suite of cognitive and behavioral strategies designed to mitigate exposure to disease vectors. Previous research suggests that one such strategy is avoidance of unfamiliar outgroup members. We thus examined the relationship between dispositional worry about disease and support for COVID-19-related travel bans across three preregistered studies (N = 764) conducted at the outset of the pandemic in the United States and Singapore. Americans higher in Perceived Infectability were more supportive of travel bans, whereas Singaporeans higher in Germ Aversion were more supportive of travel bans. In Study 2, priming saliency of the pandemic increased support for travel bans from high (but not low) pandemic-risk countries. This prime did not increase general xenophobia. These results are consistent with threat-specific perspectives of outgroup avoidance, and provide an ecologically-valid test of the implications of perceived disease threat for policy-related attitudes and decision-making.

Life History Is a Major Source of Adaptive Individual and Species Differences: a Critical Commentary on Zietsch and Sidari (2020)

Abstract: Zietsch and Sidari (2020) argue that life history theory does not offer an appropriate model for understanding inter-individual trait covariation. We examine in great detail four major claims of Zietsch and Sidari’s critique of life history theory as an explanation of inter-individual covariation among phenotypic, especially psychometric, traits. We review relevant theoretical and empirical research overlooked by Zietsch and Sidari and conduct reanalyses of comparative cross-species “pace-of-life” and human behaviour-genetic data. Our results challenge their arguments concerning (a) the implications for life history theory of the absence of individual-differences-level covariation in a variety of species and (b) the genetic aetiology of psychometric life history covariance. None of the four major claims made by Zietsch and Sidari withstand close scrutiny. Critiques of life history theory, such as the one developed by Zietsch and Sidari, should (if they are to be more persuasive) show what alternative theory might be at least as successful as life history theory in consiliently and parsimoniously explaining patterns of covariation among various traits within and between species, including the predictable absence of such covariation among certain traits. Evolutionary life history theory—as applied to non-human animals and humans—offers one of the broadest and empirically best-supported frameworks for understanding individual differences in physiology, cognition, behaviour, reproduction, and other traits and life outcomes.

Life History Strategies and Problematic Use of Short-Form Video Applications

Abstract: With the booming development of short-form video applications (SVAs), problematic use of SVAs raises new concerns. Taking a life history approach, the present study revealed that problematic use of SVAs may be a manifestation of fast life history strategies (LHS), associated with a lack of consideration of future consequences and sole focus on immediate rewards. An analysis of the responses of 376 TikTok users demonstrated that slow LHS was negatively associated with problematic SVA use and was positively associated with future orientation, which in turn was negatively associated with problematic SVA use. This set of associations suggests that problematic SVA use or other behavioral addiction represents a fast LHS manifestation that discounts the future by focusing on immediate hedonic rewards.

Human Life Histories as Dynamic Networks: Using Network Analysis to Conceptualize and Analyze Life History Data

Abstract: The examination of multiple life history indicators is essential to evolutionary sciences. However, the statistical analysis of life history parameters’ covariation is not apparently clear, due to the statistical limitations of “classic” procedures, like Factor Analysis, and conceptual problems in interpreting covariation between life history indicators as latent factors. Here, we propose that Network Analysis represents a promising framework for the exploration of life history parameters. First, we briefly describe the following basic metric of Network Analysis: nodes, edges, proximities, clustering, centrality indices, and small-world estimations. Next, we show the implementation of Network Analysis using the empirical set of life history variables as an example (N = 460). We showed that Network Analysis provides the following: (1) optimal level of information—higher than factor analysis and lower than correlation analysis; (2) findings that are in accordance with the existing life history data; (3) the estimation of age at first birth as the central node in the network; (4) dynamic view of life history events which can represent a solid basis for causal life history models. In sum, Network Analysis shows high potential both for conceptualizing life history pathways as dynamic networks and for statistical analysis of the covariation between the life history indicators.

Noncompliance with Masking as a Coalitional Signal to US Conservatives in a Pandemic.

Abstract: Humans have evolved perceptual acuity toward environmental cues heuristically associated with communicable disease that elicits an aversion. One heuristic cue that humans utilize to infer contamination threat is ingroup-outgroup status, with prejudices arising toward outgroup members due to potential novel pathogen exposure. The current study sought to investigate how disease responses in the US population have been modulated by the COVID-19 pandemic, given its origins in China, an outgroup population. We predicted that participants expressing heightened perceived vulnerability to disease and greater levels of conservatism would report higher levels of aversion towards targets not wearing a mask, particularly among Asian targets, given the association of COVID-19 with Asian populations. Results indicate that conservative individuals were more comfortable with both Asian and White targets if they were not wearing a mask, particularly male targets. We contextualize these findings by identifying how mask-wearing during the pandemic could be more communicative of one's coalitional affiliation rather than a protective health measure for more conservative persons.

Capturing Fluctuations in Pathogen Avoidance: the Situational Pathogen Avoidance Scale.

Abstract: Pathogen avoidance is an important motive underlying human behavior and is associated with numerous psychological processes—including biases against social groups heuristically associated with illness. Although there are reliable measurement scales to assess chronic dispositional levels of pathogen avoidance, no measurement scale currently exists to directly assess moment-to-moment fluctuations in pathogen avoidance. This paper presents the Situational Pathogen Avoidance (SPA) scale, which assesses situational variability in pathogen avoidance, especially as it pertains to avoidance of social stimuli. Across six studies, we demonstrate the reliability and validity of the SPA scale, show that the scale is influenced by situational activation of pathogen avoidance motives, and demonstrate that it mediates the association between pathogen avoidance motives (both chronic and situational) and social biases against obese and foreign targets. The SPA scale provides a valuable measurement tool for researchers who study pathogen avoidance and to those who study social biases more generally.

Narcissism and Motives to Pursue Status Through the Use of Dominance-Based Strategies, Prestige-Based Strategies, and Leadership-Based Strategies

Abstract: The present research examined the associations that narcissistic personality features had with motives to pursue status through the use of dominance-based strategies, prestige-based strategies, and leadership-based strategies as well as whether these associations were mediated by either dangerous or competitive social worldviews. Across three studies (N = 2082), the assertive/extraverted and antagonistic/disagreeable aspects of narcissism had indirect associations with the motive to use dominance-based strategies through the competitive social worldview. However, the results for the antagonistic/disagreeable aspect of narcissism were more robust than those for the assertive/extraverted aspect of narcissism which were weakened when other aspects of narcissism were included in the same analysis. In contrast, the assertive/extraverted, vulnerable/neurotic, and communal aspects of narcissism were positively associated with the motive to pursue status through the use of prestige-based strategies but social worldviews did not consistently mediate these associations. These results suggest that these aspects of narcissism have divergent associations with motives to pursue status through the use of particular strategies and that the competitive social worldview may play a role in some—but not all—of these associations.

The Biogeography of Human Diversity in Cognitive Ability

Abstract: After many waves of out-migration from Africa, different human populations evolved within a great diversity of physical and community ecologies. These ambient ecologies should have at least partially determined the selective pressures that shaped the evolution and geographical distribution of human cognitive abilities across different parts of the world. Three different ecological hypotheses have been advanced to explain human global variation in intelligence: (1) cold winters theory (Lynn, 1991), (2) parasite stress theory (Eppig, Fincher, & Thornhill, 2010), and (3) life history theory (Rushton, 1999, 2000). To examine and summarize the relations among these and other ecological parameters, we divided a sample of 98 national polities for which we had sufficient information into zoogeographical regions (Wallace, 1876; Holt et al., 2013). We selected only those regions for this analysis that were still inhabited mostly by the aboriginal populations that were present there prior to the fifteenth century AD. We found that these zoogeographical regions explained 71.4% of the variance among national polities in our best measure of human cognitive ability, and also more concisely encapsulated the preponderance of the more specific information contained within the sampled set of continuous ecological parameters.

Good Friends, Better Enemies? The Effects of Sibling Sex, Co-Residence, and Relatedness on Sibling Conflict and Cooperation

Abstract: While siblings can be close allies, they can also be significant competitors. They are also family members that are typically with us for most of our lives. Research has raised questions about the factors shaping sibling relationships, and an adaptationist perspective would predict a role for a number of factors including sex, genetic relatedness, and childhood co-residence. Recent work has highlighted sex differences with regard to conflict and emotional closeness, greater conflict among full-siblings than half-siblings, and a role for co-residence in increasing sibling altruism. This study examines levels of both sibling conflict and sibling cooperation as a function of respondent sex, sex of sibling, birth interval (or absolute age difference), co-residence, and relatedness. Results indicate that sibling conflict and cooperation may not be shaped by the same set of factors. Sibling conflict was predicted by own sex, sex of sibling, birth interval, duration of co-residence, and the degree of relatedness. Greater levels of conflict were reported by sisters, those closer in age, those who have co-resided longer, and full-siblings compared to half-siblings. However, sibling prosocialness was only predicted by sex and relatedness with females and full siblings reporting greater levels of sibling prosocialness. More research investigating patterns of conflict and cooperation within families using more ecologically valid cues are necessary to determine whether the two are operating under the same mechanism, sensitive to the same cues, or are, indeed, operating under different mechanisms.

Does Ecological Harshness Influence Men’s Perceptions of Women’s Breast Size, Ptosis, and Intermammary Distance?

Abstract: Breasts are sexually dimorphic physical characteristics, and they are enlarged post-puberty suggesting that they have been driven by sexual selection to signal fertility and residual reproductive value. Although different hypotheses have attempted to explain why men are attracted to women’s breasts, the role that ecology plays in men’s perceptions of women’s breasts has been limited. The current study used an ecologically harsh prime to investigate if ecological harshness influenced men’s perceptions of women’s breast size, ptosis (i.e., sagginess), and intermammary distance. Men were primed with an ecological harsh prime (i.e., economy uncertainty) and asked to rate women whose breast size, ptosis, and intermammary distance (i.e., cleavage) had been manipulated. Ecological harshness only influenced men’s perceptions of women’s breasts for reproductive success. Overall, men rated women with larger breasts as more attractive, fertile, healthier, reproductively successful, and likely to befriend. The study contributes to the overall literature on men’s perceptions of women’s breasts and suggests that ecological harshness may influence men's perceptions of women's reproductive success.

An Evolutionary Approach Toward Pro-environmental Behavior

Abstract: It is often thought that environmental campaigns aimed at changing human behavior to be more environmentally friendly should target individuals’ intrinsic values and other personal variables An evolutionary approach to human behavior, however, proposes a different perspective for tackling the pressing environmental issues of our times by making use of (rather than trying to change) our innate behavioral tendencies to make pro-environmental behavior the default and most adaptive option The presented evolutionary approach proposes that changing behavioral outcomes might be more prudent than trying to change people Better environmental and social outcomes are possible if we were to make use of our evolutionary past rather than fight it

Functional Inferences of Formidability Bias Perceptions of Mental Distress

Abstract: Humans infer men’s formidability through their facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR), subsequently eliciting perceptions of men’s capability to engage in aggressive physical conflict. Inferring formidable men as being particularly resistant to mental distress from physical conflict may pose downstream consequences, such as biasing mental health assessments that impede optimal treatment recommendations. Participants assessed potential mental distress of hypothetical military service members who varied in fWHR and indicated their willingness to assess and treat these symptoms. Formidable men were inferred as mentally tough, further biasing perceptions of them as not experiencing mental distress and not receiving subsequent care. We further replicated infrahumanization effects surrounding formidable men demonstrating individuals perceive them as less capable of feeling complex emotions, though treatment recommendations were driven by mental toughness perceptions rather than infrahumanization. Results are framed from an evolutionary perspective of affordance judgments. We discuss translational implications for clinical mental health.

The Cultural Transmission of Prestige and Dominance Social Rank Cues: an Experimental Simulation

Abstract: Informal social hierarchies within small human groups are argued to be based on prestige, dominance, or a combination of the two (Henrich & Gil-White, 2001). Prestige-based hierarchies entail the ordering of individuals by the admiration and respect they receive from others due to their competence within valued domains. This type of hierarchy provides benefits for subordinates such as social learning opportunities and both private and public goods. In contrast, dominance-based hierarchies entail the ordering of individuals by their capacity to win fights, and coerce or intimidate others. This type of hierarchy produces costs in subordinates due to its aggressive and intimidating nature. Given the benefits and costs associated with these types of social hierarchies for subordinates, we hypothesised that prestige and dominance cues are better recalled and transmitted than social rank cues that do not elicit high prestige or dominance associations (i.e. medium social rank cues). Assuming that for the majority of the population who are not already at the top of the social hierarchy it is more important to avoid the costs of dominance-based hierarchies than to obtain the benefits of prestige-based hierarchies, we further hypothesised that dominance cues are better transmitted than prestige cues. We conducted a recall-based transmission chain experiment with 30 chains of four generations each (N = 120). Participants read and recalled descriptions of prestigious, dominant, and medium social rank footballers, and their recall was passed to the next participant within their chain. As predicted, we found that both prestige cues and dominance cues were better transmitted than medium social rank cues. However, we did not find support for our prediction of the better transmission of dominance cues than prestige cues. We discuss whether the results might be explained by a specific social-rank content transmission bias or by a more general emotional content transmission bias.

Sex Differences in the Recognition of Children’s Emotional Expressions: A Test of the Fitness Threat Hypothesis

Abstract: Evolutionary theories have suggested that a female superiority in the recognition of facial emotion may be an adaptation that arises from women’s greater responsibility and investment in child-rearing and infant care. In a previous study, we showed a female superiority on a set of computer-administered emotion recognition tasks that was most prominent for the discrimination of negatively as opposed to positively valenced facial expressions (e.g., fear), providing empirical support for the “fitness threat” hypothesis. In the present study, we further investigated sex differences in a new sample of 95 healthy men and women of reproductive age (Mage = 22.09 years), using images of both children’s and adult’s faces as stimuli to evaluate the speed and accuracy of emotion recognition. A female superiority in accuracy, which was more pronounced for negative than positive expressions, was found for adult face stimuli, replicating our previous findings. The sex difference was shown to extend robustly to infant and toddler faces, which represent a more ecologically valid test of the fitness threat hypothesis. Direct parenting experience, but not other forms of learned experience involving young children, was also found to be associated with the accuracy of emotion discrimination. Implications of this association are discussed.

Pathogens and Intergroup Relations. How Evolutionary Approaches Can Inform Social Neuroscience

Abstract: Evolutionary and neuroscientific approaches to intergroup bias have been highly generative, but research has yet to consider how these two approaches can build on each other. Here, we review neuroscientific methods findings on intergroup bias. We then review the emerging perspective that views intergroup bias as a psychological adaptation to pressures present in ancestral ecologies. We conclude by considering evidence that collectivist and individualist cultures evolved in response to unique ecological threats. As such, members of each should be differentially susceptible to environmental cues connoting threats to pathogens. We then propose future directions for neuroscientific research that assesses intergroup bias from an evolutionary perspective. Consideration of cultural factors should enable improved understanding of intergroup bias, with proper consideration of how biology and psychology have adapted to the social environments faced in ancestral populations.

Envy Mediates the Relationship Between Physical Appearance Comparison and Women’s Intrasexual Gossip

Abstract: Physical attractiveness is a central component of women’s mate value. However, the extent to which women possess attractive physical traits varies between individuals, placing less attractive women at a mating disadvantage. Researchers have suggested that envy may have evolved as an emotion that promotes intrasexual competition in response to unfavorable social comparisons on important mate value traits, such as physical attractiveness. Previous research has shown that envy mediates links between unfavorable appearance comparisons and women’s intended appearance-enhancement behavior. In the current research, we extended this framework to examine the link between upward appearance comparisons and women’s intrasexual gossip. Women were assigned to either an appearance comparison or control advertisement rating task, and subsequently completed measures of state envy and gossip toward a same-sex rival. Results found that induced appearance comparisons predicted increased envy, which in turn predicted greater willingness to spread negative (but not positive) gossip about an attractive woman. Two cross-sectional survey studies (online supplement) replicated the model whereby more self-reported upward appearance comparisons predicted more self-reported gossip (Supplemental Study 1) and indirect aggression toward other women (Supplemental Study 2), and these links were mediated by dispositional envy. These results support the hypothesis that envy is an adaptation that promotes intrasexual competition using social aggression in response to unfavorable social comparisons on important mate value traits.

Strategies for Detecting Infidelity: An Explorative Analysis

Abstract: People frequently adopt extra-pair mating strategies, which could be potentially harmful for their legitimate partners. In order to protect themselves from the costs of cheating, people need first to detect infidelity, and for this purpose, they employ specific infidelity-detection strategies. By using a combination of qualitative research methods, we identified 47 acts that people perform in order to detect their partners’ infidelity. Using quantitative methods, we classified these acts into six broader strategies for detecting infidelity. Participants indicated that they were more likely to employ the “Observe changes in her/his behavior,” followed by the “Ask and observe her/his reactions,” and the “Check where she/he is” strategies. Almost 58% of the participants indicated that they would use three or more strategies in order to detect their partners’ infidelity. We also found that higher scorers in Machiavellianism and psychopathy were more likely to employ the identified strategies than lower scorers. In addition, sex and age effects were found for most strategies.

Filthy Animals: Integrating the Behavioral Immune System and Disgust into a Model of Prophylactic Dehumanization.

Abstract: The behavioral immune system (BIS) is an evolved psychological mechanism that motivates prophylactic avoidance of disease vectors by eliciting disgust. When felt toward social groups, disgust can dampen empathy and promote dehumanization. Therefore, we investigated whether the BIS facilitates the dehumanization of groups associated with disease by inspiring disgust toward them. An initial content analysis found that Nazi propaganda predominantly dehumanized Jews by portraying them as disease vectors or contaminants. This inspired three correlational studies supporting a Prophylactic Dehumanization Model in which the BIS predicted disgust toward disease-relevant outgroups, and this disgust in turn accounted for the dehumanization of these groups. In a final study, we found this process of prophylactic dehumanization had a downstream effect on increasing anti-immigrant attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, consistent with the evolutionary logic of a functionally flexible BIS, this effect only occurred when the threat of COVID-19 was salient. The implications of these results for the study of dehumanization and evolutionary theories of xenophobia are discussed.

Life History-related Traits Predict Preferences for Dominant or Prestigious Leaders

Abstract: Dominance and prestige, as two distinct status-attaining qualities, are present in modern-day leaders at various levels of social hierarchies to various degrees. From an evolutionary perspective, we speculate that individuals’ preference for dominant (prestigious) leaders can be partly predicted by “fast” (“slow”) life history–related traits. Moreover, we predict that the link between fast traits and the preference for dominance would be stronger when individuals face uncontrollable dangers resembling the evolutionary challenges faced by our ancestors in a less structured and predictable world. Two experiments tested these speculations. Experiment 1 (N = 67) used the Implicit Association Test (IAT) technique and showed that people implicitly associate dominance (prestige) with negative (positive) evaluations, and such association was stronger for individuals exhibited slow life history–related psychosocial traits. Experiment 2 (N = 95) replicated this finding using explicit leader choices in response to hypothetical scenarios. Moreover, Experiment 2 demonstrated that individuals with faster psychosocial traits showed a stronger preference for dominant leaders in the face of experimentally primed danger than in a control condition.

Pulling for the team: competition between political partisans

Abstract: To compete for power and resources, people form groups including political parties, special interest groups, and international coalitions. We use economic experiments to investigate how people balance the desire for their group’s victory versus their own expenditure of effort. We design an economic tug of war in which the side that exerts greater costly effort wins a prize. In Experiment 1, participants compete individually or in teams, which were assigned arbitrarily. In Experiment 2, participants compete individually or in teams based on political partisanship, Democrats against Republicans. In both experiments, participants shirked by exerting 20% less effort in teams than in individual competition. Moreover, we did not find an effect of partisan framing: Participants exerted no more effort on political teams than arbitrary teams, contrary to theories asserting the automatic potency of partisanship. We discuss why it is difficult for groups, including political partisans, to mobilize in competition.

Life History Evolution Forms the Foundation of the Adverse Childhood Experience Pyramid

Abstract: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are situated as the foundation of a six-tier pyramid, above which rests: (1) disrupted neurodevelopment; (2) social, emotional, and cognitive impairment; (3) adoption of health-risk behaviors; (4) disease, disability, and social problems; and (5) early death. ACEs purportedly initiate a causal sequence of negative developmental, behavioral, social, and cognitive outcomes, culminating in heightened mortality risk. Militating against this causal explanation, life history evolution is herein hypothesized to be the true foundation of any such pyramid. Subsuming ACEs within a life history framework has two broad implications: First, to some extent, ACEs are effectively changed from cause to correlate; second ACEs are seen as markers of strategic life history variation, not markers of dysfunction.

Individuals High on the Dark Triad Traits are More Jealous if they are Also High on Mate Value and Restricted in Sociosexuality

Abstract: The motivation to mate is a universal motive for all sexually dimorphic species, of which humans belong, that facilitates reproductive success. Jealousy is a universal emotion that is adaptive in the context of mate retention. We tested the relationship between the Dark Triad traits and jealousy as well as the moderating effect of mate value (study 1; N = 441) and mating orientation (study 2; N = 298) on the association between the Dark Triad traits and jealousy. We found that perceived mate value moderated the relationship between the Dark Triad traits and jealousy. As such, people high on the Dark Triad traits were more jealous if they had high mate value. Further, mating orientation moderated the relationship between psychopathy and romantic jealousy. Individuals high on psychopathy that were oriented to long-term mating were more jealous compared to individuals high on psychopathy but oriented to short-term mating.

Measurement Issues in Tests of the Socioecological Complexity Hypothesis

Abstract: Recent research has advanced a socioecological theory to account for differences in the strengths of covariances among disparate personality measurements in different cultures. According to this socioecological complexity hypothesis, niche diversity is greater in more complex societies and this relaxes the covariances among personality traits (e.g., see Lukaszewski et al., 2017). While the socioecological complexity hypothesis is novel and interesting, we suggest that approaches used to test it thus far are conceptually and methodologically flawed. Accordingly, extant findings should be considered cautiously and not construed as evidence against alternative explanations for differences in personality or other behavioral trait covariances within or across countries. To advance the literature, here we review measurement issues that require attention in efforts to test the socioecological complexity hypothesis and then describe approaches that may aide researchers in overcoming them.

Friend or Foe? Mate Presence and Rival Type Influence Clothing-Based Female Intrasexual Competition

Abstract: Evolutionary psychologists have brought attention to women’s intrasexual competition in ways that traditional perspectives have overlooked. Whereas most researchers have thus far focused on exploratory investigations of this phenomenon, we experimentally manipulated contextual factors that could affect intrasexual competition (e.g., rival type, presence of a potential mate) and assessed competitive behavior via clothing choice. Across two studies, female MTurk users (NStudy1 = 131; NStudy2 = 262) read a vignette describing an upcoming party then chose an outfit they would wear to that party from a set of clothing items that had been pre-rated on sexiness and revealingness by a separate sample (N = 100). Within the vignette, we inserted participant-provided initials to manipulate the presence of a crush and the familiarity and attractiveness of their female party companion. Unexpectedly, we found a significant difference between outfit ratings for separates compared with dresses, so we incorporated this into our model. In study 1, among women who chose dresses, those who imagined attending the party with a more attractive acquaintance and their crush present chose more attractive outfits than women in the less attractive acquaintance condition. However, no such pattern was found for women who chose separates or women in the close friend condition. In study 2, a pre-registered direct replication showed that women in the acquaintance condition chose more attractive outfits than women in the close friend condition, but only in the crush present condition. Women’s intrasexual competition mechanisms appear cost-sensitive and only prompt competitive tactics when rivals are particularly threatening.

Facial masculinity increases perceptions of men’s age, but not perceptions of their health: Data from an Arab sample

Abstract: Masculine characteristics in men’s faces are often assumed to function as health cues. However, evidence for this assumption from empirical tests is mixed. For example, research on Western women’s face perceptions found that masculinized versions of men’s faces were perceived to be older, but not healthier, than feminized versions. Since research on this topic has focused on Western women’s face perceptions, we investigated the effects of masculinizing face images on Arab women’s perceptions of men’s health (study 1, N = 211) and age (study 2, N = 209). Arab women perceived masculinized versions of male face images to be older, but not healthier, than feminized versions. These results add to a growing body of evidence challenging the assumption that male facial masculinity functions primarily as a health cue.

Cooperative Versus Coercive Dominance Strategies: Relations with the Environment and Personality

Abstract: We examined whether adverse ecological conditions (i.e., socioeconomic status, neighborhood violence, and parental attachment) were indirectly related to adolescents’ use of cooperative and coercive social strategies through their association with personality traits, consistent with both evolutionary and developmental theories that personality can be adaptively calibrated to the pursuit of social goals in particular ecological contexts. As expected, ecological factors (parental attachment, SES, neighborhood violence), and individual differences (HEXACO personality traits, age, sex) were directly related to use of social dominance strategies. Specifically, anxious attachment and higher SES were indirectly related to cooperative strategies through Extraversion and low Honesty-Humility, whereas less supportive and/or violent environments were indirectly associated with coercive strategies through their relationships with selfish, impulsive, antisocial personality traits. Our results highlight the importance of adopting an ecological approach to adolescent social strategies and are consistent with evolutionary and developmental theories that posit links between individual differences and environmental factors that promote either mutualistic cooperative strategies or individualistic coercive strategies for obtaining social power.

Something Scary Is Out There: Remembrances of Where the Threat Was Located by Preschool Children and Adults with Nighttime Fear

Abstract: Young children frequently report imaginary scary things in their bedrooms at night. This study examined the remembrances of 140 preschool children and 404 adults selecting either above, side, or below locations for a scary thing relative to their beds. The theoretical framework for this investigation posited that sexual-size dimorphism in Australopithecus afarensis, the presumed human ancestor in the Middle Pliocene, constrained sleeping site choice to mitigate predation. Smaller-bodied females nesting in trees would have anticipated predatory attacks from below, while male nesting on the ground would have anticipated attacks from their side. Such anticipation of nighttime attacks from below is present in many arboreal primates and might still persist as a cognitive relict in humans. In remembrances of nighttime fear, girls and women were predicted to select the below location and males the side location. Following interviews of children and adult questionnaires, multinomial log-linear analyses indicated statistically significant interactions (p < 0.001) of sex by location for the combined sample and each age class driven, in part, by larger frequencies of males selecting the side location and females selecting the below location. Data partitioning further revealed that males selected the side location at larger frequencies (p < 0.001) than the below location, whereas female selection of side and below locations did not differ significantly. While indicative of evolutionary persistence in cognitive appraisal of threat locations, the female hypothesis did not consider natural selection acting on assessment of nighttime terrestrial threats following the advent of early Homo in the Late Pliocene.

Does Exercise Make Me More Attractive? Exploring the Relations Between Exercise and Mate Value

Abstract: Sexual selection in human evolution is well-established. Females are relatively more inclined than males to prefer mates that exhibit physical and social dominance (e.g., muscular, financially successful men); whereas males are relatively more inclined than females to seek mates displaying signs of high reproductive potential (e.g., young, attractive women). Given that physical training has the potential to improve traits related to sexual selection in both males and females, we examined if exercise habits altered assessments of mate value in a cross-sectional analysis of 265 undergraduate students. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, an “Exercise Habits Inventory,” and a “Mate Value Inventory” for the assessment of the characteristics desired in their “ideal” mates and for self-perceptions of intrinsic mate value. Consistent with prior research, females preferred mates who were independent and generous, and both males and females preferred physically attractive mates. Females, independent of exercise frequency, were more selective than males as evidenced by a desire for “ideal” partners with a significantly higher mate value. Moreover, more frequent exercisers, independent of sex, had significantly higher self-perceived mate value than less frequent exercisers. Finally, a pattern consistent with theories of assortative mating was demonstrated via a significant positive relation between self-perceptions and the mate value of “ideal” partners.

Women’s Preferences for Men’s Facial Masculinity and Anticipations of Grandparental Care Provision

Abstract: Women vary in the extent to which they prefer facial masculinity in a male partner, and much research has focused on explaining this variation systematically, with reference to the significance of men’s facial masculinity. Masculine-faced men provide some benefits (either real or perceived) as a romantic partner, but are perceived as less investing as parents. Accordingly, we investigated whether a UK-based sample of women (n = 366) had stronger preferences for male facial masculinity if they anticipated that their own parents would provide more time, money, and emotional investment in future grandchildren (i.e. the women’s future offspring), thereby alleviating any potential shortfall from the child’s father. In line with our hypothesis, we found that women had stronger preferences for men’s facial masculinity if the women anticipated that their fathers would provide more financial investment in their future grandchildren. We also found that women anticipated time, money, and emotional investment from their parents (particularly their mother) in their role as grandparents; given existing research findings on grandparental investment, participants’ anticipations are likely to be at least somewhat realistic.

Modest Exercise-Induced Increases in Testosterone Concentration Are Not Associated with Mating Strategy Change in Healthy Young Men

Abstract: Research has demonstrated that increases in testosterone (T) concentration can affect the expression of behaviours and preferences that are typical of high mating effort. However, little research has considered whether such T increases affect mating strategy more generally and whether this is achievable using a physical intervention. In this pilot study, we examined whether exercise-induced changes in T covary with, or predict, changes in male mating strategy. Healthy young men (N = 94) completed a measure of short- and long-term relationship preference, before and after a series of short cycling sprints. Salivary T was measured pre- and post-exercise, along with salivary cortisol (C), which is known to moderate some behavioural effects of T. A significant group-level increase in T was observed, though this was smaller than anticipated (~ 10%, d = 0.27) with substantial intragroup variation. No group-level change in C or mating preferences emerged. Testosterone change did not significantly predict a change in short- or long-term mating preference from baseline, even with inclusion of C change as a moderator. The current findings suggest that modest exercise-induced increases in T concentration have little impact on male mating strategies. Pharmaceutical interventions, which produce larger and more consistent T increases, may be required to observe mating strategy change.