315 Questions
What is the average genetic relatedness to our first cousins?
12.5 percent
According to inclusive fitness theory, what is the general genetic relatedness to our grandparents and grandchildren?
25 percent
From an evolutionary perspective, why might families form?
To enhance inclusive fitness
Why is it hard to imagine a world where everyone loves everyone else equally, according to the text?
Inclusive fitness theory explains why people differ in genetic relatedness to others
What does the text suggest about maternal grandmothers' investment in their grandkids compared to paternal grandfathers?
Maternal grandmothers would invest more than paternal grandfathers
What does inclusive fitness theory explain?
Why families might form from an evolutionary perspective
What is the general genetic relatedness to uncles, aunts, nieces, and nephews?
25 percent
According to Hamilton's theory of inclusive fitness, what does it suggest about psychological adaptations?
They are expected to have evolved for different types of kin relationships
How is the parent-child relationship viewed under the theory of inclusive fitness?
As a special case of kinship relationships
What is the genetic relatedness between full siblings?
50%
What is a recurrent selection pressure in human evolutionary history related to sibling relationships?
Mothers having children by different men
"Birth order can create different 'niches' for children". How does this influence children according to the text?
"Middle-born children may receive less total investment from parents and are less likely to feel solidarity with their families"
"Siblings face unique adaptive problems as both major social allies and competitors for parental resources." What does this imply about sibling relationships?
"Sibling relationships are often marked by conflict and ambivalence"
How does the distinction between full and half-siblings impact cooperation according to the text?
"It influences cooperation and behavior"
What does the 'grandmother hypothesis' propose?
Menopause evolved to allow women to invest in grandchildren
What did the study in Finland find about full and half-siblings?
Full siblings had more contact and investment in each other compared to half-siblings
What is the expected role of elder members of extended kin families?
To encourage younger members to behave altruistically toward collateral kin due to genetic relatedness
What is one of the universal hypotheses outlined by Daly et al. (1997) about kinship psychology?
Cooperation based on genetic relatedness
'Who you are' in relation to kin is expected to be a core component of which psychological concept?
Self-concept
What is predicted to be a function of genetic relatedness?
Cooperation and solidarity between kin
What do kinship systems universally differentiate based on?
Sex, generation, and closeness, corresponding to genetic relatedness
What does the study by Tanskanen & Danielsbacka (2014) support?
Genetic relatedness predicts investment and contact among siblings.
What are people expected to be aware of despite differences in kin terms across cultures?
Their 'real' relatives.
What is the technical formulation of inclusive fitness theory?
Hamilton's rule
According to Hamilton's rule, when does natural selection favor mechanisms for altruism?
When the benefit to the recipient multiplied by genetic relatedness exceeds the cost to the actor
What does inclusive fitness theory have profound consequences for?
Cooperation, conflict, risk-taking, inheritance of wealth, and grieving
What does Hamilton's rule dictate regarding altruism?
Individuals should incur costs if benefits to a 0.50 kin member are more than twice the costs to the actor
What is inclusive fitness calculated from?
Reproductive success and effects on relatives' reproductive success
What does kin selection theory explore?
That relatives differ in their value to an individual
What does Hamilton's rule state about adaptations for aid to kin?
They can evolve under certain conditions outlined by Hamilton's rule
What is the predicted strategic implication of inclusive fitness theory regarding the use of kinship terms?
To persuade and influence others, even when no actual kinship is involved
In what context are members of college fraternities and sororities known to use kinship terms?
Referring to each other as 'brothers' and 'sisters'
What is the purpose of a panhandler using the kin term 'brother' in a request for spare change?
To trigger the psychology of kinship and increase the odds of receiving spare change
What does the text suggest about soldiers sharing combat in relation to kinship terms?
'Brothers in arms' is a common term used among soldiers sharing combat
What is the primary implication of using kinship terms such as 'brother' or 'sister' in social interactions?
To activate the psychology of kinship and potentially influence behavior
What is one hypothesis for why panhandlers use the kin term 'brother' in their requests?
To trigger the psychology of kinship and increase the likelihood of receiving assistance
What did the study of individuals from the Netherlands find about investment from full siblings compared to half siblings?
People received more investment from their full siblings than from their half siblings, even when raised together and treated as full siblings
In which cultural context is kinship the strongest predictor of food sharing?
Fishing and whaling villages of Indonesia
What did studies of the horticulturalists of Nicaragua and the Hadza of Tanzania show about sharing food resources?
Good hunters ensure that their bounty of meat is distributed to households containing their close kin
What did a study of the Saami reindeer herders of Norway find about the impact of genetic relatedness on herds?
Having large groups of herders containing high levels of genetic relatedness resulted in larger and more efficiently used herds
How do people respond when their kin are verbally insulted?
People respond with more aggression toward those who insult their kin than non-kin
What did a study of the Himba, a group of seminomadic African pastoralists, find about women and kin proximity?
A study found that women strive for benefits when having kin in close proximity
What is one of the mechanisms supporting the apparent altruism of Belding’s ground squirrels?
Predator confusion
How do female ground squirrels support the parental investment and inclusive fitness hypotheses?
Giving alarm calls more frequently
What is a basis for recognition of kin in primates?
Early association
How do humans identify kin by odor?
Newborns who were breastfed prefer the odor of their mothers
What can preadolescent children correctly identify by odor?
Their full siblings but not their half or step-siblings
What governs all systems of kin classification according to the text?
Genealogical distance, social rank, and group membership
What are the three innate cognitive building blocks proposed by Jones to generate terms for kin in all cultures?
Genealogical distance, social rank, and group membership
Which facial feature is especially important for kinship cues according to the text?
Eyes
What serves as a cue to kinship relatedness and is supported by evidence?
Physical similarity
How many ways do humans have of identifying kin according to the text?
Four ways
What influences patterns of helping among women in Los Angeles according to the text?
Kinship
What is critical for solving adaptive problems such as identifying potential allies and avoiding antagonizing individuals with formidable kin?
Kin recognition
What did the study of 11,211 South African households find regarding genetic relatedness and spending on children?
Genetic relatedness predicted spending on children's food, health care, and clothing
What did Burnstein and colleagues find in their study of the US and Japan regarding genetic relatedness and helping behavior?
Helping decreased as genetic relatedness decreased, especially in life-or-death scenarios
What did a naturalistic study of killing among Icelandic Vikings find regarding kin network size and protection against lethal attacks?
Having a larger kin network offered protection against lethal attacks from other groups
What did the study in Taiwan find regarding genetic relatedness and helping behavior?
Genetic relatedness predicted helping, with more help given to genetic relatives with higher reproductive value
What did the study of the Pimbwe population in Tanzania find regarding maternal kin network size and child health?
Maternal kin network size correlated with the health and mortality rate of children
What did the study of killing among Icelandic Vikings find regarding kin network size and defense against dangerous predators?
Having a larger kin network offered protection against dangerous predators
What do the Burnstein studies demonstrate about genetic relatedness and helping?
Genetic relatedness strongly affects helping, especially in life-or-death situations
What did the study in Thailand find about living with kin and fertility?
Living with kin has positive effects on contributors to fertility
What did the theorists propose as a psychological mediator for altruistic behavior?
"Emotional closeness" is a psychological mediator for altruistic behavior
What did participants in the study indicate regarding emotional closeness to family members?
Participants indicated how emotionally close they felt to each family member on a scale of 1 to 7
What did the study by Snopkowski & Sear (2013) find about the impact of living with kin on fertility?
"Living with kin has positive effects on contributors to fertility"
"Genetic relatedness predicted willingness to act altruistically" - who found this in their study?
"Korchmaros & Kenny (2001)"
Which grandparent is predicted to invest the least in their grandchildren?
Father's mother (FaMo)
What did Todd DeKay's study find regarding emotional closeness to grandparents?
Mother's mother was closest to grandchildren
What psychological indicators of investment are predicted by the hypothesis of 'discriminative grandparental investment'?
Expressed feelings of closeness and readiness to adopt
What pattern emerged for the two grandparents of intermediate relational uncertainty in Todd DeKay's study?
Mother's father was ranked higher than father's mother
What did Todd DeKay predict and find regarding infidelity rates in different generations?
Infidelity rates were higher in younger generations
In DeKay's study, what variable did participants indicate the most emotional closeness to?
Mother's mother
What do studies in Germany reveal about resource allocation by men and women?
Men were more likely to allocate resources to their surviving spouse, especially if the spouse was old and post-reproductive.
What does the theoretical predictions about grandparental investment focus on?
Sex differences related to paternity uncertainty
What is marked by pride, joy, and fulfillment according to the text?
Becoming a grandparent
From a grandfather's perspective, what makes the blood relationships between a grandfather and his son's children the most uncertain of all grandparental relationships?
Two opportunities for genetic kinship to be severed
What do older men tend to do more than older women according to the text?
Remarry, potentially diverting resources from their previous wife's children to unrelated individuals
What are genetic relatives bequeathed more than according to the text?
Collateral kin
What is the impact of close kin presence on cortisol levels in children from single-mother households?
Cortisol levels are reduced
In life-or-death situations, how did the number of genetic relatives in the colony influence survival rates?
It led to increased survival rates
How does the inheritance of wealth align with inclusive fitness theory?
People leave more of their estates to genetically related kin and spouses than to unrelated people
How did decedents distribute their estates among relatives sharing different percentages of genes?
More to closely related genetic kin than to more distant genetic relatives
What is the trend in estate distribution between children and siblings?
More is left to children than to siblings
What is the trend in estate distribution between men and women?
Men often leave their entire estates to their wives, while women distribute their estates among a larger number of beneficiaries.
What does the correlation between genetic relatedness and subjective closeness indicate?
Genetic relatedness strongly predicts subjective closeness
What is the impact of residential proximity and frequency of contact on psychological closeness?
Psychological closeness is robust even when controlling for variables like residential proximity and frequency of contact
How does the grief experienced by parents compare to less genetically close relatives when a child dies?
Parents experience more grief than less genetically close relatives when a child dies
What preferences do both male and female kin of a woman express in lowland Nicaragua regarding a prospective husband?
Both male and female kin express strong preferences for a wealthy and skilled prospective husband
What did experiments reveal about people's feelings regarding infidelity with biological relatives compared to strangers?
People reported feeling worse if their partner cheated with a biological relative than with a stranger
What did Mark Flinn and colleagues monitor in children residing in a Caribbean village?
Social behaviors and immune function
What is the predicted outcome when vacancies in breeding roles within families occur?
Increased competition and conflict, especially with higher quality vacancies
What is the impact of having stepfathers in the home according to the text?
Increased risk of sexual abuse for girls
What do evolutionary psychologists Jennifer Davis and Martin Daly critique regarding Emlen’s theory?
Offer modifications and empirical tests of key predictions
What may contribute to family stabilization according to the text?
Competition from other groups, social exchange based on reciprocal altruism, and nonreproductive helpers
What do post-menopausal women have little incentive to encourage according to the text?
Their offspring to disperse
What does evolutionary psychology aim to provide insight into according to the text?
Conditions under which families remain stable or fall apart
According to evolutionary biologist Stephen Emlen, how does he define families?
Groups where offspring continue to interact regularly into adulthood with their parents
What distinguishes simple families from extended families according to Stephen Emlen?
Simple families consist of single parent or conjugal pair, while extended families consist of groups in which two or more relatives of the same sex may reproduce
What is the reproductive cost associated with remaining in the parental nest?
Delayed reproduction and concentrated competition for resources
According to Emlen’s theory, when will families form?
When there is a shortage of reproductive vacancies
What are the two major theories that explain the evolution of families?
Ecological constraints model and familial benefits model
What does evolutionary biologist Stephen Emlen predict about the formation and breakup of families?
Families will form when there is a shortage of reproductive vacancies, and they will break up when the vacancies become available.
What is the main factor influencing grandparents' investment in kin according to the text?
Paternity certainty
What did a study of 285 U.S. college students find about investment tendencies of maternal and paternal aunts and uncles?
Maternal aunts invest more than maternal uncles
What is the basis for the laterality effect in investment tendencies of aunts and uncles?
Probability of paternity uncertainty through the male line
What influences men and women's investment tendencies in surplus resources according to the text?
Mating opportunities
What is the key reason behind people's greater willingness to help their mother’s sister’s (MoSis) children compared to their father’s brother’s (FaBro) children?
'MoSis' children have higher genetic relatedness probability
What did a study find about people's expression of willingness to help cousins with different degrees of genetic relatedness?
People were more willing to help cousins with higher genetic relatedness
What was the impact of infidelity rates on grandparental investment according to the text?
Grandparents decreased investment in response to higher infidelity rates.
What did the grandmother hypothesis propose?
Women evolved a long post-menopausal lifespan due to grandparental investment increasing their inclusive fitness.
What is the trend in relationship quality based on the text?
The best relationship is with maternal grandmothers and the least good is with paternal grandfathers.
What did the study of 767 individuals find regarding support for the hypothesis?
It found strong evidence supporting the hypothesis.
What did the German study of 1,857 participants reveal about grandparental investment patterns?
It supported patterns found in other studies.
What was found about grief patterns when a grandchild dies based on the text?
Paternal grandmothers grieve the most, paternal grandfathers grieve the least.
What did Professor Bill von Hippel propose as a competing explanation for grandparental investment?
Paternal grandmothers invest less in their son's children due to secure investment in their daughter's children
What might jeopardize the genetic link between grandparents, their children, and their grandchildren?
Prevailing rates of infidelity
Why are maternal grandfathers predicted to invest more in their daughter's children compared to paternal grandmothers?
Maternal grandfathers lack alternative outlets for investment
What does the hypothesis regarding paternal grandmothers' investment focus on?
Presence or absence of other outlets for investing resources
What is the alternative explanation proposed by Professor Bill von Hippel for discriminative grandparental investment?
Presence or absence of other outlets for investing resources
In certain bird species, siblings compete for food by:
Amplifying their levels of begging
What is a form of competition among mammalian species' siblings?
Increasing their level of suckling
What do parents do to generate quality screening among offspring in birds?
Stage-managing conflicts among them
What is a result of parental decisions in bird families?
Frequently gory and often fatal struggles between offspring
What is a form of competition described as 'scramble competition'?
Increasing suckling among mammalian siblings
What do parents do to compensate for the uncertainty of future food supplies in bird families?
Optimistically producing more young than they expect to rear
What is a behavior observed in certain bird species that can lead to 'siblicide'?
Pushing a sibling out of the nest
What is the primary cause of most sibling murders according to the text?
Conflicts over women or resources needed to attract women
What tactic do siblings use to compete for grandparental resources, as per the text?
Maintaining contact and requesting money
What does Hamilton's theory of inclusive fitness offer an explanation for, as mentioned in the text?
Evolution of altruism
What fundamental sources of conflict does an evolutionary perspective on family conflict suggest?
Between siblings, between parents and offspring, and between mothers and fathers
What kind of conflict arises from differing optimal resource allocation between the parent's and child's perspectives?
Parent-offspring conflict
What do adaptations likely evolve in response to, as per the text?
Conflicts between mothers and fathers
What does understanding the evolutionary logic of family conflict help individuals gain perspective on, according to the text?
Their own experiences of turmoil and disagreement within families.
What are the primary mechanisms humans use to recognize kin?
Association and odor
What does the reciprocal altruism theory propose?
Adaptations for providing benefits to nonrelatives can evolve if benefits are reciprocated
What is the puzzle in natural selection, especially when altruism is not directed towards genetic relatives?
Problem of altruism
What does empirical studies confirm about kinship and helping behavior?
Kinship is a predictor of helping behavior
What does the special evolved psychology of kinship involve?
Mechanisms to solve adaptive problems with siblings, half siblings, grandparents, etc.
What influences cooperation and kin solidarity according to the text?
Genetic relatedness among kin
What is the primary predictor of closeness in kin relationships?
Genetic relatedness
What is the key to cooperation in the prisoner's dilemma, as demonstrated by Robert Axelrod and W. D. Hamilton?
Repeatedly playing the game over time
What poses a challenge for reciprocal altruists?
The problem of cheating
What does reciprocal altruism involve?
A small cost to the giver and a larger benefit to the receiver
What does the prisoner's dilemma illustrate?
The challenge of cooperation and the temptation to defect for personal gain
What leads to evolutionary advantages, as per the text?
Engaging in reciprocal altruism
What is crucial for cooperation in the prisoner's dilemma?
Repeating the game over time without knowing when it will end
What did Axelrod and Hamilton use to show that cooperation is advantageous when the game is repeated?
A payoff matrix
What is illustrated by the prisoner's dilemma and reciprocal altruism?
The challenge of balancing self-interest and mutual benefit
What poses a challenge for reciprocal altruists according to the text?
Ensuring that benefits will be returned in the future
What is the primary focus of social contract theory in relation to human cognitive capacities?
Recognizing individuals, remembering history of interactions, and representing costs and benefits
What logical inference problem illustrates human difficulty in solving logical problems?
Turning over cards to test a logical rule
What was the majority response in studies regarding testing the truth value of a logical rule?
Turning over the card with the vowel and possibly the even number card
What did more than 50 percent of college students incorrectly conclude from a given logical premise?
None of the archeologists are chess players
What did roughly 20 percent of participants claim about drawing valid inferences from given premises?
No valid inferences can be drawn at all from the above premises
What does social contract theory propose as essential for successful social exchange?
Recognizing others, remembering history of interactions, and communicating values effectively
What behavior did Yeroen, the dominant male chimpanzee, exhibit after being dethroned by Luit?
Formed an alliance with another male, Nikkie, to challenge Luit
What does the social contract theory by Cosmides and Tooby aim to explain?
The vulnerability to cheating in reciprocal exchanges
What do vampire bats and chimpanzees both exhibit based on the study?
Behaviors indicating reciprocal altruistic adaptations
What does the theory of simultaneous exchange being vulnerable to cheating predict?
Organisms can benefit through cooperative exchange, but many potential exchanges do not occur simultaneously
What does the study provide insights into?
The complexities of the evolution of reciprocal altruism in animal behavior
What do chimpanzees engage in as part of their social behavior?
Reciprocal exchange of grooming and food sharing
What is a key feature of the successful tit for tat strategy, as identified by Axelrod (1984)?
Retaliate only after the other has defected
What is a practical implication of the tit for tat strategy for promoting cooperation?
Encouraging cooperation
What is a strategy for promoting cooperation mentioned in the text?
Enlarging the shadow of the future
What can create a runaway pattern, forcing former exploiters to become cooperators?
Cooperation
What is a survival strategy of vampire bats mentioned in the text?
Regurgitating blood to their friends in the colony
What is the consequence of failure at feeding for vampire bats?
Death, as they can only go without blood for 3 days
What was the winning strategy in the iterated prisoner’s dilemma games?
A strategy called tit for tat, containing only four lines of Fortran statements
How many strategies were submitted for playing 200 rounds of the prisoner’s dilemma?
14
What did the winning strategy, tit for tat, involve?
Cooperation on the first move and reciprocation thereafter
How many points were rewarded to the winner in the iterated prisoner’s dilemma games?
$5000
How many rounds were played in the iterated prisoner’s dilemma games?
$200
What was Trivers (1985)’s label for the winning strategy in the tournament?
Generous tit for tat
What did Cosmides and Tooby outline as the five cognitive capacities for evolving mechanisms to motivate social contracts and avoid cheaters?
Capacity 1: Ability to recognize many different individuals, supported by scientific evidence
What is a key evolutionary advantage that cheaters have over co-operators under certain conditions?
Ability to exploit cooperative individuals without incurring the costs of cooperation
Where is the recognition of individuals located in humans, as mentioned in the text?
In a specific area of the brain
What ability do humans possess that allows them to identify others not seen for up to 34 years, with a recognition rate of over 90 percent?
Proficient ability to recognize many different individuals
Which cognitive capacity involves the ability to understand the values of others and tailor exchanges to maximize benefit?
Capacity 4
What does Cosmides and Tooby propose as essential for evolving mechanisms to motivate social contracts and avoid cheaters?
Capacity 5: Ability to represent costs and benefits of exchanges, independent of specific items exchanged
What is the evidence regarding people's ability to detect genuine altruistic dispositions?
People are able to detect genuine altruistic dispositions from very brief video clips
What can prime individuals to improve cheater-detection?
Asking them to recall being cheated
What is the 'output' side of cheater detection that is not well understood?
Specific actions taken
What type of cognitive capacities are involved in cheater detection?
Attention and memory
What is needed to explore social contract theory and cheater-detection mechanisms?
'Further research'
What do people have evidence of being good at remembering?
Threatening stimuli
In the cooperative alliances problem, which cards should be turned over to test the rule?
Cards 'a' and '3'
Why are humans often bad at solving abstract logical problems according to Cosmides and Tooby?
Humans have not evolved to respond to abstract logical problems
In the bouncer problem, who should the bouncer check out to ensure compliance with the rule?
Someone drinking beer and a 16-year-old
What do Cosmides and Tooby propose humans have evolved to respond to?
Problems structured as social exchanges
According to Cosmides and Tooby, what kind of problems are humans more likely to solve correctly?
Problems structured as social exchanges
What is the main reason for human difficulties in solving abstract logical problems according to Cosmides and Tooby?
Humans have not evolved to respond to abstract logical problems
According to the text, what is the primary purpose of costly signaling theory?
To ensure that altruistic acts are honest signals of an individual's quality as a potential ally
What does indirect reciprocity theory suggest about altruistic acts?
They advertise a propensity for generosity and cooperation, making individuals attractive as cooperation partners
What is the primary function of need-based transfer systems like the Massai's osotua?
To serve as a form of social insurance against catastrophe in volatile environments
What do costly signaling theory and need-based transfer systems have in common?
Both are mechanisms for individuals to communicate their quality as potential allies
What is the key advantage of costly signaling for individuals within a group?
All of the above
What does an empirical test of costly signaling theory suggest about individuals' behavior when volunteering publicly?
They are more likely to choose costly charity work when volunteering publicly, boosting their social reputation and popularity
What evidence suggests the possible universality of a cheater-detection adaptation in social exchange?
Cross-cultural evidence
In what way is memory involved in cheater detection?
People remember the faces of known cheaters better than known co-operators
What does facial expression of enjoyment such as smiling predict in a prisoner’s dilemma game?
Subsequent cooperation
What does the specialized component for social-exchange reasoning in brain-damaged patients suggest?
The involvement of specific brain areas in cheater detection
What is the main factor governing the detection of violations of social contracts?
The perspective one adopts
What does the automatic attentional bias toward the faces of people who had previously failed to cooperate suggest?
The role of automatic attentional bias in social interactions
Which theory provides a potential unifying principle underlying different forms of benefit delivery and cooperation?
Positive assortment
According to evolutionary psychologist Gary Brase, which emotions are involved in reciprocity?
Gratitude and anger
What did Tooby and Cosmides suggest about friendships based on reciprocal exchange?
They may not be solely based on explicit reciprocity
What did the study on immediate reciprocal exchange orientation in a marriage link with?
Marital dissatisfaction and potential dissolution
What is suggested by people's intuitions according to Tooby and Cosmides?
'Friendships might not solely be based on reciprocal exchange'
What enhances a person's status and reputation, increasing the odds of being chosen as a cooperation partner?
Altruism through costly signaling
According to existing evolutionary theories, how is altruism typically defined?
As an action that benefits others at a cost to the individual
What is suggested as a potential reframing of the definition of altruism in the text?
Focusing on the existence of mechanisms designed to deliver benefits to others, regardless of whether they are costly
In the context of evolutionary theories, what is the role of kin selection in altruism?
It involves incurring a cost to benefit genetic relatives
What is the proposed focus when reframing the definition of altruism in the text?
The evolutionary adaptations designed to deliver benefits to others
According to existing evolutionary theories, what offsets the cost incurred by an individual in kin selection?
Beneft gained by a genetic relative
What does reciprocal altruism entail in terms of costs and benefits?
Incurring costs that are later offset by benefits gained when the friend returns the favor
What serves to assemble support groups for social conflicts?
Friendships
What do female friendships may perceive as a result of mating rivalry?
Less attractive members perceiving more rivalry
What do men value opposite-sex friendships for according to the text?
Short-term sexual access
What can friendships provide linked to reproduction?
Food, shelter, and advice
What do friends who value the same things lead to according to the text?
Being friends with those who value the same things can lead to beneficial changes in the environment
What do psychological mechanisms monitor according to the text?
The flow of benefits from each friend, not just intentional ones
What did Cimino & Delton propose as strategies for becoming irreplaceable?
Cultivating specialized skills and seeking out groups that value unique attributes
What did Tooby & Cosmides discuss regarding the challenge of differentiating true friends from fair-weather friends?
The most reliable evidence of friendship comes from help received during desperate times, especially if it is costly to the helper
What did Tooby & Cosmides propose as a profound adaptive problem for humans?
Distinguishing true friends who are deeply engaged in our welfare from fair-weather friends
What factors determine the choice of friends according to Tooby and Cosmides?
The number of slots already filled and evaluating who emits positive externalities
What did Tooby & Cosmides discuss regarding the decision to befriend one person?
It is simultaneously a decision not to befriend another due to the limited number of friendship niches
What do some people provide as side effects of their existence, influencing the choice of friends?
Positive externalities
What is a significant problem in opposite-sex friendships, leading to the end of the friendship roughly 38 percent of the time?
Misinterpretation of sexual attraction
What do people who desire their opposite-sex friend sexually or romantically tend to erroneously believe?
Their own feelings are reciprocated
In opposite-sex friendships, what is the primary reason for men being denied sexual access more frequently than women?
Perception of initiator's mate value
What did Bleske and Buss find regarding women in opposite-sex friendships?
Reported receiving protection from their friends
What do women more often report about their opposite-sex friendships?
Their friend felt romantically attracted to them but they were not attracted to their friend
What is a hypothesized benefit for women in opposite-sex friendships, based on evolutionary history?
Providing protection
According to classical theories of evolution of altruism, when is an act defined as altruism?
When it incurs additional cost
What does the 'banker’s paradox' faced by bankers involve?
Loan money to those who need it the least and refuse those who need it the most
According to Tooby and Cosmides, what is proposed as a solution to the adaptive problem?
Becoming irreplaceable or indispensable to others
What influences the loyalty of friendship according to Tooby and Cosmides?
How irreplaceable each friend has become
What are some strategies proposed by Tooby and Cosmides to become irreplaceable?
Being the sole provider of certain benefits and making oneself valuable in a unique way
What did ancestral people have to consider when extending help similar to bankers' decisions about extending credit?
A person's willingness and ability to repay, and whether helping this person is the best use of limited capacity to help
What is the term used to describe the act of providing an honest signal about one's condition and resource-holding potential?
Costly signaling
Which evolutionary theory of altruism involves altruists not gaining a return benefit from the person they helped, but gaining aid from others who witness their generosity?
Indirect reciprocity
What are the at least four ways in which altruism can evolve according to the text?
Kin selection, reciprocal altruism, indirect reciprocity, and costly signaling
What cognitive capacities in humans are proposed by Social Contract Theory to solve the problem of cheaters and engage in successful social exchange?
Recognition of individuals, memory of interactions, communication of values, representation of costs and benefits
What is the term used to describe the act where people pool their risk by helping those in need as a form of social insurance?
Need-based transfer systems
What is a key behavior seen among vampire bats that exemplifies reciprocal altruism?
Sharing blood preferentially with those who have recently helped them
What do mathematical models emphasize regarding non-contributors in cooperative alliances?
The role of shunning non-contributors
What is the purpose of fairness in group cooperation according to the text?
To strive for an equitable benefit-to-contribution ratio
What do evolved psychological mechanisms for cooperative coalitions include?
Gossip, in-group favoritism, and xenophilia
What problem do cooperative coalitions solve according to the text?
Coordinating divergent interests, imposing group obligations, and punishing free-riders
What do persuasion tactics aim to activate according to the text?
Coalitional psychology and aligning individuals to group goals
What is the impact of shunning free-riders according to the text?
Causes no psychological or physical pain to the shunners
What is the primary function of punitive sentiment in cooperative coalitions?
To motivate individuals to punish free-riders and encourage others to do the same
What does punitive sentiment lead to in terms of group contribution and free-riders’ fitness?
Increase group contribution and damage free-riders’ fitness
What brain region is particularly active during punishment?
The region linked with reward and satisfaction
What are the proposed explanations for altruistic punishment?
Cultural group selection and reputational benefits
What is one of the benefits of gaining social status through cooperation?
Receiving reputational benefits and being seen as more trustworthy
What has been documented regarding altruistic punishment in diverse cultures?
It has been observed as a universal behavior
What is one of the hypotheses for the function of opposite-sex friendships?
To provide information about the opposite sex
Who is reported to receive information about the opposite sex more often in same-sex friendships?
Women
How do men and women perceive receiving information about the opposite sex from an opposite-sex friend compared to a same-sex friend?
As more beneficial
What is perceived as a potential cost of same-sex friendship according to a hypothesis?
Mating rivalry
In what type of friendship do women receive information about the opposite sex more often than men?
Same-sex friendships
What do men and women perceive as a benefit of opposite-sex friendship more than of same-sex friendship?
Receiving information about the opposite sex
What is the primary reason men report more frequent intrasexual rivalry in same-sex friendships than women?
Men have a greater desire for short-term casual sex
Why did women historically rely heavily on non-kin women for a secure social environment?
To avoid intrasexual rivalry
What problems do cooperative coalitions face, as mentioned in the text?
Defection and free-riding
What do game theory analyses show about the collapse of cooperative coalitions?
Collapse due to defection and free-riding
What role does punishment play in solving the free-rider problem, as per the text?
Punishment leads to higher levels of cooperation
What evidence supports the existence of adaptations to punish free-riders in the context of cooperative coalitions?
Observational studies in non-human primates
What is the primary determinant of rank in primate hierarchies?
Social skills and ability to enlist allies for support
What is the percentage of copulations dominant male chimpanzees secure?
75%
When do dominant male chimpanzees experience greater sexual access to females?
During ovulation
What is the evolutionary rationale for the evolution of dominance-striving mechanisms?
Increased sexual opportunities with females
What is a prevalent behavior among individuals consigned to subordinate status?
'True' submissive behavior
What do primate dominance hierarchies primarily depend on?
Social skills and alliances
What does the behavior of subordinate individuals primarily involve?
'True' submissive behavior
What is one example of dominance hierarchies in a non-human animal species?
Pecking order among chickens
What are five correlates of dominance?
Aggression, ambition, social influence, resource control, confidence
Why do humans have evolved submissive strategies?
To avoid conflict and maintain group harmony
What motivated Admiral Jeremy Boorda to falsely display a combat medal?
To enhance his status and reputation
Why would people falsify their credentials and risk being exposed as frauds merely to enhance their status and reputation?
To gain social recognition and respect
What did the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 aim to address?
False claims of having won a military medal
What did Rick Strandlof claim he received falsely?
A Purple Heart for bravery in the Iraq war
What is the term for the phenomenon where some individuals have greater access to key resources than others, contributing to survival and reproduction?
Social stratification
In what animal did researchers discover a specific neuron that responds differently to serotonin based on the animal's status?
Crayfish
What is the primary reason for the emergence of dominance hierarchies in animals?
To determine access to key resources
What is the term for an emergent property of the group, not the individual, which has functions for both dominant and subordinate individuals?
Dominance hierarchy
What do crickets adjust based on their fight history?
Behavior based on past successes and failures
What did a study of 59 three-person groups find about the emergence of clear hierarchies?
50% within 1 minute, 50% within 5 minutes
What is the key difference between dominance and prestige hierarchies?
Dominance involves force or the threat of force, while prestige is based on freely conferred deference.
What is proposed as the primary factor in acquiring status?
Competence
What role does costly signaling play in the acquisition of prestige?
It plays a key role in acquiring prestige.
What do public displays of generosity lead to in terms of social reputation?
Boost in social reputation
What are individuals willing to endure significant sacrifices for?
Maintaining a positive reputation
What should evolutionary theories account for regarding elevated rank or status?
The different paths to elevated rank or status, including dominance and prestige
What did the meta-analysis of 33 non-industrial populations show about men's status and reproductive success?
Men's status was positively correlated with having more wives, higher fertility rates, and more surviving offspring.
In polygamous societies, what did higher-status men tend to have?
More wives and lower offspring mortality
In monogamous societies, what did higher-status men tend to do regarding marriage?
They married younger wives
What was the linkage between status and mating success found to hold regardless of?
Cultural subsistence patterns
In modern cultures with legally enforced monogamy, what do high-status men still have greater access to?
More women through short-term relationships, extramarital affairs, and serial marriages
What do high-status men tend to have more of in terms of family life?
More frequent sex, more children, and physically attractive and younger women as partners
In imperial China, what was the relationship between the number of women and the status of the man?
The number of women corresponded closely to the status of the man, with emperors and high-ranking men having access to hundreds or thousands of women.
What percentage of men in former Mongolian empire populations bear a chromosomal signature characteristic of Mongol rulers?
8%
What genetic effect has been found in Ireland related to a single ruler?
One out of every five males in northwestern Ireland is likely to be a descendant of a single ruler.
What did historical examples, such as the Moroccan emperor Moulay Ismail the Bloodthirsty, demonstrate?
Men in positions of power and status have had extravagant sexual access to women.
What was the pattern observed in Incan Peru regarding the number of women kept and the status and rank of the man?
$High-status$ men kept more women, with emperors keeping the most women.
What did genetic analyses confirm about the effects of status and power on reproductive outcomes?
$High-status$ men consistently had access to harems and multiple women.
What was consistent across six civilizations over 4,000 years regarding reproductive outcomes?
$High-status$ men consistently had access to harems and multiple women, while many poorer men could only afford one wife or none at all.
What are the three major tactics for getting ahead in status hierarchies identified in the text?
Deception/manipulation, social display/networking, and industriousness/knowledge
What is the primary predictor of closeness in kin relationships according to the text?
Genetic relatedness
What do men and women differ in, according to the text?
Their reproductive outputs and investment in offspring
What is a quality often sought in leaders according to the text?
$ ext{Fairness}$
What theory is the service-for-prestige theory based on according to the text?
$ ext{Reciprocal altruism}$
What do followers provide leaders with in return for services according to the text?
Social prestige
What are some valuable leadership qualities across wartime and peacetime contexts according to the text?
Intelligence, good social skills, oratory skills, and unifying groups toward a common goal
Study Notes
Evolutionary Theory of Kin Selection and Inclusive Fitness
- Kin selection theory explores the idea that relatives differ in their value to an individual
- Selection favors adaptations for helping kin in proportion to their genetic relatedness
- Hamilton's rule is the technical formulation of inclusive fitness theory
- Inclusive fitness is calculated from an individual's reproductive success and their effects on the reproductive success of relatives
- Altruism, defined as incurring a cost to benefit another, can evolve under certain conditions outlined by Hamilton's rule
- Hamilton's rule states that natural selection favors mechanisms for altruism when the cost to the actor is less than the benefit to the recipient multiplied by the degree of genetic relatedness
- The rule dictates that individuals should incur costs (be altruistic) if the benefits to a 0.50 kin member are more than twice the costs to the actor, and so on
- Hamilton's rule defines the conditions under which adaptations for aid to kin can evolve, it is not a psychological theory
- Traits that violate Hamilton's rule will be selected against, only those that fulfill the rule can spread throughout the population
- Inclusive fitness theory has profound consequences for topics such as cooperation, conflict, risk-taking, inheritance of wealth, and grieving
- Before the theory of inclusive fitness, altruism appeared to go against an individual's personal fitness, posing a puzzle
- The theory of inclusive fitness is considered the single most important theoretical revision of Darwin's theory of natural selection in the past century
Evolutionary Psychology and Kinship
- A study of 11,211 South African households found that genetic relatedness predicted spending on children's food, health care, and clothing.
- The size of the maternal kin network in the Pimbwe, a Tanzanian population, correlated with the health and mortality rate of children.
- Inclusive fitness theory predicted that helping others is influenced by genetic relatedness and the recipient's ability to enhance the helper's inclusive fitness.
- Helping decreases as genetic relatedness decreases, with the most help given to siblings and the least to first cousins.
- Helping also decreases with the age of the recipient, with younger relatives receiving more aid than older ones.
- Burnstein and colleagues studied the US and Japan and found that helping decreased as genetic relatedness decreased, especially in life-or-death scenarios.
- A study in Taiwan also found that genetic relatedness predicted helping, with more help given to genetic relatives with higher reproductive value.
- A naturalistic study of killing among Icelandic Vikings found that having a larger kin network offered protection against lethal attacks from other groups.
- Genetic relatedness predicted helping in extraordinary or life-threatening situations, such as defending against dangerous predators.
- People gave more help to siblings than mates and friends as the cost of help escalated, despite feeling emotionally closer to the latter.
- Kinship plays a significant role in altruistic behavior, with genetic relatedness and reproductive value influencing the level of help given.
- Cultural and geographical differences in helping behavior were observed, with similar patterns of altruism found in the US, Japan, Taiwan, and among Icelandic Vikings.
Evolutionary Psychology and Kinship
- Emotional closeness is statistically mediated by genetic relatedness, leading to altruistic behavior towards family members.
- A study of 1,365 participants in Germany and other research consistently support the correlation between genetic relatedness and subjective closeness.
- Genetic relatedness strongly predicts subjective closeness, with a correlation of +.50.
- Psychological closeness is robust even when controlling for variables like residential proximity and frequency of contact.
- The frequency of contact and doing favors are linked to genetic relatedness, with full siblings having more frequent contact and receiving more favors.
- Parents experience more grief than less genetically close relatives when a child dies.
- Individuals are more vigilant over the mating relationships of close kin and female kin, as supported by a study using three dependent measures.
- In lowland Nicaragua, both male and female kin of a woman express strong preferences for a wealthy and skilled prospective husband.
- A kin hypothesis regarding subjective distress from infidelity was refuted by two experiments, with people reporting feeling worse if their partner cheated with a biological relative than with a stranger.
- Stressful situations cause the release of the hormone cortisol, which can inhibit growth and hinder reproductive function.
- Prolonged stress can damage body organs and reproductive functioning.
- Mark Flinn and colleagues monitored cortisol levels in children residing in a Caribbean village through saliva samples.
Grandparental Investment Hypothesis and its Supporting Studies
- Hypothesis: Paternal grandmothers allocate fewer resources than maternal grandfathers only when paternal grandmothers have daughters, not sons.
- Preliminary support: Study of 767 individuals found evidence for the hypothesis, while a smaller sample study failed to find support.
- German study: Examined 1,857 participants and found similar patterns of grandparental investment as the U.S. study.
- Maternal grandmothers: Viewed as having the most "gekummert" (cared for), while paternal grandfathers were viewed as having the least.
- Investment patterns: Maternal grandfathers invested more than paternal grandmothers, contradicting the general expectation of a sex difference in investment.
- Replicated patterns: Similar grandparental investment patterns found in Greece, France, Germany, and among older grandparents in the United States.
- Grief patterns: Maternal grandmothers grieve the most, paternal grandfathers grieve the least when a grandchild dies.
- Relationship quality: Generally, people have the best relationship with their maternal grandmother and the least good relationship with their paternal grandfather.
- Frequent contact: Maternal grandmothers maintain more frequent face-to-face contact with grandchildren than paternal grandfathers or grandmothers.
- Maternal grandmother's investment: Found to make a difference in the survival of grandchildren, supported by a meta-analysis of 17 studies.
- Grandmother hypothesis: Suggests that women evolved a long post-menopausal lifespan due to grandparental investment increasing their inclusive fitness.
- Remaining questions: The impact of infidelity rates on grandparental investment and whether grandparents monitor the likelihood of cuckoldry and adjust their investment.
Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism and the Prisoner's Dilemma
- Reciprocal altruism benefits both parties, creating a win-win situation.
- Two hunters, facing erratic hunting success, engage in reciprocal altruism by sharing meat to balance out their fortunes.
- Reciprocal altruism involves a small cost to the giver, but provides a larger benefit to the receiver, resulting in mutual gains.
- Reciprocal altruism leads to evolutionary advantages, as those who engage in it tend to out-reproduce selfish individuals.
- The problem of cheating poses a challenge for reciprocal altruists, as it involves ensuring that benefits will be returned in the future.
- The prisoner's dilemma is a hypothetical situation that illustrates the challenge of cooperation and the temptation to defect for personal gain.
- The prisoner's dilemma presents a rational course of action for both prisoners to confess, despite cooperation yielding the best outcome for both.
- The prisoner's dilemma resembles the problem of reciprocal altruism, where individuals are tempted to gain benefits without reciprocating.
- Robert Axelrod and W. D. Hamilton demonstrated that the key to cooperation in the prisoner's dilemma occurs when the game is repeated over time.
- Cooperation becomes viable when the game is repeated, but players do not know when it will end, reflecting real-life scenarios.
- Axelrod and Hamilton's tournament used a payoff matrix to show that cooperation is advantageous when the game is repeated.
- The payoff matrix used in the tournament is defined by specific relationships between the rewards and penalties, demonstrating the evolution of cooperation.
Cooperation Strategies and Examples in Non-Human Species
- Axelrod (1984) identified three key features of the successful tit for tat strategy: never be the first to defect, retaliate only after the other has defected, and be forgiving.
- The tit for tat strategy encourages cooperation, as demonstrated in a computer tournament, and has practical implications for promoting cooperation.
- Strategies for promoting cooperation include enlarging the shadow of the future, teaching reciprocity, insisting on equity, responding quickly to provocation, and cultivating a personal reputation as a reciprocator.
- Cooperation can create a runaway pattern, forcing former exploiters to become cooperators.
- Different species can arrive at similar solutions to common adaptive problems, such as cooperation.
- Vampire bats survive by regurgitating blood to their friends in the colony, especially those from whom they have received blood in the past.
- Wilkinson (1984) found that the closer the association between bats, the more likely they were to give blood to each other.
- Vampire bats live in groups of up to a dozen adult females and their offspring, while the males leave the colony when they are capable of independence.
- Vampire bats hide during the day and emerge at night to feed on the blood of cattle and horses.
- Failure at feeding can lead to death, as bats can only go without blood for 3 days.
- 33% of younger bats (under 2 years old) failed to get blood on any particular evening, while only 7% of bats older than 2 years failed to feed.
- The study of vampire bats' food sharing behavior provides insights into cooperation among non-human species.
Evolution of Cooperation: Cognitive Capacities and Social Contracts
- Cheaters have an evolutionary advantage over co-operators under certain conditions
- Reciprocal altruism can evolve if organisms can detect and avoid cheaters
- Cosmides and Tooby (1992) outlined five cognitive capacities for evolving mechanisms to motivate social contracts and avoid cheaters
- Capacity 1: Ability to recognize many different individuals, supported by scientific evidence
- Capacity 2: Ability to remember interaction histories and keep track of owed obligations
- Capacity 3: Ability to communicate one's values to others, illustrated by nonverbal chimp communication and human language
- Capacity 4: Ability to understand the values of others and tailor exchanges to maximize benefit
- Capacity 5: Ability to represent costs and benefits of exchanges, independent of specific items exchanged
- Humans have evolved proficient ability to recognize many different individuals
- Humans can identify others not seen for up to 34 years, with a recognition rate of over 90 percent
- Recognition of individuals is located in a specific area of the brain
- Humans are good at recognizing others solely by the way they walk
Evolution of Altruism and Cooperation
- Prosocial signalers are sought after as cooperative hunting partners, indicating that generosity signaling is linked to the evolution of altruism.
- Altruists tend to preferentially associate and socialize with each other, enhancing the benefits of altruism.
- Several theories explain the evolutionary puzzle of altruism, including inclusive fitness, reciprocal altruism, and costly signaling.
- Positive assortment is a potential unifying principle underlying different forms of benefit delivery and cooperation.
- Emotions, such as gratitude, play a significant role in altruism and cooperation, influencing future interactions and levels of cooperation.
- Evolutionary psychologist Gary Brase explored the emotions involved in reciprocity, finding that gratitude and anger are directed towards those who help or fail to help.
- Tooby and Cosmides suggest that friendships may not be solely based on explicit reciprocity, as people report feeling pleasure in helping others without expecting a future reward.
- Immediate reciprocal exchange orientation in a marriage is linked with marital dissatisfaction and potential dissolution, suggesting that friendships may not be solely based on reciprocal exchange.
- People's intuitions provide a cue that friendships might not solely be based on reciprocal exchange, according to Tooby and Cosmides.
- Altruism through costly signaling enhances a person's status and reputation, increasing the odds of being chosen as a cooperation partner.
- Altruists have a high disposition towards altruism and preferentially associate with others who possess similar altruistic values.
- Positive assortment, associating with some individuals and not others, may provide a unifying principle underlying different forms of benefit delivery and cooperation.
Evolution of Altruism and Banker’s Paradox in Group Living
- According to classical theories of evolution of altruism, an act is not defined as altruism if no additional cost is incurred, but common sense suggests delivering a benefit to others is altruistic regardless of cost.
- Evolutionary perspective suggests that the greater the cost of delivering benefits to others, the less widespread the benefits will be, and vice versa.
- Bankers face the "banker’s paradox" where they loan money to those who need it the least, while refusing those who need it the most, similar to the adaptive problem faced by our ancestors.
- Ancestral people had to make critical decisions about whom to extend help to, similar to bankers' decisions about extending credit to individuals.
- Adaptations regulated crucial decisions by evaluating a person's willingness and ability to repay, and whether helping this person is the best use of limited capacity to help.
- Selection should favor adaptations that motivate good decisions about when and to whom to extend help, but evolution should favor psychological mechanisms that cause people to desert others when they need help.
- Tooby and Cosmides propose a solution to the adaptive problem: becoming irreplaceable or indispensable to others.
- Irreplaceable individuals are less vulnerable to desertion and loyalty of friendship should be based on how irreplaceable each friend has become.
- Strategies to become irreplaceable include being the sole provider of certain benefits and making oneself valuable in a unique way.
- The hypothetical example of having to choose between two friends in need of assistance illustrates the concept of irreplaceability influencing the decision.
- The loyalty of friendship is influenced by how irreplaceable each friend has become, according to the proposed reasoning.
- Tooby and Cosmides outline several strategies to increase the odds of becoming irreplaceable.
Evolutionary Psychology of Friendship and Cooperative Coalitions
- Same-sex friends tend to have similar interests, personalities, and levels of attractiveness, leading to intrasexual rivalry for mates.
- Men report more frequent intrasexual rivalry in same-sex friendships than women, likely due to men's greater desire for short-term casual sex.
- Women's friendships are more intimate and involve more relational maintenance, while men prefer a larger number of less intimate friendships.
- Women historically relied heavily on non-kin women for a secure social environment, leading to close intimate friendships.
- Men use friendships to achieve common goals such as cooperative hunting, defense, or warfare, reflecting gender differences in the evolved functions of friendship.
- Humans form cooperative coalitions for collective action, such as hunting, food sharing, raiding, defending, and building shelters.
- Cooperative coalitions face problems of defection and free-riding, which can undermine their success.
- Defection occurs when individuals claim illness or injury to avoid participating in coalition activities, jeopardizing the coalition's success.
- Free-riders share in the rewards of the coalition without contributing their fair share of work, posing another problem.
- Game theory analyses show that cooperative coalitions can collapse due to defection and free-riding.
- Evolutionists focus on the role of punishment in solving the free-rider problem, with experiments showing higher levels of cooperation when free-riders are punished.
- There is evidence that humans have adaptations to punish free-riders in the context of cooperative coalitions, leading to high levels of cooperation when stringent punishments are in place.
Emergence of Dominance Hierarchies in Animals
- A study of 59 three-person groups found that clear hierarchies emerged within 1 minute in 50% and within 5 minutes in the other 50%.
- Group members can accurately evaluate their future status within a new group before any interaction.
- Crickets remember their fight history and adjust their behavior based on past successes and failures.
- Dominance hierarchy emerges in crickets, with victorious males more likely to seek sex from females.
- The phrase "pecking order" comes from the behavior of hens, where a stable hierarchy benefits both dominant and subordinate hens.
- Dominance hierarchy is an emergent property of the group, not the individual, and has functions for both dominant and subordinate individuals.
- Assessment abilities evolve for individuals to determine the outcome of confrontations in advance.
- Dominance hierarchy refers to some individuals having greater access to key resources than others, contributing to survival and reproduction.
- More than one male crayfish cannot inhabit the same territory without determining dominance through violent confrontations.
- Researchers discovered a specific neuron in crayfish that responds differently to serotonin based on the animal's status.
- Changes in nervous systems occur in dominant and subordinate animals after confrontations.
- One battle rarely determines a permanent position as dominant or subordinate in animals.
Evolution of Social Hierarchy and Status
- Traditional societies use ridicule, ostracism, and even homicide to deter individuals striving for dominance.
- A theory should explain why people strive for equality and differentiate between dominance and production hierarchies.
- Dominance involves force or the threat of force, while prestige is freely conferred deference based on skills or knowledge.
- Prestige hierarchies are domain specific, with different skills evoking deference in different contexts.
- Competence, including fighting ability and leadership skills, is proposed as the key to status.
- Costly signaling plays a key role in the acquisition of prestige, with individuals displaying competence and generosity to acquire prestige.
- Public displays of generosity lead to a boost in social reputation, while reputation is so important that people are willing to suffer huge costs to avoid a bad reputation.
- Individuals are willing to endure significant sacrifices to maintain a positive reputation, as shown in studies where participants chose to avoid a bad reputation at great personal cost.
- Reputation and status are of prime importance in the human mind, as shown by the choices people make to protect their reputation.
- Status and reputation are crucial in traditional societies, where individuals use costly signaling and public displays of competence and generosity to acquire prestige.
- Evolutionary theories should account for the different paths to elevated rank or status, including dominance and prestige, and the importance of competence in acquiring status.
- Prestige is acquired through public displays of competence and generosity, leading to a boost in social reputation, while individuals are willing to endure significant personal sacrifices to maintain a positive reputation.
Men's Status and Reproductive Success
- A meta-analysis of 33 non-industrial populations showed that men's status was positively correlated with various reproductively relevant outcomes, such as having more wives, higher fertility rates, and more surviving offspring.
- In polygamous societies, higher-status men had more wives and lower offspring mortality, while in monogamous societies, they married younger wives.
- The linkage between status and mating success held regardless of cultural subsistence patterns, such as agriculture, foraging, horticulture, or pastoralism.
- In modern cultures with legally enforced monogamy, high-status men still have greater sexual access to more women, through short-term relationships, extramarital affairs, and serial marriages.
- High-status men tend to have more frequent sex, more children, and marry physically attractive and younger women.
- Men in high-status positions within universities, businesses, and academia tend to have more children.
- High-status men historically and cross-culturally gain sexual access to multiple women, suggesting a strong selective pressure for a status-striving motive in men.
- Boys across different cultures are more likely than girls to engage in rough-and-tumble play, assaults, aggression, dominance challenges, and seeking attention.
- Girls tend to display nurturance and pleasing sociability more than boys.
- Evidence suggests that a sex difference in dominance motivation emerges at an early age, with boys showing higher aggressiveness, competitive striving, and desire for status.
- Research on social dominance orientation (SDO) shows that individuals high on this orientation endorse an ideology involving the legitimacy of one group's domination over another.
- This evidence suggests that men are generally higher in dominance or status striving compared to women.
Leadership, Prestige, and Social Dominance
- Leaders provide key services to followers in the form of organizational skills, intelligence, wisdom, and knowledge in relevant domains.
- These leader-provided services benefit followers by producing better outcomes for them, such as success in hunting, defense, warfare, or habitat selection.
- In return for the services, followers provide leaders with social prestige, which gains them better access to resources, including desirable mates.
- The service-for-prestige theory is based on reciprocal altruism and followers incur costs by bestowing leaders with prestige and status.
- Ancestrally, the costs involved ceding a larger share of key reproductively relevant resources to the leader.
- Qualities sought in leaders depend on adaptive problems, such as athletic ability, strength, skill in weapon use, and displays of courage for hunting and warfare.
- Intelligence, good social skills, oratory skills, and the ability to unify the group toward a common goal are valuable leadership qualities across wartime and peacetime contexts.
- One quality often sought in leaders is fairness, which has different definitions including equity and equality.
- The services-for-prestige theory predicts which followers will want leaders who adopt each definition of fairness based on their contributions to the group.
- Both leaders and followers benefit from the reciprocal exchange of services for prestige.
- Men and women differ in the extent to which their reproductive outputs can vary due to the abundance of sperm and the obligation of males to invest heavily in their offspring.
- Research has identified three major tactics for getting ahead in status hierarchies: deception/manipulation, social display/networking, and industriousness/knowledge. Men are more likely than women to use the deception/manipulation tactic.
Explore the evolutionary theory of kin selection and inclusive fitness, including Hamilton's rule, altruism, and its consequences for cooperation and conflict.
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