An evolutionary model of human behavior should privilege emotions: essential, phylogenetically an... more An evolutionary model of human behavior should privilege emotions: essential, phylogenetically ancient behaviors that learning and decision making only subserve. Infants and non-mammals lack advanced cognitive powers but still survive. Decision making is only a means to emotional ends, which organize and prioritize behavior. The emotion of pride/shame, or dominance striving, bridges the social and biological sciences via internalization of cultural norms.
* The Biological Approach * Motives * Social Motivation * Pride and Shame * Sex Differences in Re... more * The Biological Approach * Motives * Social Motivation * Pride and Shame * Sex Differences in Reproductive Behavior * The Social Context of Human Adolescence * Puberty Rites * Pubertal Changes in Primates * Pubertal Changes in Boys * Pubertal Changes in Girls * Boys Peer Relations * Girls Peer Relations * Sexual Relations * Parent-Adolescent Relations * A Model of Human Adolescence
Locke & Bogin (L&B) propose that humans are unique in possessing stages of childh... more Locke & Bogin (L&B) propose that humans are unique in possessing stages of childhood and adolescence. Arguments to the contrary include evidence for a similar and adaptive juvenile period in simians of slow growth, intense play and learning, and provisioning with solid food by adults. Likewise, simians as well as humans undergo a compensatory growth spurt during puberty.
Schizophrenia is a worldwide, prevalent disorder with a multifactorial but highly genetic aetiolo... more Schizophrenia is a worldwide, prevalent disorder with a multifactorial but highly genetic aetiology. A constant prevalence rate in the face of reduced fecundity has caused some to argue that an evolutionary advantage exists in unaffected relatives. Here, I critique this adaptationist approach, and review – and find wanting – Crow's “speciation” hypothesis. In keeping with available biological and psychological evidence, I propose an alternative theory of the origins of this disorder. Schizophrenia is a disorder of the social brain, and it exists as a costly trade-off in the evolution of complex social cognition. Paleoanthropological and comparative primate research suggests that hominids evolved complex cortical interconnectivity (in particular, frontotemporal and frontoparietal circuits) to regulate social cognition and the intellectual demands of group living. I suggest that the ontogenetic mechanism underlying this cerebral adaptation was sequential hypermorphosis and that it...
The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology and Behavioral Endocrinology, 2019
Given the pivotal role of differential reproduction to the evolutionary success of ancestral men,... more Given the pivotal role of differential reproduction to the evolutionary success of ancestral men, evolution has produced a plethora of reproductive strategies aimed at solving the complexities of intramale competition and satisfying and/or thwarting the reproductive desires of women. Life history theory recognizes that an organism has limited resources and must invest energy appropriately. Broadly, reproductive strategies can be dichotomized into short-term (emphasizing mating over parental effort) versus long-term (emphasizing parenting over mating effort) strategies. Increasingly, the neuroendocrine system—especially testosterone—has been recognized as the proximate mechanism orchestrating adoption of one strategy over the other. This chapter reviews behaviors geared toward solving problems associated with both long-term and short-term reproductive strategies and discusses the neuroendocrine correlates. The adoption of one strategy over another is conceptualized as conditional or ...
s Toronto 1994 ADULT ATTACHMENT MODELS AND QUALITY OF THE MOTHER-CHILD RELATIONSHIP Grazia Attili... more s Toronto 1994 ADULT ATTACHMENT MODELS AND QUALITY OF THE MOTHER-CHILD RELATIONSHIP Grazia Attili & Patrizia Vermigli Istituto di Psicologia CNR Viale Marx 15, 00137 Rome, Italy This study explored relationships between mothers' internal working models of attachment and childmaternal behavior patterns during a free-play situation at home. The sample consisted of 42 eight-yearolds and their mothers. Adult Attachment Status was assessed by Main's Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). The mother-child interactions were videotaped at home and coded by means of an ethological coding manual. The mothers' attachment categories were related to relationship quality variables such as teaching and supportive behaviour, frequency of controls, disconfirmation of the interactant, both by child and mother compliance to requests. Results reveal differences in child-mother behaviour which are related to mothers' internal working models. (Development) WALKING FAST-RANKING HIGH: AN OBSERVA...
Previous research has extensively studied sex differences in mating strategies such as mate prefe... more Previous research has extensively studied sex differences in mating strategies such as mate preferences and degree of choosiness and how these affect relationship initiation. Very little research, however, has examined these sex differences and how they may play a role in nonmarital relationship dissolution. The existing literature that does examine nonmarital breakups tends to do so from a clinical perspective and neglects the evolutionary approach. The current study uses self-report data gathered from 392 participants through Mechanical Turk to expand upon the sparse existing literature on nonmarital relationship dissolution from an evolutionary perspective to investigate how sex differences in mating strategies affect breakup processes such as the coping period, emotions experienced, and post-breakup behaviors. Results revealed that women require a longer time period to get over an ex-partner with a good sense of humor and are more likely to make in-person contact with such an ex-partner. For postbreakup emotions, women were significantly more likely to report feeling happy which likely is a reflection of the finding that they were more likely to initiate breakups. Men, on the other hand, were more likely to report feeling sexually frustrated following relationship dissolution. Post-breakup behaviors were predicted by breakup initiator rather than participant gender. Overall, these findings support sexual dimorphism in the value of humor and greater female choosiness even after initial mate selection.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 2004
Animal and human studies have shown that individuals choose mates partly on the basis of similari... more Animal and human studies have shown that individuals choose mates partly on the basis of similarity, a tendency referred to as homogamy. Several authors have suggested that a specific innate recognition mechanism, phenotypic matching, allows the organism to detect similar others by their resemblance to itself. However, several objections have been raised to this theory on both empirical and theoretical grounds. Here, we report that homogamy in humans is attained partly by sexual imprinting on the opposite-sex parent during childhood. We hypothesized that children fashion a mental model of their opposite-sex parent's phenotype that is used as a template for acquiring mates. To disentangle the effects of phenotypic matching and sexual imprinting, adopted daughters and their rearing families were examined. Judges found significant resemblance on facial traits between daughter's husband and her adoptive father. Furthermore, this effect may be modified by the quality of the father-daughter relationship during childhood. Daughters who received more emotional support from their adoptive father were more likely to choose mates similar to the father than those whose father provided a less positive emotional atmosphere.
Marriage is universal, and pair bonding is found in other species too with highly dependent young... more Marriage is universal, and pair bonding is found in other species too with highly dependent young. So marriage functions as a reproductive social arrangement that traditionally involved the extended family. The sexes are not identical in their biological contributions to children's survival, so they seek somewhat different attributes in a mate. Men seek a young, attractive, sexually faithful bride. Women seek a man who is older, taller, and (as in many other species) socially dominant. Both sexes prefer a kind, healthy, attractive, similar mate who is emotionally attached to them. A spouse who fails to maintain sufficiently high mate value is vulnerable to divorce. Infertility and sexual dissatisfaction predict divorce, as does death of a child, but the more children, the stabler the marriage. Cross-cultural data suggest that cruel or subdominant men (e.g., poor providers) and unfaithful women are prone to divorce. Marriages in which the wife dominates the husband in economic co...
U.S. studies indicate that children tend to stabilize marriage but, paradoxically, to reduce mari... more U.S. studies indicate that children tend to stabilize marriage but, paradoxically, to reduce marital satisfaction. To explore whether this finding exists in a similar fashion in other cultures, the authors studied the impact of number of children on spousal love in the United States, United Kingdom, and Turkey, while accounting for other marital demographics (such as duration of marriage and the ages of wives and husbands). The number of children predicted diminished marital satisfaction in couples from all three cultures, although this effect arguably was not present in Turkish wives. In addition, marital satisfaction in couples from all three cultures was generally negatively predicted by the duration of marriage. Marital satisfaction was generally unrelated to wife’s age. The effect of husband’s age was important to marital satisfaction in couples from all cultures, although the nature of this effect diverged in relating positively to marital satisfaction for British and American...
This book presents a synthetic theory of cultural values and history. It expands on a 2012 Behavi... more This book presents a synthetic theory of cultural values and history. It expands on a 2012 Behavioral and Brain Sciences target article by the authors, and includes replies to the commentaries. The theory is bold, extensively and rigorously supported, and suitably qualified. This theory needs to be incorporated into analyses of human behavior in a variety of disciplines in the behavioral sciences and history. The gist of the theory is this: In localities where parasites that transmit disease between humans are abundant, people isolate themselves from outsiders, who may carry infectious diseases. These people tend to fear and avoid outsiders and alien values, and to remain philopatric. This self-imposed isolation favors conservative values because the novel values of outsiders are kept at bay. Parasite stress also reduces innovation and cognitive performance by inducing lethargy; the debilitating effect of parasites may help account for the lower IQ of people living in countries and US states with more parasites. Other ramifications of the theory extend to crime, warfare, endogamy, female chastity, and other behavioral phenomena. Thornhill and Fincher support their theory by citing numerous studies of a variety of human populations around the world, past and present. They examine a host of variables, and generally provide statistically strong support for their claims. They address
Marriage is universal, and pair bonding is found in other species too with highly dependent young... more Marriage is universal, and pair bonding is found in other species too with highly dependent young. So marriage functions as a reproductive social arrangement that traditionally involved the extended family. The sexes are not identical in their biological contributions to children's survival, so they seek somewhat different attributes in a mate. Men seek a young, attractive, sexually faithful bride. Women seek a man who is older, taller, and (as in many other species) socially dominant. Both sexes prefer a kind, healthy, attractive, similar mate who is emotionally attached to them. A spouse who fails to maintain sufficiently high mate value is vulnerable to divorce. Infertility and sexual dissatisfaction predict divorce, as does death of a child, but the more children, the stabler the marriage. Cross-cultural data suggest that cruel or subdominant men (e.g., poor providers) and unfaithful women are prone to divorce. Marriages in which the wife dominates the husband in economic contributions, nonverbal behavior, and decision making tend to be less satisfying. In societies in which wives are economically independent of husbands, divorce rates are high. As women's economic power has risen with industrialization, divorce rates have climbed. Economic and fitness considerations also help explain cultural differences in polygyny, age at marriage, arranged marriage, concern with the bride's sexual chastity, and marriage ceremonies. Other factors also affect marital dynamics, such as state subsidies to families, the sex ratio, and influence of the couple's parents.
An evolutionary model of human behavior should privilege emotions: essential, phylogenetically an... more An evolutionary model of human behavior should privilege emotions: essential, phylogenetically ancient behaviors that learning and decision making only subserve. Infants and non-mammals lack advanced cognitive powers but still survive. Decision making is only a means to emotional ends, which organize and prioritize behavior. The emotion of pride/shame, or dominance striving, bridges the social and biological sciences via internalization of cultural norms.
* The Biological Approach * Motives * Social Motivation * Pride and Shame * Sex Differences in Re... more * The Biological Approach * Motives * Social Motivation * Pride and Shame * Sex Differences in Reproductive Behavior * The Social Context of Human Adolescence * Puberty Rites * Pubertal Changes in Primates * Pubertal Changes in Boys * Pubertal Changes in Girls * Boys Peer Relations * Girls Peer Relations * Sexual Relations * Parent-Adolescent Relations * A Model of Human Adolescence
Locke & Bogin (L&B) propose that humans are unique in possessing stages of childh... more Locke & Bogin (L&B) propose that humans are unique in possessing stages of childhood and adolescence. Arguments to the contrary include evidence for a similar and adaptive juvenile period in simians of slow growth, intense play and learning, and provisioning with solid food by adults. Likewise, simians as well as humans undergo a compensatory growth spurt during puberty.
Schizophrenia is a worldwide, prevalent disorder with a multifactorial but highly genetic aetiolo... more Schizophrenia is a worldwide, prevalent disorder with a multifactorial but highly genetic aetiology. A constant prevalence rate in the face of reduced fecundity has caused some to argue that an evolutionary advantage exists in unaffected relatives. Here, I critique this adaptationist approach, and review – and find wanting – Crow's “speciation” hypothesis. In keeping with available biological and psychological evidence, I propose an alternative theory of the origins of this disorder. Schizophrenia is a disorder of the social brain, and it exists as a costly trade-off in the evolution of complex social cognition. Paleoanthropological and comparative primate research suggests that hominids evolved complex cortical interconnectivity (in particular, frontotemporal and frontoparietal circuits) to regulate social cognition and the intellectual demands of group living. I suggest that the ontogenetic mechanism underlying this cerebral adaptation was sequential hypermorphosis and that it...
The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology and Behavioral Endocrinology, 2019
Given the pivotal role of differential reproduction to the evolutionary success of ancestral men,... more Given the pivotal role of differential reproduction to the evolutionary success of ancestral men, evolution has produced a plethora of reproductive strategies aimed at solving the complexities of intramale competition and satisfying and/or thwarting the reproductive desires of women. Life history theory recognizes that an organism has limited resources and must invest energy appropriately. Broadly, reproductive strategies can be dichotomized into short-term (emphasizing mating over parental effort) versus long-term (emphasizing parenting over mating effort) strategies. Increasingly, the neuroendocrine system—especially testosterone—has been recognized as the proximate mechanism orchestrating adoption of one strategy over the other. This chapter reviews behaviors geared toward solving problems associated with both long-term and short-term reproductive strategies and discusses the neuroendocrine correlates. The adoption of one strategy over another is conceptualized as conditional or ...
s Toronto 1994 ADULT ATTACHMENT MODELS AND QUALITY OF THE MOTHER-CHILD RELATIONSHIP Grazia Attili... more s Toronto 1994 ADULT ATTACHMENT MODELS AND QUALITY OF THE MOTHER-CHILD RELATIONSHIP Grazia Attili & Patrizia Vermigli Istituto di Psicologia CNR Viale Marx 15, 00137 Rome, Italy This study explored relationships between mothers' internal working models of attachment and childmaternal behavior patterns during a free-play situation at home. The sample consisted of 42 eight-yearolds and their mothers. Adult Attachment Status was assessed by Main's Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). The mother-child interactions were videotaped at home and coded by means of an ethological coding manual. The mothers' attachment categories were related to relationship quality variables such as teaching and supportive behaviour, frequency of controls, disconfirmation of the interactant, both by child and mother compliance to requests. Results reveal differences in child-mother behaviour which are related to mothers' internal working models. (Development) WALKING FAST-RANKING HIGH: AN OBSERVA...
Previous research has extensively studied sex differences in mating strategies such as mate prefe... more Previous research has extensively studied sex differences in mating strategies such as mate preferences and degree of choosiness and how these affect relationship initiation. Very little research, however, has examined these sex differences and how they may play a role in nonmarital relationship dissolution. The existing literature that does examine nonmarital breakups tends to do so from a clinical perspective and neglects the evolutionary approach. The current study uses self-report data gathered from 392 participants through Mechanical Turk to expand upon the sparse existing literature on nonmarital relationship dissolution from an evolutionary perspective to investigate how sex differences in mating strategies affect breakup processes such as the coping period, emotions experienced, and post-breakup behaviors. Results revealed that women require a longer time period to get over an ex-partner with a good sense of humor and are more likely to make in-person contact with such an ex-partner. For postbreakup emotions, women were significantly more likely to report feeling happy which likely is a reflection of the finding that they were more likely to initiate breakups. Men, on the other hand, were more likely to report feeling sexually frustrated following relationship dissolution. Post-breakup behaviors were predicted by breakup initiator rather than participant gender. Overall, these findings support sexual dimorphism in the value of humor and greater female choosiness even after initial mate selection.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 2004
Animal and human studies have shown that individuals choose mates partly on the basis of similari... more Animal and human studies have shown that individuals choose mates partly on the basis of similarity, a tendency referred to as homogamy. Several authors have suggested that a specific innate recognition mechanism, phenotypic matching, allows the organism to detect similar others by their resemblance to itself. However, several objections have been raised to this theory on both empirical and theoretical grounds. Here, we report that homogamy in humans is attained partly by sexual imprinting on the opposite-sex parent during childhood. We hypothesized that children fashion a mental model of their opposite-sex parent's phenotype that is used as a template for acquiring mates. To disentangle the effects of phenotypic matching and sexual imprinting, adopted daughters and their rearing families were examined. Judges found significant resemblance on facial traits between daughter's husband and her adoptive father. Furthermore, this effect may be modified by the quality of the father-daughter relationship during childhood. Daughters who received more emotional support from their adoptive father were more likely to choose mates similar to the father than those whose father provided a less positive emotional atmosphere.
Marriage is universal, and pair bonding is found in other species too with highly dependent young... more Marriage is universal, and pair bonding is found in other species too with highly dependent young. So marriage functions as a reproductive social arrangement that traditionally involved the extended family. The sexes are not identical in their biological contributions to children's survival, so they seek somewhat different attributes in a mate. Men seek a young, attractive, sexually faithful bride. Women seek a man who is older, taller, and (as in many other species) socially dominant. Both sexes prefer a kind, healthy, attractive, similar mate who is emotionally attached to them. A spouse who fails to maintain sufficiently high mate value is vulnerable to divorce. Infertility and sexual dissatisfaction predict divorce, as does death of a child, but the more children, the stabler the marriage. Cross-cultural data suggest that cruel or subdominant men (e.g., poor providers) and unfaithful women are prone to divorce. Marriages in which the wife dominates the husband in economic co...
U.S. studies indicate that children tend to stabilize marriage but, paradoxically, to reduce mari... more U.S. studies indicate that children tend to stabilize marriage but, paradoxically, to reduce marital satisfaction. To explore whether this finding exists in a similar fashion in other cultures, the authors studied the impact of number of children on spousal love in the United States, United Kingdom, and Turkey, while accounting for other marital demographics (such as duration of marriage and the ages of wives and husbands). The number of children predicted diminished marital satisfaction in couples from all three cultures, although this effect arguably was not present in Turkish wives. In addition, marital satisfaction in couples from all three cultures was generally negatively predicted by the duration of marriage. Marital satisfaction was generally unrelated to wife’s age. The effect of husband’s age was important to marital satisfaction in couples from all cultures, although the nature of this effect diverged in relating positively to marital satisfaction for British and American...
This book presents a synthetic theory of cultural values and history. It expands on a 2012 Behavi... more This book presents a synthetic theory of cultural values and history. It expands on a 2012 Behavioral and Brain Sciences target article by the authors, and includes replies to the commentaries. The theory is bold, extensively and rigorously supported, and suitably qualified. This theory needs to be incorporated into analyses of human behavior in a variety of disciplines in the behavioral sciences and history. The gist of the theory is this: In localities where parasites that transmit disease between humans are abundant, people isolate themselves from outsiders, who may carry infectious diseases. These people tend to fear and avoid outsiders and alien values, and to remain philopatric. This self-imposed isolation favors conservative values because the novel values of outsiders are kept at bay. Parasite stress also reduces innovation and cognitive performance by inducing lethargy; the debilitating effect of parasites may help account for the lower IQ of people living in countries and US states with more parasites. Other ramifications of the theory extend to crime, warfare, endogamy, female chastity, and other behavioral phenomena. Thornhill and Fincher support their theory by citing numerous studies of a variety of human populations around the world, past and present. They examine a host of variables, and generally provide statistically strong support for their claims. They address
Marriage is universal, and pair bonding is found in other species too with highly dependent young... more Marriage is universal, and pair bonding is found in other species too with highly dependent young. So marriage functions as a reproductive social arrangement that traditionally involved the extended family. The sexes are not identical in their biological contributions to children's survival, so they seek somewhat different attributes in a mate. Men seek a young, attractive, sexually faithful bride. Women seek a man who is older, taller, and (as in many other species) socially dominant. Both sexes prefer a kind, healthy, attractive, similar mate who is emotionally attached to them. A spouse who fails to maintain sufficiently high mate value is vulnerable to divorce. Infertility and sexual dissatisfaction predict divorce, as does death of a child, but the more children, the stabler the marriage. Cross-cultural data suggest that cruel or subdominant men (e.g., poor providers) and unfaithful women are prone to divorce. Marriages in which the wife dominates the husband in economic contributions, nonverbal behavior, and decision making tend to be less satisfying. In societies in which wives are economically independent of husbands, divorce rates are high. As women's economic power has risen with industrialization, divorce rates have climbed. Economic and fitness considerations also help explain cultural differences in polygyny, age at marriage, arranged marriage, concern with the bride's sexual chastity, and marriage ceremonies. Other factors also affect marital dynamics, such as state subsidies to families, the sex ratio, and influence of the couple's parents.
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Papers by Glenn Weisfeld