201
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Ponz A, Montant M, Liegeois-Chauvel C, Silva C, Braun M, Jacobs AM, Ziegler JC. Emotion processing in words: a test of the neural re-use hypothesis using surface and intracranial EEG. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2013; 9:619-27. [PMID: 23482627 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nst034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
This study investigates the spatiotemporal brain dynamics of emotional information processing during reading using a combination of surface and intracranial electroencephalography (EEG). Two different theoretical views were opposed. According to the standard psycholinguistic perspective, emotional responses to words are generated within the reading network itself subsequent to semantic activation. According to the neural re-use perspective, brain regions that are involved in processing emotional information contained in other stimuli (faces, pictures, smells) might be in charge of the processing of emotional information in words as well. We focused on a specific emotion-disgust-which has a clear locus in the brain, the anterior insula. Surface EEG showed differences between disgust and neutral words as early as 200 ms. Source localization suggested a cortical generator of the emotion effect in the left anterior insula. These findings were corroborated through the intracranial recordings of two epileptic patients with depth electrodes in insular and orbitofrontal areas. Both electrodes showed effects of disgust in reading as early as 200 ms. The early emotion effect in a brain region (insula) that responds to specific emotions in a variety of situations and stimuli clearly challenges classic sequential theories of reading in favor of the neural re-use perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aurélie Ponz
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Fédération de Recherche 3C, Brain and Language Research Institute, Aix-Marseille University and CNRS, 3 place Victor Hugo, 13331 Marseille, France.
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202
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Mechanisms of reciprocity in primates: testing for short-term contingency of grooming and food sharing in bonobos and chimpanzees. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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203
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Kazem AJN, Widdig A. Visual phenotype matching: cues to paternity are present in rhesus macaque faces. PLoS One 2013; 8:e55846. [PMID: 23451032 PMCID: PMC3579836 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0055846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2012] [Accepted: 12/19/2012] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to recognize kin and thus behaviourally discriminate between conspecifics based on genetic relatedness is of importance both in acquiring inclusive fitness benefits and to enable optimal inbreeding. In primates, mechanisms allowing recognition of paternal relatives are of particular interest, given that in these mating systems patrilineal information is unlikely to be available via social familiarity. Humans use visual phenotype matching based on facial features to identify their own and other's close relatives, and recent studies suggest similar abilities may be present in other species. However it is unclear to what extent familial resemblances remain detectable against the background levels of relatedness typically found within demes in the wild - a necessary condition if facial cues are to function in kin recognition under natural conditions. Here, we experimentally investigate whether parent-offspring relationships are discernible in rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) faces drawn from a large free-ranging population more representative of the latter scenario, and in which genetic relatedness has been well quantified from pedigrees determined via molecular markers. We used the human visual system as a means of integrating multiple types of facial cue simultaneously, and demonstrate that paternal, as well as maternal, resemblance to both sons and daughters can be detected even by human observers. Experts performed better than participants who lacked previous experience working with nonhuman primates. However the finding that even naïve individuals succeeded at the task underlines the strength of the phenotypic cues present in faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anahita J N Kazem
- Junior Research Group of Primate Kin Selection, Department of Primatology, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
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204
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabine C Herpertz
- Klinik für Allgemeine Psychiatrie, Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg, Zentrum für Psychiosoziale Medizin, Voßstrasse 4, D-69115 Heidelberg,Germany.
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205
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Abstract
AbstractMinimizing the costs that others impose upon oneself and upon those in whom one has a fitness stake, such as kin and allies, is a key adaptive problem for many organisms. Our ancestors regularly faced such adaptive problems (including homicide, bodily harm, theft, mate poaching, cuckoldry, reputational damage, sexual aggression, and the infliction of these costs on one's offspring, mates, coalition partners, or friends). One solution to this problem is to impose retaliatory costs on an aggressor so that the aggressor and other observers will lower their estimates of the net benefits to be gained from exploiting the retaliator in the future. We posit that humans have an evolved cognitive system that implements this strategy – deterrence – which we conceptualize as a revenge system. The revenge system produces a second adaptive problem: losing downstream gains from the individual on whom retaliatory costs have been imposed. We posit, consequently, a subsidiary computational system designed to restore particular relationships after cost-imposing interactions by inhibiting revenge and motivating behaviors that signal benevolence for the harmdoer. The operation of these systems depends on estimating the risk of future exploitation by the harmdoer and the expected future value of the relationship with the harmdoer. We review empirical evidence regarding the operation of these systems, discuss the causes of cultural and individual differences in their outputs, and sketch their computational architecture.
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206
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Abstract
AbstractWhat makes humans moral beings? This question can be understood either as a proximate “how” question or as an ultimate “why” question. The “how” question is about the mental and social mechanisms that produce moral judgments and interactions, and has been investigated by psychologists and social scientists. The “why” question is about the fitness consequences that explain why humans have morality, and has been discussed by evolutionary biologists in the context of the evolution of cooperation. Our goal here is to contribute to a fruitful articulation of such proximate and ultimate explanations of human morality. We develop an approach to morality as an adaptation to an environment in which individuals were in competition to be chosen and recruited in mutually advantageous cooperative interactions. In this environment, the best strategy is to treat others with impartiality and to share the costs and benefits of cooperation equally. Those who offer less than others will be left out of cooperation; conversely, those who offer more will be exploited by their partners. In line with this mutualistic approach, the study of a range of economic games involving property rights, collective actions, mutual help and punishment shows that participants' distributions aim at sharing the costs and benefits of interactions in an impartial way. In particular, the distribution of resources is influenced by effort and talent, and the perception of each participant's rights on the resources to be distributed.
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207
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Pollet TV, Roberts SGB, Dunbar RIM. Going that extra mile: individuals travel further to maintain face-to-face contact with highly related kin than with less related kin. PLoS One 2013; 8:e53929. [PMID: 23372676 PMCID: PMC3556071 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0053929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2012] [Accepted: 12/07/2012] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The theory of inclusive fitness has transformed our understanding of cooperation and altruism. However, the proximate psychological underpinnings of altruism are less well understood, and it has been argued that emotional closeness mediates the relationship between genetic relatedness and altruism. In this study, we use a real-life costly behaviour (travel time) to dissociate the effects of genetic relatedness from emotional closeness. Participants travelled further to see more closely related kin, as compared to more distantly related kin. For distantly related kin, the level of emotional closeness mediated this relationship--when emotional closeness was controlled for, there was no effect of genetic relatedness on travel time. However, participants were willing to travel further to visit parents, children and siblings as compared to more distantly related kin, even when emotional closeness was controlled for. This suggests that the mediating effect of emotional closeness on altruism varies with levels of genetic relatedness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas V Pollet
- Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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208
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Cosmides L, Tooby J. Evolutionary Psychology: New Perspectives on Cognition and Motivation. Annu Rev Psychol 2013; 64:201-29. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev.psych.121208.131628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 264] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Leda Cosmides
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences and Center for Evolutionary Psychology and
| | - John Tooby
- Department of Anthropology and Center for Evolutionary Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106; ,
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209
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de Jong PJ, van Overveld M, Borg C. Giving in to arousal or staying stuck in disgust? Disgust-based mechanisms in sex and sexual dysfunction. JOURNAL OF SEX RESEARCH 2013; 50:247-262. [PMID: 23480071 DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2012.746280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Sex and disgust seem like strange bedfellows. The premise of this review is that disgust-based mechanisms nevertheless hold great promise for improving our understanding of sexual behavior, including dysfunctions. Disgust is a defensive emotion that protects the organism from contamination. Accordingly, disgust is focused on the border of the self, with the mouth and vagina being the body parts that show strongest disgust sensitivity. Given the central role of these organs in sexual behavior, together with the fact that bodily products are among the strongest disgust elicitors, the critical question seems not whether disgust may interfere with sex but rather how people succeed in having pleasurable sex at all. We argue that sexual arousal plays a critical role in counteracting disgust-induced avoidance via lowering the threshold for engaging in "disgusting sex." Following this, all mechanisms that interfere with the generation of sexual arousal or enhance the disgusting properties of sexual stimuli may hamper the functional transition from a sex-avoidance into an approach disposition. Since prolonged contact is the most powerful means to reduce disgust, disgust-based mechanisms that counteract sexual approach may give rise to a self-perpetuating cycle in which enhanced sexual disgust becomes a chronic feature.
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210
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Tybur JM, Bryan AD, Hooper AEC. An Evolutionary Perspective on Health Psychology: New Approaches and Applications. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2012. [DOI: 10.1177/147470491201000508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Although health psychologists' efforts to understand and promote health are most effective when guided by theory, health psychology has not taken full advantage of theoretical insights provided by evolutionary psychology. Here, we argue that evolutionary perspectives can fruitfully inform strategies for addressing some of the challenges facing health psychologists. Evolutionary psychology's emphasis on modular, functionally specialized psychological systems can inform approaches to understanding the myriad behaviors grouped under the umbrella of “health,” as can theoretical perspectives used by evolutionary anthropologists, biologists, and psychologists (e.g., Life History Theory). We detail some early investigations into evolutionary health psychology, and we provide suggestions for directions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua M. Tybur
- Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Angela D. Bryan
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
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211
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Tybur JM, Bryan AD, Hooper AEC. An evolutionary perspective on health psychology: new approaches and applications. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2012; 10:855-67. [PMID: 23253791 PMCID: PMC10429084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2012] [Accepted: 07/30/2012] [Indexed: 06/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Although health psychologists' efforts to understand and promote health are most effective when guided by theory, health psychology has not taken full advantage of theoretical insights provided by evolutionary psychology. Here, we argue that evolutionary perspectives can fruitfully inform strategies for addressing some of the challenges facing health psychologists. Evolutionary psychology's emphasis on modular, functionally specialized psychological systems can inform approaches to understanding the myriad behaviors grouped under the umbrella of "health," as can theoretical perspectives used by evolutionary anthropologists, biologists, and psychologists (e.g., Life History Theory). We detail some early investigations into evolutionary health psychology, and we provide suggestions for directions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua M Tybur
- Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
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212
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Loyau A, Cornuau JH, Clobert J, Danchin E. Incestuous sisters: mate preference for brothers over unrelated males in Drosophila melanogaster. PLoS One 2012; 7:e51293. [PMID: 23251487 PMCID: PMC3519633 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0051293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2012] [Accepted: 11/01/2012] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The literature is full of examples of inbreeding avoidance, while recent mathematical models predict that inbreeding tolerance or even inbreeding preference should be expected under several realistic conditions like e.g. polygyny. We investigated male and female mate preferences with respect to relatedness in the fruit fly D. melanogaster. Experiments offered the choice between a first order relative (full-sibling or parent) and an unrelated individual with the same age and mating history. We found that females significantly preferred mating with their brothers, thus supporting inbreeding preference. Moreover, females did not avoid mating with their fathers, and males did not avoid mating with their sisters, thus supporting inbreeding tolerance. Our experiments therefore add empirical evidence for inbreeding preference, which strengthens the prediction that inbreeding tolerance and preference can evolve under specific circumstances through the positive effects on inclusive fitness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adeline Loyau
- CNRS, Station d'Ecologie Expérimentale du CNRS à Moulis, USR 2936, Saint Girons, France.
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213
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Antfolk J, Lieberman D, Santtila P. Fitness costs predict inbreeding aversion irrespective of self-involvement: support for hypotheses derived from evolutionary theory. PLoS One 2012; 7:e50613. [PMID: 23209792 PMCID: PMC3509093 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0050613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2012] [Accepted: 10/25/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
It is expected that in humans, the lowered fitness of inbred offspring has produced a sexual aversion between close relatives. Generally, the strength of this aversion depends on the degree of relatedness between two individuals, with closer relatives inciting greater aversion than more distant relatives. Individuals are also expected to oppose acts of inbreeding that do not include the self, as inbreeding between two individuals posits fitness costs not only to the individuals involved in the sexual act, but also to their biological relatives. Thus, the strength of inbreeding aversion should be predicted by the fitness costs an inbred child posits to a given individual, irrespective of this individual's actual involvement in the sexual act. To test this prediction, we obtained information about the family structures of 663 participants, who reported the number of same-sex siblings, opposite-sex siblings, opposite-sex half siblings and opposite-sex cousins. Each participant was presented with three different types of inbreeding scenarios: 1) Participant descriptions, in which participants themselves were described as having sex with an actual opposite-sex relative (sibling, half sibling, or cousin); 2) Related third-party descriptions, in which participants' actual same-sex siblings were described as having sex with their actual opposite-sex relatives; 3) Unrelated third-party descriptions, in which individuals of the same sex as the participants but unrelated to them were described as having sex with opposite-sex relatives. Participants rated each description on the strength of sexual aversion (i.e., disgust-reaction). We found that unrelated third-party descriptions elicited less disgust than related third-party and participant descriptions. Related third-party and participant descriptions elicited similar levels of disgust suggesting that the strength of inbreeding aversion is predicted by inclusive fitness costs. Further, in the related and unrelated conditions alike, the strength of inbreeding aversion was positively associated with the degree of relatedness between those described in the descriptions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Antfolk
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Abo Akademi University, Turku, Finland.
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214
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Bovet J, Barthes J, Durand V, Raymond M, Alvergne A. Men's preference for women's facial features: testing homogamy and the paternity uncertainty hypothesis. PLoS One 2012. [PMID: 23185437 PMCID: PMC3504097 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Male mate choice might be based on both absolute and relative strategies. Cues of female attractiveness are thus likely to reflect both fitness and reproductive potential, as well as compatibility with particular male phenotypes. In humans, absolute clues of fertility and indices of favorable developmental stability are generally associated with increased women’s attractiveness. However, why men exhibit variable preferences remains less studied. Male mate choice might be influenced by uncertainty of paternity, a selective factor in species where the survival of the offspring depends on postnatal paternal care. For instance, in humans, a man might prefer a woman with recessive traits, thereby increasing the probability that his paternal traits will be visible in the child and ensuring paternity. Alternatively, attractiveness is hypothesized to be driven by self-resembling features (homogamy), which would reduce outbreeding depression. These hypotheses have been simultaneously evaluated for various facial traits using both real and artificial facial stimuli. The predicted preferences were then compared to realized mate choices using facial pictures from couples with at least 1 child. No evidence was found to support the paternity uncertainty hypothesis, as recessive features were not preferred by male raters. Conversely, preferences for self-resembling mates were found for several facial traits (hair and eye color, chin dimple, and thickness of lips and eyebrows). Moreover, realized homogamy for facial traits was also found in a sample of long-term mates. The advantages of homogamy in evolutionary terms are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeanne Bovet
- University of Montpellier II, Montpellier, France
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215
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Giang T, Bell R, Buchner A. Does facial resemblance enhance cooperation? PLoS One 2012; 7:e47809. [PMID: 23094095 PMCID: PMC3477107 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0047809] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2012] [Accepted: 09/17/2012] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Facial self-resemblance has been proposed to serve as a kinship cue that facilitates cooperation between kin. In the present study, facial resemblance was manipulated by morphing stimulus faces with the participants' own faces or control faces (resulting in self-resemblant or other-resemblant composite faces). A norming study showed that the perceived degree of kinship was higher for the participants and the self-resemblant composite faces than for actual first-degree relatives. Effects of facial self-resemblance on trust and cooperation were tested in a paradigm that has proven to be sensitive to facial trustworthiness, facial likability, and facial expression. First, participants played a cooperation game in which the composite faces were shown. Then, likability ratings were assessed. In a source memory test, participants were required to identify old and new faces, and were asked to remember whether the faces belonged to cooperators or cheaters in the cooperation game. Old-new recognition was enhanced for self-resemblant faces in comparison to other-resemblant faces. However, facial self-resemblance had no effects on the degree of cooperation in the cooperation game, on the emotional evaluation of the faces as reflected in the likability judgments, and on the expectation that a face belonged to a cooperator rather than to a cheater. Therefore, the present results are clearly inconsistent with the assumption of an evolved kin recognition module built into the human face recognition system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Trang Giang
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
- * E-mail: (TG); (RB)
| | - Raoul Bell
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
- * E-mail: (TG); (RB)
| | - Axel Buchner
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
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216
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Krasnow MM, Cosmides L, Pedersen EJ, Tooby J. What are punishment and reputation for? PLoS One 2012; 7:e45662. [PMID: 23049833 PMCID: PMC3458883 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0045662] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2012] [Accepted: 08/20/2012] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Why did punishment and the use of reputation evolve in humans? According to one family of theories, they evolved to support the maintenance of cooperative group norms; according to another, they evolved to enhance personal gains from cooperation. Current behavioral data are consistent with both hypotheses (and both selection pressures could have shaped human cooperative psychology). However, these hypotheses lead to sharply divergent behavioral predictions in circumstances that have not yet been tested. Here we report results testing these rival predictions. In every test where social exchange theory and group norm maintenance theory made different predictions, subject behavior violated the predictions of group norm maintenance theory and matched those of social exchange theory. Subjects do not direct punishment toward those with reputations for norm violation per se; instead, they use reputation self-beneficially, as a cue to lower the risk that they personally will experience losses from defection. More tellingly, subjects direct their cooperative efforts preferentially towards defectors they have punished and away from those they haven’t punished; they avoid expending punitive effort on reforming defectors who only pose a risk to others. These results are not consistent with the hypothesis that the psychology of punishment evolved to uphold group norms. The circumstances in which punishment is deployed and withheld–its circuit logic–support the hypothesis that it is generated by psychological mechanisms that evolved to benefit the punisher, by allowing him to bargain for better treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Max M Krasnow
- Center for Evolutionary Psychology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, USA.
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217
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Delton AW, Robertson TE. The Social Cognition of Social Foraging: Partner Selection by Underlying Valuation. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2012; 33:715-725. [PMID: 23162372 DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Humans and other animals have a variety of psychological abilities tailored to the demands of asocial foraging, that is, foraging without coordination or competition with other conspecifics. Human foraging, however, also includes a unique element, the creation of resource pooling systems. In this type of social foraging, individuals contribute when they have excess resources and receive provisioning when in need. Is this behavior produced by the same psychology as asocial foraging? If so, foraging partners should be judged by the same criteria used to judge asocial patches of resources: the net energetic benefits they provide. The logic of resource pooling speaks against this. Maintaining such a system requires the ability to judge others not on their short-term returns, but on the psychological variables that guide their behavior over the long-term. We test this idea in a series of five studies using an implicit measure of categorization. Results showed that (1) others are judged by the costs they incur (a variable not relevant to asocial foraging) whereas (2) others are not judged by the benefits they provide when benefits provided are unrevealing of underlying psychological variables (despite this variable being relevant to asocial foraging). These results are suggestive of a complex psychology designed for both social and asocial foraging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew W Delton
- Center for Evolutionary Psychology and Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara
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218
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Krupp DB, Sewall LA, Lalumière ML, Sheriff C, Harris GT. Nepotistic patterns of violent psychopathy: evidence for adaptation? Front Psychol 2012; 3:305. [PMID: 22973244 PMCID: PMC3428807 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2012] [Accepted: 08/03/2012] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Psychopaths routinely disregard social norms by engaging in selfish, antisocial, often violent behavior. Commonly characterized as mentally disordered, recent evidence suggests that psychopaths are executing a well-functioning, if unscrupulous strategy that historically increased reproductive success at the expense of others. Natural selection ought to have favored strategies that spared close kin from harm, however, because actions affecting the fitness of genetic relatives contribute to an individual's inclusive fitness. Conversely, there is evidence that mental disorders can disrupt psychological mechanisms designed to protect relatives. Thus, mental disorder and adaptation accounts of psychopathy generate opposing hypotheses: psychopathy should be associated with an increase in the victimization of kin in the former account but not in the latter. Contrary to the mental disorder hypothesis, we show here in a sample of 289 violent offenders that variation in psychopathy predicts a decrease in the genetic relatedness of victims to offenders; that is, psychopathy predicts an increased likelihood of harming non-relatives. Because nepotistic inhibition in violence may be caused by dispersal or kin discrimination, we examined the effects of psychopathy on (1) the dispersal of offenders and their kin and (2) sexual assault frequency (as a window on kin discrimination). Although psychopathy was negatively associated with coresidence with kin and positively associated with the commission of sexual assault, it remained negatively associated with the genetic relatedness of victims to offenders after removing cases of offenders who had coresided with kin and cases of sexual assault from the analyses. These results stand in contrast to models positing psychopathy as a pathology, and provide support for the hypothesis that psychopathy reflects an evolutionary strategy largely favoring the exploitation of non-relatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Brian Krupp
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Queen’s UniversityKingston, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster UniversityHamilton, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of LethbridgeLethbridge, AB, Canada
| | - Lindsay A. Sewall
- Department of Psychology, University of LethbridgeLethbridge, AB, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of SaskatchewanSaskatoon, SK, Canada
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219
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Webster GD, Cottrell CA, Schember TO, Crysel LC, Crosier BS, Gesselman AN, Le BM. Two Sides of the Same Coin? Viewing Altruism and Aggression Through the Adaptive Lens of Kinship. SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS 2012. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2012.00449.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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220
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Abstract
Animals—human and nonhuman alike—rarely prefer close genetic relatives as sexual partners. Moreover, in the lab and in real life, humans typically react to thoughts of sex with their family members with extreme aversion. Scientists generally agree about why such aversions exist: The sexual avoidance of close genetic relatives evolved because the offspring of close relatives suffer increased risks of disease and death. But how do these sexual aversions develop? Recent research has addressed this question by focusing on people’s aversions to sex with their siblings. Researchers have discovered a set of cues people use during development to estimate whether someone in their social world is likely to be a sibling. When present, these cues typically lead to the development of intense sexual aversions. When the cues are absent, as they are when siblings are reared apart, kin-based sexual aversions tend not to develop. This article discusses the kinship cues regulating the development of sibling sexual aversions and recent work suggesting that the intensity of people’s sibling-directed sexual aversions colors their moral attitudes regarding the sexual behavior of others. Taken together, research on human inbreeding avoidance addresses fundamental questions pertaining to development and mate choice, as well as morality and social policy.
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221
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Genetic and cultural kinship among the Lamaleran whale hunters. HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2012; 22:89-107. [PMID: 22388802 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-011-9104-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
The human ability to form large, coordinated groups is among our most impressive social adaptations. Larger groups facilitate synergistic economies of scale for cooperative breeding, such economic tasks as group hunting, and success in conflict with other groups. In many organisms, genetic relationships provide the structure for sociality to evolve via the process of kin selection, and this is the case, to a certain extent, for humans. But assortment by genetic affiliation is not the only mechanism that can bring people together. Affinity based on symbolically mediated and socially constructed identity, or cultural kinship, structures much of human ultrasociality. This paper examines how genetic kinship and two kinds of cultural kinship--affinal kinship and descent--structure the network of cooperating whale hunters in the village of Lamalera, Indonesia. Social network analyses show that each mechanism of assortment produces characteristic networks of different sizes, each more or less conducive to the task of hunting whales. Assortment via close genetic kin relationships (r = 0.5) produces a smaller, denser network. Assortment via less-close kin relations (r = 0.125) produces a larger but less dense network. Affinal networks are small and diffuse; lineage networks are larger, discrete, and very dense. The roles that genetic and cultural kinship play for structuring human sociality is discussed in the context of these results.
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Curry O, Roberts SGB, Dunbar RIM. Altruism in social networks: evidence for a 'kinship premium'. Br J Psychol 2012; 104:283-95. [PMID: 23560672 DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8295.2012.02119.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Why and under what conditions are individuals altruistic to family and friends in their social networks? Evolutionary psychology suggests that such behaviour is primarily the product of adaptations for kin- and reciprocal altruism, dependent on the degree of genetic relatedness and exchange of benefits, respectively. For this reason, individuals are expected to be more altruistic to family members than to friends: whereas family members can be the recipients of kin and reciprocal altruism, friends can be the recipients of reciprocal altruism only. However, there is a question about how the effect of kinship is implemented at the proximate psychological level. One possibility is that kinship contributes to some general measure of relationship quality (such as 'emotional closeness'), which in turn explains altruism. Another possibility is that the effect of kinship is independent of relationship quality. The present study tests between these two possibilities. Participants (N= 111) completed a self-report questionnaire about their willingness to be altruistic, and their emotional closeness, to 12 family members and friends at different positions in their extended social networks. As expected, altruism was greater for family than friends, and greater for more central layers of the network. Crucially, the results showed that kinship made a significant unique contribution to altruism, even when controlling for the effects of emotional closeness. Thus, participants were more altruistic towards kin than would be expected if altruism was dependent on emotional closeness alone - a phenomenon we label a 'kinship premium'. These results have implications for the ongoing debate about the extent to which kin relations and friendships are distinct kinds of social relationships, and how to measure the 'strength of ties' in social networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oliver Curry
- Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, UK.
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223
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Antfolk J, Karlsson M, Bäckström A, Santtila P. Disgust elicited by third-party incest: the roles of biological relatedness, co-residence, and family relationship. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2012. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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224
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Arantes J, Berg ME. Kinship recognition by unrelated observers depends on implicit and explicit cognition. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2012; 10:210-24. [PMID: 22947635 PMCID: PMC10480863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2011] [Accepted: 04/03/2012] [Indexed: 06/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that neutral observers are able to identify kinship in strangers by matching photographs of children with their parents. We asked whether this ability depended on implicit and/or explicit cognitive processes. Fifty unrelated male observers viewed triads of photographs (one woman in her early 20's and two older women) and had to select which of the two older women was the mother, and rate their confidence in their decision. Observers identified 62.5% of mother-daughter pairs correctly (p < .001). Signal detection analyses showed that confidence was related to accuracy (d' = .28) and observers could report the cues they utilized. However, those who failed to show a relationship between confidence and accuracy (d' ≤ 0) still performed significantly above chance, and both confidence and d' decreased over trials whereas accuracy did not. Results show that neutral observers spontaneously used both explicit and implicit cognitive processes in the task. Recognition of kinship by neutral observers may be a task which allows the interplay between explicit and implicit cognition for a system relevant to ancestral social environments to be observed in the laboratory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joana Arantes
- Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
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225
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Fessler DMT, Holbrook C, Snyder JK. Weapons make the man (larger): formidability is represented as size and strength in humans. PLoS One 2012; 7:e32751. [PMID: 22509247 PMCID: PMC3324476 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2011] [Accepted: 02/03/2012] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In order to determine how to act in situations of potential agonistic conflict, individuals must assess multiple features of a prospective foe that contribute to the foe's resource-holding potential, or formidability. Across diverse species, physical size and strength are key determinants of formidability, and the same is often true for humans. However, in many species, formidability is also influenced by other factors, such as sex, coalitional size, and, in humans, access to weaponry. Decision-making involving assessments of multiple features is enhanced by the use of a single summary variable that encapsulates the contributions of these features. Given both a) the phylogenetic antiquity of the importance of size and strength as determinants of formidability, and b) redundant experiences during development that underscore the contributions of size and strength to formidability, we hypothesize that size and strength constitute the conceptual dimensions of a representation used to summarize multiple diverse determinants of a prospective foe's formidability. Here, we test this hypothesis in humans by examining the effects of a potential foe's access to weaponry on estimations of that individual's size and strength. We demonstrate that knowing that an individual possesses a gun or a large kitchen knife leads observers to conceptualize him as taller, and generally larger and more muscular, than individuals who possess only tools or similarly mundane objects. We also document that such patterns are not explicable in terms of any actual correlation between gun ownership and physical size, nor can they be explained in terms of cultural schemas or other background knowledge linking particular objects to individuals of particular size and strength. These findings pave the way for a fuller understanding of the evolution of the cognitive systems whereby humans – and likely many other social vertebrates – navigate social hierarchies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel M T Fessler
- Department of Anthropology and Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
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226
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227
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Arantes J, Berg ME. Kinship Recognition by Unrelated Observers Depends on Implicit and Explicit Cognition. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2012. [DOI: 10.1177/147470491201000204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that neutral observers are able to identify kinship in strangers by matching photographs of children with their parents. We asked whether this ability depended on implicit and/or explicit cognitive processes. Fifty unrelated male observers viewed triads of photographs (one woman in her early 20's and two older women) and had to select which of the two older women was the mother, and rate their confidence in their decision. Observers identified 62.5% of mother-daughter pairs correctly ( p < .001). Signal detection analyses showed that confidence was related to accuracy ( d' = .28) and observers could report the cues they utilized. However, those who failed to show a relationship between confidence and accuracy ( d' ≤ 0) still performed significantly above chance, and both confidence and d' decreased over trials whereas accuracy did not. Results show that neutral observers spontaneously used both explicit and implicit cognitive processes in the task. Recognition of kinship by neutral observers may be a task which allows the interplay between explicit and implicit cognition for a system relevant to ancestral social environments to be observed in the laboratory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joana Arantes
- Department of Psychology, Private Bag 4800, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand and University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Mark E. Berg
- The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Pomona, New Jersey, USA
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228
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229
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Lieberman D, Lobel T. Kinship on the Kibbutz: coresidence duration predicts altruism, personal sexual aversions and moral attitudes among communally reared peers. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2012. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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230
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Lewis DM. The sibling uncertainty hypothesis: Facial resemblance as a sibling recognition cue. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2011. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2011.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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231
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Burnette JL, McCullough ME, Van Tongeren DR, Davis DE. Forgiveness results from integrating information about relationship value and exploitation risk. PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN 2011; 38:345-56. [PMID: 22082532 DOI: 10.1177/0146167211424582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Exploitation is a fact of life for social organisms, and natural selection gives rise to revenge mechanisms that are designed to deter such exploitations. However, humans may also possess cognitive forgiveness mechanisms designed to promote the restoration of valuable social relationships following exploitation. In the current article, the authors test the hypothesis that decisions about forgiveness result from a computational system that combines information about relationship value and exploitation risk to produce decisions about whom to forgive following interpersonal offenses. The authors examined the independent and interactive effects of relationship value and exploitation risk across two studies. In Study 1, controlling for other constructs related to forgiveness, the authors assessed relationship value and exploitation risk. In Study 2, participants experienced experimental manipulations of relationship value and exploitation risk. Across studies, using hypothetical and actual offenses and varied forgiveness measures, the combination of low exploitation risk and high relationship value predicted the greatest forgiveness.
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232
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Young L, Saxe R. When ignorance is no excuse: Different roles for intent across moral domains. Cognition 2011; 120:202-14. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2011.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 112] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2010] [Revised: 04/12/2011] [Accepted: 04/25/2011] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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233
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Merritt AC, Monin B. The Trouble with Thinking: People Want to Have Quick Reactions to Personal Taboos. EMOTION REVIEW 2011. [DOI: 10.1177/1754073911402386] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
If lay theories associate moral intuitions with deeply held values, people should feel uncomfortable relying on deliberative thinking when judging violations of personal taboos. In two preliminary studies, participants with siblings of the opposite sex were particularly troubled when evaluating a sibling incest scenario under instructions to think slowly and rationally, or when the scenario was presented in a hard-to-read font forcing them to employ deliberative processing. This suggests that we may be intuitive intuitionists, and opens the door for investigations of people’s preferred modes of moral judgment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Benoît Monin
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, USA
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234
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Opposite-sex siblings decrease attraction, but not prosocial attributions, to self-resembling opposite-sex faces. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2011; 108:11710-4. [PMID: 21709272 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1105919108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Contextual cues of genetic relatedness to familiar individuals, such as cosocialization and maternal-perinatal association, modulate prosocial and inbreeding-avoidance behaviors toward specific potential siblings. These findings have been interpreted as evidence that contextual cues of kinship indirectly influence social behavior by affecting the perceived probability of genetic relatedness to familiar individuals. Here, we test a more general alternative model in which contextual cues of kinship can influence the kin-recognition system more directly, changing how the mechanisms that regulate social behavior respond to cues of kinship, even in unfamiliar individuals for whom contextual cues of kinship are absent. We show that having opposite-sex siblings influences inbreeding-relevant perceptions of facial resemblance but not prosocial perceptions. Women with brothers were less attracted to self-resembling, unfamiliar male faces than were women without brothers, and both groups found self-resemblance to be equally trustworthy for the same faces. Further analyses suggest that this effect is driven by younger, rather than older, brothers, consistent with the proposal that only younger siblings exhibit the strong kinship cue of maternal-perinatal association. Our findings provide evidence that experience with opposite-sex siblings can directly influence inbreeding-avoidance mechanisms and demonstrate a striking functional dissociation between the mechanisms that regulate inbreeding and the mechanisms that regulate prosocial behavior toward kin.
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235
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Luo L. Is there a sensitive period in human incest avoidance? EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2011; 9:285-95. [PMID: 22947973 PMCID: PMC10561375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2010] [Accepted: 04/14/2011] [Indexed: 06/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Many studies support the proposition that early cosocialization with opposite-sex children has the effect of inhibiting later mutual sexual attraction, but the existence of a period in the life cycle in which individuals are sensitive to the effect of early cosocialization has been a matter of controversy. Drawing on earlier traditional psychological research, and on more recent work guided by parental investment theory, we hypothesized that only for maternal perinatal association (MPA)-absent males a less-than- around-three-years age difference with the sister can predict stronger aversion to sibling incest. The results corroborated the hypothesis. The results can be interpreted as support for the existence of a sensitive period as well as for the potent role of MPA. Cross-cultural comparative studies were called on to further test the hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liqun Luo
- Research Center for Social Development & Social Policy, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, P. R. China.
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236
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Stefanucci JK, Gagnon KT, Lessard DA. Follow your heart: Emotion adaptively influences perception. SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS 2011; 5:296-308. [PMID: 21731579 PMCID: PMC3124782 DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2011.00352.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
The current review introduces a new program of research that suggests the perception of spatial layout is influenced by emotions. Though perceptual systems are often described as closed and insulated, this review presents research suggesting that a variety of induced emotions (e.g., fear, disgust, sadness) can produce changes in vision and audition. Thus, the perceptual system may be highly interconnected, allowing emotional information to influence perceptions that, in turn, influence cognition. The body of work presented here also suggests that emotion-based changes in perception help us solve particular adaptive problems because emotion does not change all perceptions of the world. Taking the adaptive significance of emotion into account allows us to make predictions about when and how emotion influences perception.
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237
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Kushnick G, Fessler DMT. Karo Batak Cousin Marriage, Cosocialization, and the Westermarck Hypothesis. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2011. [DOI: 10.1086/659337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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238
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DeScioli P, Bruening R, Kurzban R. The omission effect in moral cognition: toward a functional explanation. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2011. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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239
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Abstract
Many studies support the proposition that early cosocialization with opposite-sex children has the effect of inhibiting later mutual sexual attraction, but the existence of a period in the life cycle in which individuals are sensitive to the effect of early cosocialization has been a matter of controversy. Drawing on earlier traditional psychological research, and on more recent work guided by parental investment theory, we hypothesized that only for maternal perinatal association (MPA)-absent males a less-than-around-three-years age difference with the sister can predict stronger aversion to sibling incest. The results corroborated the hypothesis. The results can be interpreted as support for the existence of a sensitive period as well as for the potent role of MPA. Cross-cultural comparative studies were called on to further test the hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liqun Luo
- Research Center for Social Development & Social Policy, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, P. R. China
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240
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Neuberg SL, Kenrick DT, Schaller M. Human threat management systems: self-protection and disease avoidance. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2011; 35:1042-51. [PMID: 20833199 PMCID: PMC3024471 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.08.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 252] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2010] [Revised: 08/18/2010] [Accepted: 08/18/2010] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Humans likely evolved precautionary systems designed to minimize the threats to reproductive fitness posed by highly interdependent ultrasociality. A review of research on the self-protection and disease avoidance systems reveals that each system is functionally distinct and domain-specific: each is attuned to different cues; engages different emotions, inferences, and behavioral inclinations; and is rooted in somewhat different neurobiological substrates. These systems share important features, however. Each system is functionally coherent, in that perceptual, affective, cognitive, and behavioral processes work in concert to reduce fitness costs of potential threats. Each system is biased in a risk-averse manner, erring toward precautionary responses even when available cues only heuristically imply threat. And each system is functionally flexible, being highly sensitive to specific ecological and dispositional cues that signal greater vulnerability to the relevant threat. These features characterize a general template useful for understanding not only the self-protection and disease avoidance systems, but also a broader set of evolved, domain-specific precautionary systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven L Neuberg
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1104, United States.
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241
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Abstract
The concept of innateness is often used in explanations and classifications of biological and cognitive traits. But does this concept have a legitimate role to play in contemporary scientific discourse? Empirical studies and theoretical developments have revealed that simple and intuitively appealing ways of classifying traits (e.g. genetically specified versus owing to the environment) are inadequate. They have also revealed a variety of scientifically interesting ways of classifying traits each of which captures some aspect of the innate/non-innate distinction. These include things such as whether a trait is canalized, whether it has a history of natural selection, whether it developed without learning or without a specific set of environmental triggers, whether it is causally correlated with the action of certain specific genes, etc. We offer an analogy: the term 'jade' was once thought to refer to a single natural kind; it was then discovered that it refers to two different chemical compounds, jadeite and nephrite. In the same way, we argue, researchers should recognize that 'innateness' refers not to a single natural kind but to a set of (possibly related) natural kinds. When this happens, it will be easier to progress in the field of biological and cognitive sciences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matteo Mameli
- Department of Philosophy, King's College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK.
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242
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Boyer P. Intuitive expectations and the detection of mental disorder: A cognitive background to folk-psychiatries. PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2011. [DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2010.529049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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243
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Rantala MJ, Marcinkowska UM. The role of sexual imprinting and the Westermarck effect in mate choice in humans. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2011. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-011-1145-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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244
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Ellis TB. Disgusting bodies, disgusting religion: the biology of Tantra. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION. AMERICAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION 2011; 79:879-927. [PMID: 22180926 DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfr077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Hard-core Tantric practice is disgusting, a point several scholars make. Scholarly interpretations of Tantric disgustingness, however, tend to follow the lead of Mary Douglas in suggesting that what disgusts is ultimately a reflection of social–historical concerns with borders and boundaries. Such interpretations fail to take seriously the Tantric consumption of feces, menstrual blood, urine, semen, and phlegm. Likewise, they fail to take seriously the particular sexual act involved, that is, intercourse with a menstruating, riding-astride, out-of-caste, mother-substitute. Consulting contemporary disgust research, I suggest that hard-core Tantra is literally disgusting because it is literally maladaptive. Disgust was naturally selected to deter the ingestion of bio-toxic pathogens as well as the practice of suboptimal sexual intercourse. Disgust maintains the species' viability. Tantra confounds disgust and thus disgusts. Tantra engages antibiological behaviors in its characteristically religious war against the body. As a disgusting religion, Tantra may be a perfected religion.
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245
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Abstract
AbstractWe suggest that there are two coordination games when it comes to understanding kin terminology. Jones' article focuses on the linguistic coordination inherent in developing meaningful kin terminologies, alluding briefly to the benefits of these kin terminologies for coordination in other domains. We enhance Jones' discussion by tracing the links between the structure of kin terminologies and their functions.
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246
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Abstract
A commonplace observation in humans is that close genetic relatives tend to avoid one another as sexual partners. Despite the growing psychological research on how antierotic attitudes develop toward relatives, few studies have focused on actual behavior. One prediction, stemming from parental investment theory, is that women should be more vigilant of reproduction-compromising behaviors, such as inbreeding, during times of peak fertility than during times of low fertility. Indeed, females of other species avoid interactions with male kin when fertile—but the corollary behavior in humans has yet to be explored. Here we fill this gap. Using duration and frequency of cell-phone calls, an objective behavioral measure that reflects motivations to interact socially, we show that women selectively avoid interactions with their fathers during peak fertility. Avoidance specifically targeted fathers, which rules out alternative explanations. These data suggest that psychological mechanisms underlying mating psychology regulate sexual avoidance behaviors, and in women they fluctuate according to fertility status.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Martie G. Haselton
- Departments of Communication Studies and Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles
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247
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Kaminski G, Ravary F, Graff C, Gentaz E. Firstborns’ Disadvantage in Kinship Detection. Psychol Sci 2010; 21:1746-50. [DOI: 10.1177/0956797610388045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to assess genetic ties is critical to defining one’s own family and, in a broader context, to understanding relationships in groups of strangers. To recognize younger siblings as such, human firstborns can rely on the perinatal association of the mother with her new baby. Later-borns, who cannot rely on such an association, will by necessity actuate alternate strategies, such as recognition of facial clues set aside by firstborns. The effects of such differential early experiences deserve consideration; the development of matching abilities may be used throughout an individual’s lifetime to detect other kinship types outside the family. In simple cognitive tasks based on matching face pictures, later-borns surpassed firstborns in detecting kinship among strangers; this pattern was found in populations of different ages and in two countries. This birth-order effect contrasts with the traditional cognitive advantage of firstborns. Inclusive fitness theory explains how early life history promotes specific strategies that can, in turn, permanently enhance human performance in certain domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gwenaël Kaminski
- Centre de Biologie du Comportement, University of Grenoble
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neuro-Cognition, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5105, University of Grenoble
| | - Fabien Ravary
- Department of Entomology, National Taiwan University
| | | | - Edouard Gentaz
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neuro-Cognition, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 5105, University of Grenoble
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248
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Barrett HC, Cosmides L, Tooby J. Coevolution of cooperation, causal cognition and mindreading. Commun Integr Biol 2010; 3:522-4. [PMID: 21331228 DOI: 10.4161/cib.3.6.12604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2010] [Accepted: 06/06/2010] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The evolution of cooperation between unrelated individuals has long been a puzzle in evolutionary biology. Formal models show that reciprocal altruism is approximately as stable as kin-based altruism when cooperators can assort. Why, then, is reciprocal altruism so rare? We suggest that the key lies in the difficulty of assortment based on underlying intentions: if individuals are able to reliably detect others' cooperative intent then cooperation is stable, but detecting intentions is notoriously difficult, especially when there are incentives to deceive. For this reason, we suggest, there is likely to be a coevolutionary relationship between human cooperativeness and our skills of social causal cognition; it is not a coincidence that we are both extraordinarily social, cooperating with non-kin to a degree not seen in other species and extraordinarily good at inferring others' beliefs, intentions and motivations, a skill sometimes known as mindreading. We discuss results of a recent study that provides evidence for this coevolutionary view of cooperation and social cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Clark Barrett
- Center for Behavior, Evolution and Culture; Department of Anthropology; University of California; Los Angeles, CA USA
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249
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Tybur JM, Merriman LA, Hooper AEC, McDonald MM, Navarrete CD. Extending the the behavioral immune system to political psychology: are political conservatism and disgust sensitivity really related? EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2010; 8:599-616. [PMID: 22947823 PMCID: PMC10480989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2010] [Accepted: 10/18/2010] [Indexed: 06/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Previous research suggests that several individual and cultural level attitudes, cognitions, and societal structures may have evolved to mitigate the pathogen threats posed by intergroup interactions. It has been suggested that these anti-pathogen defenses are at the root of conservative political ideology. Here, we test a hypothesis that political conservatism functions as a pathogen-avoidance strategy. Across three studies, we consistently find no relationship between sensitivity to pathogen disgust and multiple measures of political conservatism. These results are contrasted with theoretical perspectives suggesting a relationship between conservatism and pathogen avoidance, and with previous findings of a relationship between conservatism and disgust sensitivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua M Tybur
- Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
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250
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Tybur JM, Merriman LA, Hooper AEC, McDonald MM, Navarrete CD. Extending the Behavioral Immune System to Political Psychology: Are Political Conservatism and Disgust Sensitivity Really Related? EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2010. [DOI: 10.1177/147470491000800406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Previous research suggests that several individual and cultural level attitudes, cognitions, and societal structures may have evolved to mitigate the pathogen threats posed by intergroup interactions. It has been suggested that these anti-pathogen defenses are at the root of conservative political ideology. Here, we test a hypothesis that political conservatism functions as a pathogen-avoidance strategy. Across three studies, we consistently find no relationship between sensitivity to pathogen disgust and multiple measures of political conservatism. These results are contrasted with theoretical perspectives suggesting a relationship between conservatism and pathogen avoidance, and with previous findings of a relationship between conservatism and disgust sensitivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua M. Tybur
- Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Leslie A. Merriman
- Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
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