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Majolo B, Maréchal L, Igali F, Van de Vyver J. Cooperation and group similarity in children and young adults in the UK. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2023; 5:e29. [PMID: 38027425 PMCID: PMC10643143 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2023.25] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Revised: 07/27/2023] [Accepted: 08/10/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
For cooperation to be beneficial, cooperators should be able to differentiate individuals who are willing to cooperate from free-riders. In the absence of kin or of familiar individuals, phenotypic similarity (e.g. in terms of language) can be used as a cue of how likely two or more individuals are to behave similarly (whether they will cooperate or free-ride). Thus, phenotypic similarity could affect cooperation. However, it is unclear whether humans respond to any type of phenotypic similarity or whether only salient phenotypic traits guide cooperation. We tested whether within-group, non-salient phenotypic similarity affects cooperation in 280, 3 to 10 year old children and in 76 young adults (mean 19.8 years old) in the UK. We experimentally manipulated the degree of phenotypic similarity in three computer-based experiments. We found no evidence of a preference for, or greater cooperation with, phenotypically similar individuals in children, even though children displayed ingroup preference. Conversely, young adults cooperated more with phenotypically similar than with phenotypically diverse individuals to themselves. Our results suggest that response to non-salient phenotypic similarity varies with age and that young adults may pay more attention to non-salient cues of diversity then children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bonaventura Majolo
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Sarah Swift Building, Brayford Wharf East, LincolnLN5 7AT, UK
| | - Laëtitia Maréchal
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Sarah Swift Building, Brayford Wharf East, LincolnLN5 7AT, UK
| | - Ferenc Igali
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Sarah Swift Building, Brayford Wharf East, LincolnLN5 7AT, UK
| | - Julie Van de Vyver
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Sarah Swift Building, Brayford Wharf East, LincolnLN5 7AT, UK
- Behavioural Insights and Research team, Magpie, Munro House, Duke St, Leeds, LS9 8AG, UK
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, Upper Mountjoy, South road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
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Steiner TG, Vescio TK, Adams RB. The effect of gender identity and gender threat on self-image. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2022.104335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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3
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Meta-analytic evidence that animals rarely avoid inbreeding. Nat Ecol Evol 2021; 5:949-964. [PMID: 33941905 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-021-01453-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2020] [Accepted: 03/24/2021] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Animals are usually expected to avoid mating with relatives (kin avoidance) as incestuous mating can lead to the expression of inbreeding depression. Yet, theoretical models predict that unbiased mating with regards to kinship should be common, and that under some conditions, the inclusive fitness benefits associated with inbreeding can even lead to a preference for mating with kin. This mismatch between empirical and theoretical expectations generates uncertainty as to the prevalence of inbreeding avoidance in animals. Here, we synthesized 677 effect sizes from 139 experimental studies of mate choice for kin versus non-kin in diploid animals, representing 40 years of research, using a meta-analytical approach. Our meta-analysis revealed little support for the widely held view that animals avoid mating with kin, despite clear evidence of publication bias. Instead, unbiased mating with regards to kinship appears widespread across animals and experimental conditions. The significance of a variety of moderators was explored using meta-regressions, revealing that the degree of relatedness and prior experience with kin explained some variation in the effect sizes. Yet, we found no difference in kin avoidance between males and females, choice and no-choice experiments, mated and virgin animals or between humans and animals. Our findings highlight the need to rethink the widely held view that inbreeding avoidance is a given in experimental studies.
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Transforming faces to mimic natural kin: A comparison of different paradigms. Behav Res Methods 2021; 54:13-25. [PMID: 34100202 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-021-01614-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The ability to detect phenotypic similarity or kinship in third-parties' faces is not perfect, but better than chance. Still, some humans are better than others at this task. Yet researchers in kinship detection have difficulties in building up large and diverse datasets of high-quality pictures of related persons. The current experiments tested a novel method for circumventing this difficulty by using morphing techniques in order to generate a wide array of stimuli derived from a limited number of individual pictures. Six experiments tested various stimuli (standard protocol, mirrored face, other-sex face, other-ethnicity face, other-expression face and antiface). Our benchmarks are the similarity or kinship scores achieved by participants when faced with pictures of real siblings. We show that all stimuli, except the antiface, elicit detection scores similar to those elicited by real pictures of actual siblings. In addition, by exploring different experiment parameters (simultaneous or sequential task, kinship or similarity task) and some individual characteristics, these experiments provide a better understanding of kinship detection in third parties. The validation of our new method will allow widening the range of available stimuli to the research community, and even to develop new ecologically relevant experimental protocols that are hardly or not feasible with veridical images.
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Parsons CA, Jacobson JA, Krupp DB. Self-Resemblance and Social Rejection. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2016; 14:1474704916685324. [PMID: 28027654 PMCID: PMC10480827 DOI: 10.1177/1474704916685324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2016] [Accepted: 11/18/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans perceive and treat self-resembling others in ways that suggest that self-resemblance is a cue of kinship. However, we know little about how individuals respond to treatment by self-resembling others. Here we approach this problem by connecting facial self-resemblance to social rejection. Given that individuals should expect to cooperate with kin, we hypothesized that (1) social inclusion by perceived kin should elicit lesser feelings of rejection and (2) social exclusion by perceived kin should elicit greater feelings of rejection relative to inclusion or exclusion, respectively, by nonkin. To test these hypotheses, we recruited 90 participants to play two games of Cyberball, a virtual ball-tossing game, with separate pairs of ostensible partners. In one game, the ostensible partners were programed to fully include the participants in group play and, in the other game, they were programed to exclude the participants after a few rounds; the order of inclusion and exclusion was counterbalanced across participants. Partner faces were digitally manipulated to be either self- or nonself-resembling, and these conditions were also counterbalanced. Rejection feelings differed significantly as a function of self-resemblance between the inclusion and exclusion conditions, but only for participants who experienced inclusion first. Moreover, for these individuals, inclusion by self-resembling partners led to significantly lesser feelings of rejection than did inclusion by nonself-resembling partners. To explain this effect, we explore potential mechanisms of kin recognition and social rejection. Although nuanced, our results suggest that perceptions of kinship can moderate psychological responses to the actions of others.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carly A. Parsons
- Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Jill A. Jacobson
- Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
| | - D. B. Krupp
- Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
- Program in Evolution and Governance, One Earth Future, Broomfield, CO, USA
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Lihoreau M, Rivault C, van Zweden JS. Kin discrimination increases with odor distance in the German cockroach. Behav Ecol 2016. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arw099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Abstract
The persistence of altruism and spite remains an enduring problem of social evolution. It is well known that selection for these actions depends on the structure of the population-that is, on actors' genetic relationships to recipients and to the 'neighbourhood' upon which the effects of their actions redound. Less appreciated, however, is that population structure can cause genetic asymmetries between partners whereby the relatedness (defined relative to the neighbourhood) of an individual i to a partner j will differ from the relatedness of j to i. Here, we introduce a widespread mechanism of kin recognition to a model of dispersal in subdivided populations. In so doing, we uncover three remarkable consequences of asymmetrical relatedness. First, altruism directed at phenotypically similar partners evolves more easily among migrant than native actors. Second, spite directed at dissimilar partners evolves more easily among native than migrant actors. Third, unlike migrants, natives can evolve to pay costs that far outstrip those they spitefully impose on others. We find that the frequency of natives relative to migrants amplifies the asymmetries between them. Taken together, our results reveal differentiated patterns of 'phenocentrism' that readily arise from asymmetries of relatedness.
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Affiliation(s)
- D B Krupp
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6 Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6 Program in Evolution and Governance, One Earth Future, Broomfield, CO 80021, USA
| | - Peter D Taylor
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6 Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6
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Bressan P, Kramer P. Human kin detection. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2015; 6:299-311. [PMID: 26263231 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2014] [Revised: 01/28/2015] [Accepted: 02/08/2015] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Natural selection has favored the evolution of behaviors that benefit not only one's genes, but also their copies in genetically related individuals. These behaviors include optimal outbreeding (choosing a mate that is neither too closely related, nor too distant), nepotism (helping kin), and spite (hurting non-kin at a personal cost), and all require some form of kin detection or kin recognition. Yet, kinship cannot be assessed directly; human kin detection relies on heuristic cues that take into account individuals' context (whether they were reared by our mother, or grew up in our home, or were given birth by our spouse), appearance (whether they smell or look like us), and ability to arouse certain feelings (whether we feel emotionally close to them). The uncertainties of kin detection, along with its dependence on social information, create ample opportunities for the evolution of deception and self-deception. For example, babies carry no unequivocal stamp of their biological father, but across cultures they are passionately claimed to resemble their mother's spouse; to the same effect, 'neutral' observers are greatly influenced by belief in relatedness when judging resemblance between strangers. Still, paternity uncertainty profoundly shapes human relationships, reducing not only the investment contributed by paternal versus maternal kin, but also prosocial behavior between individuals who are related through one or more males rather than females alone. Because of its relevance to racial discrimination and political preferences, the evolutionary pressure to prefer kin to non-kin has a manifold influence on society at large.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paola Bressan
- Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Peter Kramer
- Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy
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Affiliation(s)
- Jill M. Mateo
- Department of Comparative Human Development; Institute for Mind and Biology; The University of Chicago; Chicago IL USA
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Mishra S. Decision-Making Under Risk: Integrating Perspectives From Biology, Economics, and Psychology. PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW 2014; 18:280-307. [PMID: 24769798 DOI: 10.1177/1088868314530517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Decision-making under risk has been variably characterized and examined in many different disciplines. However, interdisciplinary integration has not been forthcoming. Classic theories of decision-making have not been amply revised in light of greater empirical data on actual patterns of decision-making behavior. Furthermore, the meta-theoretical framework of evolution by natural selection has been largely ignored in theories of decision-making under risk in the human behavioral sciences. In this review, I critically examine four of the most influential theories of decision-making from economics, psychology, and biology: expected utility theory, prospect theory, risk-sensitivity theory, and heuristic approaches. I focus especially on risk-sensitivity theory, which offers a framework for understanding decision-making under risk that explicitly involves evolutionary considerations. I also review robust empirical evidence for individual differences and environmental/situational factors that predict actual risky decision-making that any general theory must account for. Finally, I offer steps toward integrating various theoretical perspectives and empirical findings on risky decision-making.
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Krupp DB, Taylor PD. Enhanced Kin Recognition through Population Estimation. Am Nat 2013; 181:707-14. [DOI: 10.1086/670029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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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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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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