Evolutionary Psychological Perspective Research Articles

Gossip in Organizations: From an Evolutionary Psychological Perspective

Gossip is often portrayed as a trivial and even destructive behavior at work. The purpose of this paper is to integrate previous studies on the nature and adaptive functions of gossip in order to d...

Individual Differences in Grandparental Investment:An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective

Individual Differences in Grandparental Investment:An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective

Feminism and Evolutionary Psychology: Moving Forward

The Special Issue on feminism and evolutionary psychology published by Sex Roles (Smith and Konik 2011) has elicited responses that advance understanding of the debate between evolutionary psychology and feminist perspectives concerning the origins of similarities and differences in the behavior of women and men (Smith and Konik 2013). The further challenges to evolutionary psychology mounted in these responses suggest that the Special Issue has intensified the debate more that it has resolved it. Moving forward requires that feminist psychologists not only add to the considerable body of empirical evidence that challenges evolutionary psychology but also produce alternative evolutionary theories that transcend the nature-nurture controversy that underlies the current debate. To this end, we refer readers to our biosocial constructionist theory in which culture and biology are intertwined in both distal evolutionary processes that shaped human psychology and proximal mechanisms that underlie differences and similarities in male and female behavior (Wood and Eagly 2012).

Book Review: At the Crossroad of Evolutionary Psychology and Feminism

Evolutionary psychology a hybrid field that informed by diverse disciplines. In spite of the integration of an evolutionary psychology perspective into varied fields including, but not limited to, biology, psychology, anthropology, sociology, economics, and primatology, the assimilation of evolutionary paradigms into the realms of feminist research has seemed, at best, narrow, and at worst, misguided. Fisher, Garcia, and Chang have come together to produce Evolution's Empress , an edited volume that attempts to create a fresh dialogue between those in the field of evolutionary psychology and those in women's studies. The book's preface offers an excellent summary of the challenges that exist to bridge the two fields. This section written impartially and attributes misunderstandings among scholars in both camps to a lack of understanding of the basic tenets of the opponent's field. In doing so, the authors stress how theories of what is (empirically shown) from evolutionary psychology, and ideas of what ought to be (morally achieved) from women's studies, might one day resonate together in a unified framework. However, in parallel to this discussion, the authors note that their intent for compiling the book was to clarify the role of women in evolution. The desire to promote the theme of active women in evolution can lead to an equally misrepresentative view of male inactiveness. One way to alleviate this issue could have been to also integrate topics where both men and women had faced the same selection pressures throughout evolutionary history, thereby stressing the sameness of the sexes in these areas. Indeed, as the authors note, sex differences are one of the most contentious arenas for integration of the two fields. In stating this omission, we recognize more generally that the book far from comprehensive and acknowledge that the authors themselves grant this in the introduction. An important consideration about this book that it was intended for readers from both evolutionary psychology and women's studies backgrounds and therefore it seeks to combine theory from two fields rather than summarize it. Ultimately, the authors succeed in establishing a discussion on the integration of women's studies and

Evolutionary psychology is not the only productive evolutionary approach to understanding consumer behavior

I respond to Vladas Griskevicius and Douglas T. Kendrick (G&K) and Gad Saad's (S) defenses of the view that Consumer Studies would benefit from the appeal to evolution in all work aimed at understanding consumer behavior. I argue that G&K and S's reliance on one theoretical perspective, that of evolutionary psychology, limits their options. Further, I point out some specific problems with the theoretical perspective of evolutionary psychology. Finally, I introduce some alternative evolutionary approaches to studying human behavior that could profitably be adopted in consumer research.

Attractiveness of women’s body: body mass index, waist–hip ratio, and their relative importance

Body mass index and waist–hip ratio are related to human health and both play a role in mate choice. However, previous research is inconsistent as to what body mass index and waist–hip ratio values are preferred in women and what the relative importance of body mass index and waist–hip ratio for attractiveness is. Here, we made several methodological refinements to obtain reliable estimations. Participants (Poles) indicated the most attractive woman from a set of digitally manipulated high-quality silhouettes varying orthogonally in body mass index and waist–hip ratio and viewed from behind to exclude effects of the breast size. Then, each participant chose the more attractive silhouette from pairs in which one figure deviated from his/her ideal in body mass index and the other in waist–hip ratio. Both sexes preferred underweight women (body mass index = 17.3) with accentuated waist (waist–hip ratio = 0.66 for female and 0.70 for male judges). These represent preferences for unhealthy body mass and healthy body shape. Furthermore, body mass index proved twice as important for attractiveness as waist–hip ratio, even though literature data indicate that waist–hip ratio is at least as important for health as body mass index. We discuss the obtained pattern of preferences from the perspective of evolutionary psychology.

Exploring the Impact of Dysfunctional Posttraumatic Survival Responses on Crime Revictimization

This study investigated the association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and repeat victimization across crime types in survivors of traumatic interpersonal violence. An evolutionary psychological perspective was adopted to propose that symptoms of hyperarousal (particularly hypervigilance, exaggerated startle response, and irritability or outbursts of anger) and numbing predict revictimization. These symptoms may act as manifestations of dysfunctional survival responses. Survival responses are adaptive in life-threatening situations but may work counter-productive in the absence of immediate threat. Participants were recruited through the Dutch Victim Compensation Fund (DVCF; N = 233). PTSD symptomatology was assessed between October and December 2007. Revictimization was measured 6 months later. Results were partly in line with expectations. Exaggerated startle response and symptoms of irritability or outbursts of anger but not hypervigilance and numbing were related to revictimization.

The height leadership advantage in men and women: Testing evolutionary psychology predictions about the perceptions of tall leaders

Research suggests that tall individuals have an advantage over short individuals in terms of status, prestige, and leadership, though it is not clear why. Applying an evolutionary psychology perspective, we predicted that taller individuals are seen as more leader-like because they are perceived as more dominant, healthy, and intelligent. Being fit and physically imposing were arguably important leadership qualities in ancestral human environments—perhaps especially for males—where being a leader entailed considerable physical risks. In line with our expectations, our results demonstrate that by manipulating an individual’s stature height positively influences leadership perception for both men and women, though the effect is stronger for men. For male leaders this height leadership advantage is mediated by their perceived dominance, health, and intelligence; while for female leaders this effect is only mediated by perceived intelligence.

Understanding E-Learning System usage Behavior: An Evolutionary Psychology Perspective

E-learning has been used very widely to offer solutions in higher education in accordance with the demands of the knowledge-based society. This study aimed to generally explain e-learning systems usage behavior in any country and region. From an evolutionary psychology perspective, two important evolved psychological traits (i.e., least effort and social interaction) were explored for their impacts on students’ decision making towards e-learning systems. Based on these two psychological traits, a new theoretical framework was developed to propose two relationships linking e-learning system usage and both least effort and social interaction. Propositions were further interpreted with qualitative data collected by the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique within an e-learning context. Both propositions are supported with collect data from research participants.

Addressing Conceptual Confusions About Evolutionary Theorizing: How and Why Evolutionary Psychology and Feminism Do Not Oppose Each Other

This commentary is a rejoinder to the Buss and Schmitt (2011) and Eagly and Wood (2011) commentaries concerning how evolutionary psychology and feminism might fit together. This rejoinder provides one path toward uniting these perspectives in psychological literature by accomplishing three tasks. First, this rejoinder addresses and removes conceptual confusions offered by Buss and Schmitt (2011) concerning the philosophy of science and psychology research. Second, this rejoinder fits evolutionary psychology perspectives into a correctly understood philosophy of science for psychology. Third, enacting Eagly and Wood’s (2011) suggestions, this rejoinder connects evolutionary psychology and feminism by expanding Tate and Ledbetter’s (2010) stepwise model for understanding the simultaneous contributions of evolutionary and developmental factors to psychological phenomena. Thus, by removing conceptual roadblocks, this rejoinder provides a scaffold for fruitful discussions concerning the interplay of evolutionary psychology and feminist perspectives when characterizing gender differences and similarities.

Telling Tales at Work: An Evolutionary Psychological Explanation

This paper explores the adaptive functions of storytelling in the workplace from an evolutionary psychological perspective. Based on the analysis of ethnographic studies on hunter-gatherer and modern work organizations, this paper claims that storytelling, as an adapted cognitive device, was selectively retained by natural and sexual selection, due to its survival and reproductive payoff. The narrative production through storytelling is a natural coping mechanism and has been functional in both old and new ways of working life under different ecological conditions. This paper also discusses some evolutionarily-informed practical implications of storytelling in contemporary organizations.

Attachment Theory and the Evolutionary Psychology of Religion

More than 40 years after its inception, Bowlby's theory of infant-mother attachment remains widely accepted and highly influential across many areas and applications of psychology, including the psychology of religion. As compelling as the theory is for explaining phenomena within its natural domain, however, its explanatory scope is inherently limited: There are many aspects of religion that it cannot, and should not be expected to, explain. From the perspective of contemporary evolutionary psychology—with which Bowlby's original theory has much in common—the attachment system is one among many functionally domain-specific cognitive adaptations that populate our species' evolved psychological architecture. Evolutionary psychology offers a valuable perspective within which the attachment system can be seen properly as just one (important) piece of a much larger puzzle—of psychology in general and religion in particular—as well as a powerful and generative paradigm for identifying and fitting together the many other pieces that will be required if we are to progress toward a comprehensive psychology of religion.

Brain-immune interactions and the neural basis of disease-avoidant ingestive behaviour.

Neuro-immune interactions are widely manifested in animal physiology. Since immunity competes for energy with other physiological functions, it is subject to a circadian trade-off between other energy-demanding processes, such as neural activity, locomotion and thermoregulation. When immunity is challenged, this trade-off is tilted to an adaptive energy protecting and reallocation strategy that is identified as 'sickness behaviour'. We review diverse disease-avoidant behaviours in the context of ingestion, indicating that several adaptive advantages have been acquired by animals (including humans) during phylogenetic evolution and by ontogenetic experiences: (i) preventing waste of energy by reducing appetite and consequently foraging/hunting (illness anorexia), (ii) avoiding unnecessary danger by promoting safe environments (preventing disease encounter by olfactory cues and illness potentiation neophobia), (iii) help fighting against pathogenic threats (hyperthermia/somnolence), and (iv) by associative learning evading specific foods or environments signalling danger (conditioned taste avoidance/aversion) and/or at the same time preparing the body to counteract by anticipatory immune responses (conditioning immunomodulation). The neurobiology behind disease-avoidant ingestive behaviours is reviewed with special emphasis on the body energy balance (intake versus expenditure) and an evolutionary psychology perspective.

Hand attractiveness—its determinants and associations with facial attractiveness

Abstract Although attractiveness of the human hand seems to be of some importance in the social and mating context, it has attracted little scientific interest thus far. Here, we investigated physical determinants of hand attractiveness and its associations with facial appeal. Photographs of faces and the dorsal and ventral side of hands of young women and men were measured and assessed for attractiveness and several other features. Typicality and femininity of shape, perceived fattiness and skin healthiness, the appearance of nail vicinity, and grooming influenced hand attractiveness in men and women. Hand and facial attractiveness were correlated with each other for each sex. This relationship was mediated by shape typicality and fattiness in men and by grooming and, possibly, fattiness in women. Results are discussed from an evolutionary psychology perspective with special reference to biological signaling and mate selection.

Meta-Analyses of Sex Differences in Responses to Sexual Versus Emotional Infidelity

From 54 articles, 172 effect sizes were meta-analyzed to determine whether men and women are differentially distressed by emotional versus sexual infidelity. Predictions were derived and tested from an evolutionary psychology (EP) perspective, a social–cognitive perspective, and the double-shot perspective. The data were not consistent with the EP predictions because men tended to respond in the predicted manner in only the U.S. student samples, whereas the rest of the data were largely consistent with the social–cognitive theory. Specifically, both sexes tended to be more upset by emotional than sexual infidelity when forced to choose which type of infidelity was more distressing. Both sexes indicated that sexual infidelity was more distressing than emotional when asked to rate their level of distress separately for each using continuous measures. The lesbian and gay samples were mostly consistent with the double-shot hypothesis because they tended to respond based on stereotyping grounded in the sex of their partner, paralleling heterosexuals in this regard. Analysis of the scenarios designed to test the double-shot hypothesis found somewhat smaller effects when the possibility of both types of infidelity was ruled out. These findings suggest that professionals seeking to address problems associated with jealousy in romantic relationships would profit from avoiding sex-linked assumptions about which aspect of infidelity is likely to be more upsetting.

Theories of Homicide

It is my belief that the last decade has witnessed significant advances in both the quality of data sets available for the study of homicide and the analytic strategies for estimating model parameters in quantitative studies. It is still true that the Chicago Homicide Data Set provides the most detailed information on homicide offenders, victims, and incidents for any jurisdiction in the United States, but the enhanced coverage and increasing use of National Incident-Based Reporting System data from the FBI has expanded the range of possible inquiries by homicide researchers. Similarly, advances in linking data from law enforcement and medical sources, exemplified by the National Violent Death Reporting System, allow for checks on the quality of data from single sources and offer new avenues for more nuanced investigations of homicide. Improvements in data analysis are highlighted by the usage of GeoDa to model interdependencies between geographical units and the widespread adoption of Poisson-based regression models, particularly negative binomial regression, in homicide research. Perhaps my perspective is unduly pessimistic, but similar evolution in the area of homicide theories over the first decade of the current century is not as evident. Smith and Zahn’s classic Homicide: A Source Book of Social Research, published in 1999, included three chapters on theories of homicide that reviewed social structural, cultural and subcultural, and evolutionary psychological perspectives, respectively. In the handful of texts written for use in undergraduate courses on murder, brief discussions of no more than two or three pages are typically devoted to a potpourri of theories; some developed to explain crime in general, others focused more specifically on violence, and one or two that are focused only on homicide. Attempts at theory integration have also been sparse. Undoubtedly, a major reason for the relative lack of homicide theory development compared with the methodology for its empirical investigation is a lack of consensus over the scope of behaviors that these theories should attempt to explain. At the most basic level, a homicide involves the death of an individual through the actions of one

Effects of Menstrual Cycle Phase on Ratings of Implicitly Erotic Art

Women's perceptions of and responses to explicitly erotic stimuli have been shown to vary across the menstrual cycle. The present study examined responses to implicit eroticism. A total of 83 women provided reactions to paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe in 6 day intervals over the course of 1 month. Among freely cycling women (n = 37), 31% of their descriptions included sexual themes during the first half of their cycle, dropping to 9% of descriptions in the second half. In women using oral contraceptives (n = 46), there was no significant difference in descriptions across the cycle (13% in the first half vs. 17% in the second half). Results were discussed in terms of evolutionary psychology and social-cognitive perspectives on the relationships between hormonal fluctuations and sexuality.

Start-up and hiring practices of immigrant entrepreneurs: An empirical study from an evolutionary psychological perspective

Strong social ties embedded in ethnic communities of immigrant populations have been considered key assets for immigrant entrepreneurs. However, little research has been done on how biological kinship and the biological theories of altruism influence the behavior of ethnic entrepreneurs. In this study, we have applied a neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory of kinship to examine adaptive functions of kin and ethnic altruism in business start-up and hiring practices of Korean immigrant entrepreneurs in the United States. We confirmed that the patterns of help received by Korean entrepreneurs for business start-ups were congruent with an evolutionary perspective on altruism. However, the results for hiring patterns suggested that customer ethnicity trumped kin and co-ethic interests. We close by offering suggestions for future research.

Comportamento parental e o papel do pai no desenvolvimento infantil

Este artigo tem o objetivo de discutir o cuidado parental e o papel do pai no desenvolvimento infantil, a partir da perspectiva teórica da psicologia evolucionista. O cuidado parental foi abordado enfatizando-se seu caráter interacionista, com relação a seus aspectos biológicos e culturais. Além das especificidades do papel dos pais no comportamento parental, foram discutidas as características das crianças que influenciam neste cuidado. Na última seção do artigo foram focalizadas as características do cuidado paterno e sua influência no desenvolvimento infantil. Concluiu-se o cuidado parental tem especificidades em relação ao comportamento da mãe e do pai, que podem ser explicadas pelas perspectivas biológicas e culturais. Nesse sentido, para se compreender o comportamento parental é necessário considerar a história filogenética de espécie humana e também o contexto histórico e sociocultural onde a família está inserida.

Different Contents Different Inductive Inference: Under the Conditions of Embrace-Advantage and Resist-Disadvantage

Whether inductive inference is domain general or content-dependent remains elusive in the literature. Most previous studies are conducted using blank-content reasoning method, which sets the precondition that inductive inference must be independent from special contents and thus fails to distinguish aforementioned two approaches. Recent studies reveal that none of domain general models can explain all eleven forms of inductive inference and deductive inference is content-dependent, indicating that content might play an important role in regulating inductive inference. This view is also supported from an evolutionary psychology perspective. Inductive inferences could be a group of adaptations that are gained during the evolution process to address certain events critical to survival. In the current study, we aim to address this issue by using a novel paradigm to explore the role of content on inductive inference. Two tasks including embrace-advantage and resist-disadvantage are utilized because they are closely related to human survival and reproduction. Each task contains two forms of reasoning. Subjects are asked to either estimate the general possibility of embrace-advantage or resist-disadvantage, or express their own will of action in case of embrace-advantage or resist-disadvantage. Thus, a total of four kinds of reasoning tasks were conducted including reasoning in embrace-advantage, action-will in embrace-advantage, reasoning in resist-disadvantage and action-will in resist-disadvantage. A blank-content test serves as control for these reasoning tasks. The results demonstrate that embrace-advantage inference is markedly different from resist-disadvantage inference, indicating a potent content-dependent effect. Embrace-advantage shows under generalization whereas resist-disadvantage shows the trend of over generalization, and the embrace-advantage inference is under generalization. We reason that these two tasks are driven by two different psychological mechanisms. Embrace-advantage follows the strategy of sufficiency-necessity, as compared to the sole sufficiency strategy utilized by resist-disadvantage tasks. Such differences have fulfilled the constitutive standards of domain specificity and we conclude that inductive inference is based on domains. One innovating feature of the current study is the use of artificial concepts to build up the reasoning propositions. Because content is an important independent variable, artificial concepts can avoid the confounding effect of previous knowledge on subjects’ responses. The results indicate that it is an excellent method to control extraneous variable in reasoning research.