Social Selection Theory Research Articles

Global patterns of plumage color evolution in island-living passeriform birds

Island environments have the potential to change evolutionary trajectories of morphological traits in species relative to their mainland counterparts due to habitat and resource differences, or by reductions in the intensity of social or sexual selection. Latitude, island size, and isolation may further influence trait evolution through biases in colonization rates. We used a global dataset of passerine plumage color as a model group to identify selective pressures driving morphological evolution of island animals using phylogenetically-controlled analyses. We calculated chromaticity values from red and blue scores extracted from images of the majority of Passeriformes and tested these against the factors hypothesized to influence color evolution. In contrast to predictions based on sexual and social selection theory, we found consistent changes in island female color (lower red and higher blue chromaticity), but no change in males. Instead, island size and distance from mainland and other islands influenced color in both sexes, reinforcing the importance of island physiognomy in shaping evolutionary processes. Interactions between ecological factors and latitude also consistently influenced color for both sexes, supporting a latitudinal gradient hypothesis. Finally, patterns of color evolution varied among families, indicating taxon-specific microevolutionary processes in driving color evolution. Our results show island residency influences color evolution differently between sexes, but the patterns in both sexes are tempered by ecological, island characteristics, and phylogenetic effects that further vary in their importance among families. The key role of environmental factors in shaping bird plumage on islands further suggests a reduced importance of sexual and social factors in driving color evolution.

Intraspecific variation and directional casque asymmetry in adult southern cassowaries (Casuarius casuarius).

The cranial casques of modern cassowaries (Casuarius) have long intrigued researchers; however, in‐depth studies regarding their morphological variation are scarce. Through visual inspection, it has been recognized that casque variability exists between conspecifics. Understanding casque variation has both evolutionary and ecological importance. Although hypothesized to be targeted by selection, intraspecific casque variation has not been quantified previously. Through a large sample of C. casuarius (n = 103), we compared casque shape (lateral and rostral views) between sexes and between individuals from non‐overlapping geographical regions using two‐dimensional (2D) geometric morphometrics. We found no statistically significant differences between the casque shape of females and males and few substantial shape differences between individuals from different geographic areas. Much of the intraspecific variation within C. casuarius is due to casque asymmetries (77.5% rightward deviating, 20.7% leftward deviating, and 1.8% non‐deviating from the midline; n = 111), which explain the high variability of southern cassowary casque shape, particularly from the rostral aspect. Finally, we discuss how our non‐significant findings implicate social selection theory, and we identify the benefits of quantifying such variation for further elucidating casque function(s) and the social biology of cassowaries.

Social groups with diverse personalities mitigate physiological stress in a songbird.

Social groups often consist of diverse phenotypes, including personality types, and this diversity is known to affect the functioning of the group as a whole. Social selection theory proposes that group composition (i.e. social environment) also influences the performance of individual group members. However, the effect of group behavioural composition on group members remains largely unexplored, and it is still contentious whether individuals benefit more in a social environment with homogeneous or diverse behavioural composition. We experimentally formed groups of house sparrows Passer domesticus with high and low diversity of personality (exploratory behaviour), and found that their physiological state (body condition, physiological stress and oxidative damage) improved with increasing group-level diversity of personality. These findings demonstrate that group personality composition affects the condition of group members and individuals benefit from social heterosis (i.e. associating with a diverse set of behavioural types). This aspect of the social life can play a key role in affiliation rules of social animals and might explain the evolutionary coexistence of different personalities in nature.

Social selection in historical time: The case of tuberculosis in South Korea after the East Asian financial crisis.

The perspectives of social selection and causation have long been debated. Social selection theory is as “social” as social causation theory, since all diseases are social and no biological process occurs outside society. To identify the social selection pathway and historical juncture affected by socioeconomic and political changes, we investigated the reciprocal impact of suffering from tuberculosis (TB) on the current socioeconomic position (SEP), stratified by childhood SEP. We also examined the extent to which the social consequences of ill health changed since the East Asian economic downturn. Data were collected for 2007–2012 from the Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey. To identify associations between TB history and current household income (HHI), we constructed an ordinal logistic regression model adjusted for covariates, including age, gender, educational attainment, and job status. We adopted a recursive regression model to examine trend changes in this association from 1980–2012 to 2003–2012. Of 28,136 participants, 936 had experienced TB. In the first ordinal logistic regression, the TB group was more likely to have lower HHI than the non-TB group. The odds ratios (ORs) increased from 1.30 (1980–2012) to 1.86 (2003–2012) for the TB group, increasing their probability of having low HHI. Among the low childhood SEP group, the TB group’s probability of having low HHI was 1.35 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.16–1.57) during 1980–2012, which increased to 2.01 (95% CI: 1.37–2.95) during 2003–2012. For the high childhood SEP group, the TB group’s OR range fluctuated, similar to that for the non-TB group. The results support the social selection pathway from TB history to adverse impact on current SEP. Our study identified downward social mobility due to TB history among the low childhood SEP group. Moreover, negative social consequences deteriorated since the East Asian economic crisis.

Neuroliberalismo: la confrontación como mecanismo de selección social

This article resorts to the alternative nomenclature of ‘neuroliberalism’ to explicitly state how the hegemonical discourse of market produces an ideological fantasy which, supported by a ‘gladiatorial ethics’, redefines classical concepts of liberalism. In the first part, we shall focus on the description of neuroliberalism as theory of social selection. In the second part, we aim to specify its operativity as apparatuses of indoctrination applies to individuals vulnerable to possibility conditions beyond their control. Thus, the neoliberal globalization is cheerfully applied through the consent of individuals who are repressed by a pre-adapted satisfaction to the paradigm of the struggle for existence.

Grief Functions as an Honest Indicator of Commitment

Grief is a puzzling phenomenon. It is often costly and prolonged, potentially increasing mortality rates, drug abuse, withdrawal from social life, and susceptibility to illness. These costs cannot be repaid by the deceased and therefore might appear wasted. In the following article, we propose a possible solution. Using the principles of social selection theory, we argue that an important selective pressure behind the human grief response was the social decisions of other humans. We combine this with insights from signaling theory, noting that grief shares many properties with other hard-to-fake social signals. We therefore contend that grief was shaped by selective forces to function as a hard-to-fake signal of (a) a person’s propensity to form strong, non-utilitarian bonds and (b) a person’s current level of commitment to a group or cause. This theory explains many of the costly symptoms of grief and provides a progressive framework for future research.

Słowo w ewolucji. Kłamstwa, seks, plotki i… znajomi na Facebooku

The essay shows the main conceptions upon a biological power of a word: the macchiavellian theory/ theory of a lie, the mating mind theory, that means a theory of handicaps, and the social selection theory of S. Dunbar. The author proposes a thesis that a speech takes its power from the biological determinants of the origin of a language, and proves it by fusing various contemporary biological concepts. It is a biological evolution that founds the power of words, and also explains the magic of words in the various types of relations – among society, but also between sexes, generations and finally, among individuals considered in a biological sense.

The evolution of female ornaments and weaponry: social selection, sexual selection and ecological competition.

Ornaments, weapons and aggressive behaviours may evolve in female animals by mate choice and intrasexual competition for mating opportunities-the standard forms of sexual selection in males. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that selection tends to operate in different ways in males and females, with female traits more often mediating competition for ecological resources, rather than mate acquisition. Two main solutions have been proposed to accommodate this disparity. One is to expand the concept of sexual selection to include all mechanisms related to fecundity; another is to adopt an alternative conceptual framework-the theory of social selection-in which sexual selection is one component of a more general form of selection resulting from all social interactions. In this study, we summarize the history of the debate about female ornaments and weapons, and discuss potential resolutions. We review the components of fitness driving ornamentation in a wide range of systems, and show that selection often falls outside the limits of traditional sexual selection theory, particularly in females. We conclude that the evolution of these traits in both sexes is best understood within the unifying framework of social selection.

Sexual selection is a form of social selection

Social selection influences the evolution of weapons, ornaments and behaviour in both males and females. Thus, social interactions in both sexual and non-sexual contexts can have a powerful influence on the evolution of traits that would otherwise appear to be detrimental to survival. Although clearly outlined by West-Eberhard in the early 1980s, the idea that social selection is a comprehensive framework for the study of ornaments and weapons has largely been ignored. In West-Eberhard's view, sexual selection is a form of social selection-a concept supported by several lines of evidence. Darwin's distinction between natural and sexual selection has been useful, but recent confusion about the limits of sexual selection suggests that some traits are not easily categorized as naturally or sexually selected. Because social selection theory has much to offer the current debates about both sexual selection and reproductive competition in females, it is sometimes viewed, narrowly, to be most useful when considering female roles. However, social selection theory encompasses much more than female reproductive competition. Our goal here was to provide that broader perspective.

God, Science, Sex, Gender: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Christian Ethics (review)

Reviewed by: God, Science, Sex, Gender: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Christian Ethics Margaret Robinson P.B. Jung and A.M. Vigen , eds. God, Science, Sex, Gender: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Christian Ethics. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2010. Pp. 296. Paper, US$30.00. ISBN 978-0-252-07724-1. The essays in this collection respond to recent social developments such as legally recognized same-sex marriage, passing of hate crime legislation, increasing visibility of inter-sex, transgendered, and transsexual people, and the ordination of out gays and lesbians. The aim of the book is to urge Christian ethicists to use interdisciplinary scholarship as a foundation for Christian ethics, and the essays themselves demonstrate its success. Several authors show their familiarity with the other writings in the collection and respond to them in their own work, creating a sense that the reader is witnessing a dialogue. God, Science, Sex, Gender contains fifteen essays, an introduction, and a conclusion, and is organized into three parts. The first section, “Establishing Base Points for [End Page 128] Dialogue,” sets science and religion in historical context with essays on power dynamics in the Catholic Church and the field of science. In “Medieval Attitudes toward Philosophia Naturalis in Relation to Scientia Moralis,” Francis J. Catania proposes the methodology of Albert Magnus and Thomas Aquinas as a model for present-day ethical dialogue. We could learn much, he argues, from their interdisciplinary investigation and from the tentative nature of their conclusions. He uses homosexuality as a test case and relates this approach to the essays in this same volume by Joan Roughgarden and Stephen J. Pope. The second section, “Reflecting on Human and Sexual Diversity,” brings in dialogue partners from science and the humanities. The biological chapters do a good job of framing current research on the animal kingdom and of establishing the relevance of such work for theology. While Joan Roughgarden points out that science’s search for truth is sometimes tainted by bias, and Aana Marie Vigen notes that the findings of science must be rigorously tested, for the most part the essays share an optimism about the benefits that would accrue to moral theology by better incorporating scientific knowledge. The star of the collection is Joan Roughgarden’s essay, “Evolutionary Biology and Sexual Diversity.” Roughgarden critiques Charles Darwin’s theory of sexual selection and notes the reluctance of scientists to question his hypothesis. Roughgarden offers a theory of social selection, which favours practices and social bonds that are not directly reproductive (such as homosexuality) but do enhance reproduction and survival. Her work breaks new ground in offering concrete moral deductions from the scientific data, and several writers respond to her work in their own essays. In Part 3, “Sexual Diversity and Christian Moral Theology,” the authors attempt to demonstrate how Christian ethicists might incorporate science into their work on specific moral issues. Stephen J. Pope’s article, “Social Selection and Sexual Diversity: Implications for Christian Ethics,” places Roughgarden’s social selection theory in dialogue with the sexual ethics of Pope John Paul II and Catholic feminist Margaret Farley. This article is significant in that Pope takes a step beyond dialogue, to propose concrete changes in Catholic theology and practice. This collection is at its best when it offers scientifically grounded arguments on specific moral issues, and Pope’s contribution is a good example. Patricia Beattie Jung and Joan Roughgarden’s “Gender in Heaven: The Story of the Ethiopian Eunuch In Light of Evolutionary Biology” is a solid piece of biblical exegesis done in light of historical critical research on eunuchs and current scientific research on intersex people. This article stands out as an example of how the theory behind this collection might function on concrete issues of sex and gender. In the Conclusion, “Descriptive and Normative Ways of Understanding Human Nature,” Vigen argues that Christian ethics must place greater value on human experience in its task of forming normative claims about sexuality and gender. Because we are an embodied creation, experience is not simply one theological resource among others, but is the lens through which we understand all other sources of knowledge. Individual scholars, Vigen argues, cannot wait for the use of...

Depression and Poverty Among Rural Women: A Relationship of Social Causation or Social Selection?

Depression among rural women is a major public health concern. The purpose of this study was to test the competing theories of social causation and social selection to assess the relationship between depression and economic status for a sample of rural, low-income women in the United States. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze data from Rural Families Speak, a US Department of Agriculture-funded multi-state, longitudinal study of rural low-income families (N = 413). Results indicated that the social causation theory yielded a better approximation of the relationship between economic status and depression (RMSEA = 0.50 for a model based on this theory) than the social selection theory (RMSEA = 0.067). The association between lesser economic status and depressive symptoms is pressing in rural areas, given the high prevalence of both depression and poverty. These findings further emphasize the need for improved mental health services in this vulnerable population.

SOCIAL SELECTION AND GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION IN TWO MONARCH FLYCATCHERS FROM THE SOLOMON ISLANDS

Abstract We tested the potential for social selection to act as a mechanism driving rapid plumage divergence in two sympatric monarch flycatchers, the White-capped Monarch (Monarcha richardsii) and the Kolombangara Monarch (M. browni), endemic to a single island group in the Solomon Archipelago. Solomon Island monarchs are famous for dramatic patterns of morphological divergence across very narrow water gaps, little parallel ecological variation, and minimal genetic differentiation among sister taxa inhabiting adjacent island groups. Social selection theory predicts that plumage traits evolved in allopatry may transmit important social information and that responses of dimorphic and monomorphic taxa to territorial intrusions will differ. For the dimorphic M. richardsii, we presented mounted specimens of subadult or female—and adult male—plumaged individuals to territorial birds and quantified their responses to these simulated intrusions. Territorial male M. richardsii generally responded alone, reacting ...

Social epidemiology: Definition, history, and research examples

Social epidemiology is a branch of epidemiology that focuses particularly on the effects of social-structural factors on states of health. Social epidemiology assumes that the distribution of advantages and disadvantages in a society reflects the distribution of health and disease. It proposes to identify societal characteristics that affect the pattern of disease and health distribution in a society and to understand its mechanisms. The central and initial question of social epidemiology to be answered is what effect do social factors have on individual and population health. However, the new focus on this theme using current epidemiological methods is a relatively recent phenomenon. There are several significant concepts in the field of social epidemiology: 1) the bio-psychosocial paradigm, 2) the population perspective, 3) use of new statistical approaches such as multilevel analysis, and 4) significance of theory.The relationship between social class and health has been a major research field since the beginning of public health history. Many studies have identified the disparities in health among social classes and developed several theories, such as social selection theory and socio-biological translation theory. However, despite the long history of this research field, the effect of social class on health is not yet fully understood.Income distribution and health is a relatively new field within social epidemiology. Three possible mechanisms for the consequences of income distribution on health are 1) disinvestment of human capital, 2) disinvestment of social capital, and 3) psychological process. Refining theories of income distribution is a major challenge in research on income distribution.

An Empirical Test of Crisis, Social Selection, and Role Explanations of the Relationship Between Marital Disruption and Psychological Distress: A Pooled Time‐Series Analysis of Four‐Wave Panel Data

Although a higher level of psychological distress has been found in many studies of divorced compared with married individuals, explanations for this difference remain elusive. Three basic theoretical explanations have been proposed. Social role theory maintains that the role of being divorced is inherently more stressful than that of being married; crisis theory attributes the higher stress to role transitions and transient stressors of the disruption process, and social selection theory claims that the higher stress levels among the divorced result from the selection of people with poor mental health into divorce. Some empirical support is available for each of these approaches, but all three have not been tested simultaneously in a longitudinal study. This research empirically evaluates the efficacy of these theories in a pooled time‐series analysis of a four‐wave panel of married persons followed over 12 years. The pooled‐time series random effects model was used to estimate the effects of social roles, crisis, and social selection. The results provide evidence that the higher stress levels of the divorced primarily reflect the effect of social role with selection and crisis effects making small contributions only.

A longitudinal investigation of social causation and social selection processes involved in the association between socioeconomic status and psychiatric disorders.

Social causation theory and social selection theory have been put forth to explain the finding that low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with risk for psychiatric disorders. The predictions of both theories were investigated using data from a community-based longitudinal study. Psychosocial interviews were administered to 736 families from 2 counties in New York State in 1975, 1983, 1985-1986, and 1991-1993. Results indicated that (a) low family SES was associated with risk for offspring anxiety, depressive, disruptive, and personality disorders after offspring IQ and parental psychopathology were controlled, and (b) offspring disruptive and substance use disorders were associated with risk for poor educational attainment after offspring IQ and parental psychopathology were controlled. These findings indicate that social causation and social selection processes vary in importance among different categories of psychiatric disorders.

Explaining Union Density in Twentieth-Century Britain

The statistics of union density in Britain are throughly documented and there is little disagreement about the overall pattern across British industry between the turn of the century and the present day. However, discussion of their significance has largely been dominated by the two apparently incompatible approaches of the `Marxian' and `Industrial Relations' schools. In this article, it is argued that an interpretation derived from the theory of social selection can reconcile what is valid in these two approaches and thereby suggest a more satisfactory explanation than either of the reported pattern of variation, both over time and across different sectors of the economy. In conclusion, some wider implications are discussed which bear on recent debates over the class position of white-collar employees.