Sociobiological Perspective Research Articles

Dominance and prestige in romantic relationships: Actor and partner links to relationship quality

Dominance and prestige reflect different forms of power and can affect relationship outcomes. Whereas dominance is a conflict-oriented way of dealing with people and grabbing status, prestige is derived from respect and esteem that is granted by others due to superior skills and knowledge. In this research, we tested three partially competing perspectives on potential associations of dominance and prestige with relationship quality (RQ). Sociobiological perspectives suggest that both concepts ensure the provision of valuable resources, and thus predict that both dominance and prestige would be positively linked to RQ. From a sociocultural perspective, men are expected to be dominant and prestigious whereas being dominant (and perhaps being prestigious) would violate the feminine gender-role stereotype; thus, both variables should relate positively to RQ only for men. From a personality perspective, dominance is characterized by undesirable attributes, whereas prestige is characterized by more desirable attributes; as such, only prestige should be positively related to RQ. We conducted four studies with individuals in romantic relationships in three different countries (Germany, Israel, and the US; Ntotal = 2,010 participants). The participants completed measures of dominance-prestige (as general attributes, as relationship-specific attributes, or in comparison with their partner) and measures of RQ. Although not entirely consistent across studies, our results were most consistent with the personality-based perspective. Prestige seems to benefit a relationship for both actors and partners whereas dominance is detrimental to relationship happiness. Yet, as some results showed that the negative link between dominance and RQ was stronger for women than for men, and the positive link between prestige and RQ was weaker for women than for men; thus some weak support for the sociocultural perspective was also found.

Psychoanalytic and Sociobiological Factors in Attitudes toward Persons with Disabilities: Discussion Focused on Rehabilitation Counseling Profession

This study's goal was to examine, expand upon, and update a chapter that was first printed in a relatively small number of copies of the book titled Essays and Research on Disability1. Thomas was the sole author of the original chapter, which discussed how attitudes about disability develop from a psychoanalytic and sociobiological perspective. Kin, reciprocal, and induced altruism were the first three altruism principles in sociobiology that were covered in this study. Then, Karen Horney's neo-Freudian viewpoint (i.e., less emphasis on sex and focused more on the social environment and culture regarding personality development) and traditional Freudian theories (such as castration anxiety, loss of love, and loss of the object) were tied to sociobiology, and this relationship was further addressed in terms of the evolution of attitude toward handicap. Then, recommendations were offered across a broad range of rehabilitation counseling services and educational practices that might be improved by using these insights, both clinically and politically. Finally, the present study extends this discussion by addressing similar concerns in the areas of counseling service priorities, multicultural rehabilitation counseling, and identity politics.

Experiences of Student–Mothers during Distance Learning: A Sociobiological Perspective

Experiences of Student–Mothers during Distance Learning: A Sociobiological Perspective

The importance of community for species survival. A sociobiological perspective

The problem of the survival of human societies in the face of global crises raises the question: how did the communities of other living creatures deal with crises over hundreds of thousands of years? Analysis of crisis coping mechanisms by elephant communities; of whales and sparmaceta whales and siberian foxes - they are examples of common and important characteristics that developed in the process of evolution as a response to environmental conditions. The direction of changes in these characteristics is par excelance social and is directed at the common good. Thus, it has a pro-social character and glorifies altruism. Also in relation to human development from the sociobiological perspective - one can point to the same characteristics revealing their importance and role in the adaptation process. The example of the survival of homo sapiens and the extinction of homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthal man) are a spectacular example of this. Such characteristics as friendliness, altruism, solidarity, responsibility, concern for the common good, prosociality have become the guarantors of survival in opposition to aggression and selfishness. In the area of culture, it is expressed in the tendency to transfer the content and standards important for the survival of WE to the area of IAM awareness. The above-mentioned characteristics, which have an anti-authoritarian and pro-democratic dimension, thus become standards for the development of human civilizations. The persistence of the timeless values that the Decalogue brings, and thus sacrifice for others and "loving your neighbor as yourself", are an example of the importance of understanding community. The characteristics important for adaptation are somehow intuitively sensed and visible in the cultural tendencies of pro-social democratic societies, expressed in community tendencies. In this context, the importance of friendship is directly related to the length and quality of human health and life.

Partner preference and age: User's mating behavior in online dating

Objective: We test whether real online-user mating behavior corresponds with expectations from both the sociobiological and social perspectives and explore the age differentials that individuals opt for when searching for a mate and how this evolves relative to the user’s age and gender.
 Background: Age plays a vital role in partner choice. Previous studies have focused primarily on age differences between couples and their self-reported preferences for partners of a certain age. However, little is known about how age affects behavior in the online dating market.
 Method: We use behavioral data from a Czech online dating app, Pinkilin and analyze 197,519 invitations that users sent to each other in July 2017.
 Results: Men strongly prefer young women, and women prefer partners of their age or slightly older. At older ages, men’s preference for younger women widens, while women's preferences become more diverse. Homogamous tendencies are stronger among younger users and women.
 Conclusion: Overall, our results corroborate those of previous research on online dating, but we extend this research in terms of age differences in the Czech context.

Making Choices in Discourse: New Alternative Masculinities Opposing the “Warrior’s Rest”

Psychology research on men studies, attractiveness, and partner preferences has evolved from the influence of sociobiological perspectives to the role of interactions in shaping election toward sexual–affective relationships and desire toward different kinds of masculinities. However, there is a scientific gap in how language and communicative acts among women influence the kind of partner they feel attracted to and in the reproduction of relationship double standards, like the myth of the “warrior’s rest” where female attractiveness to “bad boys” is encouraged or supported. Some women imitate “the warrior” behavior of men by choosing dominant traditional masculinities (DTM) to have “fun” with and oppressed traditional masculinities (OTM) for “rest” after the “fun” with DTM—choosing an OTM for a stable relationship, but perhaps without passion, while also feeling attraction toward DTM, a response which perpetuates the chauvinist double standard that the feminist movement has condemned when men behave in this sexist way. Through conducting a qualitative study with communicative daily life stories, this article explores, on the one hand, how language and social interaction among women can lead to the reproduction of the DTM role by women and, on the other hand, also how new alternative masculinities (NAM) offer an alternative by explicitly rejecting, through the language of desire, to be the rest for the female warrior, the second fiddle to any woman. This has the potential to become a highly attractive alternative to DTM. Findings provide new knowledge through the analysis of communicative acts and masculinities evidencing the importance of language uses in the reproduction of the double standards in gender relations and to understand how and why these practices are maintained and which kind of language uses can contribute to preventing them. Implications for research and interventions on preventive socialization of gender violence are discussed.

HOBBES AS A SOCIOBIOLOGIST. RETHINKING THE STATE OF (HUMAN) NATURE

ABSTRACT In the following text we aim to present a proposal of interpretation of Hobbes's work from sociobiology viewpoint. Despite the fact it may strike some at first as an anachronism or straightforward wrong, reading the philosopher of Mamelsbury from a sociobiological perspective, can shed light on some particular aspects of his argument, particularly those referring to the construction of human nature and its influence on the modulation of the state of nature and on the justification of authority and political obligation. So, Hobbes proceeds as a sociobiologist since he offers us a tale about the emergence of morality from where it didn't exist before and moves from there to a specific understanding of political authority.

Aggression Theories Revisited: Lorenz?s Neoinstinctivism, Wilson?s Socio-Biology and Skinner?s Behavioral Theories

This article aims to revisit neo-instinctivism, socio-biological and behavioral theories account of human aggression. Humans apparently have a long history of violence. It is customary in many social psychology textbooks contain chapters on aggression. One of the explanations about the subject usually has a section on the “instinct theory of aggression” that usually associated to the ethologist Konrad Lorenz who aims to examine aggression with a class of biological explanations. Aggressive energy is an instinctual drive that enhance until it explodes. It may be released by external stimuli. Socio-biological perspective contributes a more complicated interactionist model for contemplating the origins of human aggression. Wilson’s ideas combine ethological studies with other biological factors to explain human aggression and war as a consequence of the interaction between the cultural environment and genes. In order to understand human aggression, there are the dichotomies between biology and environment, nature and nurture, or instincts and learning. It is interesting to point out that the radical behaviorists Skinner is as much an evolutionist as Konrad Lorenz both of whom believe the nature of the mechanisms designed by natural selection. The objective of this study is to describe different definitions and causes of aggression in humans. It is important to present different explanations of aggression ranging from neo-instinctivism, socio-biological, and behavioral analysis. In the first part of the paper, after the definition of aggression, it entails a close look to Lorenz’s neo-instintivism approach. The second part focuses on Wilson’s sociobiological idea of the aggression. The third section emphasizes Skinner’s behavioralism. The conclusion gives a summary of all perspectives.

English

Infants born preterm are at greater risk than infants born at term for mortality and a variety of health and developmental problems. Complications include acute respiratory, gastrointestinal, immunologic, central nervous system, hearing, and vision problems, as well as longer-term motor, cognitive, visual, hearing, behavioral, social-emotional, health, and growth problems. The birth of a preterm infant can also bring considerable emotional and economic costs to families and have implications for public-sector services, such as health insurance, educational, and other social support systems. The greatest risk of mortality and morbidity is for those infants born at the earliest gestational ages. However, those infants born nearer to term represent the greatest number of infants born preterm and also experience more complications than infants born at term. Preterm birth is a complex cluster of problems with a set of overlapping factors of influence. Its causes may include individual-level behavioral and psychosocial factors, neighborhood characteristics, environmental exposures, medical conditions, infertility treatments, biological factors and genetics. Many of these factors occur in combination, particularly in those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged or who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups. The empirical investigation was carried out to draw correlation between preterm birth and eventuality. This paper deals with various issues related to the premature deliveries from socio-biological perspectives.

The evolutionary roots of human hyper-cognition

While Professor Pagano’s general argument is attractive and may be valid, the Machiavellian intelligence hypothesis that he employs is extremely implausible from a sociobiological perspective. It posits the evolution of massive social inefficiencies in hominin societies over a long period during which there was doubtless severe competition among hominin groups for the same large animal scavenging/hunting niche. I propose an alternative to this part of Pagano’s argument that renders his overall theory more plausible. In this alternative, human hyper-cognition is a social good because it supplies powerful and flexible group leadership, which was likely a key element in the evolution of hominin hyper-cognition.

The Ecology of Stent Thrombosis: A View from a Sociobiological Perspective

The introduction of drug-eluting stents (DES) into clinical practice in 2003 ushered in a new era for the mechanical treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD). Along with advancements in antiplatelet therapy and the more widespread use of cholesterol and inflammation lowering statin drugs, the need for repeat percutaneous coronary interventions after an index procedure has been dramatically reduced at the expense of the relatively small but potentially deadly risk of stent thrombosis (ST). Risk factors for this highly morbid complication of DES implantation include technical procedural issues, certain comorbidites such as diabetes mellitus and renal failure, incomplete endothelialization, acquired incomplete apposition, lesion characteristics, and premature discontinuation of dual antiplatelet therapy.1–3 The latter risk factor represents a common cause of late ST in a majority of patients, a factor that is likely influenced by medical and social parameters such that the evaluation of the effect of sociodemographic characteristics on what is thought of as a classic biological event merits closer examination. Article see p 1085 In this issue of Circulation , Collins and colleagues report that black race independently predicted DES thrombosis despite similar compliance with clopidogrel therapy between black and nonblack patients, while accounting for socioeconomic status (SES) in their analyses.4 In their article, “Does Black Ethnicity Influence the Development of Stent Thrombosis in the Drug-Eluting Stent Era?,” the authors examined the determinants of stent thrombosis among patients undergoing DES implantation at a large volume single center. The study included 1594 black patients and 5642 nonblack patients. During a follow-up period of up to 3 years, 108 patients were identified with ST utilizing the Academic Research Consortium criteria. Multivariable analyses revealed that among patients who underwent percutaneous coronary interventions and DES implantation, early ST occurred at a rate of 0.83%, while late and very late ST were associated …

A contribution of sociobiological theory to the study of family

Darwin's logic of natural selection which gives a basis for all evolutionary explanations was taken as a heuristically fertile frame for the study of society and it's subgroups, kinship and family. Focus of this kind of approach to the study without exception includes biological-behavioral parameters, caused by a genetic view of the nature of human beings themselves. Precisely this kind of approach is a characteristic of newer evolutionary ideas which have changed understanding of the family and which can be best understood within a sociobiological framework of study. Sociobiological explanation offers two key principles for understanding of the biological dimension of the families - the principle of inclusive fitness and biological (reciprocal) altruism. Indicated principles have generated several theories which explain specific aspects of the family system. This is how theories of parental investment, cooperative breeding and the theory of conflict between a parent and a child emerged. In the broadest sense, paper discusses relevance of the sociobiological perspective of the study for the explanation of the indicated aspects of the human family system. .

Maltreated children's emotional availability with kin and non-kin foster mothers: A sociobiological perspective

Relationship differences between maltreated child–kin foster mother dyads and maltreated child–non-kin foster mother dyads were examined using Emotional Availability (EA) Scales. A sample of 106 maltreated children (2–8 years old), referred for mental health services, and their biological/kin ( n = 50) or non-kin ( n = 56) foster mothers were assessed for EA in semi-structured play sessions. After controlling for child's age, foster mother's age, foster mother's education, and placement duration, foster mother's status as kin or non-kin did not predict emotional availability between maltreated child and foster mother. Findings did not support the hypothesis of a sociobiological-based relationship advantage for kin foster placements. Limitations of the clinical sample of foster children and the lack of measurements for external support are discussed.

Muscle biochemistry and the ontogeny of flight capacity during behavioral development in the honey bee,Apis mellifera

A fundamental issue in physiology and behavior is underlie major behavioral shifts in organisms as they transitions are common in nature and include the age-related switch from nest/hive work to foraging in social insects such as honey bees (understanding the functional and genetic mechanisms that adopt new environments or life history tactics. Such). Because of their experimental Apis mellifera tractability, recently sequenced genome and well understood biology, honey bees are an ideal model system for integrating molecular, genetic, physiological and sociobiological perspectives to advance understanding of behavioral and life history transitions. When honey bees (Apis mellifera) transition from hive work to foraging, their flight muscles undergo changes Apis mellifera that allow these insects to attain the highest rates of flight muscle metabolism and power output ever recorded in the animal kingdom. Here, we review research to date showing that honey bee flight muscles undergo significant changes in biochemistry and gene expression and that these changes accompany a significant increase in the capacity to generate metabolic and aerodynamic power during flight. It is likely that changes in muscle gene expression, biochemistry, metabolism and functional capacity may be driven primarily by behavior as opposed to age, as is the case for changes in honey bee brains.

Personality Dimension to Cultism in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions: A Sociobiological Perspective

This paper sought to generate a better understanding of the dimension of sociobiology relevant to personality development. Specifically, the paper explored how sociobiology can be used to explain personality vis-a-vis cult membership. The paper addressed such questions as: Does nature alone account for personality? or is it nurture alone?; or a combination of the two? The paper reviewed relevant theories of personality, and examined the influence of nature and nurture on personality development and secret cult membership in Nigerian tertiary institutions. The paper concludes that an individual's personality is the product both of inherited traits and tendencies. Inherited genes influence behaviour, however, the environment (i.e the culture in which we are raised, our early conditioning, the norms among our family, friends, social groups, and other influences that we experience) is factor that exert pressures on our personality formation that may influence participation in cultic activities.

Why are men more likely to support group-based dominance than women? The mediating role of gender identification.

Arguing from a sociobiological perspective, Sidanius and Pratto (1999) have shown that the male/female difference in social dominance orientation (SDO) is largely invariant across cultural, situational and contextual boundaries. The main objective of this study was to test the validity of Social Dominance Theory (SDT) by contrasting it with a model derived from Social Identity Theory (SIT). More specifically, while SIT predicts that gender identification mediates the effect of gender on SDO, SDT predicts the reverse. According to SDT, the degree to which men and women endorse status legitimizing ideology should determine to what extent they identify with their gender group. Using structural equation modelling, the results provide strong support for the SIT model and no support for SDT predictions. Implications of these results for social dominance theory and its sociobiologically based invariance hypothesis are discussed.

A consideration of human xenophobia and ethnocentrism from a sociobiological perspective

The Evolution of Emotion, Urge and Behavior If intelligence sets us apart among organisms, then I think it is probable that natural selection acted to maximize the flexibility of our behavior. What would be more adaptive for a learning and thinking animal: genes selected for aggression, spite and xenophobia; or selection for learning rules that can generate aggression in appropriate circumstances and peacefulness in others.—Stephen Jay Gould, 1981

Normal and Pathological Altruism

The psychoanalytic literature on altruism is sparse, although much has been written on this topic from a sociobiological perspective. Freud (1917) first described the concept in "Libido Theory and Narcissism." In 1946 Anna Freud coined the term "altruistic surrender" to describe the psychodynamics of altruistic behavior in a group of inhibited individuals who were neurotically driven to do good for others. The usefulness and clinical applicability of this formulation, in conjunction with the frequent coexistence of masochism and altruism, encouraged psychoanalysts to regard all forms of altruism as having masochistic underpinnings. Since then, there has been a conflation of the two concepts in much of the analytic literature. This paper reexamines the psychoanalytic understanding of altruism and proposes an expansion of the concept to include a normal form. Five types of altruism are described: protoaltruism, generative altruism, conflicted altruism, pseudoaltruism, and psychotic altruism. Protoaltruism has biological roots and can be observed in animals. In humans, protoaltruism includes maternal and paternal nurturing and protectiveness. Generative altruism is the nonconflictual pleasure in fostering the success and/or welfare of another. Conflicted altruism is generative altruism that is drawn into conflict, but in which the pleasure and satisfaction of another (a proxy) is actually enjoyed. Pseudoaltruism originates in conflict and serves as a defensive cloak for underlying sadomasochism. Psychotic altruism is defined as the sometimes bizarre forms of caretaking behavior and associated self-denial seen in psychotic individuals, and often based on delusion. We consider Anna Freud's altruistic surrender to combine features of both conflict-laden altruism and pseudoaltruism. Two clinical illustrations are discussed.

Gender and self-reported sexual arousal in response to sexual stimuli: A meta-analytic review.

Social constructionist theories and sociobiological perspectives have led to increased interest in gender differences in sexual behavior. This study involved a meta-analysis of gender differences in sexual arousal in response to sexual stimuli. Forty-six studies in which participants were presented with a sexual stimulus depicting males and females and in which participants responded using a self-report measure of arousal were compiled, and 62 independent effect sizes were aggregated. An overall effect size of d = .31 showed a small to moderate-sized gender difference in sexual arousal with men reporting more arousal than women across all studies. There was significant variation in the effect sizes, though, which was only partially explained by variables coded from the studies. It was found that the gender difference was slightly larger for studies using pornographic vs. erotic stimuli, was larger for studies where participants were tested in a private setting or small group compared to a large group, and was much larger for college age participants compared to those who were older than college age. Generally, the pattern of results provided more support for predictions from social influence theories compared to sociobiological theory.

Freiwillige, gezielte Reproduktionsbeschränkung beim Menschen - ein Widerspruch zur modernen Evolutionsbiologie?

In western industrialized countries it is widespread to limit individual reproduction voluntarily and deliberately. This phenomenon of minimizing reproduction conflicts with the maximization of biological fitness, expected on the basis of sociobiology. Some positions and attitudes of demography and sociobiology that appear to be contradictive are critically discussed, and with several examples it is expounded that we are dealing with misunderstanding rather than inconsistencies in many cases. The majority of misunderstandings can be put down to an inadequate differentiation between proximate and ultimate levels of causation. However, proximate interpretations of the problem of minimizing reproduction from a sociobiological perspective are frequently unsatisfactory. Therefore, the demographic model of "competing pleasures of life" (Konkurrenz der Genüsse) was connected with evolutionary biology. Combining demographic and biological aspects reveals that human striving for material and non-material values (pleasures of life), originally was highly adaptive and fitness-enhancing as behaviors to acquire resources and secure social status. Not until a society offered a variety of behavioral and consumer alternatives and simultaneously sophisticated methods of contraception these behavioral patterns dissociated from their function of survival and became independent.