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Joseph Salvatore et al.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research typically reveals that outgroups are regarded with disinterest at best and hatred and enmity at worst. Working from an evolutionary framework, we identify a unique pattern of outgroup attraction. The small-group lifestyle of pre-human ancestors plausibly limited access to genetically diverse mates. Ancestral females may have solved the inbreeding dilemma while balancing parental investment pressures by mating with outgroup males either via converting to an outgroup or cuckolding the ingroup. A vestige of those mating strategies might manifest in human women as a cyclic pattern of attraction across the menstrual cycle, such that attraction to outgroup men increases as fertility increases across the cycle. Two studies, one using a longitudinal method and the other an experimental method, evidenced the hypothesized linear relationship between attraction to outgroup men and fertility in naturally cycling women.
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Sara Vasilenko
Developmental Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research has demonstrated associations between adolescent sexual behavior and depressive symptoms, but no single study has examined individuals at different ages throughout adolescence and young adulthood in order to determine at what ages sexual behavior may be associated with higher or lower levels of depressive symptoms. Using nationally representative longitudinal data and an innovative method, the time-varying effect model (TVEM), which examines how the strength of an association changes over time, this study examines how nonmarital sexual intercourse is associated with depressive symptoms at different ages, which behaviors and contexts may contribute to these associations, and whether associations differ for male and female participants. Findings indicate that sexual behavior in adolescence is associated with a higher level of depressive symptoms, particularly for female adolescents, and this association is relatively consistent across different partner types and adolescent contexts. Associations between sexual behavior and depressive symptoms in young adulthood are more dependent on partner factors and adolescent contexts; sexual behavior in young adulthood is associated with fewer depressive symptoms for women who have sex with a single partner and for men whose parents did not strongly disapprove of adolescent sexual behavior. Findings suggest that delaying sexual behavior into young adulthood may have some benefits for mental health, although contextual and relationship factors also play a role.
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Alexander Hill et al.
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Fluctuating asymmetry (FA), deviation from perfect bilateral symmetry, is thought to reflect an organism's relative inability to maintain stable morphological development in the face of environmental and genetic stressors. Previous research has documented negative relationships between FA and attractiveness judgments in humans, but scant research has explored relationships between the human voice and this putative marker of genetic quality in either sex. Only one study (and in women only) has explored relationships between vocal attractiveness and asymmetry of the face, a feature-rich trait space central in prior work on human genetic quality and mate choice. We therefore examined this relationship in three studies comprising 231 men and 240 women from two Western samples as well as Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania. Voice recordings were collected and rated for attractiveness, and FA was computed from two-dimensional facial images as well as, for a subset of men, three-dimensional facial scans. Through meta-analysis of our results and those of prior studies, we found a negative association between FA and vocal attractiveness that was highly robust and statistically significant whether we included effect sizes from previously published work, or only those from the present research, and regardless of the inclusion of any individual sample or method of assessing FA (e.g., facial or limb FA). Weighted mean correlations between FA and vocal attractiveness across studies were −.23 for men and −.29 for women. This research thus offers strong support for the hypothesis that voices provide cues to genetic quality in humans.
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The Effects of Gender and Cost on Suspicion in Initial Courtship Communications
Mandy Walsh, Murray Millar & Shane Westfall
Evolutionary Psychological Science, December 2016, Pages 262–267
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of gender on suspicion towards claims made during courtship communications. It was hypothesized that participants would be more suspicious of claims made about reproductive relevant traits. To test the hypothesis, participants read a total of eight scenarios describing traits relevant to female reproduction (wealth, commitment, and child interest), traits relevant to male reproduction (physical beauty, youth, and sexual availability), and traits neutral to both genders (stargazing and game playing). After each scenario, participants indicated their suspiciousness about the veracity of the communication on five scales. As predicted, both men and women believed the neutral claim scenarios more than claims about reproductively significant traits. Women compared to men were more suspicious of claims related to wealth, commitment, and child interest, while men compared to women were more suspicious of claims related to physical beauty, youth, and sexual availability.
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Is He a Hero or a Weirdo? How Norm Violations Influence the Halo Effect
Jeremy Gibson & Jonathan Gore
Gender Issues, December 2016, Pages 299–310
Abstract:
First impressions are often influenced by the context in which we experience them. Many factors, such as behavior, appearance, and our own personal attitudes can affect the way that these perceptions are constructed. The present experiment sought to examine the effect of positive norm violation on females’ perceptions of male facial attractiveness. Two male faces (attractive and unattractive) with similar features were partnered with two scenarios of positive norm violation (low intensity and high intensity) while being rated on personality characteristics. Two separate halo effects were hypothesized in the experiment: attractiveness and high violation. An interaction effect in the form of a magnified halo was also predicted. Participants were 178 female college students. Results showed favorable ratings for the attractive male face and the low violation condition, with the attractive, low violation condition receiving the most positive results. Data supported a significant effect for positive norm violation, but not for male facial attractiveness. A significant interaction effect between the two variables was also observed.
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Michal Kandrik et al.
Hormones and Behavior, January 2017, Pages 57–61
Abstract:
Behaviors that minimize exposure to sources of pathogens can carry opportunity costs. Consequently, how individuals resolve the trade off between the benefits and costs of behavioral immune responses should be sensitive to the extent to which they are vulnerable to infectious diseases. However, although it is a strong prediction of this functional flexibility principle, there is little compelling evidence that individuals with stronger physiological immune responses show weaker behavioral immune responses. Here we show that men with the combination of high testosterone and low cortisol levels, a hormonal profile recently found to be associated with particularly strong physiological immune responses, show weaker preferences for color cues associated with carotenoid pigmentation. Since carotenoid cues are thought to index vulnerability to infectious illnesses, our results are consistent with the functional flexibility principle's prediction that individuals with stronger physiological immune responses show weaker behavioral immune responses.