Evolutionary Psychology

Kruger, Daniel J.; Nesse, Randolph M.

2004 Evolutionary Psychology

doi: 10.1177/147470490400200112

This paper extends the evolutionary understanding of sex differences in mortality rates by quantifying and graphically examining the overall Male to Female Mortality Ratio (M:F MR) for 11 specific leading causes of death across age groups in the USA, over the course of the lifespan in 20 different countries, and across the past 70 years in 5 countries. The resulting quantitative descriptions of rates, trends, and the relative contributions of various proximate causes of death to the M:F MR provide an initial exploration of the risks associated with being male. This analysis also illustrates how sex differences shaped by sexual selection interact in complex ways with multiple aspects of culture and environment to yield a pattern that has some consistency across decades and societies, but also has variations arising from differences among cohorts and cultures. The results confirmed our expectations of higher mortality rates for men than for women, especially in early adulthood, where three men died for every woman who died. For external causes the ratios were even higher. Historical mortality data reflect an epidemiological transition in which discrepancies between male and female mortality rates increase as general mortality rates fall. Cross-national variation in the modern M:F MR further suggests a universal pattern that is influenced by cultural and environmental context. Being male is now the single largest demographic risk factor for early mortality in developed countries.

Cunningham, Sean J.

2004 Evolutionary Psychology

doi: 10.1177/147470490400200124

Roberts, Mark S.

2004 Evolutionary Psychology

doi: 10.1177/147470490400200111

Jr., Gordon G. Gallup,; Burch, Rebecca L.

2004 Evolutionary Psychology

doi: 10.1177/147470490400200105

We examine some of the implications of the possibility that the human penis may have evolved to compete with sperm from other males by displacing rival semen from the cervical end of the vagina prior to ejaculation. The semen displacement hypothesis integrates considerable information about genital morphology and human reproductive behavior, and can be used to generate a number of interesting predictions.

Wrangham, Richard

2004 Evolutionary Psychology

doi: 10.1177/147470490400200102

Barash, David P.

2004 Evolutionary Psychology

doi: 10.1177/147470490400200122

Barash, David P.

2004 Evolutionary Psychology

doi: 10.1177/147470490400200103

Wasser, Samuel

2004 Evolutionary Psychology

doi: 10.1177/147470490400200110

Ruse, Michael; Werkmeister, Lucyle T.

2004 Evolutionary Psychology

doi: 10.1177/147470490400200114

Goetze, David B.; James, Patrick

2004 Evolutionary Psychology

doi: 10.1177/147470490400200120

In a recent series of articles, Hislope (1998, 2000) and Harvey (2000a, 2000b) have raised questions about the usefulness of “evolutionary theory” especially for any purpose other than identifying “distal” causes of ethnic phenomena. This article responds to those views and argues that evolutionary psychology shows great promise in contributing to the explanation of contemporary ethnic identities and ethnic conflict. The authors argue that an evolutionary psychology approach embraces research conducted through conventional social science approaches, helps to complete explanations of the proximate causes of ethnic conflict, and can recast thought and encourage new areas of research about important issues in the ethnic conflict field. Illustrations are provided in support of each of these points. Some of these arguments have been heard before with respect to the general role of evolutionary theory in explaining social phenomena but they are arguments we think bear repeating and illustrating in the context of the study of ethnic phenomena. Before examining the ways that evolutionary psychology can contribute to social science explanation of ethnic phenomena, we summarize the general evolutionary psychology approach to the study of social behavior.