Evolutionary Psychology

Górniak, Jeremiasz; Zajenkowski, Marcin; Szymaniak, Kinga; Jonason, Peter K.

2024 Evolutionary Psychology

doi: 10.1177/14747049241275706pmid: 39228190

We were interested in how people in a romantic relationship would perceive the intelligence of their partners who have high or low trait anger. Specifically, we referred to the tension between compassion (low anger) and competence (high intelligence) in mate choice. Some evolutionary theories suggest that mating might be considered a bargaining process between these two higher-order attributes. Our study involved 148 heterosexual couples in romantic relationships. We measured the relationship between relationship satisfaction, trait anger, objective intelligence, self-assessed intelligence, and subjectively assessed partners' intelligence. We found that angrier men were less satisfied in their romantic relationship than those men who were less angry, and their partners were also less satisfied in the relationship. Additionally, women perceived angrier men as less intelligent, an effect that remained after controlling for men's objective intelligence. Lastly, we found that women's perception of their partner's intelligence mediated the link between men's anger and relationship satisfaction for both sexes. Our findings suggest that both anger and intelligence play important roles in romantic relationship functioning, consistent with evolutionary theories that emphasize the value of competence (i.e., intelligence) and compassion (i.e., low anger) in romantic partners. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance of women's perception of their partner's intelligence in determining the quality of the relationship.

Temrin, Hans

2024 Evolutionary Psychology

doi: 10.1177/14747049241265623pmid: 39193729

An overrepresentation of stepchildren as victims of filicide has been explained as a consequence of ‘discriminative parental solicitude’. The idea being that Darwinian selection has favoured parental love and concern only for biological children, and when such parental feelings are absent, as in stepparents, conflicts with a child could easier escalate to lethal violence. An alternative explanation for this overrepresentation of stepchildren is that risk factors for filicide, such as criminal behaviour and mental health problems, are more prevalent in stepparents. This study focused on paternal filicide in Sweden and investigated (i) if stepchildren are overrepresented as victims of filicide compared with biological children, (ii) if filicides are committed in a context that implies a ‘conflict with the child victim’ and (iii) if stepfathers and biological fathers differ in characteristics associated with filicide risk. The analyses showed that stepchildren were overrepresented as victims compared with children of fathers in families with two biological parents and this overrepresentation was even higher in young children. Children of single biological fathers and children of non-residential biological fathers were also overrepresented as victims of filicide. Less than 20 percent of the filicides were committed in the context of a ‘conflict with the child’ and in these cases only stepchildren were overrepresented as victims. In the population at large, both stepfathers and single biological fathers had higher rates of mental health problems, violent criminality and illegal possession of drugs compared with fathers in families with two biological parents.

Goździk, Malwina; Żelaźniewicz, Agnieszka; Nowak-Kornicka, Judyta; Pawłowska-Seredyńska, Katarzyna; Umławska, Wioleta; Pawłowski, Bogusław

2024 Evolutionary Psychology

doi: 10.1177/14747049241259187pmid: 39238450

Morphological femininity depends mainly on estrogen levels at puberty and is perceived as a cue of a woman's biological condition. Due to the immunostimulant properties of estradiol, estradiol-dependent feminine traits are expected to be positively related to immunity. However, heightened immunity in women may increase the risk of autoimmune disease, thus the relationship between femininity and immune quality may be complex. This study aimed to assess the relationship between morphological femininity and both the occurrence and severity of Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT) in women of reproductive age. Moreover, 95 women with HT and 84 without HT (all between 20 and 37 years) participated in the study. Morphological femininity was assessed based on somatic measurements of sexually dimorphic traits (2D:4D ratio, WHR, breast size, facial sexual dimorphism). The occurrence and severity of HT were assessed by serum TPOAb levels. The results showed that only the 2D:4D ratio of the right hand was higher in the HT group, indicating higher femininity in these women. However, there was also a positive relationship between facial femininity and TPOAb level in women with HT, indicating a higher severity of the disease. The results suggest that prenatal and pubertal exposure to estrogens may increase the probability or severity of autoimmune diseases in adulthood, but the relationship is tentative.

Joyner-Carpanini, Bridget; Beaver, Kevin M.

2024 Evolutionary Psychology

doi: 10.1177/14747049241267950pmid: 39140349

Until relatively recently, the study of victimization has been largely outside the purview of behavioral geneticists and evolutionary psychologists. Recent victimology research, however, has shown that genetic and evolutionary forces are connected to the risk of victimization. The current study expands on these findings by examining whether genetic influences differentially explain victimization in males and females. To do so, we use a sample of sibling pairs drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health; N = 4,244). The analyses revealed no significant quantitative sex differences in the etiology of adult victimization. However, the results of this study do highlight the importance of accounting for genetic factors when studying the etiology of specific types of adult victimization. We conclude by discussing the implications of the current study for future research.

Arnocky, Steven; Kubinec, Kayla; MacKinnon, Megan; Mazmanian, Dwight

2024 Evolutionary Psychology

doi: 10.1177/14747049241267226pmid: 39197858

Jealousy may have evolved to motivate adaptive compensatory behavior in response to threats to a valued relationship. This suggests that jealousy follows a temporal sequence: A perceived relational threat induces state feelings of jealousy which in turn motivates compensatory behavior, such as mate retention effort. Yet to date, tests of this mediation model have been limited to cross-sectional data. This study is the first to experimentally test this theoretical model. Men and women (N = 222) who were currently in committed romantic relationships were primed with an imagined partner infidelity (versus control) scenario. Participants then completed measures of state jealousy and intended mate retention behavior. Results found that those primed with the infidelity threat scenario experienced an increase in state jealousy, which in turn predicted more intended benefit-provisioning and cost-inflicting mate retention. Findings suggest that jealousy mediated the relationship between infidelity threat and intended mate retention behavior, supporting the evolutionary account of state jealousy.