Anthropology posts
- March 4, 2013
- 12:49 PM
- 28 views
Falun Fanatics
by Emarkham in GeneticCuckoo
An analysis of the claims made of a religious group of organ harvesting in china, examining the evidence and looking at the reality of these claims. ... Read more »
E Markham. (2013) Falun Fanatics . Blogspot. info:/
- March 4, 2013
- 12:26 AM
- 247 views
Is speaking English a civic duty?
by Ingrid Piller in Language on the Move
In today’s immigration countries, adherents of the “one nation, one language” idea face a unique ideological problem: to claim that the national language is a sign of national loyalty and incorporation into the nation while, simultaneously, disavowing any association between … Continue reading →... Read more »
Subtirelu, N. (2013) ‘English… it's part of our blood’: Ideologies of language and nation in United States Congressional discourse. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 17(1), 37-65. DOI: 10.1111/josl.12016
- March 1, 2013
- 08:12 AM
- 158 views
It’s Mr. Steal-Your Girl and He’s Black
by Patrick Meyer in United Academics
Rap music has long been critiqued for its unhealthy portrayal of sexuality, particularly its misogynistic leanings. But now might be the first time in rap’s history where sexual violence is being directed towards men instead of women. Men are the new subject of lyrical sexual assault, with women merely serving as collateral damage in this metaphorical stripping of man’s sexual power.
After many cultural critiques for being misogynistic, are men the new “bitches” in rap lyrics?... Read more »
Brown, S., & Clark, K. (2003) Melodramas of Beset Black Manhood? Meditations on African-American Masculinity as Scholarly Topos and Social Menace: An Introduction. Callaloo, 26(3), 732-737. DOI: 10.1353/cal.2003.0078
- March 1, 2013
- 06:11 AM
- 167 views
Women Not More Sociable Than Men
by Anouk Vleugels in United Academics
Stereotypes say that women are more friendly, helpful and sociable when being compared to men. However this doesn’t appear to be true, or that’s what researchers at the Free University Amsterdam in cooperation with universities in Singapore and Washington claim. Women and men appear to be equally cooperative, so did the scientists discover.... Read more »
Balliet, D., Li, N., Macfarlan, S., & Van Vugt, M. (2011) Sex differences in cooperation: A meta-analytic review of social dilemmas. Psychological Bulletin, 137(6), 881-909. DOI: 10.1037/a0025354
- February 28, 2013
- 12:19 PM
- 193 views
Go home, RNA, you're drunk
by zacharoo in Lawn Chair Anthropology
(Alternate title: "circRNA censors the RNA censors?")When I was a kid, RNA played second fiddle to DNA. RNA was a mere intermediary between the 'book of life' (DNA) and the stuff the book coded for (proteins). But in the years since, RNA has shown itself to be a key player in the regulation of gene expression (shut up, DNA!). We now know of lots of kinds of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) that do lots of important things in cells, such as maintaining genomic integrity in the germ line (piRNA) and preventing messenger-RNA from being translated into protein (mi-, si- and lncRNA). Keeping track of these non-coding RNAs is tough (for me at least; I focused on fossils). Now, two in-press reports (Hansen et al., 2013; Memczak et al. 2013) show things aren't getting any easier - apparently there's also circular RNA (circRNA; reviewed by Kosik 2013).Why is circRNA special? Well, for one thing, it's two ends are joined together, forming a circle; the other types are just plain, boring, open-ended strands. Lame. Also, whereas miRNAs are involved in inhibiting gene expression (e.g., RNA interference) by binding to & helping destroy messenger RNA, circRNAs act as miRNA "sponges," binding certain miRNA to alter their function. WHAT?!Dammit, go home RNA; you're drunk.Someone smarter explaining itKosik, K. (2013). Molecular biology: Circles reshape the RNA world Nature DOI: 10.1038/nature11956The papersHansen, T., Jensen, T., Clausen, B., Bramsen, J., Finsen, B., Damgaard, C., & Kjems, J. (2013). Natural RNA circles function as efficient microRNA sponges Nature DOI: 10.1038/nature11993Memczak, S., Jens, M., Elefsinioti, A., Torti, F., Krueger, J., Rybak, A., Maier, L., Mackowiak, S., Gregersen, L., Munschauer, M., Loewer, A., Ziebold, U., Landthaler, M., Kocks, C., le Noble, F., & Rajewsky, N. (2013). Circular RNAs are a large class of animal RNAs with regulatory potency Nature DOI: 10.1038/nature11928... Read more »
Kosik, K. (2013) Molecular biology: Circles reshape the RNA world. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature11956
Hansen, T., Jensen, T., Clausen, B., Bramsen, J., Finsen, B., Damgaard, C., & Kjems, J. (2013) Natural RNA circles function as efficient microRNA sponges. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature11993
Memczak, S., Jens, M., Elefsinioti, A., Torti, F., Krueger, J., Rybak, A., Maier, L., Mackowiak, S., Gregersen, L., Munschauer, M.... (2013) Circular RNAs are a large class of animal RNAs with regulatory potency. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature11928
- February 26, 2013
- 12:43 PM
- 205 views
What makes our intelligence heritable?
by sedeer in Inspiring Science
A study from the University of Edinburgh claims to have found the basis of our intelligence in thousands of genes …Continue reading »... Read more »
Davies, G., Tenesa, A., Payton, A., Yang, J., Harris, S., Liewald, D., Ke, X., Le Hellard, S., Christoforou, A., Luciano, M.... (2011) Genome-wide association studies establish that human intelligence is highly heritable and polygenic. Molecular Psychiatry, 16(10), 996-1005. DOI: 10.1038/mp.2011.85
Chabris, C., Hebert, B., Benjamin, D., Beauchamp, J., Cesarini, D., van der Loos, M., Johannesson, M., Magnusson, P., Lichtenstein, P., Atwood, C.... (2012) Most Reported Genetic Associations With General Intelligence Are Probably False Positives. Psychological Science, 23(11), 1314-1323. DOI: 10.1177/0956797611435528
- February 26, 2013
- 12:21 PM
- 194 views
They All Look The Same
by Diapadion in Lord of the Apes
A few weeks have passed since Iran claimed to have sent a monkey to space and back. It did not take long for skeptics to point out that the two monkeys look nothing alike. I can't begin to explain why Iran wouldn't do a better job staging their publicity photographs. My mind has been occupied with (in my opinion) a more interesting question: Why is it easy to distinguish between individuals of some primate species, but not others?
I've spent time with a number of primate species, but in terms of sheer hours of exposure, chacma baboons and rhesus macaques take the top two slots. I know both these species very well. Yet, rhesus macaques are easy for me to distinguish between, while chacma baboons are exceptionally difficult to identify. After spending a few hours with some macaques, I can reliably tell you their name and personality, mostly from looking at their faces. After spending hundreds of hours with the same baboons, I could not tell them apart, at least not based on their faces. They really do all look the same. Its more effective to look at the pattern of tears on their ears, and the shape of the callosities on their rumps. Its quite humbling, actually.
A similar phenomena exists in humans, known as the Cross-Race Effect. Or, as the All Look Same effect. In humans, the difference is based on race, but its not racism. How much of the effect can be explained by nature versus nurture is a matter of contention, but has everything to do with an individual's upbringing, who the individual spends time around as they grow up.
The monkey face recognition effect must be different because I didn't grow up spending large amounts of time around rhesus monkeys. So, I turned to genetic diversity for ideas. The more diverse a species is, the easier it should be to identify within the species. It stands to reason that the species which is much easier to identify (rhesus macaques) would have higher genetic diversity.
Research started off easy. The rhesus macaque is three times as diverse but more closely equivalent in damaging coding variation as compared to the human. That is about as straight forward an answer as I have ever seen in the title of an academic publication. Okay, so what about chacma baboons?
Baboon diversity is not as well understood. Rhesus monkeys are widespread, plus they're the animal of choice when it comes to biomedical research. Baboons are also widespread, and favorites of field researchers. But you don't see them as much in labs, so genetic testing is not a routine procedure. Nonetheless, I found an article which addresses my questions.
Quantifying diversity is a not a simple matter. From data collection to bio-informatic analysis, it can be a bumpy road. I don't know why exactly Newman et al. chose to quantify diversity with the mean percent pairwise difference in haplotypes, but it happens to be pretty easy to explain. To use the metric, you take your data, a set of DNA samples from individual monkeys, and compare each individual's DNA to everyone else's within the same species. You count the number of differences observed between individual base pairs at the same places in the DNA sequences. Then, convert that number into a percentage, and finally, average all of the comparisons between individuals. That's the author's measure of within species diversity.
The diversity found in rhesus macaques was 4.2%. In chacma baboons, it was 0.9%. That is a considerable difference. These numbers are only given a small mention in this part of the paper, so I don't know the margins of error. Nevertheless, these finding support the hypothesis that baboons are harder to distinguish because there is really is less distinguishing information available; less diversity within the species.
However, there are some extenuating circumstances. The baboons I interact with in Cape Town are from a small population, in fact, a subspecies of chacma baboon, Papio ursinus ursinus. Now their diversity is cut down even further, possibly by an order of magnitude or more.
Most of the rhesus macaques I've spent time with were in captive colonies. There are many rhesus sub-species; no one knows the pedigree of colony monkeys, another dirty secret of the biomedical community. But, my best guess is that they came from rhesus populations as wide spread as you can imagine, so the diversity in colonies is likely to approach 4.2%. I have interacted with wild groups of rhesus macaques, but only for short periods (hours), not for months as I have with the baboons. Are they more difficult to identify than the captive monkeys I know? Yes, they are, but not as difficult as wild baboons.
Which raises a follow-up question: What is the right way to quantify how easy it is to tell members of a species or sub-species apart? My gut feelings aren't going to hold up under scrutiny. Appropriate paradigms already exist: show people (or monkeys) a series of faces, some new some repeated, and ask them if they've seen each one before. As I've heard many Professors say (to myself and others around me), "you could get a thesis out of these experiments."
Yuan, Q., Zhou, Z., Lindell, S., Higley, J., Ferguson, B., Thompson, R., Lopez, J., Suomi, S., Baghal, B., Baker, M., Mash, D., Barr, C., & Goldman, D. (2012). The rhesus macaque is three times as diverse but more closely equivalent in damaging coding variation as compared to the human BMC Genetics, 13 (1) DOI: 10.1186/1471-2156-13-52
Newman, T., Jolly, C., & Rogers, J. (2004). Mitochondrial phylogeny and systematics of baboons (Papio) American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 124 (1), 17-27 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.10340... Read more »
Yuan, Q., Zhou, Z., Lindell, S., Higley, J., Ferguson, B., Thompson, R., Lopez, J., Suomi, S., Baghal, B., Baker, M.... (2012) The rhesus macaque is three times as diverse but more closely equivalent in damaging coding variation as compared to the human. BMC Genetics, 13(1), 52. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2156-13-52
Newman, T., Jolly, C., & Rogers, J. (2004) Mitochondrial phylogeny and systematics of baboons (Papio). American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 124(1), 17-27. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.10340
- February 26, 2013
- 07:00 AM
- 121 views
Pearly Whites and Golden Spoons: Teeth and Status
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
In Western cultures, teeth can be a clear indication of status. Often the lower classes have poorer health care and decreased access to proper dental care. While orthodontic treatment is becoming more affordable, having crooked teeth was a potential indicator of lower status. Further, dental whitening and other processes to improve their can be costly … Continue reading »... Read more »
Cucina, A., & Tiesler, V. (2003) Dental caries and antemortem tooth loss in the Northern Peten area, Mexico: A biocultural perspective on social status differences among the Classic Maya. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 122(1), 1-10. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.10267
Dawson, H., & Brown, K. (2013) Exploring the relationship between dental wear and status in late medieval subadults from England. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 150(3), 433-441. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22221
- February 24, 2013
- 08:21 AM
- 210 views
“Know Thyself” Is A Lot To Ask
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic_Discover
I’ve written before about the limitations of self-report measures in psychiatry. It’s an issue that’s been recognized for decades but, unfortunately, self-report seems to be more popular than ever. I suspect that this is because it’s far and away the easiest and cheapest way of getting data, and hence publications, in a great many fields [...]... Read more »
Miller RM, Haws NA, Murphy-Tafiti JL, Hubner CD, Curtis TD, Rupp ZW, Smart TA, & Thompson LM. (2013) Are Self-Ratings of Functional Difficulties Objective or Subjective?. Applied neuropsychology. Adult. PMID: 23383984
- February 21, 2013
- 07:50 PM
- 262 views
Adventures in Dentures: The Street Dentists, Barbers & Tattoo Artists of India
by Rebecca Kreston in BODY HORRORS
For those that aren’t familiar with the kaleidoscopic charms of India, one of the most fascinating aspects of the country is its massive street economy. You can find anything you want on the sidewalks of this country, whether it’s fried delicacies, tattoos, sex or on-the-quick dentistry. You just need to know where to look.... Read more »
Abraham, P. (2012) Viral Hepatitis in India. Clinics in Laboratory Medicine, 32(2), 159-174. DOI: 10.1016/j.cll.2012.03.003
- February 21, 2013
- 12:57 PM
- 208 views
Sneaky Kids Teach Parents to be Environmentally Responsible
by Elizabeth Preston in Inkfish
Don't trust your kids. Like a miniature, juice-fueled army with subliminal messaging tactics, they can get inside your mind and make you do things. You won't realize what's happening until you step out of your low-flow shower one morning, turn the calendar page, and see a smug endangered trout looking back at you.
Though we usually think of education flowing down from parents and teachers to children, some people would prefer it to go upstream too. Environmental educators, for example, may hope when they teach groups of children about recycling or saving energy that they'll go home and impose new habits on their parents.
In the Seychelles, an archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean, preserving the wetlands is a major concern. An NGO called Wildlife Clubs Seychelles runs extracurricular "wildlife clubs" in the schools; these groups organize projects and go on field trips to learn about the environment. Researchers from Imperial College London took advantage of the widespread clubs to find out whether environmental education can travel against the current.
During the year before the study, certain wildlife clubs had taught a unit on wetlands while others studied something else. Lead author Peter Damerell and his colleagues studied 7 wildlife clubs that had done the wetlands unit and 8 that hadn't, with kids in the groups ranging from age 7 to 15.
The researchers distributed a questionnaire for kids to fill out in school. A second set of questionnaires went home to the kids' parents. The forms included questions to test wetland knowledge as well as questions about how people used water in their homes.
When the questionnaires came back, there were 137 complete parent-child pairs in the batch. Kids who had participated in a wetland unit scored better on questions about wetland knowledge (what kinds of species live in local wetlands, what threatens these habitats, and so on). More surprisingly, the authors report in Environmental Research Letters, the kids' knowledge had rubbed off on their parents. Moms and dads of wetland-educated kids outscored parents of kids who hadn't studied wetlands.
The questionnaires also asked parents point-blank whether they'd learned anything about wetlands from their children. Their answers, it turned out, were totally unrelated to their actual scores. Even when kids had taught their parents something, parents didn't necessarily know it.
On questions about people's water use in their homes—whether they made choices that use less water, in light of water shortages in the Seychelles—families whose children had studied wetlands with their wildlife clubs again scored significantly better. (It's also possible, the researchers note, that these families just knew the "right" answers to water-use questions. It would take more research to find out whether they actually used less water.)
Since scores didn't increase with children's ages, Damerell and his coauthors don't think regular classroom time did the trick. The wildlife clubs' field trips and outdoor projects may have been just exciting enough to make a real impression on kids—and to get them talking about their fun swamp adventures with their parents. Er, indoctrinating them.
Damerell, P., Howe, C., & Milner-Gulland, E. (2013). Child-orientated environmental education influences adult knowledge and household behaviour Environmental Research Letters, 8 (1) DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/8/1/015016
Image: jmb_craftypickle (Flickr)
... Read more »
Damerell, P., Howe, C., & Milner-Gulland, E. (2013) Child-orientated environmental education influences adult knowledge and household behaviour. Environmental Research Letters, 8(1), 15016. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/8/1/015016
- February 20, 2013
- 10:49 PM
- 182 views
The shale revolution & lying with statistics
by zacharoo in Lawn Chair Anthropology
Is U.S. energy independence, based in part on 'fracking' shale deposits to access oil and gas reservoirs, just a pipe dream? A comment by JD Hughes in this week's Nature posits just this, pointing out that production at most of these deposits declines steeply in just a few years - the industry is simply not sustainable. But why all the hype around such an unsustainable resource?In my view, the industry practice of fitting hyperbolic curves to data on declining productivity, and inferring lifetimes of 40 years or more, is too optimistic. Existing production histories are a few years at best, and thus are insufficient to substantiate such long lifetimes for wells. Because production declines more steeply than these models typically suggest, the method often overestimates ultimate recoveries and economic performance (see go.nature.com/kiamlk). The US Geological Survey's recovery estimates are less than half of those sometimes touted by industry.In short, yes you can fit a line to data points (i.e. production over time; do check out the link in Hughes' quote) to model or predict how predict how production will change over time. But this does not necessarily make these predictions valid or accurate! These 'hyperbolic curves' (see bottom graph from the above link) are often calculated from only five years of data, but used to predict production some 40 years down the line. And what's more, these predicted values (i.e. points on the fitted line) are not spot-on, but have a confidence interval, a range of uncertainty in which a predicted value could be found. This interval increases drastically the further off in time you are predicting.The point: we shouldn't be so confident in fracking and shale reserves to help solve the U.S.'s energy problems. In fact, we should be confident (and conservative) assuming they won't solve anything for anyone except people making money off them (and even then, only in the short term).I've commented on this blog before about the importance of understanding the statistical methods one employs. In the present case, industry 'specialists,' whether they understood line fitting or not, erroneously used statistics to predict optimistic outcomes for US energy production. And the US government and public were eager to swallow this up hook, line and sinker.The comment (sorry it's behind a paywall)Hughes, J. (2013). Energy: A reality check on the shale revolution Nature, 494 (7437), 307-308 DOI: 10.1038/494307a... Read more »
Hughes, J. (2013) Energy: A reality check on the shale revolution. Nature, 494(7437), 307-308. DOI: 10.1038/494307a
- February 20, 2013
- 01:40 PM
- 107 views
The World’s Most Problematic Videogames
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic_Discover
Is ‘video game addiction’ a useful concept? Some people certainly play an awful lot of games, and therefore have little of a life outside of them; but that doesn’t in itself mean that games are harming them. Maybe that’s just how they prefer to live. Maybe games are just filling a void that would otherwise [...]... Read more »
Elliott L, Ream G, McGinsky E, & Dunlap E. (2012) The Contribution of Game Genre and other Use Patterns to Problem Video Game Play among Adult Video Gamers. International journal of mental health and addiction, 10(6), 948-969. PMID: 23284310
- February 19, 2013
- 07:00 AM
- 207 views
Symbolic Skull Scrapings: Trephination in Hungary
by Katy Meyers in Bones Don't Lie
As discussed in an earlier post explaining the various types of this cranial modification, trephination occurs all around the world in a variety of time periods. Trephination is the removal of pieces of cranial bones from a living individual without penetrating into the soft tissue. Throughout history it has been done using a variety of tools, … Continue reading »... Read more »
Bereczki, Z., Molnár, E., Marcsik, A., & Pálfi, G. (2013) Rare Types of Trephination from Hungary Shed New Light on Possible Cross-cultural Connections in the Carpathian Basin. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. DOI: 10.1002/oa.2304
- February 18, 2013
- 02:05 PM
- 34 views
Equid Consumption in the Palaeolithic
by Pia Spry-Marques in Bones and Skulls
A few weeks ago I began writing about horse burgers with the intention of discussing prehistoric eating habits in Britain. I, however, got sidetracked and ended up with a rather philosophical piece on how equid meat appears to represent British…Read more ›... Read more »
Holmes, J., Atkinson, T., Fiona Darbyshire, D., Horne, D., Joordens, J., Roberts, M., Sinka, K., & Whittaker, J. (2010) Middle Pleistocene climate and hydrological environment at the Boxgrove hominin site (West Sussex, UK) from ostracod records. Quaternary Science Reviews, 29(13-14), 1515-1527. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.02.024
- February 13, 2013
- 09:42 PM
- 237 views
To English with Love
by Ingrid Piller in Language on the Move
It’s Valentine’s Day today. Valentine’s Day is a truly global event inextricably linking the emotional life of individuals with the capitalist world order. Young women around the world dream of romantic love and many men do their best to meet … Continue reading →... Read more »
Takahashi, Kimie. (2013) Language learning, gender and desire: Japanese women on the move. Multilingual Matters. info:/
- February 13, 2013
- 04:32 PM
- 294 views
Dog poo turning green – the power of science
by Cobb & Hecht in Do You Believe In Dog?
Hey Julie,Thanks for the run down on ScienceOnline and ‘Lend a Paw’ month. I completed the survey about my cat’s behaviour, it was quick and easy to do. I also liked your stroking video, but I’ll get back to that later, right now I need to tell you how dog poo (I think you usually say ‘poop’ in the USA?) is turning green.Dog poo is turning greenIt’s turning green and it’s thanks to the power of science. Or perhaps it’s the science of power? It’s easy to get confused. (source)The important bit is that a Melbourne-based entrepreneur, Duncan Chew, received funding in 2012 from the Inspiring Australia strategy for his idea to turn dog waste into energy to light up parks around Australia. Titled Poo Power!, his project is using science to help our communities live more sustainably. How big is this issue?In Australia, we have one of the highest incidences of pet ownership in the world with over 60% of households owning a pet. The average dog produces 0.34 kilograms (that’s 0.75 lb) of faeces per day.Do the maths, and that’s around 1.4 tonnes of dog poo needing to be disposed of DAILY in Australia, which adds up to a colossal 490,000 tonnes each year!490 MILLION KG! That’s 1,080,270 MILLION lbs! (or almost 20 million labradors if you were following my pre-post riddle clues on our Facebook page!)The USA have more than 20 times the number of dogs as Australia. Just saying.The issue of dog waste disposal (what I like to call Poo-llution!) is an especially important issue in areas of growing urbanisation, cities with limited park spaces and in light of declining landfill site availability.Using our love of dogs to brighten the futureDog poo light? Not as silly as it might seem! (source) The project will see a series of biogas generators turn dog waste into energy for lighting up Melbourne parks, at the same time as engaging audiences on the issue of ‘what is waste?’, and the potential opportunities posed by reassessing waste management practices. 1kg of dog poo will give you about 25-30 litres of raw biogas.... Read more »
Miller Rohan, & Howell Gwyneth V.J. (2008) Regulating consumption with bite: Building a contemporary framework for urban dog management. Journal of Business Research, 61(5), 525-531. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2007.07.006
Wells D. L. (2006) Factors Influencing Owners' Reactions to Their Dogs' Fouling. Environment and Behavior, 38(5), 707-714. DOI: 10.1177/0013916505284794
Okoroigwe E.C., Ibeto C.N., & Okpara C.G. (2010) Comparative Study of the Potential of Dog Waste for Biogas Production. Trends in Applied Sciences Research, 5(1), 71-77. DOI: 10.3923/tasr.2010.71.77
Nemiroff Leah. (2007) Design, Testing and Implementation of a Large-Scale Urban Dog Waste Composting Program. Compost Science , 15(4), 237-242. info:other/http://montrealndgdogrun.org/image/downloads/compost studies.pdf
- February 13, 2013
- 11:32 AM
- 261 views
Friends Without Benefits: A Guest Post
by Miss Behavior in The Scorpion and the Frog
By Joseph McDonaldDo you want to avoid the friend zone? Photo by freedigitalphotos.net.Guys DREAD the friend zone. That heart-aching moment when the girl you’ve been fawning over for years says you’re the best listener, the sister she never had, or so much better than a diary! You’ve been so nice to her and her friends, listening to all their drama. But that’s just the problem... you’re too nice to too many people. Research performed by Aaron Lukaszewski and Jim Roney at the University of California – Santa Barbara (UCSB) tested whether preferences for personality traits were dependent on who the target was. In Experiment 1, they asked UCSB undergrads, on a scale from 1 to 7, the degree to which their ideal partner would display certain traits towards them and towards others. These traits included synonyms for kindness (e.g. affectionate, considerate, generous, etc.), trustworthiness (committed, dependable, devoted, etc.), and dominance (aggressive, brave, bold, etc.). Experiment 2 replicated the procedures of Experiment 1. The only difference was that the term “others” was divided into subsets including unspecified, family/friends, opposite sex non-family/friend, and same-sex non-family/friend. Let’s go over the do’s and don’ts so that future “nice guys” aren’t friend zoned. According to the findings, as graphed below: Figure from Aaron and Jim's 2010 Evolution and Human Behavior paper.1. Women generally prefer men who are kind and trustworthy. So, to get that girl, don’t be mean; that’s not the point. This isn’t 3rd grade so don’t pull her hair and expect her to know that you LIKE-like her. 2. Women prefer men who are kinder and more trustworthy towards them than anyone else. So it’s not so much whether you are nice enough, its whether she knows you are nicer to her than anyone else. 3. Women prefer men who display similar amounts of dominance as they do kindness. Dominance isn’t a bad thing, as long as you can distinguish her friends from her foes; especially her male friends. 4. To make things more complicated, women also prefer men who are directly dominant toward other men but don’t display dominance toward them or their family/friends, whether male or female. Some guys may want to befriend these other men, but be weary. Women preferred dominance over kindness in this situation, so kindness may not be enough. These preferences may have developed to avoid mating with someone willing to expend physical and material resources for extramarital relationships, and invest greater in her and the children. Moderate kindness and trustworthiness toward others will maintain social relationships and prevent detrimental relationships, which may be why women generally prefer kind and trustworthy guys. But in all fairness, women can be in the friend zone too; just look at Deenah and Vinny (excuse the shameful Jersey Shore reference). There are some things that guys look for in a mate, so ladies, here is a little advice: 1. Guys generally want a mate who is kind and trustworthy, too. We’re not that different; so don’t act a little crazy because you think he likes it. He doesn’t. 2. Guys also prefer women who display dominance toward other women (non- family/friend). Don’t be afraid to put that random girl with the prying eyes in her place. Contrary to the hypotheses predicting female mate preferences, male mate preferences may have developed as a way to take advantage of strong female-based social hierarchies. No matter what the reasoning, however, if you can 1) be kinder and more trustworthy towards that special someone than anyone else and 2) display dominance over other same-sex people, then feel free to say good-bye to the friend zone! For further details, check out the original experiment: Lukaszewski, A., & Roney, J. (2010). Kind toward whom? Mate preferences for personality traits are target specific Evolution and Human Behavior, 31 (1), 29-38 DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.06.008 ... Read more »
Lukaszewski, A., & Roney, J. (2010) Kind toward whom? Mate preferences for personality traits are target specific. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31(1), 29-38. DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.06.008
- February 13, 2013
- 08:17 AM
- 118 views
New: A Time Machine for Language
by Katja Keuchenius in United Academics
What did our ancestors sound like, and how will our great-grandchildren talk to each other? Linguists used to spend a lifetime working on answering these questions, but now a computer can do it for them in just a few days.... Read more »
Bouchard-Côté A, Hall D, Griffiths TL, & Klein D. (2013) Automated reconstruction of ancient languages using probabilistic models of sound change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. PMID: 23401532
- February 12, 2013
- 10:44 PM
- 155 views
A “Deep Human History” of Polyandry
by Stephanie Zvan in Almost Diamonds II
It will be interesting to see whether the evolutionary psychology community incorporates this observation going forward.... Read more »
Starkweather KE, & Hames R. (2012) A survey of non-classical polyandry. Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.), 23(2), 149-72. PMID: 22688804
topics
join us!
Do you write about peer-reviewed research in your blog? Use ResearchBlogging.org to make it easy for your readers — and others from around the world — to find your serious posts about academic research.
If you don't have a blog, you can still use our site to learn about fascinating developments in cutting-edge research from around the world.
