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Mating Systems, Mate Choice, Marriage, Sexual Behavior, and Inbreeding

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The Parasite-Stress Theory of Values and Sociality

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Abstract

The parasite theory of sexual selection, originated by Hamilton and Zuk in 1982, is a subcategory of the more general and encompassing parasite-stress theory of sociality. Across indigenous societies, parasite-stress is correlated positively with the degree of polygyny. This is expected because high parasite stress generates high variation in the phenotypic and genetic quality of men, which then makes polygynous marriage adaptive for women, even though they must share a husband’s resources with harem wives. Research shows that, as parasite stress increases or as a person’s concern about infectious diseases increases, so does the value of obtaining a physically attractive mate (high genetic quality defends against parasites); evidence suggests that the importance of having such a mate is correlated positively with conservatism across cultures and people. Parasite stress predicts positively women’s sexual restrictiveness across countries. Cross-national evidence indicates that women’s sexual liberation from traditional values of sexual restriction is a component of overall liberalization of values. As predicted by the parasite-stress theory of values, as parasite adversity increases across regions, people engage in increased marital inbreeding, both cross-nationally and across indigenous cultures. Men’s xenophobia toward out-group men is mediated by concern about contracting novel parasites as well as by viewing out-group men as sexual competitors. As predicted by the parasite-stress theory of values, the practice of lynching black men engaged in by white racists is related positively to parasite stress and collectivism across US states. Research indicates sophisticated functional design of men’s sexual disgust. Like other kinds of disgust, sexual disgust functions, at least in part, to protect against contagion risk but is moderated when men’s mating opportunities arise.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Randy Thornhill

  2. Department of Psychology, The University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    Corey L. Fincher

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  1. Randy Thornhill
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  2. Corey L. Fincher
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Thornhill, R., Fincher, C.L. (2014). Mating Systems, Mate Choice, Marriage, Sexual Behavior, and Inbreeding. In: The Parasite-Stress Theory of Values and Sociality. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08040-6_6

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