Evolutionary Aesthetics pp 341-368 | Cite as
Do Women Have Evolved Adaptation for Extra-Pair Copulation?
- 8 Citations
- 521 Downloads
Abstract
Do women have special-purpose evolved adaptation that functions in pursuing copulations with men other than the main romantic partner, just as they have specialized adaptation for seeing color, estimating object distance, digesting fat, responding to stress, and a multitude of other problems that gave rise to successful selection for functional traits in human evolutionary history? This question can be asked in a variety of other ways without change in its conceptual content: do women have a feature(s) that is functionally designed/organized to accomplish extra-pair copulation (EPC)? Do women have a trait(s) that has the evolutionary purpose of extra-pair copulation? Do women have a bodily feature(s) that resulted in net reproductive success (RS) during human evolutionary history because its female bearers were conditionally unfaithful in their romantic relationships? Did human female ancestors become ancestors (i.e., out-reproduce the females that failed to become human ancestors) in part because they were infidels in romantic relationships?
Keywords
Attachment Style Fluctuate Asymmetry Main Partner Functional Design Primary PartnerPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
- Anderson KG, Kaplan H, Lancaster J (1999) Paternal care by genetic fathers and stepfathers I: reports from Albuquerque men. Evol Human Behav 20: 405–431CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Baker RR (1997) Copulation, masturbation and infidelity: state-of-the art. In: Schmitt A, Atzwanger A, Grammer K, Schafer K (eds) New aspects of human ethology. Plenum Press, New York, pp 163–188CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Baker RR, Bettis MA (1995) Human sperm competition: copulation, masturbation and infidelity. Chapman and Hall, LondonGoogle Scholar
- Beckerman S, Lizarralde R, Ballew C, Schroeder S, Fingelton E, Garrison A, Smith H (1998) The Bari partible paternity project: preliminary results. Curr Anthropol 39: 164–167CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Bellis MA, Baker RR (1990) Do females promote sperm competition? Data for humans. Anim Behav 40: 997–999CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Belsky J, Steinberg L, Draper P (1991) Childhood experience interpersonal development and reproductive strategy: an evolutionary theory of socialization. Child Dev 62: 647–670PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Benshoof L, Thornhill R (1979) The evolution of monogamy and loss of estrus in humans. J Soc Biol Struct 2: 95–106CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Berry DS, Wero JL (1993) Accuracy of face perception: a view from ecological psychology. J Personality 61: 497–503CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Birkhead TR, Moller AP (1995) Extrapair copulation and extra-pair paternity in birds. Anim Behav 49: 843–848Google Scholar
- Bjorklund DF, Kipp K (1996) Parental investment theory and gender differences in the evolution of inhibition mechanisms. Psycho] Bull 120: 163–188CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Burch RL, Gallup GL Jr (2000) Perceptions of paternal resemblance predict family violence. Evol Human Behav 21: 429–435CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Burt A (1996) Perspective: the evolution of fitness. Evolution 49: 1–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Buss DM (2000) Dangerous passions. Free, New YorkGoogle Scholar
- Buss DM, Schmitt DP (1993) Sexual strategies theory: a contextual evolutionary analysis of human mating. Psychol Rev 100: 204–232PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Buss DM, Shackelford TK, Kirkpatrick LA, Choe JC, Hasegawa M, Hasegawa T, Bennett K (1999) Jealousy and the nature of beliefs about infidelity: tests of competing hypotheses about sex differences in the United States, Korea and Japan. Personal Relationships 6: 125–150Google Scholar
- Cashdan E (1993) Attracting mates: effects of paternal investment on mate attraction strategies. Ethol Sociobiol 14: 1–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Cerda-Flores RM, Barton SA, Marty-Gonzalez LF, Rivas F, Chakraborty R (1999) Estimation of nonpaternity in the Mexican population of Nueveo Leon: a validation study with blood group markers. Am J Phys Anthropol 109: 281–293PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Chisholm JS (1999) Attachment and time preference: relations between early stress and sexual behavior in a sample of American university women. Human Nat 10: 51–83CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Daly M, Wilson M (1995) Discriminative parental solicitude and the relevance of evolutionary models to the analysis of motivational systems. In: Gazziniga MS (ed) The cognitive neurosciences. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp 1269–1286Google Scholar
- Dickemann M (1981) Paternal confidence and dowry competition: a biocultural analysis of purdah. In: Alexander R, Tinkle D (eds) Natural selection and social behavior. Chiron, New YorkGoogle Scholar
- Figueredo AJ, McCloskey, LA (1993) Sex money and paternity: the evolutionary psychology of domestic violence. Ethol Sociobiol 14: 353–379CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Flinn M (1987) Mate guarding in a Caribbean village. Ethol Sociobiol 8: 1–28Google Scholar
- Franklin M, Johnston VS (2000) Abstract of paper presented at 2000 meeting of Evolution and Human Behavior conference. Amherst College, Amherst, MAGoogle Scholar
- Fuller RC, Houle D (2003) Inheritance of developmental instability. In: Polak M (ed) Developmental instability: causes and consequences. Oxford University Press, New York (in press)Google Scholar
- Furlow BF, Armijo-Prewitt T, Gangestad SW, Thornhill R (1997) Fluctuating asymmetry and psychometric intelligence. Proc R Soc Lond Ser B 264: 823–829CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Furlow B, Gangestad SW, Armijo-Prewitt T (1998) Developmental stability and human violence. Proc R Soc Lond Ser B 266: 1–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Gangestad SW (1997) Evolutionary psychology and genetic variation: non-adaptive fitness-related and adaptive. In: Bock GR, Cardew G (eds) Characterizing human psychological adaptations. Ciba Foundation Symposium 208. Wiley, New York, pp 212–223Google Scholar
- Gangestad SW, Simpson JA (1990) Toward an evolutionary history of female sociosexual variation. J Personality 58: 69–96CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Gangestad SW, Thornhill R (1997a) Human sexual selection and developmental stability. In: Simpson JA, Kenrick, DT (eds) Evolutionary social psychology. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, pp 169–195Google Scholar
- Gangestad SW, Thornhill R (1997b) The evolutionary psychology of extrapair sex: the role of fluctuating asymmetry. Evol Human Behav 18: 69–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Gangestad SW, Thornhill R (1998) Menstrual cycle variation in women’s preferences for the scent of symmetrical men. Proc R Soc Lond Ser B 265: 927–933CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Gangestad SW, Thornhill R (1999) Individual differences in developmental precision and fluctuating asymmetry: a model and its implications. J Evol Biol 12: 402–416CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Gangestad SW, Thornhill R (2003) Facial masculinity and fluctuating asymmetry. Evol Human Behav (in press)Google Scholar
- Gangestad SW, Thornhill R, Garver C (2002) Changes in women’s sexual interests and their partners’ mate retention tactics across the menstrual cycle: evidence for shifting conflicts of interest. Proc R Soc Lond Ser B 269: 975–982CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Geary DC (1998) Male, female: The evolution of human sex differences. American Psychological Association, Washington, DCCrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Graziano WG, Jensen-Campbell LA, Todd M, Finch JF (1997) Interpersonal attraction from an evolutionary perspective: women’s reactions to dominant and prosocial men. In: Simpson JA, Kenrick DT (eds) Evolutionary social psychology. Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, pp 169–195Google Scholar
- Greiling H, Buss DM (2000) Women’s sexual strategies: the hidden dimension of short-term extra-pair mating. Personality Individual Diff 28: 929–963CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Hansen GL (1986) Extradyadic relations during courtship. J Sex Res 22: 382–390Google Scholar
- Hill K, Hurtado AM (1996) Ache life history. de Gruyter, New YorkGoogle Scholar
- Hite S (1987) Women and love: a cultural revolution in progress. Grove Press, New YorkGoogle Scholar
- Hrdy SB (1981) The woman that never evolved. Harvard University Press, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
- Hrdy SB (1999) Mother nature: a history of mothers, infants and natural selection. Pantheon, New YorkGoogle Scholar
- Jennions MD, Petrie M (2000) Why do females mate multiply? A review of the genetic benefits. Biol Rev 75: 21–64PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Jöchle W (1973) Coitus-induced ovulation. Contraception 7: 523–564CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Johnston VS, Hagel R, Franklin M, Fink B, Grammer K (2001) Male facial attractiveness: evidence for hormone-mediated adaptive design. Evol Human Behav 22: 251–267CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Kinsey AC, Pomeroy WB, Martin CE, Gebhard PH (1953) Sexual behavior in the human female. WB Saunders, PhiladelphiaGoogle Scholar
- Kirkpatrick M (1996) Good genes and direct selection in the evolution of mating preferences. Evolution 50: 2125–2140CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Laumann EO, Gagnon JH, Michael RT, Michaels S (1994) The social organization of sexuality. University of Chicago Press, ChicagoGoogle Scholar
- Maclntyre S, Sooman A (1991) Nonpaternity and prenatal genetic screening. Lancet 338: 869–871CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Manning JT (1995) Fluctuating asymmetry and body weight in men and women: implications for sexual selection. Ethol Sociobiol 16: 145–155CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Manning JT, Koukourakis K, Brodie DA (1997) Fluctuating asymmetry, metabolic rate and sexual selection in human males. Evol Human Behav 18: 15–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Manning JT, Scutt D, Lewis-Jones DI (1998) Developmental stability, ejaculate size and sperm quality in men. Evol Human Behav 19: 273–182CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Martins EP (2000) Adaptation and the comparative method. “Trends Ecol Evol 15: 296–299CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Moller AP, Swaddle JP (1997) Asymmetry developmental stability and evolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UKGoogle Scholar
- Ober C, Weitkamp LR, Cox N, Dytch H, Kostyu D, Elias S (1997) HLA and mate choice in humans. Am J Human Genet 61: 497–504CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Oliver-Rodriguez JC, Guan Z, Johnston VS (1999) Gender differences in late positive components evoked by human faces. Psychophysiology 36: 176–185PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Penn D, Potts WK (1998) Chemical signals and parasite-mediated sexual selection. Trends Ecol Evol 13: 391–396PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Penton-Voak IS, Perrett DI (2000) Female preference for male faces changes cyclically: further evidence. Evol Human Behav 21: 39–48CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Penton-Voak IS, Perrett DI, Castles D, Burt M, Koyabashi T, Murray LK (1999) Female preference for male faces changes cyclically. Nature 399: 741–742PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Perrett DI, Lee KJ, Penton-Voak I, Rowland D, Yoshikawa S, Burt DM, Henzi SP, Castles DL, Akamatsu S (1998) Effects of sexual dimorphism on facial attractiveness. Nature 394: 884–887PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Petrie M, Kempenaers B (1998) Extra-pair paternity in birds: explaining variation between species and populations. Trends Ecol Evol 13: 52–58PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Pinker S (1994) The language instinct: how the mind creates language. William Morrow, New YorkGoogle Scholar
- Reeve HK, Sherman PW (1993) Adaptation and the goals of evolutionary research. Q Rev Biol 68: 1–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Rice WR (1996) Sexually antagonistic male adaptation triggered by experimental arrest of female evolution. Nature 381: 232–234PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Rice WR, Holland B (1998) The enemies within: intragenomic conflict, interlocus contest evolution ( ICE), and the intraspecific Red Queen. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 41: 1–10Google Scholar
- Rikowski A, Grammer K (1999) Human body odour, symmetry and attractiveness. Proc R Soc Lond Ser B 266: 869–874CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Rowe L, Houle D (1996) The lex paradox and the capture of genetic variance by condition-dependent traits. Proc R Soc Lond Ser B 263: 1415–1421CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Sasse G, Muller H, Chakraborty R, Ott J (1994) Estimating the frequency of nonpaternity in Switzerland. Human Hered 44: 337–343CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Shackelford TK, Weekes-Shackelford VA, LeBlanc GJ, Bleske Euler HA, Hoier S (1999) Female coital orgasm and male attractiveness. Human Nat 11: 299–306CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Shackelford TK, LeBlanc GJ, Weekes-Shakelford VA, Bleske-Rechek AL, Euler HA, Hoiers S (2002) Psychological adaptation to human sperm competition. Evol Human Behav 23: 123–138CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Simpson JA, Gangestad SW, Christensen PN, Leck K (1999) Fluctuating asymmetry, socio-sexuality and intrasexual competitive tactics. J Pers Soc Psychol 76: 159–172PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Smith RL (1984) Human sperm competition. In: Smith RL (ed) Sperm competition and the evolution of animal mating systems. Academic Press, London, pp 601–660Google Scholar
- Smuts BB, Smuts RW (1993) Male aggression and sexual coercion of females in nonhuman primates and other mammals: evidence and theoretical implications. Adv Stud Behav 22: 1–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Symons D (1979) The evolution of human sexuality. Oxford University Press, OxfordGoogle Scholar
- Symons D (1987) If we’re all Darwinians, what’s the fuss about? In: Crawford CB, Smith MF, Krebs DL (eds) Sociobiology and psychology: ideas, issues, and applications. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, pp 121–146Google Scholar
- Symons D (1992) On the use and misuse of Darwinism in the study of human behavior. In: Barkow J, Cosmides L, Tooby J (eds) The adapted mind. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 137–159Google Scholar
- Thoma RJ, Yeo RA, Gangestad SW, Lewine JD, Davis JT (2002) Fluctuating asymmetry and the human brain. Laterality 7: 45–58PubMedGoogle Scholar
- Thompson AP (1983) Extramarital sex: a review of the research literature. J Sex Res 19: 1–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Thornhill N, Thornhill R (1987) Evolutionary theory and rules of mating and marriage pertaining to relatives. In: Crawford C, Smith M, Krebs D (eds) Sociobiology and psychology: ideas, issues, and applications. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, pp 373–400Google Scholar
- Thornhill R (1990) The study of adaptation. In: Bekoff M, Jamieson D (eds) Interpretation and explanation in the study of behavior. Westview, Boulder, CO, pp 31–62Google Scholar
- Thornhill R (1997) The concept of an evolved adaptation. In: Daly M (ed) Characterizing human psychological adaptations. Wiley, London, pp 4–13Google Scholar
- Thornhill R, Furlow B (1998) Stress and human reproductive behavior: attractiveness women’s sexual development postpartum depression and baby’s cry. Adv Stud Behav 27: 319–369CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Thornhill R, Gangestad SW (1993) Human facial beauty: averageness, symmetry, and parasite resistance. Human Nat 4: 237–270CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Thornhill R, Gangestad SW (1994) Fluctuating asymmetry and human sexual behavior. Psychol Sci 5: 297–302CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Thornhill R, Gangestad SW (1999a) The scent of symmetry: a human sex pheromone that signals fitness? Evol Human Behav 20: 175–201CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Thornhill R, Gangestad SW (1999b) Facial attractiveness. Trends Cognitive Sci 3: 452–460CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Thornhill R, Moller AP (1997) Developmental stability, disease and medicine. Biol Rev 72: 497–548PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Thornhill R, Palmer CT (2000) A natural history of rape: biological bases of sexual coercion. MIT Press, Cambridge, MAGoogle Scholar
- Thornhill R, Gangestad SW, Corner R (1995) Human female orgasm and mate fluctuating asymmetry. Anim Behav 50: 1601–1615CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Thornhill R, Gangestad SW, Miller R, Scheyd G, McCollough JK, Franklin M (2003) Major histocompatibility genes, symmetry and body scent attractiveness in men and women. Behav Ecol (in press)Google Scholar
- Van Dongen S (2000) The heritability of fluctuating asymmetry: a Bayesian hierarchical model. Ann Zool Fennici 37: 15–23Google Scholar
- Wedekind C, Füri S (1997) Body odor preference in men and women: do they aim for specific MHC combinations or simplyheterozygosity? Proc R Soc Lond Ser B 264: 1471–1479CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Wedekind C, Seebeck T, Bettens F, Paepke AJ (1995) MHC-dependent mate preferences in humans. Proc R Soc Lond Ser B 260: 245–249CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Wilcox AJ, Weinberg CR, Baird BD (1995) Timing of sexual intercourse in relation to ovulation. N Engl J Med 333: 1517–1521PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Williams GC (1966) Adaptation and natural selection: a critique of some current evolutionary thought. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJGoogle Scholar
- Wilson M, Daly M (1985) Competitiveness risk taking and violence: the young male syndrome. Ethol Sociobiol 6: 59–73CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Wilson M, Daly M (1992) The man who mistook his wife for a chattel. In: Barkow JH, Cosmides L, Tooby J (eds)The adapted mind: evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 289–326Google Scholar
- Yeo RA, Hill D, Campbell R, Vigil J, Brooks WM (2000) Developmental instability and working memory ability in children: a magnetic resonance spectroscopy investigation. Dev Neuropsychol 17: 143–159PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar