Synonyms
Definition
Attraction to and/or positive behavior toward strangers.
Introduction
Xenophilia has only rarely been documented in nature. Because strangers often represent a threat to one’s resources, territory, and mating success, there is often little evolutionary payoff for acting prosocially toward unknown individuals, and potentially great costs for doing so (Temeles 1994; Wilson 1975). However, there are some circumstances where natural selection has favored positive interactions with strangers.
Mating
As a mechanism to avoid inbreeding in social living animals, young males or females may disperse to a new social group (Clutton-Brock 1989). Although the introduction of a stranger to a group can result in aggression and tension (Fragaszy et al. 1994), it is not unusual for opposite-sex individuals to be attracted to the newcomer, and in some cases may even protect them from attacks from other members of the group (Wade 1976)....
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References
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Colbourne, J. (2019). Xenophilia. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_600-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_600-1
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