Carlos Gil-Burmann

Mate choice differences according to sex and age

We used 7,415 advertisements published in Spain to analyze traits sought/offered by men and women from different age groups. Findings regarding age, socioeconomic status, and physical attractiveness requirements support evolutionary predictions about mate preferences. However, changes in trait preferences among women under 40 appear to be contingent on Spain’s socioeconomic transformation. Women under 40 seek mainly physical attractiveness in men, whereas those over 40 seek mainly socioeconomic status. The trait most sought by men in all age groups is physical attractiveness. Traits sought and offered by advertisers may be conditioned by the personal situation of the advertiser. Mean age of advertisers (around their forties) and Spain’s social indicators suggest that the majority of advertisers have been unsuccessful in the mating arena at the conventional age.

Physical strength, fighting ability, and aggressiveness in adolescents.

Recent research suggests that evolutionary selection pressures have shaped mental mechanisms to be able to assess ones own and others physical strength, fighting ability, and aggressiveness. According to the recalibrational theory, anger may be linked to fighting ability and serve as a bargaining mechanism to improve welfare obtained in social conflict. We hypothesized that late adolescent men (but not mid‐adolescent men or women) use this mechanism, as it would be particularly adaptive for them to avoid potential costs from direct conflict in male competition.

Feeding tactics in juvenile rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

In a group of rhesus monkeys, feeding tactics of juveniles were studied in a competitive situation in which food presentation had been modified, and where food was supplied in a feeding trough six times a day. Juvenile offspring of high‐ranking mothers remained longer in the feeding area gathering food. In contrast, juvenile offspring of low‐ranking mothers went less often to the feeding area, primarily to collect food. Low‐ranking juveniles also gathered the food faster than did dominants and used longer feeding bouts. High‐ranking juveniles interrupted their feeding more spontaneously than did subordinate ones. Low‐ranking juveniles did so more often as a result of avoiding and being startled. Juvenile males entered the feeding area to satisfy their food requirements more often than females, but were also aggressively expelled more than females. No relation was found between age in months of juveniles and any feeding parameters or causes of interruption. Nor were significant differences found between young and old juveniles. Juvenile rhesus appear to use different tactics in accessing food according to their sex and to their mothers’ dominance rank. Am. J. Primatol. 51:147–152, 2000.

Digit Ratio 2D:4D, facial masculinization and aggressiveness in Spanish adolescents / Índice 2D:4D, masculinización facial y agresividad en adolescentes españoles

Abstract This study aims to test whether two morphometric characteristics, the second to fourth finger length ratio (2D:4D index) and the facial width-to-height ratio (FWH index), which reflects the degree of facial masculinization, are related to aggression in adolescents of both sexes. Previous studies have proposed that the 2D:4D index (a trait related to prenatal testosterone) and the FWH (related to testosterone during puberty) are related to aggressiveness in adult males (although there is evidence to the contrary). In the present study we investigate the relationship of both traits with different measures of aggression in a mixed population of 296 adolescents (14–19 years old). We did not find relationships between 2D:4D and FWH with aggressiveness. Furthermore, our results suggest that the FWH index must be used only after controlling for body mass index.