Francis T. McAndrew

New Evolutionary Perspectives on Altruism: Multilevel-Selection and Costly-Signaling Theories

Social psychological theories tend to be primarily concerned with the immediate causes of altruism, whereas evolutionary explanations focus more on the origins and ultimate functions of altruistic behavior. Recent developments in the evolutionary psychology of altruism promise an even richer understanding of this important category of social behaviors. Specifically, new perspectives offered by multilevel-selection theory and costly-signaling theory may help to shed light on some of the more problematic issues in the study of altruism.

Guns, Testosterone, and Aggression An Experimental Test of a Mediational Hypothesis

We tested whether interacting with a gun increased testosterone levels and later aggressive behavior. Thirty male college students provided a saliva sample (for testosterone assay), interacted with either a gun or a childrens toy for 15 min, and then provided another saliva sample. Next, subjects added as much hot sauce as they wanted to a cup of water they believed another subject would have to drink. Males who interacted with the gun showed significantly greater increases in testosterone and added more hot sauce to the water than did those who interacted with the childrens toy. Moreover, increases in testosterone partially mediated the effects of interacting with the gun on this aggressive behavior.

A Cross-Cultural Study of Recognition Thresholds for Facial Expressions of Emotion

Forty American (20 males, 20 females) and 31 Malaysian (20 males, II females) college students responded to 60 tachistoscopic presentations of photographs of facial expressions by judging the gender and the emotional expression of each face. The duration of exposure times ranged from 3 msec. to 800 msec. Stable recognition thresholds for most emotional expressions were established by 12 or 25 msec., with fear requiring 300 msec. to be recognized by each group of subjects. Happiness and sadness were the most accurately identified emotions, and anger and fear were the most difficult for subjects to recognize. Females were better than males at identifying surprise and fear, especially at the longer exposure times, and the ability to identify anger was strongly affected by both the sex and cultural background of the subject. Although there were several instances in which Malaysian and American subjects differed, overall accuracy of recognition and perceptual thresholds were not strongly related to differences in ethnic background.

Celebrities: from teachers to friends: a test of two hypotheses on the adaptiveness of celebrity gossip

In this paper we present two compatible hypotheses to explain interest in celebrity gossip. The Learning Hypothesis explains interest in celebrity gossip as a by-product of an evolved mechanism useful for acquiring fitness-relevant survival information. The Parasocial Hypothesis sees celebrity gossip as a diversion of this mechanism, which leads individuals to misperceive celebrities as people who are part of their social network. Using two preliminary studies, we tested our predictions. In a survey with 838 respondents and in-depth interviews with 103 individuals, we investigated how interest in celebrity gossip was related to several dimensions of the participants’ social lives. In support of the Learning Hypothesis, age proved to be a strong predictor of interest in celebrities. In partial support of the Parasocial Hypothesis, media exposure, but not social isolation, was a strong predictor of interest in celebrities. The preliminary results support both theories, indicate that across our life span celebrities move from being teachers to being friends, and open up a list of future research opportunities.

Grip strength as a function of exposure to red or green visual stimulation.

40 male college students exhibited greater grip strength in the presence of red visual stimulation than they did when exposed to green. Several confounding factors present in previous tests of the color-strength hypothesis were carefully controlled.

How Do We Decide Whom Our Friends Are? Defining Levels of Friendship in Poland and the United States

Participants were 57 U.S. college students and 56 Polish university students and copper mine workers who judged the intimacy of 9 hypothetical relationships and also rated the intensity of their relationships with a best friend, a friend, and an acquaintance on the Friendship Intensity Measurement Scale (FIMS; T. S. Arunkumar & B. Dharmangadan, 2001). The present results confirmed that people perceive (a) relationships with best friends as more intense and intimate than other friendships and (b) other friendships as more intense and intimate than acquaintanceships. The results also indicated that Americans perceive all of their relationships, ranging from mere acquaintanceships to intimate friendships, as more intense and intimate than do Poles. It was somewhat surprising that there were no sex differences in either country in the perception of relationships. The authors discussed the research in the context of the difficulty of defining what friendship is and how an individuals cultural background might interact with person variables such as age and sex.

A multicultural study of stereotyping in english-speaking countries

Abstract Citizens of 9 different English-speaking countries (N = 619) evaluated the average, or typical, citizen of 5 English-speaking countries (Great Britain, Canada, Nigeria, United States, Australia) on 9 pairs of bipolar adjectives. Participants were drawn from Australia, Botswana, Canada, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, the United States, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. There were statistically significant similarities in the rankings of the 5 stimulus countries on 8 of the 9 adjective dimensions and a strong convergence of autostereotypes and heterostereotypes on many traits. The results relate to previous stereotyping research and traditional methods of assessing the accuracy of national stereotypes.

The mating strategies and mate preferences of mail order brides

Two studies explored the mating strategies and mate preferences of mail order brides (MOBs) from three different countries. In the first study, 48 Colombian MOBs were compared with 44 single Colombian women who were not MOBs on a variety of attitudinal and demographic characteristics. Both groups also identified qualities that they wished to communicate about themselves to a prospective mate, qualities that they most desired in a mate, and qualities that they believed were most highly sought after by a prospective mate. In the second study, the expressed mate preferences of 60 MOBs from Colombia, Russia, and the Philippines were compared. With only minor cross-cultural variability, both studies confirmed the importance of characteristics such as commitment, ambition, and sexual fidelity that have been identified in previous studies of female mate choice. The results are discussed within a framework of evolutionary explanations for mate preferences in human females.

A Cross-Cultural Ranking of Stressful Life Events in Germany, India, South Africa, and the United States

Five groups of college and university students (N= 555) from four countries ranked 32 life events according to the amount of stress each was perceived to cause. The analyses of the rankings revealed substantial agreement on the relative stressfulness of life events among Americans, Germans, Indians, non-White South Africans, and White South Africans. The results suggest that standard measures of life stress can be used cross-culturally with some degree of confidence.

Sociobiology and the naming of adopted and natural children

Abstract A study of ninety-six adoptive families and one hundred and four nonadaptive families revealed that adopted children were significantly more likely to be named after a parent or relative than natural children were. When natural children were namesakes of relatives, they were more likely to be named after a patrilineal than a matrilineal relative, and boys were more likely to be namesaked than girls; neither was true of adopted children. The results are discussed in light of evolutionary theory, with naming seen as a form of parental input inversely related to the certainty of kinship between parent and child.