R. Michael Brown

TARGET ARTICLE: Selective Investment Theory: Recasting the Functional Significance of Close Relationships

In this article we present an evolutionary theory of altruism-Selective Investment Theory (SIT). The essence of SIT is that human social bonds evolved as overarching, emotion regulating mechanisms designed to promote reliable, high-cost altruism among individuals who depend on one another for survival and reproduction (e.g., offspring, mates, coalition members). We view the social bond as a dynamic memory complex, with cognitive, affective, and neurohormonal features. When activated, this complex works to minimize self versus other motivational conflicts associated with altruistic decision making. Our proposal that social bonds evolved because they promoted giving away (as opposed to getting) valuable resources represents a departure from traditional wisdom, and has important implications for interpreting and investigating close relationship phenomena.

Coping With Spousal Loss: Potential Buffering Effects of Self-Reported Helping Behavior

The present study examined the role of self-reported helping behavior in attenuating the helpers depression following spousal loss. Using archival data from the Changing Lives of Older Couples sample (N = 289), the study shows that among bereaved participants who had experienced high loss-related grief, helping behavior (providing instrumental support to others) was associated with an accelerated decline in depressive symptoms for the helper from 6 months to 18 months following spousal loss. This relationship between giving help and recovery from depression was independent of support received, as well as measured health, and interpersonal and demographic factors. Implications of these results for theoretical approaches to the study of close relationships and well-being are discussed.

Gender and video game performance

We investigated potential gender differences in video game (pong) performance in university students. In Experiment 1 men (N = 16) performed significantly better than women (N = 16). Experiment 2 was similar to the first, but used 14 men and 14 women who were matched carefully on previous video game experience. In spite of the matching, results replicated those of the first experiment. In Experiment 3 we evaluated the effect of an audience (male, female, none) on pong performance in 42 men and 42 women. We also assessed trait competition anxiety (Sport Competition Anxiety Test scores), sex role identification (Bem Sex Role Inventory scores), and video game experience. Both genders showed significantly poorer performance when they played pong in the presence of a female audience. Overall, males outperformed females as in the first two experiments. Examination of individuals with low, medium, and high levels of sport competition anxiety and videogame experience reveals persistent gender differences in performance, seemingly independent of levels of anxiety and experience. In all three experiments, both men and women showed significant improvement in performance over trials.

Connecting prosocial behavior to improved physical health: Contributions from the neurobiology of parenting.

Although a growing body of evidence suggests that giving to (helping) others is linked reliably to better health and longevity for the helper, little is known about causal mechanisms. In the present paper we use a recently developed model of caregiving motivation to identify possible neurophysiological mechanisms. The model describes a mammalian neurohormonal system that evolved to regulate maternal care, but over time may have been recruited to support a wide variety of helping behaviors in humans and other social animals. According to the model, perception of need or distress in others activates caregiving motivation, which in turn, can facilitate helping behavior. Motivational regulation is governed by the medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus, interacting with certain other brain regions, hormones, and neuromodulators (especially oxytocin and progesterone). Consideration of neurohormonal circuitry and related evidence raises the possibility that it is these hormones, known to have stress-buffering and restorative properties, that are responsible, at least in part, for health and longevity benefits associated with helping others.

Empirical support for an evolutionary model of self-destructive motivation

We tested predictions generated from an evolutionary account of self-destructive motivation in two survey studies of 18-24-year-old university students. As hypothesized, hierarchical regressions showed that the positive relationship between perceived burden to family and suicide ideation was amplified for participants with low measured health and romantic relationship satisfaction, and for participants with relatively young mothers. The moderating effect of maternal age was also observed in logistic regressions of suicide attempts. These effects occurred independently of depression, hopelessness, and other relevant extraneous variables. Results have implications for understanding self-destructive motivation, assessing suicide risk, and preventing suicidal thinking and behavior.

Evidence for a Player's Position Advantage in a Videogame

An understanding of videogame performance may increase our knowledge of human performance generally and clarify ways in which performance can be enhanced. Few studies to date have examined factors that may contribute to successful performance in videogames. The hypothesis, based on preliminary observation, was that the position one occupies—right or left—affects performance in a television ping-pong game (“pong”). Analysis showed that right-handed male university students (n = 40) performed better when seated on the right than on the left. The right-side advantage was maintained even when subjects were presented a mirror-image of the game, indicating that characteristics of the apparatus were not solely responsible for the effect. Perhaps compatibility of certain display and response components in the pong game accounted for the advantage of the players position.

Towards uniting the behavioral sciences with a gene-centered approach to altruism

We support the ambitious goal of unification within the behavioral sciences. We suggest that Darwinian evolution by means of natural selection can provide the integrative glue for this purpose, and we review our own work on selective investment theory (SIT), which is an example of how other-regarding preferences can be accommodated by a gene-centered account of evolution.

AUTHORS' RESPONSE: SIT Stands and Delivers: A Reply to the Commentaries

We appreciate the lively and wide-ranging discus sion of our exposition of selective investment theory (SIT). Commentators raised many excellent points, both positive and negative. In structuring our reply we summarize features of SIT seen as strengths and weak nesses by the commentators, and then turn our atten tion to critiques that are troubling to us, as they appear to be based on a misreading or mischaracterization of SIT. In conclusion, we consider the possibilities and obstacles involved in any attempt to recast the func tional significance of social relationships.