!Mating! Shiping Tang , 2 nd Semester

Transcription

1 11A: From (Social) Psychology to Social Evolutionary Psychology!Mating! Shiping Tang Fudan University , 2 nd Semester

2 Two key tasks: Survival and Reproduction The majority of our psychology can be understood as serving two tasks: Survival and Reproduction (Mating) Why can, indeed dmust, we try to understand dh human (social) psychology in light of social evolution, not just biology evolution Why non evolutionary approach is inadequate, if not misleading Why a purely biological evolutionary approach is inadequate, if not misleading Toward a social ilevolutionary (human) psychology. Dobzhansky (1973): Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. To paraphrase it, Nothing in human psychology makes sense except in the light of social evolution.

3 The Master Emotions Fear/insecurity (also horror/terror) Amazement, surprise, and wonder Hatred/resentment (connected to honor, and ego) Anger/Rage: how to manage it, esp. rage Pleasure/Happiness/Satisfaction Sadness/grief/agony Disappointment/Disgust (vs. self or others) Respect/Disrespect Shame/embarassment (we flush!) LOVE/SEX/DESIRE: / The Social Evolutionary Psychology of Mating (to be continued)

4 LOVE/DESIRE/(real) SEX LOVE/DESIRE/(real) / SEX: The Social Evolutionary Psychology of Mating. Sex is not inherently linked with love. Desire is inherently linked with sex. Hence, desire is not inherently linked with love either. Love in the strict sense, is exclusively human (with mind ). Love is a very strange thing: it is underpinned by sexual desire, but not all of it is sex or sexual desire. Is love purely emotional, buttressed by desire Marriage is a social outcome, with a biological foundation (and now without too).

5 (Inclusive) Fitness in biology In biology, fitness is fundamentally measured in the number of offspring an individual has left behind. Our fitness is part of our welfare, but not the only component of our welfare. The strategies of reproduction determined by biological evolution alone are to increase our fitness. But our strategies of reproduction determined by social evolution are not necessarily geared toward an increase of our fitness per se. Inclusive fitness: the number of copies of genome/genes an individual has left behind. Inclusive fitness is a bedrock concept in evolutionary biology and later, sociobiology, first proposed by William D. Hamilton (1964), The Genetic Foundation of Social Behavior, two parts (Journal of Theoretical Biology).

6 Preferences for Partners in Fantasy, Short term, Long term Female Fantasy (Day dreaming) Short term (One night stand) Long term (love, even marriage) Male

7 The Purposes of Sex and Emotions For Love For Desire For Profit (e.g., food) Female For safety (i.e., being coerced) Male

8 Oh, appearance is (un )important! The evolution of our recognition of attractive face shape and body shape: both sexes

9 Symmetry, Averageness, Sexual Dimorphism

10 The competition Competition & Conflicts in (Human) Reproduction Competition between the two sexes Competition members within the samesex sex Competition between parents and their offspring Competition among siblings (sibling competition) Harmony is difficult without competition/conflict. In competition, we often play to win, with (whatever) means A competitive relationship produces what Even what

11 Basic facts of human reproduction I Only females can carry a baby bb In a given period, females can only carry babies by one male. In contrast, males can impregnate many females, given opportunities. Females shoulder the daily task of raising a child. Human infants are essentially hapless. Although Homo sapiens is not the species with the longest pregnancy period, it takes a tremendous amount of energy consumption, time, and training (or learning/socialization) for an infant to become an adult. In short, rising an offspring is extremely costly, for his/her parents Males are more physically built than females. [Hence]

12 Basic facts of human reproduction II Unlike other primates (e.g., chimps; gorillas), human females do not advertise their ovulation, physically. Human beings are the only species with the emotion called shame : we flush. Whereas other primates engage in sexual intercourses in front of other fellow group members, humans [normally] do not engage gg in sexual intercourse in front of other human beings. This is true even among barbarians. It is possible that human is the only primate species that cannot remain alert when engaging in sex. [from forest with love]

13 Some Other Facts of Human Society For a long time, hunting and gathering society it Gathering was the primary source of calories Hunting. Esp. big hunt was rare, with primitive tools. Hunting has been an overwhelmingly male sport. Females may have some slight advantages in gathering over males. Initially, i human society was egalitarian, i both politically i ll and economically. First, political equality was gone (maybe ~10000BC) Second, economic equality gone too (maybe ~ BC) War came fairly later in human civilization, but war became brutal and rampant fairly quickly. Before human intervention, pregnancy could not be terminated by external intervention, at least not very easily. Relative safe abortion, Contraceptive (morning pill), and condom came rather late in human history, but together they might have had a profound impact on human reproduction behaviors/conducts, and even cultural norms.

14 Psychology of Fear and Trust in Love Judgment under uncertainty: tit Two types of error: false Positive (type I error) vs. false Negative (type II error) We cannot simultaneously l minimize i i both errors: decreasing the likelihood of one error inevitably increases the likelihood of the other error. Evolution primes our braintoward making the less costly error: evolution has bestowed us with an error management capacity (Haselton, Buss, and DeKay 1998). Because failing to detect and (over )react toward danger can be so devastating and potentially fatal, our brain is willing to risk false positive than false negative when facing an unknown other. A false positive error (i.e., elicitation of a fear response to a stimulus that turned out to be harmless) entails wasting resources, but reduces risk to survival In contrast, a false negative error (i.e., failure to elicit the defensive response when facing a potential threat/danger) can be fatal. A classic example is snake phobia. What about fear and trust in love Hint: it is complicated!

15 Other Key Traits of the Integrated Psychology of Fear and Trust I (in love) Attribution Biases: When it comes to explain others intentional behavior, we tend to attribution dispositional causes/motives/intentions to others undesirable (i.e., unfriendly, real or perceived ) behavior: the other side has behaved unfriendly because itis is inherently malignant. In contrast, we tend to attribute situational intentions to others friendly bh behavior : the other side has bh behaved dfriendly not because it is inherently benign but because it has to or wanted to manipulate (e.g., to please or to trap us). The function of attribution biases from an evolutionary perspective: these attribution biases keep our mind alert toward potential dangers from others by preventing our mind from trusting others too easily and lapsing into complacency for long. What kind of attributions in intimaterelationships Hint: we all hate being., especially intimate relationships.

16 Other Key Traits of the Integrated Psychology of Fear and Trust II (in love) Ethnocentrism: egocentrism at the group level ethnocentric individuals value their own group s interest but neglect other groups interest. Individuals tend to neglect others legitimate interests (including their hifear of ourselves) when trying to interpret others behavior. Without taking others interest into account, we tend to marginalize legitimate reasons behind others bh behavior and emphasize others possible malignant intentions. Ethnocentrism emphasizes our loyalty to our own group, we especially decision makers fear that we mayfail to safeguard our group s interest by being soft on a possible opponent (an outgroup) Ethnocentrism prevents criticalthinking thinking about our own group. Specifically, ethnocentrism prevents us from pondering whether our own behavior might have somehow contributed to others (undesirable) behavior. Even in intimate relationship, we are still egocentric..

17 Other Key Traits of the Integrated Psychology of Fear and Trust III (in love) Lack of Systemic Thinking: During the course of evolution, our brain has been conditioned to think fast and frugally (thus simplistically) when facing a potential danger: doing so allows us to react to potential danger faster. Because thinking systemically requires far more effort than thinking simplistically, we have developed this general disinclination to think systemically as a form of effort reduction for our mental process (Shah and Oppenheimer 2008; see also Gigerenzer and Goldstein 1996). This is energy saving, thus perhaps also conducive to survival in the jungle. We tend to focus on the more observable part of others (i.e., immediate behavior, military capability). We do not ask whether the other side s behavior may be a rational reaction to a situation he faces (e.g., conditioned by his fear of ourselves and others) that is, he has reasons to behave as he has behaved. Lackofsystemic thinking hinders usfromavoiding some ofourattribution our biases, reducing our ethnocentrism, and containing our fear. This will be true even if decision makers know that our cognition has all those biases and errors, not to mention that most decision makers have only the faintest idea about the existence of those biases and errors. In intimate relationships, especially, systemic thinking becomes more critical.

18 Sense of Fear or Sense Security of insecurity Others capabilities to do harm Trust Uncertainty over others intentions Mistrust Reassurance and cooperation Provocation and Competition The Social Evolutionary Psychology of Fear

19 理解他人的行为 : 复杂的归因过程 任何行为是这样的一个函数的结果 : 行为 =F( 内部的意愿 / 制约 外部的制约 决心 ) 内部维度 能力 (power/capability) 利益 (interest; goals 对结果的偏好 野心) 这里可以将 国家利益的建构 引入进来 意图 (intentions; 通过一方对手段或者战略的偏好而体现 ) 这里可以将一个国家内部的决策者或者决策者集团的对战略的偏好引入进来 决心 (resolve) 外部维度 : 外部环境 ( 比如盟友的多寡 政治经济趋势, 乃至地理环境的趋势 ) 归因他人的行为 ( 含语言 ) 为何如此之重要 归因他人的行为 ( 含语言 ) 为何会有这些偏差 The challenges posed by other fellow humans! And we c! Not always but quite often!!and this poses a great source of danger!

20 不同因素的不同挑战同挑战 -IIa: 社会进化决定的偏差 (biases) 能力 决心 冲突关系模棱两可合作关系 当我们比对方强大很多时, 我们容易低估对方的能力 当双方能力差不多或对方比我们强时, 我们比较容易高估对方的能力 和我们对对方能力的估计相似 不太考虑这一个维度 我们容易低估对方能够给合作带来的东西 我们容易低估对方合作的决心 利益我们容易忽视 不理睬 非法化 (de-legitimate ) 对方的利益 ( 而对我们的利益则看得很重 )

21 不同因素的不同挑战同挑战 -IIb: 社会进化决定的偏差 (biases) 冲突关系模棱两可合作关系 意图 我们容易高估对方的恶意, 而低估对方的善意 环境 如果对方的行为是我们喜好的, 我们认为对方时被迫的 如果对方的行为是我们不喜好的, 我们认为对方是有意的 总体趋势面对不确定性时, 我们的认知更利于导致冲突, 而不利于构建合作

22 Other Biological Tools for Selecting mates The Scents of a Woman. Body odor/pheromones Deception detection: some evidences thatfemales are more capable than males in detecting deception But then why still so many females got deceived Hint:. Women s mating preferences: Female lust as adaptive trait, biologically speaking Men s mating preferences Male lust as an adaptive trait, biologically speaking. Costly signaling in mating: mostly by men. But lust is only one factor in shaping actual marriage, if not for merely sexual encounters. The cost/benefit of female chastity [ 贞洁 贞操贞操 ] in human. [In our close relatives/primates, there is no such thing.] So why did we develop the fairly powerful norm/notion of female chastity, but not much for male chastity

23 Understanding Human Mating Sociology: norms, taboos, laws etc. Economics/politics: material gains, political power. Sociobiology: the first step toward an evolutionary understanding of human mating choices/strategies Sexual Selection Theory & Parental Investment Theory (Darwin 1871; Fisher 1930; Trivers 1972; Buss 1988; 1989) But a purely biological evolution point of view is incomplete, and hence, misleading. Our mating choices/strategies are both biological and social. il( (Recall, priority i and weight) ih) So how do socialization/anti socialization shape our mating choices andstrategies Hint: the more critical forces in human societies are not necessarily the physical attraction, although it helps, p, to some degree. [.]+[.] are usually more powerful.

24 Why not just sex (with love) The Social Evolution of Marriage Pattern Sex is fun, but not for fun only. If sex is for fun only, what would it be Promiscuity. Sex is fun partially because the human reproduction process demands some kind of long term bonds within a nuclear family, and having sex is helpful (biologically or socially). Yet, sex (without love) is fundamentally detrimental to the welfare of which sex Yet, sex (without love) is fundamentally conducive to the welfare of which sex What about fitness

25 The Social Evolution of Marriage Pattern Note: we only discuss marriages involving two sexes. It can be argued that same sex marriage is a purely socially driven outcome: it hasno reproduction role. Marriage is universal: nuclear family or not. Incest ttb taboo/endogamy /Ed (ancient tegypt) Exogamy Polygamy Polygyny (multiple females within a family): imperial harem; but sometimes, inmale male depleted societies. Conducive to Polyandry (multiple males within a family): Tibet (or Himalaya Mountains). High male absteneeism. Conducive to ) g Monogamy: legal or not, monogamy is the predominant form of marriage. The key question is why monogamy (as a social outcome)