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Males' Greater Tolerance of Same-Sex Peers
Abstract
Three studies were conducted to examine the often-cited conclusion that human females are more sociable than males. Using perceptions of roommates, roommate changes at three collegiate institutions, and an experimental manipulation of friendship beliefs, the studies demonstrated unequivocally that males exhibit a higher threshold of tolerance for genetically unrelated same-sex individuals than females do. Tolerance was defined as acceptance of the stresses and strains within relationships. Results are discussed in terms of potential underlying mechanisms and ultimate explanations.
... Females hold their same-sex friends to higher standards than males do, particularly in terms of loyalty and intimacy (Hall, 2011). Accordingly, in the case of minor transgressions several North American studies show that girls and young women terminate their friendships more readily than boys and men do (Benenson & Alavi, 2004;Benenson & Christakos, 2003;Benenson et al., 2009;MacEvoy & Asher, 2012). Likewise, more than men, women dislike cooperating with same-sex individuals they find unlikeable (Gerhards & Kosfeld, 2020) or competitive (Lee et al., 2016). ...
... It is likely that one reason is that unrelated females enhance competition, and perhaps even fitness costs. For example, some evidence suggests that unrelated women who reside together experience greater distress than men whether in college (Benenson et al., 2009) or in polygynous unions (Jankowiak et al., 2005). Lower RS furthermore was found for unrelated married women who lived in the same household whether in monogamous (Pettay et al., 2016) or polygynous (McDermott, 2018) marriages. ...
... tension reduction through signaling lack of intent to compete, enhancing empathic capacities through practice, and/or bonding over shared difficulties. Girls' and women's same-sex friendships however appear to be more fragile and their ending to elicit greater distress compared to male friendships (Benenson & Christakos, 2003;Benenson et al., 2009;O'Connor, 1992;Rubin, 1985;Tracy, 1991). Relatedly, girls and women seem more concerned than boys and men about being socially excluded Blackhart et al., 2009;Simmons, 2003;Wiseman, 2002). ...
Objectives
A paradox exists in research on girls and women. On the one hand, they behave in a more egalitarian fashion than their male counterparts. On the other hand, status increases their own and their children’s survival.
Methods
Evidence from non-human primates can help reconcile these findings. In species that do not reside with female kin for life, females are relatively egalitarian and individualistic. They typically do not cooperate or engage in direct competition and exhibit little tolerance for status differentials.
Results and Conclusions
Women follow this pattern. While a husband’s status and her female relatives’ support enhance a woman’s status and reproductive success, her own actions too influence her access to resources and allies. Evidence on girls’ and women’s same-sex competition and quests for status supports the hypothesis that human females inhabit dispersal-egalitarian communities in which competition is avoided, an egalitarian ethos prevails, competitive behavior is disguised, and status differentials are not tolerated.
... Modern men also tend to defer to same-sex peers possessing traits that were historically beneficial in intergroupwarfare, such as courage, dominance, pain tolerance, and physical strength (Eisenbruch, Grillot, Maestripieri, & Roney, 2016;Winegard, Reynolds, Baumeister, & Plant, 2016;Winegard, Winegard, & Geary, 2014). Compared to women, men are more willing to befriend same-sex peers and less likely to dissolve same-sex friendships, tendencies which likely allowed men to form large groups, thereby gaining numerical advantages in historical conflicts (Benenson, 1990(Benenson, , 2014Benenson et al., 2009;Vigil, 2007). ...
... Such heightened preferences for prosociality and loyalty suggest interpersonal defection may have been especially costly to our female, compared to male, ancestors. These patterns also suggest presumptions of interpersonal defection may corrode female friendships, perhaps contributing to the greater vulnerability of female (versus male) friendships to dissolution (Benenson et al., 2009;Benenson & Christakos, 2003). If so, then interventions aimed at promoting female cooperation and friendship may strategically emphasize forgiveness or directing attention to the many ways a female ally has demonstrated commitment and loyalty, instead of tracking the various ways she has signaled defection (Hypothesis 5, see Table 1). ...
Investigations of women’s same-sex relationships present a paradoxical pattern, with women generally disliking competition, yet also exhibiting signs of intrasexual rivalry. The current article leverages the historical challenges faced by female ancestors to understand modern women’s same-sex relationships. Across history, women were largely denied independent access to resources, often depending on male partners’ provisioning to support themselves and their children. Same-sex peers thus became women’s primary romantic rivals in competing to attract and retain relationships with the limited partners able and willing to invest. Modern women show signs of this competition, disliking and aggressing against those who threaten their romantic prospects, targeting especially physically attractive and sexually uninhibited peers. However, women also rely on one another for aid, information, and support. As most social groups were patrilocal across history, upon marriage, women left their families to reside with their husbands. Female ancestors likely used reciprocal altruism or mutualism to facilitate cooperative relationships with nearby unrelated women. To sustain these mutually beneficial cooperative exchange relationships, women may avoid competitive and status-striving peers, instead preferring kind, humble, and loyal allies. Ancestral women who managed to simultaneously compete for romantic partners while forming cooperative female friendships would have been especially successful. Women may therefore have developed strategies to achieve both competitive and cooperative goals, such as guising their intrasexual competition as prosociality or vulnerability. These historical challenges make sense of the seemingly paradoxical pattern of female aversion to competition, relational aggression, and valuation of loyal friends, offering insight into possible opportunities for intervention.
... The target-specific account thus generates nuanced predictions emphasizing the importance of toward whom one's friends direct their competitiveness. Specifically, this account predicts that (a) when competition is directed toward oneself, compared to men, women will disfavor competitiveness in same-sex friends, as per a social ecology view, perhaps because women perceive such competitiveness as being more costly (e.g., Benenson et al., 2009Benenson et al., , 2022. But (b), this sex difference will lessen when a friend's competitiveness is directed at certain other targets. ...
Competition is a fundamental aspect of human behavior, but its social acceptability seems to be dependent on sex. While both men and women benefit from competition as a means of resource acquisition (Anderson et al., 2015; Durkee et al., 2020; Majolo et al., 2012; Zerjal et al., 2003), women tend to be socially penalized for their competitiveness in their friendships (Benenson & Schinazi, 2004; Goodwin, 1990; Maltz & Borker, 1982). We test between gender roles, social ecology, and target-specific accounts for which people, if anyone, disfavors competitive women as friends and friendly coworkers. In four U.S. experiments (N = 1,283; three preregistered) we find: Although women disfavor competitiveness in same-sex friends more than men, this effect is largely specific to competition directed toward oneself (and, secondarily, toward one’s friends); it attenuates when people consider friends’ competitiveness toward other targets (e.g., one’s rival), supporting a target-specific account. The findings imply that while people—especially women—do not universally disfavor competitive women, they selectively disapprove of competition when it poses a personal cost to themselves or their friends.
... Because this type of self-monitoring is public, it allows participants to observe and identify with others who are also actively managing their weight and form common bonds with them. Importantly, these bonds are formed without the need for intensive social interaction, aligning with the male tendency to favor less emotionally demanding (Benenson et al., 2009) and more stable forms of social attachments (Baumeister & Sommer, 1997;Durant et al., 2012;Wood & Inman, 1993). As a result, men engaging in individually structured self-monitoring are more likely to participate in the community longer, facilitated by the formation of these common, yet less demanding, bonds. ...
Being overweight plagues half of the world’s population, suggesting there is a need for solutions, such as virtual health communities (VHCs) constructed to benefit users and the community. We examined participant behavior in a VHC for men focused on weight management and compared their weight loss through an analysis of covariance to identify mechanisms that lead to positive health outcomes and increased engagement. Participants contributed to the VHC via self-monitoring mechanisms, and we found that men engaging in self-monitoring which is individually-focused and structured are more likely to lose weight but also more transient than those engaging in unstructured self-monitoring. The reverse was found for men engaging in structured self-monitoring in a group setting, creating an interesting paradox. These results provide foundations for practical suggestions for VHCs.
... The second objective of the paper was to compare the tolerance level among male and female university students. The results are same with the research conducted on the topic "Males' greater tolerance of same-sex peers" (Benenson, 2009). The research confirmed inequality that males have a higher inception of tolerance for heritably unconnected same-sex persons than women ensure. ...
This article aims at the depiction of collective and individual agony and problems faced by the modern society. The contemporary poetry is a portrayal of social differences and incidents that affect the conscious and subconscious of people. The ever-increasing rat race of materialism and lack of spirituality has drawn a deep chasm between the Madern Man, s soul and body. It has disrupted the harmony that existed before this chaos. The contemporary poetry defines the Man, s search for his identity, his deep-rooted self-doubt, sexual perversion and the disintegration of the basic structure of religion and morality through various poetic modes. This paper aims to analyze such images, metaphors and symbols used in the contemporary poetry in the same context.
... Although friendships would have been universally beneficial across evolutionary time for all who were able to maintain them, there are some uncertainties regarding the sex differences in preferences for traits in friends (Ayers et al., 2023;Ein-Dor et al., 2015;Hall, 2011;Pham et al., 2014;Vigil, 2007;Williams et al., 2022). For example, previous research has indicated that women may prioritize friendships that are more emotionally close than men do (Benenson et al., 1997;David-Barrett et al., 2015;Kon et al., 1978;Wright, 1982) and that this leads women's friendships to be less tolerant of potential disruptions to the closeness within and prioritization of these relationships (Benenson, 2014;Benenson & Christakos, 2003;Benenson et al., 2009;Reynolds, 2021). Much of this research has focused on the appropriateness and expectations of 'female-typical' strategies used in friendship formation and has not incorporated 'male-typical' strategies that enhance intimacy in friendship (Cancian, 1986;Migliaccio, 2010). ...
Friendship is a unique and underexplored area of human sociality. Research suggests that humans have preferences for characteristics in their friends that maximize the benefits of these relationships. Yet, whereas more friends might increase friendship benefits, humans also have limited time, resources, and energy to invest in finding high-quality friends, making it likely that the nature of these preferences differs depending on the resources an individual has available to invest in this goal. Across two studies (total N = 693), we investigated how this trade-off may function by investigating the nature of friendship preferences. In Study 1, we utilized the budget paradigm method from behavioral economics to investigate the necessities and luxuries in friendship preferences. In Study 2, we replicated these preferences with a novel method and extended our investigation into understanding the hierarchical nature of these preferences. Taken together, our results provide a promising starting point for research investigating trade-offs between necessities and luxuries in friendship preferences.
... In modern day, both hunting large packaged resources and warfare/group conflict are still most-male activities (Bowles, 2009;Potts & Hayden, 2008). To overcome such social dilemmas requires strategies to cooperate with each other, and the evidence suggests that this has produced a suite of male coalitional adaptations, including male bonding and male-to-male cooperation (Benenson et al., 2009;Rapoport & Chammah, 1965;Yuki & Yokota, 2009). ...
When interacting with strangers, people tend to draw inferences pertaining to the strangers’ personality traits based on their facial information, which leads to differential feelings of trust for the strangers. This study explored whether the weightage which individuals’ provide to facial warmth and competence changes with social situations when they have to make decisions based on trust. In experiment 1, a donation context was set, and the participants tended to select a stranger volunteer with feminine face as the recipient of a higher donation amount. In experiment 2, an investment context was set, and while interacting with male trustees, the participants tended to select masculine male faces as recipients of a higher investment amount. However, a contradictory result was obtained when the participants interacted with the female trustees. Participants’ perceptions of the trustworthiness of the four kinds of faces (feminine or masculine male faces, feminine or masculine female faces) predicted the corresponding donation and investment amounts. The results indicated that feminine faces (both male and female) were preferred as recipients of donation, and the warmth in the faces was given more weightage in the donation context (warmth perception). In the investment context (competence perception), participants tended to choose masculine faces as recipients of investment amount among the male faces but showed a preference for feminine faces among female faces. The research provides empirical support for a better understanding of the mechanisms behind highly flexible and complex social interactions among humans.
... In addition to the limited time and resources that prevent us from cultivating as many friendships as possible, individual differences such as age and sex influence which people we aim to befriend. For example, women's friendships are generally described as being less robust to turbulence (Benenson, 2014;Benenson et al., 2009) but more emotionally close (Benenson et al., 1997;David-Barrett et al., 2015;Kon & Losenkov, 1978;Wright, 1982) compared to men's friendships, though this sex difference is believed to decrease with age (Fox et al., 1985). Researchers have also suggested that such individual differences lead to sex differences in the traits men and women prioritize in friends (Hall, 2011;Ein-Dor et al., 2015;Pham et al., 2014;Vigil, 2007;Williams et al., 2022), the rules we want our friends to follow (Felmlee et al., 2012;Hall, 2011), and the importance of friends across the lifespan (Blieszner et al., 2019;Felmlee & Muraco, 2009;Miche et al., 2013). ...
Friendships are valuable relationships that can bestow many benefits. How can humans ensure they receive the maximum benefits with minimal potential costs? One possible solution is to have preferences for traits, expectations, and rules in friendship. This could, for example, help people pursue beneficial friendships and jettison costly friendships. Previous research robustly documented that such preferences for traits, expectations, and rules exist, though they are often combined, and indicates that they may be sex-specific. Across two studies (N = 853), our factor analyses documented that preferences for desired traits in friendship are organized into two broad categories with women rating intrinsic traits as more important in their friendship come pared to men’s ratings. Similarly, factor analyses showed that preferences for rules in friendship are organized into four broad categories with women rating all rule categories as more important in their friendships compared to men’s ratings.
... Although women report having closer and more supportive relationships with their same-sex peers than do men (Baumgarte & Nelson, 2009), beginning in childhood, women are less affiliative with, tolerant of, and invested in these peers than are men (Benenson & Alavi, 2004;Benenson et al., 2009Benenson et al., , 2015. Girls are commonly thought to be more social than boys, however, research shows that girls spend less time with their same-sex peers than boys, a tendency that arises in early childhood (Benenson et al., 1998(Benenson et al., , 2012(Benenson et al., , 2015. ...
Across four studies, the current research tested the prediction that women would perceive greater competitive tendencies in same- (vs. cross-) sex others when resources were scarce. Contrary to predictions, results found evidence that women perceived more competitive tendencies in same- (vs. cross-) sex targets when resources were abundant. Study 1 demonstrated that women (but not men) perceived greater competition within groups of female same-sex targets (vs. groups of male same-sex targets and groups of cross-sex targets) residing in ecologies where resources were widely available; no such pattern emerged when judging competition within groups residing in ecologies where resources were scarce. In Study 2, women (but not men) who held relatively low levels of resource scarcity beliefs (i.e., those who believed resources were relatively abundant) attributed greater competitive tendencies to same-sex targets than cross-sex targets. Study 3 showed that enacting a resource abundance (but not a scarcity) mindset led women to expect same-sex targets to behave more competitively toward them than cross-sex targets; this effect, however, did not replicate in Study 4. With the exception of Study 4, these data suggest that, contrary to intuition—and our predictions—women perceive same-sex others to be more competitive than cross-sex others when resources are abundant.
... Following the same contention, heterosexual males exhibit a higher tolerance threshold for genetically unrelated same-sex individuals than heterosexual females. Tolerance was defined as acceptance and recognition of the stresses and strains within relationships (Benenson et al., 2009). The trait encapsulates the manifestation of valuing diversity and the reduction of stigma and homophobia (Johnston et al., 2021). ...
We are proud to announce the release of the third quarter journal issue (Volume 5 Number 3, July-September 2022). Twelve articles were included in this issue, exploring interesting social science topics with the use quantitative and qualitative research designs, particularly ethnographic, autoethnographic, and phenomenological approaches.
Jamaal S. Omamalin explored the social dynamics of Filipino social drinking, or "tagay" employing the qualitative research design through the ethnographic method as the primary research technique. Tagay is engaged by people for reasons usually celebratory and enjoyable in nature. It possesses social dynamics and elements which gear its conduct- rules, time and place, behaviors, gender and power relations, material components, roles, mechanisms, definitions, and functions. Differing through social considerations, the identity of tagay as a Filipino drinking culture remains distinct as embodied by a single drinking glass and continues to be dynamic and adaptive, relying on those who partake. Tagay becomes what it is depending on the perception of those who participate.
Elizabeth Susan V. Suarez investigated her role as a music educator -adult learner within the context of choral pedagogy. To answer her questions, she drew from my childhood experiences and discovered that "modelling behavior” is an exemplary pedagogical tool for expedited but efficient choral rehearsal. This led to the development of the Guided Partnered Model (GPM), which has shaped the learners, choir members, and my music appreciation, developing self-esteem, self-worth, and musicianship. The ethnography method was used for data collection, and writing was assembled through hindsight. Furthermore, data analysis was gleaned from narrative inquiry, finding that the expressions of knowledge, skills, and values evidenced through stage performances have resulted in self-affirmation. This provided reflective opportunities to develop this autoethnography.
Ma. Albina A. Serra-Labrador used autoethnography to describe her experiences as a mother-teacher during the peak of the pandemic. It is in the context of her experiences and other mother-teachers working from home, conflicts in the roles played by mother-teachers at home, the expectation of society, and social norms. It is about how she perceived her reproductive and productive roles. Moreover, she interviewed mother-teachers, and their stories served as counter and conforming narratives to my narratives. The following are emerging themes: the unprecedented time; a mother is born; off the rhythm; and silver lining. These themes discussed the various phases mother-teachers grappled upon and triumphed. Writing this autoethnography was a therapeutic experience for the high emotions she had to deal with during the pandemic.
Rianne Kate V. Reyes used autoethnography to provide a layered account of her experience as a locally stranded individual, particularly how she coped and used certain privileges to get out from such a dreadful experience. She conveyed her story by also incorporating different voices through related literature and interviews of other stranded students. Her journey begins with downplaying the pandemic's severity to coming to terms with her vulnerability at that time. Being stranded is akin to being stuck in limbo, overcoming the obstacles and challenges to get home, and realizing the importance of privilege in times of hardship. The coping strategies used while stranded reflect the distinct Filipino ways of coping, such as bayanihan, pag-tiis, and utang na loob. Writing this autoethnography has proven therapeutic and allowed her to see her experience in a wider context.
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Eric M. Ragpala explored the experiences of the COVID-19 survivors during their mandatory isolation Descriptive phenomenology is the research design used in the study. Snowball sampling was utilized to determine the 24 participants of the study. The data was gathered through an online semi-structured interview conducted via Google Meet and Zoom, two video communication applications. Thematic analysis was utilized to develop themes based on the responses from the COVID-19 survivors who served as participants. The study generated four themes with twelve sub-themes. The study revealed that mental health impacts how the participants perceive, feel, behave, and perform, as well as how they plan, handle stress, and interact with others. The participants' mental health has been compromised because of the mandatory isolation, and they expressed a wide range of psychological emotions, including stress, fear, anxiety, and loneliness, that may impact their mental health. Daily communication and entertainment, an optimistic mindset, and praying regularly are the coping mechanisms identified in the study. Coping mechanisms were developed to determine the activities made by the participants to mitigate the impact of mandatory isolation on their mental health.
Benny S. Soliman, Allan B. de Guzman, and Marc Eric S. Reyes utilized descriptive phenomenological method to characterize the mental health of a select group of Filipino YLHIV. In-depth interviews with ten fully consented male participants aged 18-30 were conducted. Field texts were subjected to Collaizi's (1978) seven-step data analysis method. Interestingly, the Mental Health Tower of Youth Living with HIV emerged after thoroughly analyzing the data. This model typifies the mental health of YLHIV, which operates in an environment where both internal and external pressures make them experience (a) disruptive thoughts, (b) depressive mood, and (c) deteriorative behavior. The study has vividly described the instability of the YLHIV's mental health. Therefore, it is vital to develop a mental health program specifically designed for youth living with HIV.
Chester Alan R. Merza conducted a qualitative study to explore and analyze the formation and dissolution of straight-gay friendships among 13 Ilocano men recruited through snowball and purposive sampling. Pagtatanong-tanong, an indigenous method of data gathering, was employed. Thematic analysis and investigator triangulation were performed for analysis and validation. Results revealed that for the formation phase, Ilocano men portrayed active and passive roles that shared interest, nourishing personality, and open-mindedness were strong social motivators. Likewise, the causes of possible dissolution were growing intimacy and physical distance. Termination can be either a direct or indirect approach. The understanding of this unorthodox alliance provided communal empathy and acceptance and carried the mission to educate about the interaction of both communities.
Holden Kenneth G. Alcazaren and John Robby O. Robiños assessed the research training needs of the faculty members in a private university in Bacoor, Cavite, regarding their current research characteristics (i.e., research self-efficacy, research attitudes, and research interests) as a basis for potential research training. Focusing on a relatively small scale of faculty members, the paper compared the faculty’s demographic profile and research characteristics to further understand the overall university faculty research productivity. The findings revealed that they have an above-average confidence level with their research skills, have a somewhat positive view of research, and are likely to be interested in doing research. The study found no significant differences among the participants' research characteristics when grouped according to their gender and educational attainment. However, there is a significant difference in the research attitudes among different age groups. Results have provided an objective assessment of the current research characteristics of university faculty members that may inform potential training programs.
Shanee-Jee Llera-Nunez, Merlita V. Caelian, and Dennis V. Madrigal assessed the extent of practice of graduate attributes and the level of satisfaction with program delivery and implementation in the areas of vision, mission, goals, and objectives (VMGO), faculty, curriculum and instruction, research, student services, extension programs, physical facilities, and administration as assessed by graduates of academic years 2008 to 2020. Likewise, it investigated the challenges encountered by the graduates to complete their degrees and the reasons for enrolment. A descriptive study was conducted among 72 graduates from MPAG and 49 PhD DVM programs. The data were generated from a survey questionnaire and computed using the mean, standard deviation, frequency count, and percentage distribution. The profile of the graduates revealed that most of the rank-and-file students were promoted to either supervisory or higher management positions. Results further revealed that the practice of graduate attributes in the workplace is to a very great extent. Being spiritually sound was rated the highest while scholarly leaders of science got a slightly lower mean, both very great extent. Graduates were very highly satisfied with the program delivery and implementation. Research studies rank highest, followed by faculty. Physical facilities and student services were rated high only. Among the challenges encountered by graduates are concerns on thesis/dissertation writing, social relationships and work responsibilities, compulsory attendance to classes, inadequate services, and insufficient information.
Hendra Hendra, Achmad Ridwan, and Agung Dharmawan Buchdadi examined the characteristics of excellent Buddhist sermons among Buddhist householder priests (Pandita) in Indonesia. It further investigated the discourse of a standard of an excellent Buddhist sermon in the context of Pandita. This qualitative research employed a single-case-study method that connects the analysis of documentation studies, observations, and in-depth interviews. The findings exhibited three key dimensions and indicators through which a Pandita is expected to employ in their duties related to Buddhist sermon, namely, bringing benefits, skillful delivery, and quality of the content. The findings may benefit future research on the competency framework of sermon training in Indonesia for Panditas.
Feliciana P. Jacoba, Arneil G. Gabriel, Olive Chester M. Cuya-Antonio, Corinthian M. Obispo, and Jocelyn P. Gabriel examined the relationship between Emotional Quotient (EQ), profile, and faculty performance are important. The 175 faculty of a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in the Philippines were randomly selected. Employing Jerabek's (1996) Emotional Intelligence Test, EQ was found, on average, to indicate the faculty’s ability to recognize and deal with their own and others’ emotions effectively. Analysis of variance, regression, and Pearson Correlation revealed a significant positive correlation between teaching performance and their EQ, confirming that emotional intelligence influences teaching performance. Further, the combined impact of education and academic rank influences EQ, which may be the basis for further study. It is recommended that EQ be considered by HEIs when hiring faculty. Intelligence and emotional quotient are equally important in generating high performance. Therefore, the study may contribute to the significance of faculty's EQ on productivity.
Leomarich F. Casinillo evaluate the different determinants that significantly influenced the engineering students' level of challenge in learning statistics in the new normal with the aid of a structured questionnaire by means of a Google form survey. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analysis were employed to extract meaningful information from the gathered data. Results showed that the students' perception score for the level of challenge in learning statistics is 7.37 (±1.99), which can be interpreted as "challenging." This implies that students face challenges as they learn statistics lessons amid the pandemic setup. The regression models constructed have revealed that "age", "sex", "learning environment", "money spent on internet load", "physical health", and "creativity of statistics lessons" are the significant causal factors of the level of challenge in learning statistics. Conclusively, statistics teachers must adjust and be considerate to their students regarding their learning needs in line with the pandemic setup.
Ma. Ron-Ron B. Pescador and Merlita V. Caelian determined the extent of implementation of revenue generation programs in cities for the fiscal years 2019-2020 as assessed by a sample size of 312 implementers and 411 stakeholders. It also assessed the effectiveness of the collection strategies employed by local treasurers and investigated the challenges encountered and the best practices of cities in implementing revenue generation programs. Using descriptive analysis, the results generally revealed that the extent of implementation of the revenue generation program is to a great extent. Collection strategies employed by the treasurers were found effective. Three groups of challenges emerged from the study; those challenges are common to treasurers and assessors, most of which are administrative in nature, including poor tax administration and corruption. The challenges for assessors include outdated valuation of properties due to irregular general revision resulting in a small tax base. Challenges for treasurers concern their compliance with government regulations and ordinances. The best practice recommended by stakeholders is adopting the electronic payment system and simplifying the tax system. The study concluded that the great extent of implementation of the revenue-generation programs using effective collection strategies led to efficient tax administration, resulting in self-reliant cities that minimize challenges and link best practices to viable service enhancements.
The research findings attempt to address the gap in the literature and may serve as the basis for policies, programs, and plans of action that will enhance organizational practices and improve the quality of life.
We congratulate all authors for the publication of your papers in this issue. Likewise, we extend our heartfelt appreciation to our referees and editors who did the rigorous review of the articles.
Happy researching!
... In response to vignettes representing relatively serious friendship transgressions, such as betraying a friend's confidences or failing to provide badly needed help (43), girls were more likely than boys to interpret the friend's behavior as a sign of rejection or disrespect, report that they would feel sad and angry, judge the transgressions as severe, and say that they would still think about the transgression a week later. In another study, in response to a vignette in which a friend promised to turn in an important course paper (44), female college students were more likely than male college students to judge the friend as unreliable when the friend failed to turn in the paper. ...
... Study 2 provides additional insights into the different behavioral patterns between the genders. Another possible explanation for these gender differences is that males may be more tolerant of relational strain among their samesex peers than females (Benenson et al., 2009). Because self-monitoring and self-silencing behaviors can lead to high-stress relationships, female NPs may be more susceptible to the stress caused by their NP tendencies. ...
This paper combines two related studies. First, we evaluated general interpersonal issues and perfectionism. Second, we expanded on the first study and Mitchelson and Burns' (1998) findings concerning the consequences of these interpersonal variables and perfectionism upon relationship satisfaction. Results indicated a tendency among positive perfectionists to believe in their ability to succeed and enjoy the intellectual challenge of healthy disagreement. Negative perfectionists reported significant avoidance, need for approval, self-silencing behaviors, and self-monitoring. Furthermore, negative perfectionism, the self-silencing construct, and self-monitoring proved important predictors of decreased relationship satisfaction. Significant differences by gender were observed.
... This is commensurate with women's often better performance on key social cognitive abilities such as putting oneself into others' shoes 71 . In part, this typical advantage reflects the fact that women's relationships are more emotionally intense, more focused and thus also more fragile (that is, prone to fracture) than those of men, whose relationships have a more casual, club-like quality 71,[98][99][100] . Similarly, extraverts typically have larger social networks than introverts. ...
Intense sociality has been a catalyst for human culture and civilization, and our social relationships at a personal level play a pivotal role in our health and well-being. These relationships are, however, sensitive to the time we invest in them. To understand how and why this should be, we first outline the evolutionary background in primate sociality from which our human social world has emerged. We then review defining features of that human sociality, putting forward a framework within which one can understand the consequences of mass social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, including mental health deterioration, stress, sleep disturbance and substance misuse. We outline recent research on the neural basis of prolonged social isolation, highlighting especially higher-order neural circuits such as the default mode network. Our survey of studies covers the negative effects of prolonged social deprivation and the multifaceted drivers of day-to-day pandemic experiences. Danilo Bzdok and Robin I. M. Dunbar review the neurobiology of human and primate social behaviours and how the pandemic may have disrupted these systems.
... Following the same contention, heterosexual males exhibit a higher tolerance threshold for genetically unrelated same-sex individuals than heterosexual females. Tolerance was defined as acceptance and recognition of the stresses and strains within relationships (Benenson et al., 2009). The trait encapsulates the manifestation of valuing diversity and the reduction of stigma and homophobia (Johnston et al., 2021). ...
In straight-gay friendship, diversity is recognized, respected, and celebrated. It is an unorthodox connection between heterosexual and gay men. The alliance is affected by the facilitating or constraining social forces of affectional orientation and traditional masculinity. The qualitative study sought to explore and analyze the formation and dissolution of straight-gay friendships among 13 Ilocano men recruited through snowball and purposive sampling. Pagtatanong-tanong, an indigenous method of data gathering, was employed. Thematic analysis and investigator triangulation were performed for analysis and validation. Results revealed that for the formation phase, Ilocano men portrayed active and passive roles that shared interest, nourishing personality, and open-mindedness were strong social motivators. Likewise, the causes of possible dissolution were growing intimacy and physical distance. Termination can be either a direct or indirect approach. The understanding of this unorthodox alliance provided communal empathy and acceptance, and carried the mission to educate about the interaction of both communities. It is suggested that positive portrayals lessen stigma and discrimination.
... Our results reinforce the importance of such intermale tolerance. In modern humans, males, compared to females, exhibit more cooperation in the context of intergroup competition (van Vugt et al., 2007), limit their use of aggression within groups, and may exhibit greater tolerance toward individuals of the same sex, especially at certain stages of life (Benenson et al., 1998(Benenson et al., , 2008(Benenson et al., , 2009Archer 2009). Femaleefemale relationships are not insignificant, however: femaleefemale social bonds in hamadryas baboons may be more important than previously thought (Swedell, 2002;St€ adele et al., 2016), and those in humans arguably provide more adaptive benefits than those among males (Caldwell and Peplau, 1982;Wright, 1988;Dindia and Allen, 1992;Archer, 2009). ...
Hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas) are a useful model for human social evolution for multiple reasons, including their multilevel society, intense cross-sex bonds, and intermale tolerance. Their most stable social grouping, the one-male unit (OMU)—comprising a leader male, females, and sometimes follower males—is formed via successive takeovers of individual females by males. While takeovers occur via both aggressive and non-aggressive mechanisms, aggressive herding is common during and after takeovers and appears crucial in maintaining OMUs. Here we use behavioral and demographic data from Filoha, Ethiopia to examine the relationship between aggressive takeovers and fitness correlates. We found no relationship between a male's percentage of takeovers that were aggressive and his presumed number of infants sired, nor his number of females or followers. However, we did find that a leader male's average intensity of aggression toward both other males and females around the time of a takeover was negatively related to his presumed number of infants sired. In addition, a leader male's average intensity of aggression toward other males was negatively related to his maximum number of followers. Finally, leader males exhibited more intense aggression toward females in interband, compared to intraband, takeovers. Our findings suggest that (1) leader males who limit their aggression toward other males may have greater success in attracting followers, thereby increasing their fitness via enhanced defense of the OMU; (2) exceptionally aggressive takeovers may lead to lower birth rates via female reproductive suppression; and (3) the extent to which males use aggression toward females depends on the context in which the takeover occurs. Overall, these results both suggest that hamadryas males use aggression selectively and underscore the ubiquity of intermale tolerance and female suppression in the hamadryas social system. This study lends insight into the interplay between male–female and male–male social dynamics during human evolution.
... Friendship maintenance is influenced by individual characteristics. Women's friendships, for example, are more delicate and tolerant than men's connections (Benenson et al., 2009). Furthermore, women place a higher importance on face-to-face and emotionally intimate connections, whereas men place a higher value on task-oriented and side-byside friendships. ...
... Women's friendships are more likely to be dyadic (David-Barrett et al., 2015;Winstead, 1986), suggesting that women invest their time and energy in a single friend instead of many friends. But women's friendships are also more fragile and less tolerant to issues within the relationship (Benenson, 2013;Benenson et al., 2009;Benenson & Christakos, 2003), suggesting that women's friendships are also more likely to end. Part of this paradox may be attributable to the fact that women's friendships balance cooperative and competitive influences. ...
Here, we identify a novel reason why women are often criticized and condemned for (allegedly) sexually permissive behavior due to their choice of clothing. Combining principles from coordinated condemnation and sexual economics theory, we developed a model of competition that helps explain this behavior. We hypothesized that women collectively condemn other women who appear to be sexually permissive (based on their choice of clothing). Study 1 (N = 712) demonstrated that women perceived a rival with visible cleavage more negatively. These perceptions were ultimately driven by the belief that "provocatively" dressed women are more likely to have one-night stands. Study 2 (N = 341) demonstrated that women criticized provocatively dressed women, even when these women were not direct sexual rivals (e.g., her boyfriend's sister). Our findings suggest that future research should investigate competition outside of mating-relevant domains to understand women's intrasexual competition fully.
... For example, women have higher expectations of their same-gender friends than do men (Hall, 2012;Oswald et al., 2004), and female friendships are characterized by greater intimacy (Clark & Ayers, 1993). Perhaps for these reasons, women experience conflict within friendship as more problematic than do men (Benenson et al., 2009;Johnson et al., 2004;Kirmayer et al., 2021), and take longer to reconcile with the friend (Benenson et al., 2014). Such findings suggest that women may be more likely to end or downgrade a friendship when challenges occur. ...
Despite the documented importance of friendship for the well‐being of young adults, there is a paucity of work mapping factors associated with friendship dissolution and maintenance during this developmental period. We examined whether implicit theories of friendships – specifically, growth beliefs (i.e., the belief that friendships can be developed) and destiny beliefs (i.e., the belief that friendships are either meant to work or not) — were associated with endorsement of dissolution and maintenance responses in two types of challenging situations occurring with same‐gender friends. One hundred forty‐five undergraduate students (80 females, Mage = 20.71, SD = 1.46) completed an online questionnaire. Participants read twelve hypothetical situations depicting transgressions by a friend (i.e., violations of friendship expectancies) or conflicts of interest (i.e., differences of needs, desires, or opinions) and reported how likely they would be to engage in strategies reflecting maintaining the friendship or dissolving it, either by ending it completely or diminishing its quality. They also completed a scale assessing implicit theories of friendships. Participants endorsed dissolving the friendship more strongly when the friend had transgressed than in conflicts of interest, whereas maintenance strategies were endorsed more strongly in conflicts than in transgressions. Moreover, higher destiny beliefs were associated with greater endorsement of ending the friendship and weaker endorsement of maintaining it; in contrast, higher growth beliefs were associated with greater endorsement of maintenance. Findings provide new insight into when and why young adults may dissolve or maintain a friendship.
... Friendship maintenance is influenced by individual characteristics. Women's friendships, for example, are more delicate and tolerant than men's connections (Benenson et al., 2009). Furthermore, women place a higher importance on face-to-face and emotionally intimate connections, whereas men place a higher value on task-oriented and side-byside friendships. ...
Background: Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents is prevalent and its rate has increased in recent years worldwide. The role of parents on adolescents psychological wellbeing is evident in numerous literature, however little is known on the relationship between helicopter parenting and NSSI in a representative sample of adolescents from Malaysia. Aim: The present study aims to identify the relationship between NSSI and helicopter parenting among adolescents in Kedah, Malaysia. Furthermore, the study also examined the gender and place of living differences related to NSSI behavior. Method: A cross-sectional study consisted of 230 adolescents (31.0% male and 68.2% female; Mage 19.4 SD=2.12) completed the helicopter parenting and NSSI questionnaires. The respondents of this study were selected using a convenience sampling method from a private college located in the Kulim district of Kedah, Malaysia. Findings: Analysis revealed that 129 (56.1%) out of 230 respondents reported having engaged in at least one incidence of NSSI in the previous 12 months with females reportedly engaged in a higher frequency of NSSI behaviour (M=14.12, SD=5.42). The finding also demonstrated a large positive correlation between helicopter parenting and NSSI behavior among adolescents. Significant differences in NSSI were found between adolescents from urban and rural areas with higher frequency of NSSI behavior for adolescents from urban areas. Conclusion: NSSI behavior is found to be common among adolescents in Kedah, Malaysia. The development of prevention and intervention strategies should focus on parenting style as an important indicator for preventing or reducing NSSI among adolescents in Malaysia.
Keywords: Helicopter parenting, Nonsuicidal self-injury, NSSI, Adolescents, Malaysia
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... But individual differences, such as age, sex, education, and socioeconomic status (SES), influence formation and maintenance. For example, women's friendships are described as less tolerant compared to men's (Benenson et al., 2009), but this difference decreases with age (Fox, Gibbs, & Auerbach, 1985). High SES individuals generally prefer to spend time alone but are more likely to spend time with friends when they spend time with others (Bianchi & Vohs, 2016). ...
Friendships provide social support and mental health benefits, yet the COVID-19 pandemic has limited interactions with friends. In August 2020, we asked participants (N = 634) about their friendships during the pandemic as part of a larger study. We found that younger people and people with higher subjective SES reported more negative effects on their friendships, including feeling more isolated and lonelier. We also found that stress, isolation, and guilt were associated with greater COVID-related social risk-taking, such as making and visiting new friends in person. Our results suggest the pandemic is affecting friendships differently across demographic groups and these negative effects might motivate social risk-taking.
... Women's networks are smaller, more equalitarian, and focused on social dynamics within the network. To be sure, much of men's social networking is also focused on within network status striving, but the goal here is to move up the status hierarchy and not to maintain the equality that keeps women's relationships stable (Benenson et al., 2009(Benenson et al., , 2014Winstead, 1986). These differences in intensity of past selection pressures and the corresponding social dynamics should result in here-and-now differences in women's and men's political motivations, engagement, and preferences, as discussed in the next section. ...
... This may explain the low depression scores found in the present study (under the general threshold for substantial depression) [30,32]. Men who experience depression with vertical transition may overcome the situation by maintaining harmonization in socialization (e.g., cooperation and tolerance) [52,53]. Women who experience depression with horizontal transition may overcome the situation by limiting their goals to family preservation and responsibility, especially regarding children [43,44]. ...
Background:
Research findings on gender differences in depression are inconsistent. This study investigated gender and depression in the Indonesian population and considered possible confounding effects.
Methods:
This was a cross-sectional study. Participants completed the following self-report measures: demographic characteristic questions, the Cultural Orientation Scale, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. Gender differences in depression were examined using a generalized linear model.
Results:
After withdrawals, 265 men and 243 women remained. Women and men did not differ in overall scores and four-factor depression symptoms even after adjusting for cultural orientation and demographic confounding factors, except for the depression symptoms "crying," "cannot get going," and "people were unfriendly." Gender differences in depression became significant after adjusting for stereotypical symptom variance. Men reported being lonelier than women.
Conclusions:
Possible confounding effects on the association between gender and depression are methodological issues, cultural orientation transition, and stereotypical symptoms. Low depression scores found for gender may reflect dimension-counterpart coping strategies.
... But individual differences, such as age, sex, education, and socioeconomic status (SES), influence formation and maintenance. For example, women's friendships are described as less tolerant compared to men's (Benenson et al., 2009), but this difference decreases with age (Fox, Gibbs, & Auerbach, 1985). High SES individuals generally prefer to spend time alone but are more likely to spend time with friends when they spend time with others (Bianchi & Vohs, 2016). ...
Friendships are important for social support and mental health, yet social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic have limited people’s ability to interact with their friends during this difficult time. In August of 2020, we asked participants about changes in their friendships as a result of the pandemic - including changes in the quality of friendships and people’s feelings about their friends - as part of a larger longitudinal study. We found that people who are younger, male, and less educated reported more negative effects on their friendships as a result of the pandemic, including feeling lonelier and less satisfied with their friends, while people with higher subjective socioeconomic status (SES) wanted to make more and shallower friends than those with lower subjective SES. We also found that feelings of stress, isolation and guilt around friendship are associated with greater COVID-related social risk taking, such as being motivated to make new friends and visit friends in person. Males, who reported more negative effects of the pandemic on their friendship than females, also reported a greater likelihood than females that they would attend large parties. These results show that the pandemic is affecting friendships differently across demographic groups and suggest that the negative impacts of COVID-19 on friendships might motivate some COVID-related social risk taking in order to try to maintain friendships or build new ones.
... In response to vignettes representing relatively serious friendship transgressions, such as betraying a friend's confidences or failing to provide badly needed help (43), girls were more likely than boys to interpret the friend's behavior as a sign of rejection or disrespect, report that they would feel sad and angry, judge the transgressions as severe, and say that they would still think about the transgression a week later. In another study, in response to a vignette in which a friend promised to turn in an important course paper (44), female college students were more likely than male college students to judge the friend as unreliable when the friend failed to turn in the paper. ...
... year olds, 36% of girls, but only 17% of boys, reported that their closest same-sex friend had already done something to hurt their friendship, even though girls' friendships were on average more recently formed than boys' (Benenson & Christakos, 2003). Finally, a study of college students found that male roommates were twice as likely as female roommates to say that they were satisfied with their same-sex roommates-that is presumably why female students switched their roommates more often than did male students (Benenson, et al., 2009). ...
... As it seems plausible that likeability influences social networking behaviour, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that gender differences in network formation may at least partly be driven by women being more responsive to variation in likeability than men. 4 Lastly, Benenson et al. (2009) provide direct evidence for our gender hypothesis. They show in a questionnaire study with college roommates that women have lower thresholds of tolerance for same-sex roommates than men. ...
We study the effect of likeability on women’s and men’s team behaviour in a lab experiment. Extending a two-player public goods game and a minimum effort game by an additional pre-play stage that informs team members about their mutual likeability, we find that female teams lower their contribution to the public good in the event of low likeability, while male teams achieve high levels of co-operation irrespective of the level of mutual likeability. In mixed-sex teams, both women’s and men’s contributions depend on mutual likeability. Similar results are found in the minimum effort game. Our results offer a new perspective on gender differences in labour market outcomes: mutual dislikeability impedes team behaviour, except in all-male teams.
... In this light, the alliance hypothesis of friendship (DeScioli and Kurzban 2009;DeScioli et al. 2011) seems like it may be a better model of female than male same-sex friendship. Consistent with this, women prefer fewer, more intimate friendships than men do (e.g., Aukett et al. 1988;David-Barrett et al. 2015;Vigil 2007), place greater emphasis on self-disclosure and emotional intimacy within friendships (e.g., Aukett et al. 1988;Caldwell and Peplau 1982;Hall 2011;Lewis et al. 2011;Vigil 2007), self-report greater importance of communion and symmetrical reciprocity in an ideal friend (Hall 2011(Hall , 2012, and have lower tolerance for conflict with same-sex peers (e.g., Benenson and Christakos 2003;Benenson et al. 2009Benenson et al. , 2014. ...
Despite the importance of friendship, the traits that people seek in a friend are not well understood. Here, we pursue the hypothesis that same-sex friendships evolved as ongoing cooperative relationships, so friend preferences should at least partially focus on those traits that would have made someone a good cooperative partner within the conditions of the human ancestral environment. We tested this hypothesis in a face perception paradigm in which undergraduate participants rated the friend desirability of target faces that were also rated on several traits hypothesized to be relevant to friend choice. This allowed us to test the actual predictors of attraction, rather than relying on self-reported preferences. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that judgments of a target person’s desirability as a friend depended on perceptions of their ability to create material benefits in the ancestral environment (e.g., skill as a hunter or gatherer). These effects were not due to an attractiveness “halo effect” or a preference for intelligence more generally. In addition, we found mixed evidence for sex differences that match the typical hunter-gatherer division of labor. We discuss implications of these findings for the study of friend choice, and for understanding social preferences more broadly.
... Finally, we explore possible mediation effects between genes found to influence each of the dispositional effects in the 'best-fit' models, and Sociosexual Orientation or Support Network Size. Because the two sexes differ in their reproductive strategies and behaviour (Vigil 2007;Mehta and Strough 2009;Benenson et al. 2009Benenson et al. , 2011Del Giudice 2011;Cross et al. 2013;Machin and Dunbar 2013;Coates 2015;Dyble et al. 2015;David-Barrett et al. 2015;Dunbar and Machin 2014;Bhattacharya et al. 2016;Dunbar 2016Dunbar , 2018Ghosh et al. 2019;Pearce et al. 2019;Archer 2019), and this may affect the way in which cognitive differences interact with these mechanisms (Feldman Barrett et al. 2000;Hall and Matsumoto 2004;Gardner and Gabriel 2004;Bell et al. 2006;Proverbio et al. 2008;Kiesow et al. 2019), we run all analyses separately for the two sexes. ...
Objectives
In humans (and primates more generally), evolutionary fitness arises by two separate routes: conventional reproduction build around dyadic relationships and, reflecting the processes of group augmentation selection, how well individuals are embedded in their community. These processes are facilitated by a suite of genetically inherited neuroendocrines and neurotransmitters. It is not, however, known whether these effects are directly due to genetic factors or are mediated by aspects of personality, or whether there are sex differences in the way this is organised.
Methods
We examine whether dispositional factors related to the processing of social information, such as personality (Big 5 and Impulsivity), attachment style (Anxious and Avoidant dimensions) and sociocognitive capacity (emotion recognition) mediate associations between variation in receptor genes for oxytocin, vasopressin, beta-endorphin, dopamine, serotonin, testosterone and two core social relationship indices (the Sociosexual Orientation Index [SOI] and Support Network size).
Results
In men, variation in dopamine genes indirectly influences SOI through its effect on Impulsivity. In contrast, in women, variation in endorphin and vasopressin genes independently affect Openness to Experience, which mediates indirect effects of these genes on SOI. Moreover, endorphin gene variation also impacts on Network Size in women (but not men), via Extraversion.
Conclusions
These findings reveal that dispositional aspects of personality mediate some genetic effects on behaviour, thereby extending our understanding of how genetic and dispositional variation interact to determine individual differences in human sexual and social cognition and behaviour. The differences between the sexes seem to reflect differences in the two sexes’ social strategies.
... Second, female college students have shown higher scores on shame, guilt, and personal distress than men (Ranggandhan, & Todorov, 2010); these states facilitate women getting "caught up" in negative emotions and regrets (Fisher & Exline, 2010) as well as having potential grudges toward the self. Third, women, tend to hold grudges longer than men do (Benenson & Wrangham, 2016), which may make it more difficult for women to "let go" of previous conflicts (e.g., Baumeister, 2010;Benenson et al., 2009). ...
The self-forgiveness process may be considered emotionally taxing among college students. The current study explored college students’ past intrapersonal transgressions (n = 88) through two outcomes (able or unable to forgive oneself). Using NVivo 11 Pro software, thematic analyses revealed the most common situational circumstances and internal emotional determinants that were
embedded in these contexts. Findings highlight the need to revise the existing self-forgiveness model to include experiences related to intrapersonal transgressions. Clinical implications include relevant intervention strategies to engage in the self-forgiveness process of an intrapersonal transgression among emerging adults. Directions for theory development are discussed.
... In fact, it has been shown that women recall more relatives than men within their particular genealogy (but see Chagnon, 1988, for an exception with Yanomamo traditional society), and that family seems more important for women's personal identity than for men's (Salmon & Daly, 1996). It has also been pointed out that women's attention to kin network formation and maintenance across their lifetime, particularly at middle and older ages, is substantially better than that of men, which is generally more directed to nonkin networks (Benenson et al., 2009;Neyer & Lang, 2003;Scelza, 2009). The grandparent solicitude literature also clearly indicates that grandchildren feel more close to, and get more attention and resources from their grandmothers, than they do from their grandfathers (see, e.g., Euler & Weitzel, 1996). ...
The context of a famous novel by Milan Kundera ( Immortality) suggests that when faced with a life-or-death situation, every woman would prefer to save her child than her husband, left hanging whether every man would do the same. We labeled this as the Kundera hypothesis, and the purpose of this study was to test it empirically as we believe it raises a thought-provoking question in evolutionary terms. Specifically, 197 college students (92 women) were presented a questionnaire where they had to make different decisions about four dilemmas about who to save (their mate or their offspring) in two hypothetical life-or-death situations: a home fire and a car crash. These dilemmas involved two different mate ages (a 25- or a 40-year-old mate) and two offspring ages (1- or a 6-year-old child). For comparative purposes, we also included complementary life-or-death dilemmas on both a sibling and an offspring, and a sibling and a cousin. The results generally supported the Kundera hypothesis: Although the majority of men and women made the decision to save their offspring instead of their mate, about 18% of men on average (unlike the 5% of women) consistently decided to save their mate across the four dilemmas in the two life-or-death situations. These data were interpreted with reference to Hamilton's inclusive fitness theory, the preferential role of women as kin keepers, and the evolution of altruism toward friends and mates.
... Taking this notion into account, it is possible that a female consumer who prefers non-variety in her consumer choices and then is presented as having atypical behavior was perceived by our female participants as not similar to them, which is consistent with Byrne's (1971) similarity attraction paradigm, which could in turn have negatively influenced her evaluation. It is also possible that the result may be explained by the fact that women are more critical of one another, as Benenson et al. (2009) showed that women form a negative view of other women far more quickly and freely than men do of other men. ...
Previous research has shown that self-presentation could be a relevant motive in explaining variety-seeking behavior. Individuals anticipate that sticking to a limited range of one’s favorites would make a negative impression on others, and others might conclude that they are boring or narrow-minded (Ariely and Levav Journal of Consumer Research, 27, 279–290, 2000; Ratner and Kahn The Journal of Consumer Research, 29, 246–257, 2002). In our research, we wanted to investigate this lay assumption. We also hypothesized the moderating role of a consumer’s gender. The results of study 1 (N = 211) confirmed that incorporating variety in consumer behavior may be a cue for social perception. Consumers who preferred non-variety in consumer choices were evaluated as less socially attractive than those who preferred variety. However, female consumers who preferred variety were evaluated as less responsible. These results were replicated in study 2 (N = 276). The study also revealed the mediational role of the evaluation of a consumer’s predictability in the relationship between her variety seeking and social attractiveness. Study 2 also showed the moderating role of participant gender in the evaluation of a consumer’s responsibility. The female consumer who incorporated variety in her consumer choices was evaluated as less responsible, but only when she was described as a mother and wife and only by female participants.
... Reconciliation of conflicts between infants through juveniles however provides insights into the social structure. START with Lonsdorf 2012 and Furuichi and other references In humans, beginning in middle childhood males tolerate conflicts and aggressive reactions more than females do with unrelated same-sex peers (Benenson et al., 2009;MacEvoy & Asher, 2012). ...
... The use of social strategies on the part of females was explained by the fact that females generally display greater social orientation than males (Oxford & Nyikos, 1988) and by females' greater interest in social activities (Politzer, 1983). In this vein, females have been shown to be more socially oriented than males (Benenson et al., 2009). This finding was also attributed to the fact that women and men perform different social roles and experience different social pressures. ...
Second language research has shown that females usually outperform their male counterparts (Pavlenko & Piller, 2008). They also have more positive attitudes and greater motivation (Spolsky, 1989). Nevertheless, these tendencies have been found to be blurred in meaning-oriented approaches such as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) (Fernández Fontecha & Canga Alonso, 2014). As regards strategic competence, very little research has been conducted on the effect of gender on the use of language learning strategies (Ehrman & Oxford, 1989) and much less on compensatory strategies (Kocoglu, 1997). Besides, there is a lack of research investigating the effect of gender on the use of compensatory strategies by CLIL learners. This study examines the existence of gender differences in the 5th and 6th grades of Primary Education as regards amount and type of strategies preferred in a self-reported questionnaire on compensatory strategy use (i.e. guessing, miming, morphological creativity, dictionary, predicting, paraphrasing, borrowing, calque, foreignising, avoidance and appeal for assistance). In terms of overall amount, no statistically significant differences emerged, which seem to be in line with those CLIL studies that credit a vanishing effect on gender-related differences. As for types, females tend to avoid answering if they are not sure whereas males prefer to guess and feel more at ease in ambiguity. Females also rely more on borrowing, which makes them feel secure that the content of their message is unambiguously conveyed. In contrast, males prefer to predict, are braver, and take more risks when communicating (see Oxford & Ehrman, 1988).
... In response to vignettes representing relatively serious friendship transgressions, such as betraying a friend's confidences or failing to provide badly needed help (43), girls were more likely than boys to interpret the friend's behavior as a sign of rejection or disrespect, report that they would feel sad and angry, judge the transgressions as severe, and say that they would still think about the transgression a week later. In another study, in response to a vignette in which a friend promised to turn in an important course paper (44), female college students were more likely than male college students to judge the friend as unreliable when the friend failed to turn in the paper. ...
Research documents the strengths of girls’ friendships compared to boys’ friendships leading to the inference that boys are not very skilled as friends. In this article, we use a friendship tasks framework to propose that this inference is premature and should be reconciled with evidence that boys are as satisfied as girls with their friendships and that their friendships are as stable over time. We also propose that the inference arises partly because the friendship tasks that girls handle well have been studied extensively, whereas certain friendship tasks boys handle as well as or more successfully than girls are understudied. These tasks include being a fun and enjoyable companion, coping when a friend violates a core expectation of friendship, and sustaining friendships in the broader social context of a friend having other friends. Finally, we suggest that girls and boys who develop skills to respond to a range of friendship tasks will benefit in the long term.
Parental investment is a foundational concept in evolutionary psychology used to explain mating strategies and reproductive behavior (Del Giudice, Gangestad, & Kaplan, 2015; Del Giudice, 2009; Trivers, 1972). However, less is known about how competitive strategies persist into parenthood. This study examined how parent sex, child sex, and child performance (outperform, equal, underperform) in different life domains influence parents’ emotional responses and their expectations of others’ reactions. Parents were recruited through college student referrals, social media advertisements, and in-person outreach at local sporting events. They responded to vignettes where their child competed in a valued domain (e.g., academics, sports, friendships, church, or music). Results showed that parents were happiest when their child performed equally to a peer, especially for daughters. Mothers, in particular, preferred daughters’ performance to match rather than exceed peers and anticipated emotional responses such as jealousy and hurt from other parents when their daughters performed better than other children. Fathers, by contrast, showed minimal emotional differentiation across child sex or performance condition, extending and replicating Benenson & Schinazi’s (2004) work. Parents were more emotionally responsive in domains tied to reputation and peer inclusion, such as academics and church involvement. These findings suggest parenting, like mating, may function as a competitive arena where child performance reflects not only individual achievement but also social positioning and long-term reproductive success. Public Significance Statement: This study reveals that parenting is not just about nurturing; it can also be shaped by competition and social awareness. Parents, especially mothers, are sensitive to how their child’s success may be perceived by others, particularly when daughters stand out among peers. These findings suggest that emotional reactions to child achievement are influenced by gendered expectations and reputational concerns, extending theories of competition and cooperation into the domain of parenthood.
Past research hypothesized that men and women differ in their tendency to cooperate with strangers in situations that involve a conflict of interests. However, recent empirical research has provided converging evidence that men and women cooperate to a similar extent, and that differences in cooperation can emerge in response to specific situational and societal contexts. Here we analyse six decades of empirical research on human cooperation using social dilemmas (1961–2017, k = 126) conducted across 20 industrialized societies, testing pre-registered hypotheses derived from evolutionary theory and social role theory. Overall, our findings revealed little-to-no evidence for an association between gender and cooperation using different meta-analytic approaches. We did not find within-study differences in cooperation between men and women ( d = 0.011, 95% CI [−0.038, 0.060]). However, cooperation was slightly higher across studies with predominantly female samples ( k = 972). In addition, contrary to our predictions, gender differences in cooperation did not emerge in response to the degree of conflicting interests in the situation, and societal levels of gender equality and economic development. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of gender differences in cooperation.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cooperation among women: evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives’.
The interface of sexual behavior and evolutionary psychology is a rapidly growing domain, rich in psychological theories and data as well as controversies and applications. With nearly eighty chapters by leading researchers from around the world, and combining theoretical and empirical perspectives, The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Sexual Psychology is the most comprehensive and up-to-date reference work in the field. Providing a broad yet in-depth overview of the various evolutionary principles that influence all types of sexual behaviors, the handbook takes an inclusive approach that draws on a number of disciplines and covers nonhuman and human psychology. It is an essential resource for both established researchers and students in psychology, biology, anthropology, medicine, and criminology, among other fields. Volume 4: Controversies, Applications, and Nonhuman Primate Extensions addresses controversies and unresolved issues; applications to health, law, and pornography; and non-human primate evolved sexual psychology.
Polygyny is common around the world both historically as well as contemporaneously. The evolutionary goals supporting and incentivizing the practice, particularly for men, are clear. However, polygyny does not come without serious economic, social, and political costs for both men and women in the current environment. Like the innate taste for sweetness, polygyny constitutes a case where past drives and goals do not map on well to current environmental circumstances. This chapter begins with some definitional and theoretical issues followed by a discussion of some of the economic, health, and political costs associated with polygyny. Results from recent experimental work on cross-cultural attitudes toward polygyny, involving populations that are nationally representative by sex and by religion, are presented. The chapter concludes with discussion of the some of the theoretical and policy implications resulting from these costs.
Multiple lines of evidence suggest that there are two major dimensions of social perception, often called warmth and competence, and that warmth is prioritized over competence in multiple types of social decision-making. Existing explanations for this prioritization argue that warmth is more consequential for an observer's welfare than is competence. We present a new explanation for the prioritization of warmth based on humans' evolutionary history of cooperative partner choice. We argue that the prioritization of warmth evolved because ancestral humans faced greater variance in the warmth of potential cooperative partners than in their competence but greater variance in competence over time within cooperative relationships. These each made warmth more predictive than competence of the future benefits of a relationship, but because of differences in the distributions of these traits, not because of differences in their intrinsic consequentiality. A broad, synthetic review of the anthropological literature suggests that these conditions were characteristic of the ecologies in which human social cognition evolved, and agent-based models demonstrate the plausibility of these selection pressures. We conclude with future directions for the study of preferences and the further integration of social and evolutionary psychology.
Drawing on the framework of invariant measurements from Rasch measurement theory, the purpose of this study is to psychometrically evaluate the 20 language and teaching skill domains of the International Teaching Assistant (ITA) Testusing the many-facet Rasch model and to empirically explore performance differences between females and males in these domains through bias analysis. The data came from the test scores of 110 prospective ITAs on the ITA Test at a large university. Three facets (examinee, rater, and domain) were Rasch-calibrated in FACETS. Despite some misfits, overall, the data fit the model reasonably well, confirming invariant measurements and the feasibility of assessing the language and teaching skill domains concurrently to produce a single score in ITA assessment. The results also indicated that overall language skills were more difficult than teaching skills. Grammar and pronunciation skills were found to be the most difficult domains, whereas the aural comprehension skill was found to be the easiest domain. A bias analysis revealed significant differences in the four domains between the two gender groups, calling for further research for examining potential gender biases in ITA assessment.
Until recently, few researchers have closely investigated women’s intrasexual competition. A meta-analysis of 14 published studies with 61 effect sizes (N = 2,100) assessed the size of the effect of women’s competition. I hypothesized that (a) exposure to competitive situations would cause women to behave more competitively than women not exposed to these situations, and (b) age, domain of competition, and confidence in effect size coding would not moderate this effect. Results from the random effects meta-analysis indicated that women responded more competitively when shown high competition scenarios, r = .23, p < .001, 95% CI [.16, .31]. Additionally, age, domain of competition, and confidence in effect size coding did not moderate the effects of competition. Results suggest that there are small- to medium-sized increases in women’s competition when primed with competition, but more studies are needed to fully understand women’s competition across domains.
We examined associations between proactive and reactive aggression and peer likability across two academic years. Analyses were based on a sample of 442 elementary school children. Proactive and reactive aggression were assessed through self-report and peer likability was assessed via a peer nomination inventory. Data were collected in the fall and spring of two academic years. Findings from cross-lagged multiple group longitudinal panel models where pathways were freely estimated for boys and girls provided evidence that the relation between reactive aggression and reciprocated liking and received only liking nominations was negative and transactional for girls. Proactive aggression had mixed associations with likability between boys and girls. Our findings suggest that preventative interventions that focus on reducing reactive aggression or increasing peer likability have the potential to shift children away from trajectories of long-term maladjustment.
This paper studies the concept of tolerance in dynamic social networks where agents are able to make and break connections with neighbors to improve their payoffs. This problem was initially introduced to the authors by observing resistance (or tolerance) in experiments run in dynamic networks under the two rules that they have developed: the Highest Rewarding Neighborhood rule and the Highest Weighted Reward rule. These rules help agents evaluate their neighbors and decide whether to break a connection or not. They introduce the idea of tolerance in dynamic networks by allowing an agent to maintain a relationship with a bad neighbor for some time. In this research, the authors investigate and define the phenomenon of tolerance in dynamic social networks, particularly with the two rules. The paper defines a mathematical model to predict an agent's tolerance of a bad neighbor and determine the factors that affect it. After defining a general version of tolerance, the idea of optimal tolerance is explored, providing situations in which tolerance can be used as a tool to affect network efficiency and network structure.
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate whether preferences for certain types of privacy predict the frequency and duration of social media usage as well as the moderating role of gender on these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
An e-mail-based survey among the faculty, staff and students of a medium-sized mid-western university is used to gather data regarding preferences for privacy and social media usage. Using 530 respondents, structural equation modeling explores the relationship between the various privacy types, gender and social media usage.
Findings
Evidence supports a relationship between four types of privacy preferences and social media usage. A positive relationship exists between frequency of social media usage and a preference for not neighboring. Duration of social media usage shows a negative relationship with preferences for seclusion and reserve, and surprisingly, a positive relationship with a preference for anonymity. Gender moderates the relationship between preference for privacy and social media usage, offering evidence that intimacy, seclusion and reserve predict social media usage for males, while not neighboring and anonymity predict usage for females.
Originality/value
The study extends the privacy literature through investigating differential impacts of privacy preferences. The marketing literature examines privacy as a general concept, without allowing for differences in consumers' preferences for types of privacy. Additionally, the study shows that gender moderates the relationship between preferences for privacy and social media usage. A second contribution is investigating the relevance of a scale, developed in an age without social media, to an era permeated in social media.
The aims of this article are: (i) to provide a quantitative overview of sex differences in human psychological attributes; and (ii) to consider evidence for their possible evolutionary origins. Sex differences were identified from a systematic literature search of meta‐analyses and large‐sample studies. These were organized in terms of evolutionary significance as follows: (i) characteristics arising from inter‐male competition (within‐sex aggression; impulsiveness and sensation‐seeking; fearfulness; visuospatial and object‐location memory; object‐centred orientations); (ii) those concerning social relations that are likely to have arisen from women's adaptations for small‐group interactions and men's for larger co‐operative groups (person‐centred orientation and social skills; language; depression and anxiety); (iii) those arising from female choice (sexuality; mate choice; sexual conflict). There were sex differences in all categories, whose magnitudes ranged from (i) small (object location memory; negative emotions), to (ii) medium (mental rotation; anxiety disorders; impulsivity; sex drive; interest in casual sex), to (iii) large (social interests and abilities; sociosexuality); and (iv) very large (escalated aggression; systemizing; sexual violence). Evolutionary explanations were evaluated according to whether: (i) similar differences occur in other mammals; (ii) there is cross‐cultural consistency; (iii) the origin was early in life or at puberty; (iv) there was evidence for hormonal influences; and (v), where possible, whether there was evidence for evolutionarily derived design features. The evidence was positive for most features in most categories, suggesting evolutionary origins for a broad range of sex differences. Attributes for which there was no sex difference are also noted. Within‐sex variations are discussed as limitations to the emphasis on sex differences.
Across species, cooperative alliances must withstand internal tensions. The mechanisms by which allies respond to competing against one another have been studied extensively in non-human animals, but much less so in humans. In non-human species, affiliative physical contact and close proximity immediately following a contest are utilized to define reconciliation between opponents. The proportion of conflicts that are reconciled however differs markedly by species and sex. The purpose of this study was to examine whether, like many other social species, humans utilize physical contact and close proximity following a competition between friends, and if so, whether one sex is more likely to exhibit these behaviors. Using a standardized procedure, two same-gender friends competed against one another producing a clear winner and loser. Prior to and following the competition, the friends relaxed together. Videotapes of the relaxation periods showed that male friends spent more time than female friends engaged in affiliative physical contact and close proximity both before and after the competition, but not during a brief intervening cooperative task. These results suggest that in the face of competing self-interests, physical contact and close proximity facilitate repair of males' more than females' valuable relationships.
The current research examined the hypothesis that males derive greater benefits than females do from cooperation with same-sex peers versus parents. In Study 1, 194 children, early adolescents, older adolescents, and adults from Brussels, Belgium predicted whether parents or same-sex peers would provide more benefits to a typical individual of their same age and sex. Results showed that at all four age levels, compared with females, males predicted that same-sex peers would provide more benefits relative to parents. Study 2 was designed to examine which benefits same-sex peers relative to parents provide more for males than females. In Study 2, 50 young adults from Montreal, Canada were asked to report to what extent same-sex peers and parents satisfied physical needs, fulfilled socioemotional needs, and helped with acquiring societal skills over the past year. Males more than females reported that same-sex peers relative to parents satisfied socioemotional needs and helped with the acquisition of societal skills. Discussion revolves around the hypothesized differential relations of males and females to families versus same-sex peers.
Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) prey on a variety of vertebrates, mostly on red colobus (Procolobus spp.) where the two species are sympatric. Variation across population occurs in hunting frequency and success, in whether hunting is cooperative, i.e., payoffs to individual hunters increase with group size, and in the extent to which hunters coordinate their actions in space and time, and in the impact of hunting on red colobus populations. Also, hunting frequency varies over time within populations, for reasons that are unclear. We present new data on hunting by chimpanzees at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda, and combine them with earlier data (Mitani and Watts, 1999, Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 109: 439–454) to examine hunting frequency and success, seasonality, and cooperation. The Ngogo community is the largest and has the most males of any known community. Chimpanzees there mostly hunt red colobus and are much more successful and make many more kills per hunt than at other sites; they kill 6–12% of the red colobus population annually. The number of kills and the offtake of meat per hunt increase with the number of hunters, but per capita meat intake is independent of hunting party size; this suggests that cheating occurs in large parties. Some behavioral cooperation occurs. Hunting success and estimated meat intake vary greatly among males, partly due to dominance rank effects. The high overall success rate leads to relatively high average per capita meat intake despite the large number of consumers. The frequency of hunts and of hunting patrols varies positively with the availability of ripe fruit; this is the first quantitative demonstration of a relationship between hunting frequency and the availability of other food, and implies that the chimpanzees hunt most when they can easily meet energy needs from other sources. We provide the first quantitative support for the argument that variation in canopy structure influences decisions to hunt red colobus because hunts are easier where the canopy is broken.
Considerable interspecific variation in female social relationships occurs in gregarious primates, particularly with regard
to agonism and cooperation between females and to the quality of female relationships with males. This variation exists alongside
variation in female philopatry and dispersal. Socioecological theories have tried to explain variation in female-female social
relationships from an evolutionary perspective focused on ecological factors, notably predation and food distribution. According
to the current “ecological model”, predation risk forces females of most diurnal primate species to live in groups; the strength
of the contest component of competition for resources within and between groups then largely determines social relationships
between females. Social relationships among gregarious females are here characterized as Dispersal-Egalitarian, Resident-Nepotistic,
Resident-Nepotistic-Tolerant, or Resident-Egalitarian. This ecological model has successfully explained differences in the
occurrence of formal submission signals, decided dominance relationships, coalitions and female philopatry. Group size and
female rank generally affect female reproduction success as the model predicts, and studies of closely related species in
different ecological circumstances underscore the importance of the model. Some cases, however, can only be explained when
we extend the model to incorporate the effects of infanticide risk and habitat saturation. We review evidence in support of
the ecological model and test the power of alternative models that invoke between-group competition, forced female philopatry,
demographic female recruitment, male interventions into female aggression, and male harassment. Not one of these models can
replace the ecological model, which already encompasses the between-group competition. Currently the best model, which explains
several phenomena that the ecological model does not, is a “socioecological model” based on the combined importance of ecological
factors, habitat saturation and infanticide avoidance. We note some points of similarity and divergence with other mammalian
taxa; these remain to be explored in detail.
Several hypotheses on the form and function of sex differences in social behaviors were tested. The results suggest that friendship
preferences in both sexes can be understood in terms of perceived reciprocity potential—capacity and willingness to engage in a mutually beneficial relationship. Divergent social styles may in turn reflect trade-offs
between behaviors selected to maintain large, functional coalitions in men and intimate, secure relationships in women. The
findings are interpreted from a broad socio-relational framework of the types of behaviors that facilitate selective advertisement
and investment of reciprocity potential across individuals and within groups of men and women.
In the 1970s, researchers provided the first detailed descriptions of intergroup conflict in chimpanzees. These observations stimulated numerous comparisons between chimpanzee violence and human warfare. Such comparisons have attracted three main objections: (a) The data supporting such comparisons are too few, (b) intergroup aggression is the result of artificial feeding by observers, and (c) chimpanzee data are irrelevant to understanding human warfare. Recent studies provide strong evidence against these criticisms. Data from the five long-term sites with neighboring groups show that intergroup aggression is a pervasive feature of chimpanzee societies, including sites where artificial feeding never took place. Recent studies have clarified questions about the fundamental goals and proximate mechanisms underlying intergroup aggression. Male chimpanzees compete with males in other groups over territory, food, and females, base their decisions to attack strangers on assessments of numerical strength, and strive for dominance over neighboring groups. Human males likewise compete over territory, food, and females and show a preference for low-risk attacks and intergroup dominance. Chimpanzee studies illustrate the promise of the behavioral biology approach for understanding and addressing the roots of violence in our own species.
Discusses the effects of socialization (i.e., the internalization of values) on sexual identity, and presents a framework for studying this identity concept in which changes in sex-role definitions are integrated with ego and cognitive developmental tasks. Cross-cultural and longitudinal experiments by the author and other researchers are described. Results indicate that the culturally determined socialization process broadens the sex-role definitions and behavioral options of males while limiting those of females.
The human stress response has been characterized, both physiologically and behaviorally, as "fight-or-flight." Although fight-or-flight may characterize the primary physiological responses to stress for both males and females, we propose that, behaviorally, females' responses are more marked by a pattern of "tend-and-befriend." Tending involves nurturant activities designed to protect the self and offspring that promote safety and reduce distress; befriending is the creation and maintenance of social networks that may aid in this process. The biobehavioral mechanism that underlies the tend-and-befriend pattern appears to draw on the attachment-caregiving system, and neuroendocrine evidence from animal and human studies suggests that oxytocin, in conjunction with female reproductive hormones and endogenous opioid peptide mechanisms, may be at its core. This previously unexplored stress regulatory system has manifold implications for the study of stress.
Females' tendency to place a high value on protecting their own lives enhanced their reproductive success in the environment of evolutionary adaptation because infant survival depended more upon maternal than on paternal care and defence. The evolved mechanism by which the costs of aggression (and other forms of risk taking) are weighted more heavily for females may be a lower threshold for fear in situations which pose a direct threat of bodily injury. Females' concern with personal survival also has implications for sex differences in dominance hierarchies because the risks associated with hierarchy formation in nonbonded exogamous females are not offset by increased reproductive success. Hence among females, disputes do not carry implications for status with them as they do among males, but are chiefly connected with the acquisition and defence of scarce resources. Consequently, female competition is more likely to take the form of indirect aggression or low-level direct combat than among males. Under patriarchy, men have held the power to propagate images and attributions which are favourable to the continuance of their control. Women's aggression has been viewed as a gender-incongruent aberration or dismissed as evidence of irrationality. These cultural interpretations have "enhanced" evolutionarily based sex differences by a process of imposition which stigmatises the expression of aggression by females and causes women to offer exculpatory (rather than justificatory) accounts of their own aggression.
Monogamy tends to equalise mate competition between the sexes. However, women show greater restraint in their use of direct intrasexual aggression, which, I argue, is a result of their higher parental investment and the consequently greater reproductive cost of injury or death. Women usually compete for mates by advertising qualities valued by men (beauty and sexual exclusiveness) and by using indirect means of denigrating rivals (through gossip and stigmatisation). However, where well-resourced men are in short supply, women must find alternative sources of support or escalate their competition for male partners to physical levels. Data from criminology, psychology, evolutionary biology, and anthropology are used to support these proposals.
To be known, and to know others, is critical to all social relationships. This topic of 'disclosure processes' not only pertains to people's disclosure of daily thoughts and emotions, but to their disclosure of many controversial problems in contemporary society, such as divorce, AIDS and sexual abuse. The bulk of research has focused on disclosure processes in adults and relatively little attention has been given to that phenomena in children and adolescents. The collection of chapters in this book redresses the balance by systematically examining disclosure processes in children and adolescents. This covers the knowledge of how, to whom, and the conditions under which children and adolescents reveal their personal thoughts and emotions.
Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus), otherwise known as pygmy chimpanzees, are the only two species of the genus Pan. As they are our nearest relatives, there has been much research devoted to investigating the similarities and differences between them. This book offers an extensive review of the most recent observations to come from field studies on the diversity of Pan social behaviour, with contributions from many of the world's leading experts in this field. A wide range of social behaviours is discussed including tool use, hunting, reproductive strategies and conflict management as well as demographic variables and ecological constraints. In addition to interspecies behavioural diversity, this text describes exciting new research into variations between different populations of the same species. Researchers and students working in the fields of primatology, anthropology and zoology will find this a fascinating read.
This article presents definitions of friendship, explores gender differences in friendship, and then traces the interweaving of gender and friendship as they develop over the life span. The effects on friendship of sexual orientation and culture and their interactions with gender in relation to friendship will also be examined. In addition, we consider both same-sex and other-sex friendships.
Warfare has traditionally been considered unique to humans. It has, therefore, often been explained as deriving from features that are unique to humans, such as the possession of weapons or the adoption of a patriarchal ideology. Mounting evidence suggests, however, that coalitional killing of adults in neighboring groups also occurs regularly in other species, including wolves and chimpanzees. This implies that selection can favor components of intergroup aggression important to human warfare, including lethal raiding. Here I present the principal adaptive hypothesis for explaining the species distribution of intergroup coalitional killing. This is the "imbalance-of-power hypothesis," which suggests that coalitional killing is the expression of a drive for dominance over neighbors. Two conditions are proposed to be both necessary and sufficient to account for coalitional killing of neighbors: (1) a state of intergroup hostility; (2) sufficient imbalances of power between parties that one party can attack the other with impunity. Under these conditions, it is suggested, selection favors the tendency to hunt and kill rivals when the costs are sufficiently low. The imbalance-of-power hypothesis has been criticized on a variety of empirical and theoretical grounds which are discussed. To be further tested, studies of the proximate determinants of aggression are needed. However, current evidence supports the hypothesis that selection has favored a hunt-and-kill propensity in chimpanzees and humans, and that coalitional killing has a long history in the evolution of both species. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 42:1-30, 1999.
Both behavioral ecological and social anthropological analyses of polygynous marriage tend to emphasize the importance of competition among men in acquisition of mates, whereas the strategic options to women both prior to and after the establishment of a marriage have been neglected. Focusing on African marriage systems that are in some senses analogous to resource-defense polygyny, I first review the evidence of reproductive costs of polygyny to women. Then I discuss why the conflict of interests between men and women over mate number is often likely to be settled in favor of men. Using East African ethnographic data I examine the strategic responses of women and their families to polygynous marriage, focusing on four topics: mate choice (Kipsigis), attitudes toward incoming wives (Kipsigis), labor allocation and cooperation (comparative data, Kipsigis), and use of parental wealth (Datoga). The results of these quantitative analyses suggest that through a combination of judicious marriage choice and strategic responses within marriage, polygyny need not be costly to women in resource-defense polygynous systems. The conclusion is that a hierarchy of questions need to be addressed in the analysis of any polygynous marriage system.
Among human foragers, males and females target different foods and share them. Some view this division of labor as a cooperative enterprise to maximize household benefits; others question men's foraging goals. Women tend to target reliable foods. Men tend to target energy-dense foods that are difficult to acquire and are shared widely outside the household, perhaps to advertise their phenotypic quality to potential mates and allies via a costly, and thus hard to fake, signal. An analysis of variation in sex-specific foraging was conducted to investigate its causes and origins. There is less division of labor in less seasonal, more productive habitats where males do more gathering. This suggests males respond more as optimal foragers than maximal signalers. The division of labor likely evolved after pair bonds, and after gathering technology became efficient enough to provision others, allowing males to specialize in foods with the greatest trade value with females.
Systematic observations of affiliative interaction in 15 stable peer groups were conducted across 3 years in an urban day-care center. These groups contained 193 French-speaking children (98 girls, 95 boys) ranging in age from 1 to 6 years. Cross-sectional analyses were conducted to assess the impact of age and sex on the rate of social activity and the degree of sexual segregation. Analysis of variance revealed that rate of affiliative activity increased as a linear function of age. Older children exhibited stronger preference for same-sex social partners than younger children, and a significant age X sex interaction showed that girls began to prefer same-sex peers earlier than boys, who subsequently surpassed girls in sexual discrimination. Trend analyses revealed different functions for boys and girls in the development of same-sex preferences. The utility of a 2-process model for understanding sex differences in social development and peer socialization is discussed.
Little research has compared human males and females in their investment in unrelated same-sex individuals. Part of the difficulty lies in defining investment. The current study utilized durability of 6- to 11-year-old children's same-sex friendships as a measure of investment. Results demonstrated that males' friendships were more durable than those of females. Analyses comparing conflicts in current same-sex friendships of males and females did not yield any proximate explanations for sex differences in the durability of same-sex bonds. An evolutionary account is proposed for the greater durability of males' versus females' same-sex relationships.
This study examines personal collectivism and individualism (or allocentrism and idiocentrism) in relation to the perception of same-sex friendships among adolescents living in a multi-ethnic context in the Netherlands. Respondents originally from collectivist cultures were more allocentric than respondents originally from individualist cultures. Among the former group allocentrism was unrelated to idiocentrism, whereas a negative relation was found among the latter group. Allocentrism was related to a greater sensitivity to friends, using more ascribed features in describing friends, having fewer friends but seeing their relationship as closer, perceiving less intimacy with other-than-best-friends, and endorsing rules about relations with third parties more. Idiocentrism was related to less sensitivity to friends, using more personal characteristics in describing friends, but also to having fewer friends, talking less intimately with others, and endorsing friendship rules about intimacy less. Additionally, gender had independent effects on the perception of friendship, suggesting that cultural and gender differences cannot be characterized by the same set of features.
Surveyed 1,557 Soviet adolescents, aged 14 to 20 yrs, to clarify the important and meaningful criteria for teenage friendships and to describe the actual forms and psychosocial functions of these friendships. The dynamics of friendship by age and sex, its place among other interpersonal relationships including the family, and differences between rural and urban youth are described. In spite of the widely held opinion to the contrary among sociologists, results suggest that adolescent friendship is not losing its significance or its exclusiveness. The need for further interdisciplinary research in this area is stressed. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
the present study begins with the hypothesis that there is no reason to assume that because a person uses an orientation spontaneously, she or he would not use the other orientation if asked whether there is another way to see the problem / thus, the study considers the question: can both males and females understand both moral orientations / this question is addressed by using a standard method . . . to investigate the ability of one person to use both orientations in solving moral dilemmas / the dilemmas used are embedded in fables
the study varied age and gender to test the premise that eleven and fifteen-year-old boys and girls can use both the justice and the care orientations (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study examines the problem of belief revision, defined as deciding which of several initially accepted sentences to disbelieve, when new information presents a logical inconsistency with the initial set. In the first three experiments, the initial sentence set included a conditional sentence, a non-conditional (ground) sentence, and an inferred conclusion drawn from the first two. The new information contradicted the inferred conclusion. Results indicated that conditional sentences were more readily abandoned than ground sentences, even when either choice would lead to a consistent belief state, and that this preference was more pronounced when problems used natural language cover stories rather than symbols. The pattern of belief revision choices differed depending on whether the contradicted conclusion from the initial belief set had been a modus ponens or modus tollens inference. Two additional experiments examined alternative model-theoretic definitions of minimal change to a belief state, using problems that contained multiple models of the initial belief state and of the new information that provided the contradiction. The results indicated that people did not follow any of four formal definitions of minimal change on these problems. The new information and the contradiction it offered was not, for example, used to select a particular model of the initial belief state as a way of reconciling the contradiction. The preferred revision was to retain only those initial sentences that had the same, unambiguous truth value within and across both the initial and new information sets. The study and results are presented in the context of certain logic-based formalizations of belief revision, syntactic and model-theoretic representations of belief states, and performance models of human deduction. Principles by which some types of sentences might be more “entrenched” than others in the face of contradiction are also discussed from the perspective of induction and theory revision.
The extent to which belief revision is affected by systematic variability and direct experience of a conditional (if A then B) relation was examined in two studies. The first used a computer generated apparatus. This presented two rows of 5 objects. Pressing one of the top objects resulted in one of the bottom objects being lit up. The 139 adult participants were given one of two levels of experience (5 or 15 trials) and one of two types of apparatus. One of these was completely uniform, while the other had an element that randomly alternated in its result. Following the testing of the apparatus, participants were asked to rate their certainty of the action of the middle element, which was always uniform (the AB belief). Then they were told of an observation inconsistent with this belief. Participants were then asked whether they considered the AB belief or the anecdotal observation to be more believable. Results showed that increased experience decreased the tendency to reject the AB belief, when the apparatus did not have any randomness. However, the presence of a single element showing random variation in the system strongly increased rejection of this belief. A second study looked at the effect of a single random element on a mechanical system as well as an electronic system using graphical representations. This confirmed the generality of the effect of randomness on belief revision, and provided support for the effects of embedding a belief into a system of relations. These results provide some insight into the complex factors that determine belief revision.
Female chimpanzees mate promiscuously during a period of extended receptivity marked by prominent sexual swelling. Recent studies of wild chimpanzees indicate that subtle variations in swelling size could act as a reliable cue of female fertilization potential both within and between cycles (Emery and Whitten Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 54, 340–351, 2003; Deschner et al.
Hormones and Behavior, 46, 204–215, 2004). Copulation rates increase during the periovulatory period and during conception cycles (Deschner et al.
Hormones and Behavior, 46, 204–215, 2004; Emery Thompson American Journal of Primatology, 67, 137–158, 2005a), suggesting that males may be able to assess female fertilization potential. We asked whether facultative timing of copulation in Kanyawara chimpanzees was due to increased male mating interest or to increased female proceptivity during the most fecund days. We assessed multiple measures of male mating effort in cycles aligned relative to the day of detumescence and compared periovulatory days to other days of maximal swelling, and conception cycles to nonconception cycles. The rate and proportion of male initiative in soliciting sexual behavior increased during periods of highest fertilization potential. Males were also more likely to interrupt copulations, associate with estrous females, and compete with other males when females were most likely to conceive. Females initiated copulations more frequently during conception cycles but did not visibly shift mating behavior within cycles. Our results support the hypothesis that male chimpanzees have the ability to assess the profitability of mating attempts, a trait that may act as a counter-adaptation to female strategies to obscure paternity. We discuss potential cues and the implications for female reproductive strategies.
Aggression is rare among wild female chimpanzees. However, in the Kanyawara chimpanzee community in Kibale National Park, Uganda, stable use of food-rich core areas is linked to increased reproductive success, suggesting that contest competition might occur over access to the highest-quality ranges. To examine this hypothesis, we studied aggression and dominance relationships among Kanyawara females during a 10-yr period that included the immigration of 5 females into the community. We tested 2 predictions: 1) that female-female aggression should intensify when immigrants enter the community because this is when core area access is determined and 2) that the quality of core areas should reflect relative female dominance relationships. In support of the first prediction, female-female aggression increased 4-fold when new immigrants were in the community, with rates peaking when there were multiple immigrants. This pattern was due primarily to aggression by resident mothers toward immigrants and featured coalitionary aggression, a rare behavior among female chimpanzees. In support of the second prediction, females occupying core areas high in foraging quality ranked high overall and higher than expected for their ages, whereas females occupying low-quality core areas were lower-ranking and ranked lower than expected for their ages. Together, the data indicate that though female aggression does not regularly occur in chimpanzees, contest competition continues to play an important role in determining long-term access to resources, an important correlate of reproductive success. Anthropology Version of Record
Chimpanzees are among the few mammals that engage in lethal coalitionary aggression between groups. Most attacks on neighbors occur when parties made up mostly of adult males patrol boundaries of their community's range. Patrols have time, energy, and opportunity costs, and entail some risks despite the tendency of males to attack only when they greatly outnumber their targets. These factors may lead to a collective action problem. Potential benefits include protection of community members, particularly infants; range expansion and increases in the amount and quality of food available; and incorporation of more females into the community. Males may not share these equally; for example, those able to obtain large shares of matings may stand to gain most by participating in patrols and to lose most by refraining. Despite the attention that boundary patrolling has attracted, few relevant quantitative data are available. Here, we present detailed data on boundary patrolling and intergroup aggression in a chimpanzee community at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda, that is unusually large and has more males than any other known community. Males there patrolled much more often, and patrol parties were much larger on average, than at two other sites for which comparative data exist. Our findings support the argument that male participation varies along with variation in potential gains, in willingness to take risks, and in skill at handling these risks. Both the overall frequency with which individual males patrolled and their willingness to join patrols as others set off on them were positively associated with variation in mating success, in participation in hunts of red colobus monkeys, and in hunting success. Males patrolled relatively often with others with whom they associated often in general, with whom they often groomed, and with whom they formed coalitions in withincommunity agonism. This indicates that they were most willing to take risks associated with patrolling when with others they trusted to take the same risks. Peer Reviewed http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43613/1/10520_2004_Article_brill_00057959_v138n3_s2.pdf
While a great deal of work in recent years has focused on the role of cognitive evaluation of events in the elicitation of anger, little has been said about how the interpersonal context of events colors such evaluation. In this study, we varied critical features of events identified by theorists (provocation, intent, and apology) along with the interpersonal context of the events. We examined the reactions of preadolescent and young adolescent boys and girls to hypothetical situations involving anger-provoking actions by best friends and classmates (casual acquaintances). The situations involving best friends elicited higher ratings of personal violation, more intense and prolonged negative emotion (including sadness and hurt feelings in addition to anger), and more coping attempts geared toward relationship preservation than did the situations involving classmates. Girls seemed to be particularly sensitive to relationship differences, consistently reporting different responses when friends and classmates were involved. Findings associated with the theoretical features of anger elicitation (provocation, intent, and apology), while generally fitting predictions, were less clear and convincing, overall, than the effects of relationship context. Findings related to age were limited but were consistent with research on the changing nature and meaning of friendship as children enter adolescence. Overall, our findings underscore the importance of relationship context as a backdrop against which emotional experience must be viewed.
Warfare has traditionally been considered unique to humans. It has, therefore, often been explained as deriving from features that are unique to humans, such as the possession of weapons or the adoption of a patriarchal ideology. Mounting evidence suggests, however, that coalitional killing of adults in neighboring groups also occurs regularly in other species, including wolves and chimpanzees. This implies that selection can favor components of intergroup aggression important to human warfare, including lethal raiding. Here I present the principal adaptive hypothesis for explaining the species distribution of intergroup coalitional killing. This is the "imbalance-of-power hypothesis," which suggests that coalitional killing is the expression of a drive for dominance over neighbors. Two conditions are proposed to be both necessary and sufficient to account for coalitional killing of neighbors: (1) a state of intergroup hostility; (2) sufficient imbalances of power between parties that one party can attack the other with impunity. Under these conditions, it is suggested, selection favors the tendency to hunt and kill rivals when the costs are sufficiently low. The imbalance-of-power hypothesis has been criticized on a variety of empirical and theoretical grounds which are discussed. To be further tested, studies of the proximate determinants of aggression are needed. However, current evidence supports the hypothesis that selection has favored a hunt-and-kill propensity in chimpanzees and humans, and that coalitional killing has a long history in the evolution of both species.
This study examined whether children's internal representations reflect gender differences that have been found in peer interactions. The dimensions examined were (1) preferences for dyadic or group situations, (2) whether children who are friends with a given target child are likely to be friends with each other, and (3) perceptions of the probability of knowing information about friends. Participants from preschool; grades 2, 6, 8, and 10; and college (N = 278) were asked questions about typical girls and boys. Results indicate that both girls and boys (1) rate typical boys as preferring group interactions more than do typical girls, a difference present as early as preschool; (2) rate typical boys as more likely than typical girls to be friends with one another if they are friends with the same target boy or girl respectively; and (3) rate typical girls as more likely than typical boys to know certain types of information about friends. These results are consistent with the existence of internal models of social interactions that are at least partially gender specific.
Sixty females and 60 males between 10 and 15 years of age were interviewed about difficulties in current and past close same-sex friendships. Based on prior studies, it was hypothesized that females' closest same-sex friendships would be more fragile than those of males. Analyses comparing only the closest same-sex friendship of the two sexes demonstrated that females' current friendships were of a shorter duration, that females were more distressed than males when imagining the potential termination of their friendships, that more females' than males' friends already had done something to hurt the friendship, and that females had more former friendships that had ended than males had. Possible reasons are discussed for the greater vulnerability of this type of relationship for females.
To understand constraints on the evolution of cooperation, we compared the ability of bonobos and chimpanzees to cooperatively solve a food-retrieval problem. We addressed two hypotheses. The "emotional-reactivity hypothesis" predicts that bonobos will cooperate more successfully because tolerance levels are higher in bonobos. This prediction is inspired by studies of domesticated animals; such studies suggest that selection on emotional reactivity can influence the ability to solve social problems [1, 2]. In contrast, the "hunting hypothesis" predicts that chimpanzees will cooperate more successfully because only chimpanzees have been reported to cooperatively hunt in the wild [3-5]. We indexed emotional reactivity by measuring social tolerance while the animals were cofeeding and found that bonobos were more tolerant of cofeeding than chimpanzees. In addition, during cofeeding tests only bonobos exhibited socio-sexual behavior, and they played more. When presented with a task of retrieving food that was difficult to monopolize, bonobos and chimpanzees were equally cooperative. However, when the food reward was highly monopolizable, bonobos were more successful than chimpanzees at cooperating to retrieve it. These results support the emotional-reactivity hypothesis. Selection on temperament may in part explain the variance in cooperative ability across species, including hominoids.
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Males derive greater benefits than females do from same-sex peers relative to parents
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