scholarly journals Phenotypic Signals of Sexual Selection and Fast Life History Dynamics for the Long-Term but Not Short-Term Mating

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 147470492110571
Author(s):  
Janko Međedović

Mating patterns are crucial for understanding selection regimes in current populations and highly implicative for sexual selection and life history theory. However, empirical data on the relations between mating and reproductive outcomes in contemporary humans are lacking. In the present research we examined the sexual selection on mating (with an emphasis on Bateman's third parameter – the association between mating and reproductive success) and life history dynamics of mating by examining the relations between mating patterns and a comprehensive set of variables which determine human reproductive ecology. We conducted two studies (Study 1: N = 398, Study 2: N = 996, the sample was representative for participants’ sex, age, region, and settlement size). The findings from these studies were mutually congruent and complementary. In general, the data suggested that short-term mating was unrelated or even negatively related to reproductive success. Conversely, long-term mating was positively associated with reproductive success (number of children in Study 1; number of children and grandchildren in Study 2) and there were indices that the beneficial role of long-term mating is more pronounced in males, which is in accordance with Bateman's third principle. Observed age of first reproduction mediated the link between long-term mating and number of children but only in male participants (Study 2). There were no clear indications of the position of the mating patterns in human life history trajectories; however, the obtained data suggested that long-term mating has some characteristics of fast life history dynamics. Findings are implicative for sexual selection and life history theory in humans.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janko Mileta Međedović

Mating patterns are crucial for understanding selection regimes in current populations and highly implicative for sexual selection and life history theory. However, empirical data on the relations between mating and fitness-related outcomes in contemporary humans are lacking. In the present research we examined the sexual selection on mating (with an emphasis on Bateman’s third parameter – the association between mating and reproductive success) and life history dynamics of mating by examining the relations between mating patterns and a comprehensive set of variables which determine human reproductive ecology. We conducted two studies (Study 1: N=398, Mage=31.03; Study 2: N=996, Mage=40.81, the sample was representative for participants’ sex, age, region, and settlement size). The findings from these studies were mutually congruent and complementary. In general, the data suggested that short-term mating was unrelated or even negatively related to reproductive success. Conversely, long-term mating was positively associated with reproductive success and there were indices that the beneficial role of long-term mating is more pronounced in males, which is in accordance with Bateman’s third principle. Observed age of first reproduction fully mediated the link between long-term mating and number of children but only in male participants. There were no clear indications of the position of the mating patterns in human life history trajectories; however, the obtained data suggested that long-term mating has some characteristics of fast life history dynamics. Findings are implicative for sexual selection and life history theory in humans.


2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-249
Author(s):  
Magdalena Marzec ◽  
Andrzej Łukasik

Abstract The evolutionary function of love is to create a strong bond between the partners with reproduction in view. In order to achieve this goal, humans use various sexual/reproductive strategies, which have evolved due to specific reproductive benefits. The use of particular strategies depends on many factors but one of the most important is early childhood experiences, on which life history theory (LHT) focuses. John Lee (1973) identified 6 basic love styles: eros, ludus, storge, pragma, agape, and mania. Our goal was to check whether love styles may be treated as sexual/reproductive strategies in the context of LHT - slow or fast strategy. In our study (N = 177) we found that people who prefer the slow reproductive strategy are inclined to show passionate, pragmatic and friendly love, and those who prefer the fast strategy, treated love as a game. A low level of environmental stress in childhood results in preferring eros, storge and agape love styles, belonging to the slow strategy, and a high one results in preferring ludus, which belongs to the fast strategy. People representing eros, storge or pragma styles have restricted sociosexual orientation so they prefer long-term relationships, whereas those with the ludus style are people with unrestricted orientation, preferring short-term relationships. Besides, storge, agape and pragma seem to determine preferring qualities connected with parental effort in one’s partner, mania - with mating effort, and eros - with both kinds of effort. No correlation was found between the love style and the number of children.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Janko Međedović

Abstract Empirical data on the relations between mating and reproductive success are rare for humans, especially for industrial and post-industrial populations. Existing data show that mating (and especially long-term mating) can be beneficial for fitness, especially that of males. This finding is in line with the hypothesis of sexual selection operating in human populations. The present research expands on previous studies by: 1) analysing additional fitness indicators, including having children with different partners; 2) including parental investment in the analysis as another important marker of sexual selection; 3) analysing several mediators between mating, reproductive fitness and parental investment, i.e. age of first and last reproduction and desired number of children. The data were obtained in 2019 from a sample of parents living in Serbia (N=497). The findings showed that long-term mating (duration of longest partner relationship) was positively related to parental investment and number of offspring and grand-offspring. Furthermore, the link between long-term mating and reproductive success was completely mediated by the age of first reproduction and desired number of children. Short-term mating (number of sexual partners) was marginally positively related to the number of children participants had with different partners and negatively related to parental investment. No sex differences in the link between mating, fitness and parental investment were detected. In general, the signatures of sexual selection were weak in the present data, but those that were detected were in line with sexual selection theory. The present findings provide a deeper insight into the adaptive function of mating and also the mechanism of how mating is beneficial for fitness.


2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 756-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janko Međedović

AbstractIn recent years there have been attempts to explain religiousness from an evolutionary viewpoint. However, empirical data on this topic are still lacking. In the present study, the behavioural ecological theoretical framework was used to explore the relations between religiousness, harsh environment, fitness (reproductive success and parental investment) and fitness-related outcomes (age at first birth, desired number of children and the romantic relationship duration). The data were collected from 461 individuals from a community sample who were near the end of their reproductive phase (54% females, Mage = 51.75; SD = 6.56). Positive links between religiousness, harsh environment, fitness and fitness-related outcomes were expected, with the exception of age at first birth, for which a negative association was hypothesized. Hence, the main assumption of the study was that religiousness has some attributes of fast life-history phenotypes – that it emerges from a harsh environment and enables earlier reproduction. The study findings partially confirmed these hypotheses. Religiousness was positively related to environmental harshness but only on a zero-order level. Religious individuals had higher reproductive success (this association was especially pronounced in males) but religiousness did not show associations with parental investment. Religiousness was positively associated with desired number of children and negatively associated with age at first birth, although the latter association was only marginally significant in the multivariate analyses. Finally, path analysis showed that desired number of children and age at first birth completely mediated the relation between religiousness and reproductive success. The data confirmed the biologically adaptive function of religiousness in contemporary populations and found the mediating processes that facilitate fitness in religious individuals. Furthermore, the findings initiate a more complex view of religiousness in a life-history context which could be fruitful for future research: a proposal labelled as ‘ontogeny-dependent life-history theory of religiousness’.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 147470491770693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janko Međedović

The evolutionary status of intelligence is not clear: It is positively related to various indicators of fitness but negatively to reproductive success as the most important fitness marker. In the present research, we explored the links between intelligence and three fitness indicators: number of children (short-term reproductive success), number of grandchildren (long-term reproductive success), and age at first birth. Participants were individuals in a postreproductive stage ( N = 191; mean age = 66.5 years). Intelligence had a positive correlation with short-term reproductive success and age at first birth but a negative correlation with long-term reproductive success. Participants’ education turned out to be a significant mediator of the link between intelligence and criterion measures. The results showed that intelligence can elevate short-term reproductive success. Furthermore, individuals with higher intellectual abilities tended to delay reproduction, which negatively affected their long-term reproductive success. Education was revealed as a very important resource which affects the link between cognitive abilities and fitness, thus proving its evolutionary role in contemporary populations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 147470491985976 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Kasaeian ◽  
Corina Weidenauer ◽  
Martin Hautzinger ◽  
Christoph Randler

Following previous studies, chronotype was related to sexual attitudes and behavior. Evening people tend to be more promiscuous and follow short-term mating strategies and extra-pair matings (EPM), which might lead to a higher reproductive success. In this study, one aim was to assess reproductive success directly by asking for children, and, second, to obtain a higher sample size for the analysis of sexual behavior and chronotype than in previous studies. N = 1,843 heterosexual persons (551 men, 1,288 women, 4 without data) responded to our online survey. Five hundred fifty-nine persons were single and 1,281 in a relationship; 203 reported having children (1.9 ± 0.81). Age was positively related and age at first intercourse was negatively related to the number of children. People being later chronotypes had fewer children, and shorter sleep duration was linked with more children. Extroversion was correlated with number of children, as was the long-term relationship orientation. Sociosexual orientation and EPM were unrelated to number of children. Age at first intercourse was earlier in evening people, and unrestricted sociosexuality was higher in late chronotypes. Morning orientation correlated with long-term relationship orientation and eveningness with short-term relationship orientation. Number of sexual partners was lower in morning people. Men were more evening oriented, later chronotypes, and slept shorter. There were no differences in sociosexual behavior, but men were less restricted in attitude and desire. Men scored higher on short-term relationship orientation and women higher on long-term relationship orientation. This study confirmed previous results about chronotype and sexual behavior but provided the first evidence that morningness was related to higher reproductive success.


2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 306-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Criscuolo ◽  
Olivier Chastel ◽  
Fabrice Bertile ◽  
Geir Wing Gabrielsen ◽  
Yvon Le Maho ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Schniter ◽  
Shane Macfarlan ◽  
Juan J. Garcia ◽  
Gorgonio Ruiz‑Campos ◽  
Diego Guevara Beltran ◽  
...  

We investigate whether age profiles of ethnobiological knowledge developmentare consistent with predictions derived from life history theory about the timing ofproductivity and reproduction. Life history models predict complementary knowledgeprofiles developing across the lifespan for women and men as they experiencechanges in embodied capital and the needs of dependent offspring. We evaluatethese predictions using an ethnobiological knowledge assessment tool developedfor an off-grid pastoralist population known as Choyeros, from Baja California Sur,Mexico. Our results indicate that while individuals acquire knowledge of most dangerousitems and edible resources by early adulthood, knowledge of plants and animalsrelevant to the age and sex divided labor domains and ecologies (e.g., women’shouse gardens, men’s herding activities in the wilderness) continues to develop intomiddle adulthood but to different degrees and at different rates for men and women.As the demands of offspring on parents accumulate with age, reproductive-agedadults continue to develop their knowledge to meet their children’s needs. After controllingfor vision, our analysis indicates that many post-reproductive adults showthe greatest ethnobiological knowledge. These findings extend our understanding ofthe evolved human life history by illustrating how changes in embodied capital andthe needs of dependent offspring predict the development of men’s and women’sethnobiological knowledge across the lifespan.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Supriyo Supriyo

Human life with all its activities in order to meet the needs of life always will always faced the possibility of risk either directly or indirectly, can occur in the short term or long term. A possibility of the occurrence or risk had certainly will affect the activity to be done And adversely affect the economy of a family and even a company, if the risks that occur have a vital impact on the family or an organization. Many failures within a company's organization are due to unforeseen risks occurring as for example the company never thinks that a newly established company is still in the short run abruptly because a workforce lacking control in the production system creates a great fire and spends all and has a bad impact For the economy of a family and even a company, if the risks that occur have a vital impact on the family or an organization. Many failures within a company's organization are due to unforeseen risks occurring as for example the company never thinks that a newly established company is still in the short run abruptly because a workforce lacking control in the production system creates a terrible fire and consumes all the company's assets Newly established. Everyone or anyone else would not want the incident to happen and befall themselves and his business in the future. Keywords: Islamic perspective, Risk management


Author(s):  
Marco Del Giudice

The chapter introduces the basics of life history theory, the concept of life history strategy, and the fast–slow continuum of variation. After reviewing applications to animal behavior and physiology, the chapter reviews current theory and evidence on individual differences in humans as manifestations of alternative life history strategies. The chapter first presents a “basic model” of human life history–related traits, then advances an “extended model” that identifies multiple cognitive-behavioral profiles within fast and slow strategies. Specifically, it is proposed that slow strategies comprise prosocial/caregiving and skilled/provisioning profiles, whereas fast strategies comprise antisocial/exploitative and seductive/creative profiles. The chapter also reviews potential neurobiological markers of life history variation and considers key methodological issues in this area.


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