Why sex matters: a Darwinian look at human behavior

431 Pages·2000·3.576 MB·English

by  Bobbi S. Low

W S
HY EX
M
ATTERS
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W S
HY EX
M
ATTERS
A Darwinian Look
at Human Behavior
Bobbi S.Low
princeton university press
princeton, new jersey
Copyright © 2000 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press,
Chichester, West Sussex
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Low, Bobbi S.
Why sex matters : a Darwinian look at human behavior /
Bobbi S. Low.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-691-02895-8 (alk. paper)
1. Human evolution. 2. Sex role. 3. Nature and nurture.
4. Sociobiology. I. Title.
GN281.4.L68 1999
305.3—dc21 99-24612
This book has been composed in Palatino Typeface
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper)
http://pup.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Disclaimer:
Some images in the original version of this book are not
available for inclusion in the eBook.
F
OR MY SON MICHAEL,
and for my academic lineage: parental,
sibling, and offspring generations
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Contents
xiii Preface
xvii Acknowledgments
3 1.Introduction
4 Vampire Stories and Beyond
6 Explaining Behavior without Folklore
9 Kinds of “Why” Questions
11 Simple Rules, Complex Outcomes
12 Humans as Critters
19 2.Racing the Red Queen: Selfish Genes
and Their Strategies
23 Whose Genes Count, and Why? Kin Selection
27 Summing Up the Basics: Assumptions and Objections
31 Novel Evolutionary Environments: Can the Principles Still Hold?
33 More than Ants or Peacocks: Lifetimes, Culture, Ecology,
and Variation
35 3.The Ecology of Sex Differences
37 Sex and Strategies
44 The Ecology of Being Male and Female
47 Mating Effort
viii CONTENTS
52 Parental Effort
53 Variance in Reproductive Success: Mating versus Parental Strategists
57 4.Sex, Status, and Reproduction among the Apes
58 The Ecology of Dominance and RS in Primates
60 Ecological Aspects of Mating Systems
62 Sex, Resources, and the Ecology of Human Reproduction
66 The Ecology of Human Mating Systems
74 The Ecology of Monogamy and Polyandry
77 5.Sex, Resources, Appearance, and Mate Choice
78 What Men and Women Want
83 Beauty, Resources, and Mate Choice
84 Signals of Desirability and Their Manipulation
88 Who Can Choose?
92 6.Sex, Resources, and Human Lifetimes
95 Starting Out: Resource Striving in the Womb
96 What’s a Mother to Do? Optimizing Maternal Effort
among Offspring
98 Conflicts of Interest: Abortion, Infanticide, Abandonment,
Neglect
102 Sex Differences in Reproductive Lifetimes
110 Sex Differences in Senescence
113 7.Sex and Resource Ecology in Traditional
and Historical Cultures
113 Sexual Divisions of Labor
115 Sex and Control of Resources
CONTENTS ix
116 Men, Women, and Resources in Traditional and Historical
Cultures
127 8.Sex, Resources, and Fertility in Transition
130 Nineteenth-Century Sweden
135 Sex, Resources, and Life Histories
139 Female Life Paths
140 Male Life Paths
142 Sex, Resources, and Fertility
144 Fertility Transitions: What, If Anything, Do They Mean?
146 9.Nice Guys Can Win—In Social Species, Anyway
147 Are We Lemmings? ACautionary Tale
147 When and Why Do We Cooperate?
150 Simple Strategies in Winning Games
154 From Family to Dyads to Groups to Cultures
155 The Group Selection Muddle
160 Altruists or Good Neighbors?
161 Cooperation and Free-Riders
163 10.Conflicts, Culture, and Natural Selection
164 Cooperation, Competition, and Groups
165 Working Out Our Conflicts: Moral Systems and Group Life
168 Intertwining Cultural and Natural Selection
176 Logically Inept, Socially Adept: The Social Contexts
of Intelligence
181 11. Sex and Complex Coalitions
183 Coalitions, Resources, and Reproduction
193 Sex and Human Coalitions