Sexual selection in primates and during human evolution.

2010 ◽  
pp. 109-144
Author(s):  
David C. Geary
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Human Evolution

scholarly journals Exploring gene–culture interactions: insights from handedness, sexual selection and niche-construction case studies

2008 ◽  
Vol 363 (1509) ◽  
pp. 3577-3589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin N Laland
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Niche Construction ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Feedback Mechanisms ◽  
Cultural Processes ◽  
Cultural Niche ◽  
Cultural Niche Construction ◽  
Shed Light

Genes and culture represent two streams of inheritance that for millions of years have flowed down the generations and interacted. Genetic propensities, expressed throughout development, influence what cultural organisms learn. Culturally transmitted information, expressed in behaviour and artefacts, spreads through populations, modifying selection acting back on populations. Drawing on three case studies, I will illustrate how this gene–culture coevolution has played a critical role in human evolution. These studies explore (i) the evolution of handedness, (ii) sexual selection with a culturally transmitted mating preference, and (iii) cultural niche construction and human evolution. These analyses shed light on how genes and culture shape each other, and on the significance of feedback mechanisms between biological and cultural processes.

Good genes and parental care in human evolution

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 611-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Marlowe
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Male Body ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Female Preferences

Prior to agriculture, human societies were small, with little variation for good genes sexual selection (GGSS) to work on. Across cultures, variation in paternal care makes the benefits of GGSS highly variable. Despite these caveats, female preferences for traits like male body symmetry suggest one reason for female short-term mating is gene shopping.

Human Evolution

On Purpose ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 153-165
Author(s):  
Michael Ruse
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Darwinian Evolution ◽  
Close Relatives

This chapter analyzes Darwinian evolution through selection. It explores what the Kantian/Darwinian perspective implies for humans. Charles Darwin was absolutely convinced of the fact of human evolution and as soon as he had discovered natural selection was applying it to species, to minds and powers of thought no less. However, in the Origin he was cautious, wanting first to get the main details of his theory laid out for all to see and only at the end pointing to the implications for humankind. This did not stop others from getting on the bandwagon, and although in the Descent Darwin had much to say that was both new and interesting—notably about sexual selection—by then he was entering an already well-plowed field. Naturally, the early parts of Darwin's book were concerned with making the straightforward case for human evolution, showing how it is reasonable to think—especially on the evidence of homologies—that people and the higher apes are close relatives and that humans came jointly from organisms more primitive.

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