scholarly journals Revisiting the effect of red on competition in humans

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Fortunato ◽  
Aaron Clauset
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Competitive Ability ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Combat Sports ◽  
Beijing Olympics ◽  
Red Coloration ◽  
Landmark Study ◽  
2008 Beijing Olympics

Bright red coloration is a signal of male competitive ability in animal species across a range of taxa, including non-human primates. Does the effect of red on competition extend to humans? A landmark study in evolutionary psychology established such an effect through analysis of data for four combat sports at the 2004 Athens Olympics (Hill & Barton 2005). Here we show that the observed pattern reflects instead a structural bias towards wins by red in the outcomes of the competition. Consistently, we find no effect of red in equivalent data for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which present a structural bias towards wins by blue. These results refute past claims of an effect of red on human competition based on analysis of this system. In turn, this undermines the notion that any effect of red on human behavior is an evolved response shaped by sexual selection.

Integrating Mechanisms and Functions to Understand Behavior

2019 ◽  
pp. xiv-9
Author(s):  
Lisa L. M. Welling ◽  
Todd K. Shackelford
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Reproductive Behavior ◽  
Affective Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Endocrinology ◽  
Human Psychology ◽  
Proximate Mechanisms ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Influence Behavior ◽  
Evolutionary Perspectives

Evolutionary psychology and behavioral endocrinology provide complementary perspectives on interpreting human behavior and psychology. Hormones can function as underlying mechanisms that influence behavior in functional ways. Understanding these proximate mechanisms can inform ultimate explanations of human psychology. This chapter introduces this edited volume by first discussing evolutionary perspectives in behavioral endocrinology. It then briefly addresses three broad topic areas of behavioral endocrinology: (1) development and survival, (2) reproductive behavior, and (3) social and affective behavior. It provides examples of research within each of these areas and describes potential adaptations. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the importance of integrating mechanisms with function when investigating human behavior and psychology.

scholarly journals Satellite-based estimates of reduced CO and CO2emissions due to traffic restrictions during the 2008 Beijing Olympics

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (14) ◽  
pp. n/a-n/a ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen M. Worden ◽  
Yafang Cheng ◽  
Gabriele Pfister ◽  
Gregory R. Carmichael ◽  
Qiang Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Beijing Olympics ◽  
2008 Beijing Olympics

scholarly journals Evolutionary Psychology in the Modern World: Applications, Perspectives, and Strategies

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 147470491201000 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Craig Roberts ◽  
Mark van Vugt ◽  
Robin I. M. Dunbar
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Darwinian Medicine ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Economics And Politics

An evolutionary approach is a powerful framework which can bring new perspectives on any aspect of human behavior, to inform and complement those from other disciplines, from psychology and anthropology to economics and politics. Here we argue that insights from evolutionary psychology may be increasingly applied to address practical issues and help alleviate social problems. We outline the promise of this endeavor, and some of the challenges it faces. In doing so, we draw parallels between an applied evolutionary psychology and recent developments in Darwinian medicine, which similarly has the potential to complement conventional approaches. Finally, we describe some promising new directions which are developed in the associated papers accompanying this article.

Ensuring and Promoting Food Safety During the 2008 Beijing Olympics

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 981-983 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald G. Moy ◽  
Fanfan Han ◽  
Junshi Chen
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Beijing Olympics ◽  
2008 Beijing Olympics

The Origins and Dynamics of Inequality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon D. Wisman
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human History ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Role

Whereas President Barack Obama identified inequality as “the defining challenge of our time,” this book claims more: it is the defining issue of all human history. The struggle over inequality has been the underlying force driving human history’s unfolding. Drawing on the dynamics of inequality, this book reinterprets history and society. Beyond according inequality the central role in human history, this book is novel in two other respects. First, transcending the general failure of social scientists and historians to anchor their work in explicit theories of human behavior, this book grounds the origins and dynamics of inequality in evolutionary psychology, or, more specifically, Darwin’s theory of sexual selection. Second, this book is novel in according central importance to the critical historical role of ideology in legitimating inequality, a role typically ignored or given little attention by social scientists and historians. Because of the central role of inequality in history, inequality’s explosion over the past 45 years has not been an anomaly. It is a return to the political dynamics by which elites have, since the rise of the state, taken practically everything for themselves, leaving all others with little more than the means with which to survive. Due to elites’ persuasive ideology, even after workers in advanced capitalist countries gained the franchise to become the overwhelming majority of voters, inequality continued to increase. The anomaly is that the only intentional politically driven decline in inequality occurred between the 1930s and 1970s following the Great Depression’s partial delegitimation (this should remain delegitimation globally) of elites’ ideology.

4. Sex roles and stereotypes

2018 ◽  
pp. 52-68
Author(s):  
Leigh W. Simmons
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sexual Behaviour ◽  
Sex Roles ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Mating Competition ◽  
Characteristic Behaviour ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Female Roles

‘Sex roles and stereotypes’ examines the notion, implicit in many of the original ideas about sexual selection, that males and females have natural ‘roles’ with characteristic behaviour associated with each sex. It also explores further the reasons behind deviations from the ‘typical’ sex roles in mate choice and in mating competition. Are there ‘standard’ male and female roles in both humans and other animal species? One version of sex roles holds that males are generally dominant and females submissive, stemming from the way that sexual selection favours different behaviours in each sex. This could mean that sexual selection dictates particular behaviours in males and females. But in fact, sexual behaviour is extraordinarily varied in nature.

Evolutionary Psychology: The Impact of Evolution on Human Behavior

2012 ◽  
pp. I-258-I-266
Author(s):  
Gordon G. Gallup ◽  
Jeremy Atkinson ◽  
Daniel D. Moriarty
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
The Impact
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