scholarly journals Competitive Altruism, Mentalizing, and Signaling

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 272-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ed Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Repeated Game ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Private Monitoring ◽  
Competitive Altruism ◽  
Costly Signal

One explanation of altruism is that it arises from “mentalizing,” the process of understanding the mental states of others. Another is based on sexual selection: altruism is a costly signal of good genes. This paper shows that these two arguments are stronger together in that altruists who can mentalize have a greater advantage over nonaltruists when they can signal their type, even though these signals are costly, when such signaling allows better matching opportunities. Finally, it shows how mentalizing leads to higher payoffs for both partners in a long-term relationship, modeled as a repeated game with private monitoring. (JEL C73, D64, D82)

scholarly journals Sexual selection studies: a NESCent catalyst meeting

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan Roughgarden ◽  
Elizabeth Adkins-Regan ◽  
Erol Akçay ◽  
Jeremy Chase Crawford ◽  
Raghavendra Gadagkar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Behavioral Theory ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Ethical Dimension ◽  
Dependent Process ◽  
Deep Disagreement ◽  
Fecundity Selection ◽  
The Status ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Political Economic

A catalyst meeting on sexual selection studies was held in July 2013 at the facilities of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) in Durham, NC. This article by a subcommittee of the participants foregrounds some of the topics discussed at the meeting. Topics mentioned here include the relevance of heritability estimates to assessing the presence of sexual selection, whether sexual selection is distinct from natural selection, and the utility of distinguishing sexual selection from fecundity selection. A possible definition of sexual selection is offered based on a distinction between sexual selection as a frequency-dependent process and fecundity selection as a density-dependent process. Another topic highlighted is a deep disagreement among participants in the reality of good-genes, sexy-sons, and run-away processes. Finally, the status of conflict in political-economic theory is contrasted with the status accorded to conflict in evolutionary behavioral theory, and the professional responsibility of sexual-selection workers to consider the ethical dimension of their research is underscored.

Hypocrisy and Consequentialism

Utilitas ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eldon Soifer ◽  
Béla Szabados
Keyword(s):  
Mental States ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Do So

Consequentialism has trouble explaining why hypocrisy is a term of moral condem-nation, largely because hypocrites often try to deceive others about their own selfishness through the useof words or deeds which themselves have good consequences. We argue that consequentialist attempts to deal with the problem by separating the evaluation of agent and action, or by the directevaluation of dispositions, or by focusing on long-term consequences such as reliability and erosion of trust, all prove inadequate to the challenge. We go on to argue, however, that a version of consequentialism which values the fulfilment of desires, rather than mental states, is able to explain why hypocrisy is generally wrong, and indeed can do so better than its Kantian rivals.

Long-term mating positively predicts both reproductive fitness and parental investment

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Janko Međedović
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Parental Investment ◽  
Reproductive Fitness ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
Fitness Indicators ◽  
Number Of Sexual Partners ◽  
Sexual Selection Theory

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.

Punishment and Transformation

2020 ◽  
pp. 230-253
Author(s):  
Jennifer Lackey
Keyword(s):  
Mental States ◽  
Epistemic Rationality ◽  
Transformative Experiences ◽  
Natural Life

This chapter argues that the possibility of transformations and transformative experiences shows that strict, long-term punishments are epistemically irrational. Since the rationality of punishment must be sensitive to the mental states of the person being punished, including their mental states after the time of the punishable act, the possibility of radical changes makes it irrational to punish a person in a way that precludes considering future evidence about these changes. Since strict, long-term punishments, such as sentences of natural life without the possibility of parole, do just this, such punishments always run afoul of the demands of epistemic rationality.

scholarly journals The role of oxidative stress in postcopulatory selection

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1813) ◽  
pp. 20200065
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Friesen ◽  
Daniel W. A. Noble ◽  
Mats Olsson
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Atp Production ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Postcopulatory Selection

Two decades ago, von Schantz et al . (von Schantz T, Bensch S, Grahn M, Hasselquist D, Wittzell H. 1999 Good genes, oxidative stress and condition-dependent sexual signals. Proc. R. Soc. B 266, 1–12. ( doi:10.1098/rspb.1999.0597 )) united oxidative stress (OS) biology with sexual selection and life-history theory. This set the scene for analysis of how evolutionary trade-offs may be mediated by the increase in reactive molecules resulting from metabolic processes at reproduction. Despite 30 years of research on OS effects on infertility in humans, one research area that has been left behind in this integration of evolution and OS biology is postcopulatory sexual selection—this integration is long overdue. We review the basic mechanisms in OS biology, why mitochondria are the primary source of ROS and ATP production during oxidative metabolism, and why sperm, and its performance, is uniquely susceptible to OS. We also review how postcopulatory processes select for antioxidation in seminal fluids to counter OS and the implications of the net outcome of these processes on sperm damage, sperm storage, and female and oocyte manipulation of sperm metabolism and repair of DNA to enhance offspring fitness. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Fifty years of sperm competition’.

scholarly journals Good-genes effects in sexual selection

1999 ◽  
Vol 266 (1414) ◽  
pp. 85-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Pape Møller ◽  
Rauno V. Alatalo
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Good Genes

scholarly journals Macroevolutionary consequences of sexual conflict

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 20180186
Author(s):  
Jo S. Hermansen ◽  
Jostein Starrfelt ◽  
Kjetil L. Voje ◽  
Nils C. Stenseth
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Genetic Architecture ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Sexual Conflicts ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Evolutionary Consequences ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Shared Genetic

Intralocus sexual conflicts arise whenever the fitness optima for a trait expressed in both males and females differ between the sexes and shared genetic architecture constrains the sexes from evolving independently towards their respective optima. Such sexual conflicts are commonplace in nature, yet their long-term evolutionary consequences remain unexplored. Using a Bayesian phylogenetic comparative framework, we studied the macroevolutionary dynamics of intersexual trait integration in stalk-eyed flies (Diopsidae) spanning a time frame of more than 25 Myr. We report that increased intensity of sexual selection on male eyestalks is associated with reduced intersexual eyestalk integration, as well as sex-specific rates of eyestalk evolution. Despite this, lineages where males have been under strong sexual selection for millions of years still exhibit high levels of intersexual trait integration. This low level of decoupling between the sexes may indicate that exaggerated female eyestalks are in fact adaptive—or alternatively, that there are strong constraints on reducing trait integration between the sexes. Future work should seek to clarify the relative roles of constraints and selection in contributing to the varying levels of intersexual trait integration in stalk-eyed flies, and in this way clarify whether sexual conflicts can act as constraints on adaptive evolution even on macroevolutionary time scales.

It’s Not about Him: Mismeasuring ‘Good Genes’ in Sexual Selection

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 206-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela M. Achorn ◽  
Gil G. Rosenthal
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Good Genes
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