Victoria West Staples, Rebekkah Wall, Weston Phipps, Amber Massey-Abernathy
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective
The innate drive for humans to belong is coupled with the strategies they use to gain and maintain resources (Sapolsky, Annual Review of Anthropology, 33(1), 393–418,
2004), and individuals in higher levels of social status (such as dominant individuals) use different strategies to gain that status (Hawley, Developmental Review, 19(1), 97–132, 1999; Hawley, Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 49(3), 279–309, 2003). Just as the environment is important for human development, it is also important to consider the genetic components that can impact thoughts and behaviors. Oxytocin has been connected to many affiliative behaviors which assist in gaining social status (Massey-Abernathy, Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, 3(3), 212–220, 2017). OXTR rs53576 is a specific oxytocin polymorphic receptor site that when G homozygous, meaning possessing two G alleles (GG), individuals show more empathetic concern (Smith, Social Neuroscience, 9(1), 1–9, 2014), an increased ability to infer the emotional state of others (Domes, Biological Psychiatry, 61(6), 731–733, 2007), and increased emotional regulation (Massey-Abernathy, Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, 3(3), 212–220, 2017).
Methods
In the current study, the relationships between self-report questionnaires on popularity types (sociometric/perceived), resource control strategies, empathy (cognitive and affective), and emotional intelligence was examined. Then a smaller sub-sample was used to look at their relationship to OXTR rs53576 using saliva sampling.
Results
This study’s results indicate in this sample, the use of coercive strategies alone created perceived popular individuals. Additionally, emotional intelligence and cognitive empathy were important for increased perceived popularity, and these characteristics were also seen in those who are OXTR rs53576G homozygous.
Conclusion
Examining these relationships may help researchers understand why “popular” individuals use certain tactics to create and maintain their high social status.
期刊介绍:
Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology is an international interdisciplinary scientific journal that publishes theoretical and empirical studies of any aspects of adaptive human behavior (e.g. cooperation, affiliation, and bonding, competition and aggression, sex and relationships, parenting, decision-making), with emphasis on studies that also address the biological (e.g. neural, endocrine, immune, cardiovascular, genetic) mechanisms controlling behavior.