Madita Zetzsche , Marlen Kücklich , Brigitte M. Weiß , Julia Stern , Andrea C. Marcillo Lara , Claudia Birkemeyer , Lars Penke , Anja Widdig
{"title":"Understanding olfactory fertility cues in humans: chemical analysis of women's vulvar odour and perceptual detection of these cues by men","authors":"Madita Zetzsche , Marlen Kücklich , Brigitte M. Weiß , Julia Stern , Andrea C. Marcillo Lara , Claudia Birkemeyer , Lars Penke , Anja Widdig","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106742","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106742","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>By conveying cues of their current fertility, females can provide valuable reproductive information to conspecifics. Our closest relatives, non-human primates, employ diverse strategies, including olfactory cues from the anogenital region, to communicate information about female fertility. While their shared phylogeny with humans suggests that analogous olfactory cues may have been preserved in modern women, empirical evidence is lacking. In a comprehensive two-fold approach, we investigated fertility-related shifts in the chemical composition of women's vulvar volatiles as well as men's ability to perceive them. We collected vulvar odour from 28 naturally cycling women (students, academic staff members, and citizen of Göttingen) on up to ten days of their menstrual cycle, focusing on fertile days. For 146 vulvar samples (subsample of <em>n</em> = 16 women), we assessed whether their volatile profiles varied in relation to female fertility using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Simulating a first encounter, 139 men evaluated a total of 274 vulvar odour samples from 28 women, collected on different cycle days. We used hormonal analyses to confirm women's fertile days. We assessed variation in chemical composition and male odour ratings in relation to women's conception probability, temporal distance to ovulation, and ovarian hormone levels. We found no evidence for chemical changes allowing tracking of fertility across the cycle. However, in the immediate assessment (i.e., without tracking), no significant effects were found for any predictors except conception risk. Notably, the significance of the conception risk effect varied depending on the model specification. Further, men's attraction to vulvar odour was not significantly predicted by female fertility. Overall, our data suggests a relatively low retention of chemical fertility cues in vulvar odour of modern women.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"46 6","pages":"Article 106742"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144809767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Joseph Billingsley, Danielle Goldwert, Debra Lieberman
{"title":"Interpersonal leverage: Individual differences in the endorsement of anger and gratitude","authors":"Joseph Billingsley, Danielle Goldwert, Debra Lieberman","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106726","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106726","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Social emotions such an anger and gratitude evolved to help people navigate the adaptive problems posed by social interactions. Building on the logic of the recalibrational theory of anger, we argue that a systematically <em>inverted</em> relationship exists between the triggering conditions, inputs, outputs, and consequences of anger and gratitude, and we introduce the novel hypothesis that this inverted relationship between anger and gratitude extends to the <em>individual difference characteristics</em> that modulate the proneness of individuals to endorse and express each emotion. Where Sell, Tooby, and Cosmides (2009) found evidence that physical strength in men and attractiveness in women—two ancestrally valid dimensions of social leverage—predict greater proneness to anger, we suggest that these same dimensions of social leverage <em>negatively</em> predict proneness to gratitude. We report three studies (<em>N</em>'s of 417, 309, and 728 adults, respectively, all recruited from MTurk) that collectively address three goals related to the above reasoning: 1) to replicate the findings of Sell et al. (2009) concerning strength and attractiveness as sex-differentiated predictors of proneness to anger; 2) to develop and validate a novel measure of interpersonal gratitude, based on Sell et al.'s (2009) measures of anger; and 3) to test the hypothesis that physical strength in men and attractiveness in women correlate negatively with proneness to gratitude. Results provide new support for Sell et al.'s finding that strength in men, and attractiveness in women, predict proneness to anger, but contrary to Sell et al. (2009) indicate that physical strength also predicts proneness to anger in women. Regarding gratitude, we find that physical strength in men and attractiveness in women correlate as expected with some but not all dimensions of proneness to gratitude.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"46 5","pages":"Article 106726"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144703001","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Daniel E. Forster , Jeni L. Burnette , Yohsuke Ohtsubo , Debra Lieberman , Michael E. McCullough
{"title":"Experimental evidence that people consider transgressors' exploitation risk when deciding to forgive","authors":"Daniel E. Forster , Jeni L. Burnette , Yohsuke Ohtsubo , Debra Lieberman , Michael E. McCullough","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106740","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106740","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>On an adaptationist view of forgiveness, people's decisions to forgive transgressors are coordinated by a psychological system that estimates (a) the likely benefits of a restored relationship with the transgressor (called relationship value) and (b) the risk that the transgressor will impose additional harm in the future (called exploitation risk). Correlational evidence supports these claims, but experimental evidence is limited. Here, we used a novel experimental manipulation of exploitation risk, along with well-established manipulations of post-transgression communication, to evaluate claims about the effects of exploitation risk on forgiveness. We also evaluated whether the effects of post-transgression gestures of apology-compensation and antagonistic messages on forgiveness result from their intermediate effects on perceived exploitation risk. The manipulations of exploitation risk and post-transgression messages influenced self-report measures and behavioral measures associated with forgiveness in theoretically expected directions, and a standard measurement-of-mediator approach suggested they operate via their intermediate effects on exploitation risk, but experimental tests provided only limited support for that claim. We conclude that exploitation risk does indeed deter forgiveness, but we will find little unambiguous causal evidence that antagonistic messages and expressions of apology-compensation exert their effects on forgiveness via their intermediate effects on perceived exploitation risk.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"46 5","pages":"Article 106740"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144680364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Through the lens of adaptationism: Commentary on Baumard & André","authors":"Leda Cosmides","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106741","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106741","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"46 5","pages":"Article 106741"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144663096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Explaining cultural adaptation: commentary on “the ecological approach to culture”","authors":"Kim Sterelny Kim","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106739","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106739","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"46 5","pages":"Article 106739"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144653210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Is the Lamborghini like a peacock's tail? No evidence for relationships between conspicuous consumption and male attractiveness","authors":"Felipe Carvalho Novaes, Jean Natividade","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106725","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106725","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Women more interested in short-term relationships prefer men with good genes. We ran four controlled experiments with heterosexual women, based on the idea that conspicuous consumption manifestations signal good genes, to test whether a conspicuous object could increase the attractiveness and desire for an uncommitted relationship with a man. We also tested the interaction between car type (non-conspicuous and conspicuous) and reproductive strategy in the judgment of attractiveness and desire for an uncommitted relationship. Contrary to previous studies, the results of our experiments rejected the hypothesis of conspicuous consumption as an enhancer of attractiveness. None of our studies showed an interaction between car type and sociosexuality. In Study 3, the non-conspicuous car's man was considered more attractive. This effect disappeared after controlling social desirability in Study 4. Perhaps the positive publication bias explains the unprecedented nature of our results. Another possible explanation remains in some cultural influence. Maybe, Brazilian women with a high education level (our participants) are not susceptible to conspicuous consumption as an indicator of good genes. We also want to emphasize that, although other studies have corroborated our hypotheses using similar experiments, the present study was the only one that controlled social desirability and socioeconomic status.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"46 5","pages":"Article 106725"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144632433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Creatures of habit(us): A commentary on Baumard and André's ‘The ecological approach to culture’","authors":"Daniel Nettle","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106737","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106737","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"46 5","pages":"Article 106737"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144614644","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Testing the ecological approach to culture: diverse goals predict more complex laws","authors":"Hojeong Lee, Oliver Sng","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106738","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106738","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"46 5","pages":"Article 106738"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144604613","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Specifically human culture: response to Baumard & André","authors":"Michael Tomasello","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106721","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106721","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"46 5","pages":"Article 106721"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144580096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Wealth or generosity? People choose partners based on whichever is more variable","authors":"Yuta Kawamura , Pat Barclay","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106727","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106727","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Organisms benefit from choosing partners who are willing and able to provide them with benefits (e.g., choose based on warmth, competence, wealth). But which should they prefer in a partner – willingness or abilities? We tested the hypothesis that people will focus on whichever trait is more variable in others: the more variance there is in a trait, the greater the difference there is between the “best” and “worst”, so the more that trait will impact the chooser (all else equal). In two studies, participants saw a range of partners for a hypothetical money distribution task who either varied more in the amount of money they had to distribute (Unequal Wealth condition) or in the percent of their money they gave away (Unequal Generosity condition). Participants had a default preference to know about others' generosity rather than their wealth; this preference was strengthened when others varied more in generosity and weakened when others varied more in wealth. Thus, our study shows that people are sensitive to the amount of population variance on a trait, and flexibly adjust their partner preferences to focus on traits which vary more among others.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"46 5","pages":"Article 106727"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144572308","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}