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Paternal Provisioning versus Mate-Seeking in Human Populations
by Edward M. Miller
Professor of Economics and Finance
University of New Orleans
New Orleans, LA 70148
emmef@uno.edu (E-Mail)
Appeared in Personality and Individual Differences, Vol. 17, August 1994,
No. 2, 227-255.
Abstract
Paternal investment theory suggests that in cold climates males were
selected for provisioning, rather than for mating success. In warm climates,
where female gathering made male provisioning unessential, selection was for
mating success. Male hunted meat was essential for female winter survival.
Genes that encouraged mating success were selected for in warm (was cold)
climates. Negroids (blacks) evolved in warm cold climates, while Caucasians
(whites) and Mongoloids (Asians) evolved in colder climates. Mating is
assisted by a strong sex drive, aggression, dominance, sociability,
extraversion, impulsiveness, sensation seeking, and high testosterone.
Provisioning is assisted by anxiety, altruism, empathy, behavioral restraint,
gratification delay, and a long life span. Explanations are offered for racial
differences in many personality characteristics, hormone levels, monamine
oxidase levels, testosterone levels, lactase dehydrogenase metabolic paths,
life spans, prostate cancer rates, hypertension, genital (penis and testes)
size, vocal frequencies, liver size, muscle structure, mesomorphy, bone
density, sports performance, crime rates, rape, child abuse, earnings, age at
first sexual activity, AIDs, illegitimacy, divorce, marriage, and polygyny
rates. Eye color correlations are discussed. Negro family structure in the
Caribbean and the U.S. may reflect selection in Africa during hunter-gather
times. Comparison is made with differential K theory and father absence
theories.
Key words: race, climate, evolution, personality, polygyny, aggression,
provisioning, mating, dominance seeking, paternal investment
TABLE OF CONTENTS
MALE COMPETITION FOR MATING OPPORTUNITIES 2
HUNTING AS A FUNCTION OF LATITUDE 4
THE COLD CLIMATE SITUATION 6
PREDICTIONS OF THE HYPOTHESIS 8
USING RACIAL DATA TO TEST CLINAL THEORIES 8
EXPLAINING RACIAL VARIATION BY MATING COMPETITION VERSUS PROVISIONING 10
Aggression 10
Dominance 11
Anxiety 11
Impulsivity 11
Delay of gratification 12
Sociability 13
Extraversion 13
Behavioral restraint 13
Criminal activity 13
Sexual restraint 14
Sexual behavior 15
Size of sex organs 15
Body build 16
Muscle characteristics 17
Life Span Variations 19
Hormonal Levels Versus Timing of Sexual Maturity 20
IMPLICATIONS FOR FEMALES 2
Why the Emphasis on Hunter-Gatherers? 23
THE DISTRIBUTION OF POLYGYNY 25
New World African Origin Populations 29
Father Absent Societies 31
TESTING THE THEORY WITH OTHER POPULATIONS 32
CONCLUSIONS 32
REFERENCES 33
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Rushton (1985, 1987, 1988, 1989b, in press) and Ellis (1987) have drawn
attention to the existence of many racial differences, including behavioral
ones, and shown that they were frequently arranged in the order Mongoloid,
Caucasoid, Negroid (or Negroid, Caucasoid, Mongoloid, depending on the trait).
The differences Rushton drew attention to include twinning rates, (Negroids
first, Caucasoids second, Mongoloids third), intelligence (Mongoloids first,
Caucasoids second, Negroids third), various differences in aggression,
dominance seeking, impulsivity, extraversion, sexual behavior, genital size
(Negroids first, Caucasoids second, Mongoloids last), extent of altruism, and
behavioral restraint (Mongoloids first, Caucasoids second, and Negroids last),
and timing of birth, menarche, birth of first child, and death (Negroids
earliest, Caucasoids second, Mongoloids last).
Rushton explains his observations by a version of r versus K selection
theory. The terms r and K come from population biology, where r is a
population's maximum growth rate, and K is the environment's carrying
capacity. K selected species have been selected for success at competition
with conspecifics. Species selected for fast reproduction with low ability to
compete are called r selected. Rushton extends the idea to human populations.
He argues that Negroids are the least K selected among human populations,
Mongoloids the most K selected, and Caucasoids in between. This idea has
produced considerable scientific (J. Anderson, 1991; Flynn, 1989; Leslie,
1990; Lynn, 1989; Roberts & Gabor, 1990; Silverman, 1990; Weizmann, Wiener,
Wiesenthal, & Ziegler, 1990; Zuckerman, 1991; Miller, 1993) and popular
controversy (Gross, 1990; Pearson, 1991, Chap. 5; Lerner, 1992, pp. 139-147),
to which Rushton (1989a, 1990a, 1990b, Rushton & Ankney, 1993) has responded.
Chisholm (1993) has also applied life cycle theory to humans, arguing that
early experiences with the correlates of high death rates affects the
allocation between mating and parenting.
This paper will propose an alternative explanation to differential K
theory. Like differential K theory, it will be derived from a standard
biological theory, parental investment theory. In some species, males devote
more effort to seeking mating opportunities. In other species, they devote
more effort to assisting their offspring. In each species, males evolve to use
the strategy that most promotes their fitness. Which strategy most promotes
their fitness depends on the effect of paternal investment on offspring
survival and fitness, and on the opportunities for obtaining reproductively
successful additional matings (Katz & Konner, 1981; Clutton-Brock, 1991).
Likewise, within the same species different populations have been selected for
different positions on the paternal investment versus mating effort continuum.
In humans, an especially important form of paternal investment is
provisioning, bringing the mother and child food. Offspring's benefit from
provisioning depends on climate. In warm climates, females typically can
gather enough food for themselves and their children. In cold climates,
hunting is required to survive winter, and females typically do not hunt
(other than for easily captured small game). Hence, offspring survival
requires male provisioning in cold climates. Thus, cold climate males were
selected to devote more efforts to provisioning, and less to seeking matings.
In warm climates, such male provisioning was not essential, even if desirable.
Thus, warm climate males who devoted more efforts to seeking mating
opportunities, and less to provisioning, left more offspring. This theory can
explain many of the known racial differences.
Paternal investment theory's chief advantage is its specificity as to the
traits populations should exhibit. It makes specific testable predictions
(which are generally sustained) as to how cold-adapted populations and
tropical populations should behave. In contrast, Rushton's and Ellis's
differential K theories, after stating that Mongoloids are most K selected,
and Negroids least, are very vague as to why this is. They fail to predict how
other races (Malays, Australian aborigines, Polynesians, etc), or populations
within the major races, should differ (J. Anderson, 1991; Miller, 1993).
To limit this paper's length, a detailed treatment of the evidence for the
racial differences discussed will not be attempted. The reader can find
relevant references in Ellis (1987, p. 159) and in Rushton's papers
(especially 1987, p. 1019, 1989a, p. 9) and in Rushton's forthcoming book (in
press). The author has checked most of these. Although many of the individual
studies could be improved on, the racial differences do appear to be as
Rushton and Ellis depict them. Strong evidence as to whether most racial
differences in behavior are of environmental or genetic origin is lacking.
While cultural explanations have been proposed for many of the behavioral
differences, (but not for the morphological, or biochemical ones), there is
not space to discuss them here. Occasionally, when new evidence has appeared
since Rushton and Ellis wrote, it will be noted.
This paper combines several generally accepted ideas from different
disciplines. It accepts the evidence from human behavior genetics that most
personality traits have an inherited component (for instance Eaves, Eysenck &
Martin, 1989; or Bouchard, Lykken, McGue, Segal, & Tellegen, 1990, or Rushton,
in press, chap. 4). From biology and population genetics, it takes natural
selection. From physical anthropology, it takes the theory that humans have
been separated into races long enough to have evolved somewhat different
appearances, many of which can be traced to climatic differences. From
sociobiology, it takes the idea that males differ in the extent to which they
devote their efforts to mating versus parenting, and that basic human behavior
traits evolved during the hunter-gatherer 99% of human history (Barash, 1977;
E. Wilson, 1975). It extends this by arguing that cold weather
hunter-gatherers evolved into Mongoloids and Caucasoids, and tropical African
hunter-gatherers into Negroids, and that differences in morphological and
behavioral gene frequencies can be explained by the climatic differences
during hunter-gatherer times.
MALE COMPETITION FOR MATING OPPORTUNITIES
In many species, much male behavior consists of competition for females
(Barash, 1977; Wilson, 1975; Trivers, 1972). This seems to be true of humans.
Standard sociobiology explains differences between human male and female
behavior by contrasting the male's ability to father children by several
females with the female's inability to have children by more than one male at
a time (Symons, 1979; Hrdy, 1981). Thus, men evolved to exploit any
impregnation opportunities that arise, while women direct their copulations to
males who are willing and able to invest in them and their children.
Thus, in discussing male behavior across species, biologists argue that
males evolved a trade-off between paternal investment and mating efforts that
maximizes their inclusive fitness for that environment (Draper, 1989, pp.
149-150). The argument generalizes easily to explain differences in male
mating and paternal investment within a single species, such as humans.
Under some conditions males leave more descendants by devoting more energy
to seeking copulations (an endeavor that often includes prestige seeking), and
relatively less to provisioning their offspring. In these conditions,
selection will be for such characteristics as high sex drive, aggression, a
mesomorphic body build, and large testes. In these conditions females can
raise children with only limited male provisioning.
In other circumstances, males are selected for extensive provisioning of
their children. This normally implies less energy being devoted to seeking
matings for two reasons. First, energy and resources devoted to seeking
additional matings would be diverted from provisioning their mates and
children, thus reducing the number of surviving children. Secondly, added
matings would frequently produce children able to survive only if resources
were diverted from the father's other children. The net gain in surviving
offspring would be small, or even negative. The first effect of devoting more
energy to mating is to reduce total male investment in offspring, while the
second spreads it among more offspring, reducing per capita investment.
I will argue that selection for male provisioning is especially common in
climates with cold winters, where large game hunting is required for survival.
Children of males who failed to provision would often not survive the winter.
Physical anthropologists can explain many racial variations as climatic
adaptations (Baker, 1974; Coon, 1965, 1982; Krantz, 1980; Roberts, 1978). For
instance, in northern latitudes, winter ultraviolet radiation intensity is
low, and pale skin permits maximum vitamin D production. In low latitudes,
there is a risk of excess vitamin D production and sunburn. Here dark skin is
optimal (see Robins, 1991). Likewise, variations in adult ability to tolerate
lactose has been interpreted as partially an adaption to low levels of
ultraviolet radiation (Durham, 1991). Lynn (1991b) has contrasted the hunting
required for survival in cold climates, in which Mongoloids and Caucasoids
evolved, with the tropical gathering. He used this to explain the racial
intelligence differences he had earlier documented (Lynn, 1991a). Here, this
difference in reliance on hunting will be used to explain many other
behavioral differences.
The reader will probably have little difficulty in accepting that Negroids
evolved in the tropics, and Caucasoids and Mongoloids in colder climates.
However, some may wonder why the Mongoloids are considered to have evolved in
a colder climate than did the Caucasoids. One reason is that certain Mongoloid
features (a stocky body build, and distinctive eye folds) appear to be
adaptations to arctic conditions (Baker, 1974; Coon, 1965, 1982; Krantz, 1980;
Roberts, 1978).
Admittedly, Europe is also cold. However, it is believed that farming
started in the Middle East and then spread with the farmers' migration into
Europe. This conclusion comes from archaeology and a northwest to southeast
distribution of certain genes (Menozzi, Piazza, & Cavalli-Sforza, 1978;
Piazza,1993; Sokal, Oden, & Wilson, 1991). The latter suggests a population
movement, rather than merely technology diffusion. The result is that some
European ancestors were Middle Eastern hunter-gatherers, rather than
hunter-gatherers who had evolved where the populations now live.
HUNTING AS A FUNCTION OF LATITUDE
Richard Lee (1968, pp. 42-43) in the widely cited Man the Hunter book
emphasized that most calories eaten among typical (tropical) hunter-gatherers
come from gathering, leaving the impression that gathering was the primary
subsistence mode for the ancestors of most peoples. However, this really held
only for the well studied inhabitants of warm and tropical areas, which are
the majority of surviving hunter-gatherers. He reports that "In
warm-temperature, sub-tropical, and tropical latitudes, zero to thirty-nine
degrees from the equator, gathering is by far the dominant mode of
subsistence, appearing as primary in 25 of the 28 cases." He found that 6 of
the 8 societies whose latitude exceeded 60 degrees relied primarily on
hunting. Eskimos (Inuits) are classic examples. In cool to cold temperature
latitudes, from 40-59, degrees fishing was the most common subsistence mode.
Temperature tells the same story, "Hunting is primary in three of the five
societies in very cold climates (annual temperatures less than 32 F0.),
fishing is primary in 10 of the 17 societies in cold climates (32-50 F0.): and
gathering is primary in 27 of 36 societies in mild to hot climates (over 50
F0.)."
Fishing (usually male) appears to be a relatively recent development
(Washburn & Lancaster, 1968, p. 294). In earlier times, before the most
fertile mid-latitude lands were cleared for farming, there was probably more
mid-latitude hunting. The hunting of large sea mammals from boats, so
important to Eskimos, developed relatively recently.
Especially significant in the Lee tabulation (p. 43) is the absence of any
predominantly gathering society above 500 latitude. Gathering is the primary
way a single mother can feed her family.
The above tabulations suggest that ancestral Negroids relied on gathered
vegetable material and ancestral Caucasoids and Mongoloids relied on animal
matter from hunting and fishing. Supporting evidence is provided by blacks'
greater current salt retention compared to whites (Luft et al., 1991).
Presumably, the lower salt content of the prehistoric low meat African diet,
combined with greater sweat loss, selected for salt retention.
Another piece of evidence consistent with the environment of evolutionary
adaptation for Caucasoids involving more meat eating than Negroids' original
environment is that the Negroids' livers are smaller (Lewis, 1942, p. 276).
The liver' s function is to produce bile, which is used in fat digestion. A
diet lower in fats (which are much more common in animal foods) would requires
less bile for digestion.
The obvious problems of hunting while pregnant or with a small child assure
that males do the hunting (for other than small and slow game) in virtually
all societies (Friedl, 1975, p. 16-18; Watanabe, 1968).*(1) In climates
typical of those now prevailing north of 500 a woman would have difficulty
raising children without male supplied meat.
An example of women hunting small game is provided by the Twi of Melville
Island, Australia (Goodale, 1971, pp. 151-169). They commonly hunt lizards,
snakes, crabs, rats, and opposum and bandicoot. The last two are small animals
found sleeping in logs or hollow trees, and typically are easily killed where
found (i.e. without pursuit). In northern climates most such small animals
would be hibernating during winter, or would be rare then.
The Hadza of Tanzania are typical tropical hunter-gatherers. Woodburn
(1968, p. 52) describes the abundance of game and other food, stating, "For a
Hadza to die of hunger, or even to fail to satisfy his hunger for more than a
day or two, is almost inconceivable."
Barnard and Woodburn (1988) noted that, "In all known hunter-gatherer
societies, with immediate return systems, and in many but not all,
hunter-gatherer societies with delayed return systems, people are almost
always able to meet their nutritional needs very adequately without working
long hours." If gathering permits this, one would expect that women could
adequately feed themselves and their children without male provisioning. Most
tropical hunter-gatherer societies are immediate return ones.
Gardner (1972, p. 414), in describing the Paliyans, a foraging people of
India, has pointed out that, "In normal times Paliyan men and women spend a
bare three to four hours a day obtaining food and evidence no anxiety
whatsoever about its supply." Single individuals are able to feed themselves
easily, and married couples may not feed each other. Male provisioning is
clearly not necessary. Not surprisingly, with the parties not needing each
other economically, "the usual situation is one of fragile, often serial,
unions, terminated quickly by the offended party when conflict arises" (p.
419).
A similar impression is left by descriptions of other tropical
hunter-gatherer societies. Lee & DeVore's famous Man the Hunter is often
summarized as showing that most calories come from gathering, not hunting,
that most gathering is done by females, and that hunter-gatherers need spend
only a relatively small part of their time in gathering. Taken together, these
facts imply that a woman can feed her family with little male assistance. This
suggests that males would leave more descendants by focusing their efforts on
mating rather than on provisioning.*(2)
THE COLD CLIMATE SITUATION
Now consider a cold climate, such as prevailed where the northeastern
Mongoloids (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans) are believed to have evolved. Even now
these areas have cold winters. During the last ice age they were much colder.
Their people's physical features evidence numerous cold adaptations (Coon,
1965, 1982; Krantz, 1980; Roberts, 1978).
Although winter is only part of the year, it is the season animals have the
greatest difficulty surviving. Most plant foods disappear (fruits, berries,
edible leaves). Hunting becomes more difficult. Most animals time their
reproductive cycles so there are no winter young or eggs. Eggs and young were
the easiest animal protein for primitive men and women to obtain, since they
were immobile or moved too slowly to escape. Many adult animals migrate
(birds) or hibernate to escape the winter food shortage. Frozen ground
prevents humans from digging for tubers and ice prevents or complicates
fishing. Snow cover makes it hard to find fallen nuts or tuber locations, and
makes walking much more difficult (Jochim, 1976, p. 138). Winter has severe
weather episodes in which it is unsafe to leave shelter to hunt. Also, winter
cold increases the body's food requirements (Kleiber, 1961, p. 164, p. 239).
Finally, winter is a time of short days (Torrence, 1983, emphasizes this).
Thus, the very period when food is needed most is also when it is scarcest,
hardest to acquire, and the time for gathering it is least.
Admittedly, there could be geographical circumstances where winter is
easier. Many ungulates (such as elk) in mountainous areas winter in the
lowlands. Possibly this concentration, aided by ease of tracking in snow,
could make winter an easier time for survival. However, males would still be
expected to be the sex that took advantage of this situation.
Jochim (1976, pp. 141-143) has estimated food consumption for German
mesolithic foragers by seasons. Plants (female gatherable) are estimated to be
30% for spring and summer, 23% for fall, but zero in winter.
In northern climates a female cannot be self supporting. A female would
avoid marriage to a hunter already supporting another's family. Even if
married to an excellent hunter, a second wife (receiving half of his support)
would probably be poorly provisioned. Cold climates lead to environmental
monogamy (Alexander, Hoogland, Howard, Noonan, and Sherman, 1979). Males
evolve drives that encourage family provisioning, and discourage competing for
mates.
Large game hunting often requires cooperation by groups of males. A male
who doesn't have the cooperation of others is likely to bring home less meat,
and to leave fewer descendants. Variability in hunting success makes it
desirable to hunt in groups that share their kills. Withdrawal of cooperation
by other males is a likely penalty for trying to impregnate another's wife. In
such circumstances, the drives that lead to seeking multiple mates are
selected against.
Of course, in a warm climate hunting groups are likely to exist and a
philandering male may be penalized by exclusion from the group, or less
cooperation. However, with opportunities for gathering and hunting small game
abundant at all times, the penalty of loss of participation in the large hunts
is less severe, and the selection against mating drives weaker.
Why presume that primitive hunters could not kill enough food to carry
multiple females through the winter? After all, there is a lot of meat on even
a single ungulate carcass. If game were abundant enough for a typical hunter
to support more than one wife, population would grow. It would grow until the
pressure on the game resource had reduced the yield from hunting to where one
hunter could typically support only a single wife and offspring. The argument
is the standard Malthusian one.
Although Man The Hunter is usually cited as showing that hunter-gatherers
can feed themselves with a short work day, this appears true only of the
tropical peoples discussed. That book also contains Balikci's (1968, p. 82)
discussion of the Netsilik Eskimos, who had a 10% loss of life from starvation
in two years. The inland Eskimos appear to be able to support only one family
per male (Alexander et al., 1979). Other northern hunter-gatherers such as the
Ainu appear to have monogamy as the typical pattern, even if a few males have
more than one wife.
Other descriptions of northern hunting peoples emphasize the difficulty of
the life and the risks of starvation. For instance, Rogers (1972, p. 104) in
his discussion of the Mistassini Cree, American sub-Arctic natives, states
that, "Securing sufficient food is a constant problem and a never ending
concern. Times of starvation are vividly remembered." He also states that the
gathering of vegetable foods is minimal. In such an environment a typical male
could not support more than a single female. Any inadequate provisioning of
her offspring could reduce his reproductive success.
Likewise, Nelson (1973) discusses how those Kutchin (north Alaska) who
remembered the old ways emphasized hardships and lack of food. He reports that
similar attitudes to the past are found among other Athapaskan people.
Emphasis is placed on far north people because Ice Age Europe and Asia had
climates similar to these peoples' current homes (Soffer & Gamble, 1989;
Scott, 1984).
Admittedly, a female without a "husband" would probably receive some meat
from brothers, other family members, and other band members. In contemporary
hunting bands game is usually shared with other band members (Hawkes, 1993).
Even unmated females get some. Such a meat sharing system is very useful in
spreading the risks of the hunt among families (Hames, 1990). In the short
run, this clearly supplies some meat to women without husbands. However, it is
likely that in the long run a female unattached to a male hunter would suffer.
Adverse effects are most likely during occasional famines, when social
traditions of sharing are likely to break down. Then band members are likely
to give priority to their own offspring. One possible mechanism is through the
more successful hunters joining bands with fewer non-related dependents, where
their own families would be better provisioned. Thus, in time of famine, poor
provisioning by a father would affect his children's survival. The sharing
systems observed among current hunters probably evolved relatively late, after
an earlier system in which males gave priority to themselves and their
families. While sharing may moderate regional differences in the consequences
for offspring survival of male provisioning, they are unlikely to eliminate
them.
PREDICTIONS OF THE HYPOTHESIS
There appear to be several traits that contribute to success in mating
competition. A strong sex drive would lead to more matings. A strong Coolidge
effect (in which women other than regular sex partners were considered
unusually attractive, see Symons, 1979, p. 209) would encourage taking
additional wives, matings with other men's wives, and rape. Efforts to mate
with other men's wives involves risks of retaliation. Thus, aggressiveness,
impulsiveness, and lack of fear would contribute to leaving more descendants.
If one were to have only an occasional mating with certain women, greater
sperm production would lead to leaving more children. If males frequently
succeeded in mating another's wife, a high sperm production and strong sex
drive would lead to leaving more offspring.
Empathy with others is not conducive to extra-marital relationships or even
to taking additional wives. For instance, strong sympathy for one's children
is likely to lead to devoting spare resources to them, rather than using the
resources to purchase sexual access through prostitutes, concubines, or extra
wives. Likewise, if extramarital intercourse violates social mores, a strong
tendency to follow social mores is not conducive to extra-marital access. The
above paternal investment theory makes a number of interesting predictions
about the mating patterns of hunter-gatherer populations in warm versus cold
climates.
USING RACIAL DATA TO TEST CLINAL THEORIES
Because agriculture was adopted relatively recently, differences that
emerged during the hunter-gatherer stage should have survived into the
ethnographic present. The above suggests that personality and behavior
differences among modern populations should be correlated with the winter
temperatures where they evolved. Tropical populations would be selected for
greater mating efforts and lower paternal investment. In cold climates, the
opposite would be true.
Ideally, analysis would use data expressed as behavioral clines drawn from
data on many different populations. (A cline is a line connecting points of
equal values for observations, such as lines on a weather map.) Unfortunately,
such data is rare. Admittedly, some data is available from physical
anthropologists' studies of specific populations, and from the ethnographic
record, coded in the Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock, 1967).
However, some population level studies do exist using such data. Wolfe and
Gray (1982) found a correlation between the extent of polygyny and the height
of males and females. This is easily explained by the taller males having an
advantage in acquiring mates, which leads to greater selection for height in
polygynous societies. Wolfe and Gray were surprized not to find clear evidence
of greater sexual dimorphism is such societies, which they expected from the
animal evidence. However, in humans it is known that most genes that affect
height appear to affect both males and females equally (excluding the obvious
exception of those carried on the X or Y chromosomes). What they regarded as a
puzzling correlation between polygyny and female height is easily explained.
If taller males leave more offspring, the mean height of both males and
females will be raised, leaving sexual dimorphism little changed.
Wolfe and Gray used a code for the extent of father-infant proximity in the
first year of life as a measure of male parental investment. They found that
this correlated to a statistically significant degree with measures of
polygyny (Table 8.1), and with male and female heights. Since it is unlikely
that height causes differences in marriage patterns, it is more plausible that
sexual selection has affected the frequencies of genes for height, and
possibly for a measure of paternal investment (if that is subject to genetic
variability). For these effects to have appeared, the differences in marriage
patterns must have persisted long enough for natural selection to have acted.
Although Wolfe and Gray did not notice this, this is the first clear evidence
that sexual selection has played a role in the evolution of differences in
gene frequencies among human populations.
Studies of the above type can be done for only a few variables. As Wolfe
and Gray (1982, pp. 206-207) report, "Our search of the literature of
cross-cultural codes revealed no codes that directly rate societies on the
degree of male parental investment. This lack of codes is partly due to the
fact that ethnographers rarely had a theoretical orientation in which the
problem of male parental investment was of central concern and therefore
rarely collected data on this problem."
However, various physical variables do correlate with climate, among which
are skin color, shape of nose, body mass and shape, etc. These highly visible
surface features include the variables usually used for racial classification.
It appears that Negroids evolved in the warmest climate (tropical Africa),
Mongoloids in the coldest (the North China-Siberia area), and Caucasoids in
intermediate climates (Europe and the Middle East). These areas are separated
from each other by barriers to gene flow. The Sahara partially isolates
tropical Africa. During the ice ages, the Himalayan ice sheet separated the
Caucasoids from the Mongoloids.
Limits on gene flow between different areas (although not complete)
permitted populations in each region to develop somewhat different morphology
and behaviors. Each evolved in their respective environments so as to produce
the largest numbers of descendants. Each of the major races of mankind,
Negroid, Caucasoid, and Mongoloid, is itself composed of numerous separate
populations. In the absence of detailed information on personality in a large
number of localities around the world, the best way to look for evidence of
personality varying with climate is through examining racial variability.
Rushton and Ellis have assembled considerable racial information. (These
differences of course are related only to central tendencies, and any one
individual need not resemble his race with regard to any single trait.) Theirs
are the best summaries of non-morphological racial differences. They deserve
considerable credit for assembling this data. While they interpreted their
findings in differential K selection terms, their data can also be used to
test the male mating effort versus paternal investment hypothesis.
EXPLAINING RACIAL VARIATION BY MATING COMPETITION VERSUS PROVISIONING
Let us start by taking the list of personality characteristics Rushton
assembled (1987, p. 1019; 1988, p. 1010; 1989a, p. 9; Rushton & Bogaert, 1989)
and see whether a mating effort versus parental investment framework can
explain them. This can be done for most items.
Aggression
Negroids are reported (by Rushton) to be the most aggressive and
Mongoloids least aggressive (Caucasoids intermediate). From a reproductive
viewpoint, aggression's benefits include leadership positions. These assist in
obtaining multiple wives, and frequently provide opportunities for
extramarital relationships. Aggression also produces children through rape. In
warm climates, where extra wives can be self-supporting, there are clear
reproductive benefits to additional wives. In cold climates, lower survival of
children by the first wife will provide a partial or even complete offset.
The disadvantage to high levels of aggression is that it leads to injury or
even death, either in the course of the conflict caused by the aggression, or
through retaliation by victims or society. In all climates death eliminates,
and disability reduces, the chances of fathering additional children. However,
in cold climates, death and disability are more likely to lead to the death of
existing children, while in warm climates the mother is more likely to be able
to rear her children alone. This effect alone would make the optimal position
on an aggression-fearfulness continuum climate dependent.
Aggression also leads to interband raiding and warfare. These increase
sexual access to other bands' females. Direct access may be through rape or
wife capture. Indirectly, killing or defeating competing males reduces mating
competition. Wives are later obtained by courtship or exchange.
However, additional wives only contribute to reproductive success if there
is enough food to rear the resulting offspring. Where women supply their own
subsistence, warfare and wife capture can produce reproductive gains. This is
likely to be true in tropical areas. In cold areas, where wives must be
provisioned by hunting, additional children from captured wives would divert
scarce resources from other children, limiting the net gain.
A defeat in interband conflict leads to deaths and injuries. In northern
climates, where the gains from success are small, and the losses large, the
relatively non-aggressive will leave more descendants. In tropical climates,
where the benefits are larger, selection will be for higher aggression.
While Rushton interprets aggression as a r characteristic, this is
implausible. Gould (1982, p. 367) argues, "Since member of K-selected species
inhabit the same niche and compete for population-limiting resources, it
should not be surprising that these animals regularly fight with each other
for control of those resources. Among r-selected species, on the other hand,
fighting would be a waste of their most precious commodity, time." In essence,
if resources are abundant, organisms will not benefit from fighting.
Destroying other individuals is only beneficial when it eliminates
competitors, which is to say in K conditions. In contrast, aggression appears
unambiguously useful for obtaining numerous matings, even if not for
provisioning.
Dominance
Very similar comments can be made regarding dominance, where Negroids are
reported to be the strongest seekers of dominance and Mongoloids least
(Caucasoids intermediate). Dominance seeking leads to more mating
opportunities, but also to death and injury, which reduces the survival of
already born offspring, especially where male provisioning is essential. If
the extra wives that dominance and prestige provide cannot be supported, the
ability to attract them gives little reproductive benefit.
Anxiety
Mongoloids are reported to be the most anxious, and Negroids least (with
Caucasoids in between). This is closely related to dominance seeking and
aggression, in that high anxiety deters dominance seeking and aggression. The
more prone an individual is to anxiety, the less likely he is to seek
additional matings beyond his first wife. It is usually not in the wife's
reproductive interest for him to either take additional wives, or to seek
extramarital relationships. She can be expected to have evolved to threaten
retaliation, and occasionally retaliate by leaving, attacking the offending
male, or enlisting the aid of her relatives or society against him. Conducting
an affair with another man's wife, or an unmarried chaste female, or rape, all
involve risk taking. Thus, where the optimal male strategy is to devote less
efforts to mating than to provisioning existing children, high anxiety is
selected for .
There are additional reasons for selection for high anxiety in cold
climates. One strategy for surviving the winter is food storage (see Miller,
1991). Food storage is practiced only (with exceptions) in societies whose
growing seasons are less than about 200 days (Binford, 1980). Anxiety about
food supply encourages storage, and discourages their too rapid consumption.
Where storage makes a difference, high anxiety is selected for.
Coon's descriptions (1971, p. 26-39) of hunter-gatherer housing shows that
simple domed houses and lean-tos are used by southern people, while igloos,
plank houses, and pit houses are used further north. Pit houses, roofed holes,
are common among northern hunters because they protect well against intense
cold. Houses in snowy areas can collapse with a heavy snowfall, and cause loss
of life, as well as leaving the inhabitants exposed to the cold. Collapse of a
tropical conical hut, or lean to, is only an inconvenience. Anxiety would
appear to encourage the construction of houses with adequate safety margins,
and possibly an early start to such construction. Thus, anxiety would appear
to promote reproductive success more in areas with snow than in tropical
areas.
Anxiety about being caught in a freezing storm, or away from a warm
campfire overnight is likely to promote survival in cold climates. Thus,
stronger cold climates selection for anxiety is predicted. (Nelson [1969]
mentions the caution and absence of thrill seeking in Eskimos).
Impulsivity
Frequently, short term pleasures can be obtained by acting, but acting
requires risking adverse consequences. One who frequently takes advantage of
short term opportunities displays impulsivity. Those with high anxiety levels
are less likely to seek immediate pleasures. Thus, it is not surprising that
the ordering on impulsivity, Negroids highest, Mongoloids lowest (Caucasoids
in between), is opposite to the ordering on anxiety.
In particular, males frequently have the opportunity to father children
through extramarital relationships or rape. High impulsivity individuals would
be expected to more often act on these opportunities than would low
impulsivity individuals. Thus, impulsivity would be selected for where a high
mating effort contributed to fitness.
Delay of gratification
Closely related to impulsivity is the ability to delay gratification.
Mischel (1958, 1961c, 1971, p. 127) found a racial difference in preference
for delayed gratification. Trinidad Indians (i.e. India origin) children would
wait longer for a reward than Negro children, although he interpreted this as
reflecting the greater absence of fathers among the Negro children. As is
common in Negroid populations (see below), many of the Negroes lacked a father
in the home, while few Indians lacked a father in the home. Cultural factors
probably also play a role, since Grenada Negroes were similar to Trinidad
Indians (Mischel, 1961c). Delay of gratification was less in a Trinidad
industrial school for juvenile deliquents than in an ordinary Trinidad school,
supporting the theory that difficulty in deferring gratification (such as
choosing the immediate gratification obtainable from stealing, risking a
future punishment) contributes to criminal activity (Mischel, 1961a).
Gratification delay in Trinidad Negroes was found to be positively related to
Harris's Social Responsibility Scale, which conceptualized responsibility "as
a composite of attitude elements reflecting behavior classifiable as reliable,
accountable, loyal, or doing an effective job" (Mischel, 1961a, b).
Interestingly, the Trinidad Negroes scored much lower than a similar aged
(presumably predominantly white) US group, which Mischel (1961a, p. 6) notes
is "fully consistent with anthropological observations".
It is not known how heritable the ability to defer gratification is,
although most personality variables appear to have a significant degree of
heritability. However, in one experiment, using Barbadian Negroes in the
Cambridge area, the mother's delay of gratification (choice of large bottle of
instant coffee in a week or a small bottle now) was found to be correlated
with the child's violating or not violating a prohibition in a temptation
situation (Mischel & Gilligan, 1964, p. 412). This suggests both behaviors are
reflecting a heritable trait.
Difficulty in delaying gratification and impulsivity makes provisioning
more difficult. Provisioning requires suppressing the desire to eat in order
to bring food back to the family. In warm climates, not eating food when
available would merely deny the male forager the nutrition required to compete
with other males, since his children will normally be fed in any case.
Also, a food storage strategy for surviving the winter requires deferring
gratification. The impulse to immediately eat available food must be resisted
to store it, and later the impulse to eat the stores must be resisted in order
to retain them for later use. Survival through the winter may require not only
storing food, but also storing fuel, making clothing, and building shelters.
These activities require resisting impulses to divert energy to activities
with shorter term returns (gathering non-storable food, drinking, or even
flirting). Thus, there are other reasons why seeking immediate gratification
and impulsivity would be selected against in cold climates.
Banfield (1974) has proposed that seeking immediate gratification among the
U. S. inner city poor (who tend to be Negroids) explains much of their
poverty. While he carefully denies believing in genetic differences (like
other writers of the time), it is plausible that this trait, like most
personality traits, has a genetic component. Furthermore, tropical
environments, such as that of Africa, are ones where hunter-gatherer
populations are described by Woodburn (1980) as "immediate gratification"
ones. He has described how for the Hadza of Tanzania, food is available in the
bush at any time, and that as a result there is little need to plan ahead or
to defer gratification. Thus, it is plausible that the immediate gratification
behaviors that Banfield blames for so many inner city problems may be a
continuation of tropical hunter-gatherer behavior.
Sociability
Sociability assists in learning of, and exploiting, mating opportunities.
However, time spent socializing reduces the time available for gathering food
and for other parental investments. Sociability often involves remaining near
the camp where others are located, while provisioning requires leaving to
forage. Thus, selection for provisioning will reduce sociability.
It should be noted that if sociability leads to talking it would be
selected against in northern climates, where quiet is required for hunting.
Extraversion
Extraversion represents a combination of impulsivity and sociability
(Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985). Thus, extraversion will be selected for where
selection for seeking copulations occurs, and be selected against in other
areas. Thus, it is not surprising that Negroids rank highest in extraversion,
and Mongoloids rank lowest, with Caucasoids in between.
Behavioral restraint
Rushton (1988, p. 1013) combined many of these characteristics and
described them in terms of behavioral restraint, with Mongoloids being highest
in behavior restraint, and Negroids being lowest (Caucasoids intermediate).
Behavioral restraint is not conducive to males seeking mating opportunities,
but is conducive to making high paternal investment, which frequently requires
resisting immediate gratification opportunities.
Criminal activity
Criminal activity is closely related to behavior restraint, for which the
evidence is that Negroids are highest, Mongoloids lowest, and Caucasoids in
between (for documentation see Wilson & Herrnstein, 1985; Ellis, 1988, p. 532;
Jaynes & Williams, 1989, chap. 9; Rushton, 1990a). Paternal investment theory
would explain high crime rates as resulting from high aggressivity and low
empathy, altruism, and rule following behavior, traits that contributed to
tropical reproductive success. A contributing factor is that the racial
ordering for intelligence (Mongoloids first, Caucasoids next, and Negroids
last [Jensen, 1987 on Negroids; see Rushton, in press, for other references])
is opposite to those for crime, and criminal behavior is known to be more
common among the less intelligent. Intelligence differences have been offered
as explaining the racial differences in crime (Gordon, 1987).
If those selected for mating effort have higher levels of aggression,
lower behavioral restraint, and higher sex drives, it would be predicted that
rape rates would be higher. They are known to be higher in Negroids than in
Caucasoids (Brownmiller, 1975, pp. 213-216; Ellis, 1989, p. 94).
Child abuse is another form of crime. Abusing a child is the opposite of
investing in it. If cold climate fathers were selected for paternal
investment, their descendants should commit less child abuse. Caucasoids do
have lower child abuse rates than Negroids (Ellis, 1987, p. 159), and
Mongoloids the lowest (Ellis 1993, p. 171) .
Sexual restraint
The form of behavioral restraint most sensitive to natural selection is
sexual restraint. With regard to a wide range of sex related variables,
including marital instability, Rushton (1988) and Rushton & Bogaert (1987)
show that Mongoloids are the most sexually restrained, and Negroids least,
with Caucasoids intermediate. Sexual restraint is the ability to resist
opportunities for copulation. Males that devote their energies to paternal
investment have less energy left for seeking additional matings.
Two mechanisms could produce greater sexual restraint. The sex drives
(including those for seeking variety in partners) could be weaker, or the
inhibitions to sexual activity could be greater. That populations exhibiting
greater sexual restraint are also more restrained in other ways suggests that
part of the explanation is the greater inhibition (discussed above).
However, populations may also differ in the strength of sex drives.
Selection for a stronger sex drive (and for a stronger desire for variety in
partners) appears a more efficient mechanism for increasing mating effort than
merely selection for less restraint. Generalized mechanisms, such as changing
anxiety levels, might prove counterproductive in non-sexual spheres. For
instance, less anxiety might encourage taking excessive hunting risks.
Simpson and Gangestad (1991) show that the strength of the desire for
numerous sexual partners (what they call sociosexuality) varies independently
of the strength of the desire for frequent sex. It is very plausible that both
are genetically influenced. They (Gangestad & Simpson, 1990; Simpson &
Gangestad, 1991) present evidence that sociosexuality varies with personality
dimensions that have been shown to possess heritable components. Gangestad and
Simpson (1990) argue that seeking separate partners, versus making a
commitment to one partner represent different reproductive strategies, but
fail to consider the possibility that the equilibrium percentage of
individuals following the different strategies may vary with the environment
(and hence with race).
A genetic influence on the drive for sexual variety is also suggested by
the greater male desire for variety. This is probably caused by the effects of
testosterone (or another sex related hormone) on some part of the brain.
Genetically controlled variability in the number of receptors or the level of
hormones could produce variability in the strength of the desire for sexual
variety across populations.
Sexual behavior
Rushton and Bogaert (1987) document differences in sexual behavior.
Besides a literature review, they reanalyzed the Kinsey data on sexual
behavior in American whites and blacks. This showed greater sexual activity in
blacks than in whites. For instance, the black frequency for coitus in their
first marriage was 3.83 times per week for those aged 21-25 versus 3.11 for
similar whites. The more frequent intercourse within marriage suggests
differences in sex drive, rather than in a generalized restraint (which should
not affect the frequency of marital relations). Measures of the extent and
frequency of extra-marital sexual activity (p. 542) showed more activity
outside of marriage among blacks than among whites, with all reported measures
being statistically significant at the .001 level. Most black working class
females believe that a wife should expect running around (Staples & Johnson,
1993, pp. 156-157). ". . .Black females have their first full sexual
intercourse some years earlier than the typical White female." (Staples &
Johnson, 1993, p. 77). Differences in either sex drive or in social restraint
could explain these differences.
Since age at first intercourse (Martin, Eaves, & Eysenck, 1977), and age at
first date, marriage, and first and second child appears to be genetically
influenced (Mealey & Segal, 1993), it appears appropriate to consider
hypotheses that population differences in sexual behavior are also genetically
influenced.
Differences in sexual restraint and in the number of sexual partners
predict racial differences in sexually transmitted diseases. Such differences
exist in the distribution of AIDS (Rushton and Bogaert, 1989). They had
earlier been reported for syphilis, where the negro rate (often approximated
by the rate for non-whites) is a multiple of the white rate, both in civilians
and in the military (Aral & Holmes, 1984, p. 130; Berg, 1984, p. 93; Lewis,
1942, p. 158). The reported gonorrhea rate is 21 times as high in blacks as in
whites, although part of this difference may reflect better reporting from the
public clinics frequented by blacks (Aral & Holmes, 1990, p. 22). For the
common herpes simplex virus -2, the antibodies at ages 60-74 are found in over
80% of black females versus slightly over 20% of the white females (Aral &
Holmes, 1990, p. 27). Pelvic inflammatory disease (caused by the spread of
gonorrhea and/or chlamydia to the upper reproductive structures of women) is
currently a major cause of female infertility in parts of Africa.
The most plausible proximate explanation for racial differences in sex
drives is the possibility discussed below of differences in testosterone
levels at the relevant ages. Testosterone promotes male sexual activity
(Kemper, 1990, pp. 38-46).
Size of sex organs
One consequence of higher levels of puberty causing hormones could be
greater development of the sex organs. Rushton and Bogaert (1987) use the
Kinsey data to document longer penises and greater circumference of penises in
blacks than in whites. From other sources they find Mongoloids to have shorter
penises than Caucasoids. One condom manufacturer provides for larger size
condoms for Africa than for other areas, and the smallest size for Asia (Wong,
1991). Mongoloids have smaller testes than Caucasoids (Short, 1984; Diamond,
1986).
It would be desirable to have good quality measurements of Negroid testes
size, because the theory that they have been selected for high mating effort
would predict larger testes in order to win at sperm competition. High levels
of polygyny, and accompanying sperm competition, would select for large testes
and high sperm production, especially allowing for the tendency for the
largest number of wives to occur late in life. Among the large apes, the
species that have multimale mating systems (notably the chimpanzee) have
larger testes (Short, 1981; Smith, 1984).
The available evidence, while not of the highest quality, does not confirm
this prediction. Ajmani, Jain, & Saxena (1985) found the scrotum diameters in
320 Nigerian males to be greater than had been reported for Europeans, as
predicted. An American study of adolescents (Daniel, Feinstein, Howard-Peebles
& Baxley, 1982) reported "There was no significant differences in testicular
volumes between black and white adolescent boys. Any possible simple
correlation with race was not significant against the general variability of
testicular volume." No actual report is provided of the racial averages,
leaving the possibility that some difference was found. In any case, a
difference in adolescents might reflect only an earlier start to maturation
among the blacks. In addition, one early autopsy study actually found lower
testes weights in Negroids than in Caucasoids (Freeman, 1934).
Rushton and his colleagues explain these sex organ differences with his
differential K selection hypothesis. Yet it is not obvious that larger penises
(or clitorises or vaginas) lead to more offspring. Thus, they should not be
interpreted as r characteristics. More plausibly, they are a mere by product
of selection for high levels of sex hormones. The testosterone surge at
puberty enlarges the penis, and it is plausible that higher hormonal levels
would produce a larger organ. Testosterone increases the penis size of
castrated rats whether applied externally or injected (Wigodsky & Greene,
1940). This makes it more plausible that racial differences in penis size
reflect hormonal differences.
Body build
There are racial differences in body build. Negroes have a more masculine
body build than Caucasians (Laska-Mierzejewska, 1982). The masculine body
build implies strong accentuation of such masculine characteristics as a large
chest, and muscular body. Negro soldiers (males) have been found in two
studies to be more mesomorphic (and less endomorphic) than white soldiers,
with the difference being more than one standard deviation (Damon, Bleibtreu,
Elliot, & Giles, 1962, Table 2).*(3). Simply put, mesomorphy is the amount of
visible muscularity. Such a body appears to have been selected for conflict
with other males. Notice, this observation is evidence for paternal investment
theory, since other theories do not predict that the Negroid males will be
more masculine.
However, the Japanese are relatively mesomorphic, both in Hawaii (Heath,
Hopkins, & Miller, 1961), and in Japan (Kraus, 1951). Thus, the extent of
mesomorphy appears to be one case where Ruston's generalization that the
Caucasoids fall between the Negroids and Mongoloids breaks down.
Hudson & Holbrook (1982) found lower mean fundamental vocal frequencies in
Negro males and females than others had found for whites. As is well known
(and found by them), males display a lower frequency (deeper voice) than do
females, and puberty deepens the male voice. This deepening is generally
attributed to testosterone. The deeper Negro voice may reflect the influence
of higher testosterone levels at puberty or prenatally.
Muscle characteristics
An interesting set of statistically significant differences in muscle
characteristics has been found between black and white sedentary males (Ama,
Simonau, Boulay, Serresse, Theriault, and Bouchard, 1986). African blacks were
found to have less type I muscle fibers, more type IIa and lower activities in
enzymes catalyzing reactions in phosphagenic and lactase dehydrogenase
metabolic pathways. These were interpreted as likely to be inherited, and
suggesting that blacks would exhibit better performance in sports requiring a
short duration of exertion. Malina (1988) reviewed the literature on childhood
performance, and found that blacks excelled in the dash, the standing long
jump, the vertical jump, and the ball throw for distance. All of these involve
a short burst of exertion. Tests with a bicycle ergocycle have shown
Caucasians to have higher maximal O2 uptake, a trait adapted for endurance
activities. Also, Ama, Lagasse, Bouchard, and Simonau (1990) reported better
white performance (compared to black West Africans) in the last 30 seconds of
a 90 second knee extension exercise, a result consistent with blacks making
greater use of anaerobic energy metabolism than whites. What would have
selected for racial differences in such traits?
Hunting is implausible both because Caucasoids are likely to have hunted
more than Negroids, and because hunting often requires prolonged exertion to
follow large animals. A likely explanation is male fighting, since fights
often involve short periods of vigorous exertion (after which the opponent is
hopefully defeated). Thus, Negroids appear to be selected more for fighting.
This would be consistent with their more muscular body build and higher
aggression. It is what would be expected if Negroids had been selected to win
mating competitions.
Blacks have denser and stronger bones than whites (Himes, 1988; Pollitzer
and Anderson, 1989). The disadvantage to higher density bones is higher weight
(more energy required for movement) and greater need for calcium. The
advantage is fewer fractures, and thus, lower mortality. The bone differences
can be explained if black males engaged in more intermale conflicts, and those
with stronger bones were less often injured. No other hypothesis comes
immediately to mind that can explain these density differences.
Worthy (1977, chapter 2; Worthy & Markle, 1970; see also Jones & Hochner,
1973) has shown systematic differences in the sport positions blacks and
whites play. He argues that where the positions require reacting properly to
the opponents' actions, blacks are more successful, while whites do better
where the player initiates his own motions, as in baseball pitching,
marksmanship, or in shooting a basketball free goal. He reports a Negroid
relative advantage in the defensive position of an experimental game where
they had to react to their opponents' initiatives.
Worthy also correlated eye color with positions played. Dark eyed whites
are overrepresented in the same positions in which blacks are overrepresented.
In Worthy's theory, eye color plays a direct role. However, eye color also
varies with ethnic origin, with north Europeans having more blue eyes. This
suggests an Old World cline such that ability to react to opponents' actions
increases to the south.
What circumstances would have selected for these different abilities?
Survival in fights with other males would appear to depend on quick reactions
to opponents' moves. In contrast, a hunter usually stalks his prey and then
chooses the time to attack. Worthy's observations could be explained if male
reproductive success in colder regions varied with hunting ability, while in
the tropics it varied more with fighting ability. The eye color differences
could be explained if hunting was even more important in northern Europe than
in southern Europe, or if southern Europeans had interbred more with farmers
of Middle Eastern origin.
Possibly relevant evidence is provided by Coleman (1980). Successful prone
rifle shooters (who choose the moment of shooting) are the most introverted,
while successful rapid fire pistol shooters (who have very little time to fire
five shots, and have to move the pistol from target to target), are very
extroverted. Apparently personality correlates with what looks like Worthy's
reactive versus non-reactive distinction. Thus, an alternative explanation for
these racial differences would rely on selection for different personality
traits. Since tropical climates seem to select for both quick reactions (as in
fighting) and for extraversion, and cold climates for the opposite, both
theories predict a similar north-south behavioral gradient.
There are other intriguing reports of correlations of eye color with
behavior. Rosenberg & Kagan, (1987, 1988) and Rubin & Both (1989) report that
Caucasian children that are behaviorally inhibited ( a concept related to
introversion) are disproportionately blue eyed. While Rosenberg & Kagan
suggest several possible biological mechanisms for this effect, a very
plausible explanation is that north European children (more likely to be blue
eyed) are more behaviorally inhibited than South European children (who are
more likely to have brown eyes). Both eye color and behavioral inhibition are
believed to be genetically influenced. If the effect is really biological with
both eye color and behavior having a common cause (a pleiotropic gene effect),
it would be predicted that where one sibling was blue eyed and one brown eyed,
that the blue eyed one was more likely to be behaviorally inhibited. If the
genes for eye color and behavior were associated merely because the ancestors
of different children came from different regions, there would be no sibling
correlation. Unfortunately, such a study has not yet been done.
An argument against Negroids having evolved for fighting is that they show
lower pain tolerance than other races (Worthy, 1977, pp. 123-124)
Life Span Variations
Negroids have shorter lives than Caucasoids, who have shorter lives than
Mongoloids. For instance, U. S. whites have a life span estimated at 76.1
years versus 69.1 years for U. S. blacks (U. S. Department of Health and Human
Services, 1993). If testosterone shortens life (Hamilton, 1948), as it appears
to do (shown by the shorter life span of males than females, and of normal
males compared to castrated males), differential testosterone levels could
explain the life span ranking.
Part of the shorter Negroid life span reflects more violent and accidental
deaths, which could result directly from higher aggression. However, disease
causes most of the excess deaths. As a general rule, more polygamous species
have higher male death rates (relative to female rates), with much of the
difference being due to degenerative diseases (Daly and Wilson, 1988, p. 142).
As discussed below, Negroids appear to be more polygamous than other races.
An evolutionary biology theory of aging (Rose, 1991) holds that many genes
are pleiotropic (i.e. have more than one effect). The same genes that
contribute to longer life often impose disadvantages earlier in life. In the
simplest case, genes which delay degeneration (perhaps through directing more
energy to cell repair) also imply early life disadvantages (perhaps through
leaving less energy available for mating or for lactation). A longer life can
be purchased only at the expense of an earlier reproductive disadvantage.
Which genes are selected for depends on whether reproductive success is
facilitated more by a long life, or by early life success. This may depend on
whether selection is for high paternal investment or high mating effort.
Copulation precedes childbirth, while paternal investment follows
childbirth. Since death destroys a man's ability to help his children,
longevity facilitates paternal investing. Thus, if a father's death hurts his
child's survival chances, selection for a long life will be stronger than if
children can be raised without paternal assistance. Conversely, if an early
death from mating competition is going to eliminate any reproductive benefits
from slower degeneration later, the alleles that protect against degeneration
in old age will be less beneficial (Diamond, 1992, Chapter 7, especially p.
132).
If a male does not obtain a mate when young, living longer will not add to
his descendants. Suppose the number of matings determines how many descendants
a man leaves. Then men are more likely to be selected for early vigor and
competitive ability, even at the expense of an earlier death. Where males have
been selected for mating competition, polygyny often emerges (see below). For
many men to have multiple wives, others must have no wives. Thus, to
perpetuate his genes in a polygynous society, a man must be ranked relatively
highly by those who control sexual access. Dominance and prestige seeking
would be selected for.
In a monogamous or nearly monogamous society, even undesirable men marry.
Suppose genes that handicap men in mating also contribute to a longer life,
and hence to greater offspring survival. Then carriers of these may leave more
descendants than worse providers who are better at mating, but who still get
only one wife. Genes for high testosterone probably shorten life but may
contribute to mating success through stronger muscles, higher sex drive, and
aggression. Many athletes shorten their lives by taking steroids (essentially
synthetic testosterones) to promote competitive success.
Thus, strong male sexual competition leads to a shorter life span. This
can be explained by paternal investment theory. In differential K theory,
earlier deaths (in advanced countries, Negroids die earlier than Caucasoids,
and Caucasoids earlier than Mongoloids) are interpreted as a result of going
through the life cycle quicker. A long life span is thus a K characteristic.
Hormonal Levels Versus Timing of Sexual Maturity
Races differ in average age at sexual maturity (Rushton and Bogaert, 1987,
p. 537). Negroids mature earlier than Caucasoids, and Caucasoids earlier than
Mongoloids. Rushton interprets this as showing less K selection in Negroids.
Insert Figure 1 About Here
An alternative interpretation is that higher adult levels of sexual
hormones contribute to mating success. To have high adult hormone levels, the
levels must either start to rise earlier or the hormone levels must rise more
rapidly (or the rise must end later). Thus, it is likely that in populations
selected for high mating efforts, the young males at any given ages will have
more sex hormones. The process is illustrated in Figure 1.
If various behavioral and physical characteristics appear only when the
hormone levels reach a certain value, the stages will occur earlier in
populations selected for intermale competition. For instance, this could
explain the report (Westney, Jenkins, Butts, and Williams, 1984) that at 11
years, 60% of black males had reached the stage of accelerated penis growth,
while in a white sample this stage was reached at an average of 12 1/2 years.
This genital stage significantly predicted onset of sexual interest. The
correlation between physical development and behavior is most plausibly
interpreted as being due to there being a common genetic cause for both the
penis development and the behavioral maturation (probably testosterone
related). Udry, Billy, Morris, Groff, and Raj (1986) have shown that free
testosterone predicts the onset of sexual motivation and behavior.
Lynn (1990) has argued that differences in testosterone could explain many
of the observed racial differences, including the racial ordering in prostate
cancer rates (Negroids highest, Caucasoids intermediate, Mongoloids lowest).
Testosterone was 19% higher in black college students than in white students
(Ross, Bernstein, Judd, Hanisch, Pike, & Henderson, 1986). Ellis and Nyborg
(1992) have documented higher male testosterone levels in black veterans than
in white veterans, although the magnitude of the difference appears too small
to explain much of the behavioral difference. Prenatal or puberty differences
have yet to be examined. Prenatal and pubertal testosterone play a major role
in the emergence of masculine behavior (Gandleman, 1992, chapter 3). Olweus
(1986) has shown in Swedish boys aged 15-17 that testosterone levels predict
physical and verbal aggression. Testosterone levels have substantial
heritability (Meikle, Bishop, Stringham, & West, 1987). High Negroid prenatal
and postnatal testosterone could explain their more muscular body build, their
deeper voices, their greater aggression, their greater dominance drive, their
strong sex drive, and their shorter lives. Unfortunately, high testosterone
correlates negatively with male occupational success (Dabbs, 1992) .
Thus, sex hormone differences could explain many racial differences. A
strong point of differential K theory is its apparent parsimony. A large
number of seemingly unrelated differences can be explained by a single
evolutionary theory. If many of the differences trace to a single direct
cause, sex hormone levels, or other ultimate causes that act through the sex
hormones, then other theories are equally parsimonious.
Possibly, some other variable, such as monoamine oxidase levels, that
affects multiple racially variable aspects of personality (Zuckerman, 1983,
pp. 55-57), could explain many of the observed differences. Ellis (1991, p.
238) cites three studies showing that blacks have significantly lower
monoamine oxidase levels than whites. Monoamine oxidase appears to be related
to criminality, impulsiveness (Wilson, 1993), and sensation seeking (although
the latter appears to be lower in Blacks [Ellis, 1991, p. 238]). Recently,
further evidence of a link with aggression has been found through finding a
family with a genetic defect in monoamine oxidase formation which lead to high
levels of aggression in male carriers (Brunner et al., 1993).
IMPLICATIONS FOR FEMALES
Paternal investment theory deals with natural selection among males. The
effects of such selection probably altered female traits also. Most human
genes relevant to behavior have similar effects in both sexes (for instance,
Eaves et al., 1989, p. 99). If the genes contribute greatly to male
reproductive success and have relatively little effect on female reproductive
success (as appears likely for many of the genes discussed above) male and
female genotypes will both reflect selection for male reproductive success.
Recall the earlier discussion of the effect of polygyny on height. This
mechanism is consistent with Rohner's (1976) cross-cultural survey finding,
that "the level of aggressive behavior displayed by children of one sex varies
directly with the level of aggression among children of the other (r=.88,
p<.01)." Similar results were found for adults.
However, behavior relevant genes can affect only one sex, especially if
acting through testosterone, or other sex hormones. For instance, a gene
acting only on the testes would affect only males. Races differ in some
traits, such as in impulsivity and risk taking, that are affected by different
genes in males and females (Eaves et al., 1989, p. 269).
Draper & Harpending (1988, p. 350) note that, "These father-absent females
recognize that male parental effort is not crucial to reproduction and they
are less coy and reticent, engage in sexual activities earlier and with less
discrimination, and form less stable pair bonds."
All other things equal, females who start reproducing early leave more
descendants. If the mother (or her female relatives) can rear the children,
early opportunities for pregnancy should be accepted, especially if the genes
are from a dominant and aggressive male. However, in cold climates other
things are not equal, and waiting for a male who will provision her promotes
female reproductive success. A female who has a child by a non-loyal male
reduces her chance of catching a provisioning mate. If she does get one, he
may be unwilling to support another man's child. Such male behavior reduces or
eliminates the reproductive utility of having taken the first opportunity to
be impregnated.
Females benefit reproductively from obtaining genes for success at polygyny
or extra-marital matings. Females might benefit reproductively from mating a
male who had exhibited his mating success, even if this implied less
provisioning. Thus the model would predict tropical females would mate earlier
than northern females, and would be more accepting of mates who were
aggressive, dominant, self confident, non-empathetic, etc. Even if these
traits appeared unlikely to lead to marital happiness, males exhibiting them
probably had genes conducive to mating success. Northern females would prefer
males who exhibited provisioning behavior, and traits conducive to it, such as
altruism and empathy. Thus, cold climate females would be selected for the
behavioral restraint or weak sex drive needed to resist taking the first
mating opportunity, and for the intelligence to detect the courting male who
will likely provision her. The earlier marriages and higher illegitimacy rates
among Negroids are consistent with being less selective in accepting mating
opportunities. The higher child abuse in Negroids (often by husbands or
boyfriends) is consistent with less selectivity in mate choice, and possibly
with more often choosing aggressive males for mating.
The prediction that Negroid females would select mates more for good genes
than for a promise of provisioning is supported by Staples & Johnson's (1993,
pp. 111-112) observation that, "Black women demonstrate a stronger preference
for a physically attractive man than her White counterparts," although they
complain that "When personal characteristics that are genetically influenced
make such an important difference in a person's status, a genetic determinism
emerges that is very similar to the operation of racial attitudes."
If securing male paternal investment is critical to female reproductive
success, females should devote more effort to securing and keeping a
provisioning husband than if such a husband is not critical. Notice that a low
level of male mating effort is expected to correlate with a high level of
female mating investment in this mode. In contrast, in a simple r versus K
model, if one sex is high on mating effort the other sex would be expected to
be also. Women evolved to attract and retain husbands would be expected to
derive satisfaction from fulfilling the role of wife. Among whites (apparently
college educated), 74% of women would choose the role of wife over that of
mother, while only 50% of black college women, 24% of "middle" status black
women (described as upper-lower class), and 16% of low status black women made
that choice (Bell 1971, p. 254).
Males persuing a high mating effort strategy (low provisioning) would
probably be less satisfactory as mates. Thus, it not surprising that 100% of
married white women stated they would marry again if they could live their
life over, while only 88% of black college educated women, 64% of the "middle
status" blacks, and 36% of the low status blacks made that choice (Bell, 1971,
p. 254). In considering these answers, it must be remembered that college
educated women were a much lower percentage of the black population, so their
answers were probably less typical of all blacks than the college educated
were of all whites.
A similar lack of desire to live with ones lover is reported from Jamaica.
Among Jamaican black females many actually prefer a "visiting" relationship
with their man (i.e. one where the partners live separately, but have sexual
relations leading to children) to a common law marriage where the man livee
with them (Roberts & Sinclair, 1978). Of course, this may say more about the
relevant men, than about the women.
Where males are more aggressive, one would expect females to need to be
more aggressive in order to deal with their mates successfully. Where devoting
energy to provisioning is not in the male's reproductive interests, females
who aggressively assert their rights might be more successful than those who
are more passive.
Where the males devoted much of their efforts to mating, leaving the
females to provision themselves and their children, females would be strongly
selected for traits conducive to successful gathering, such as initiative and
a willingness to work hard. Males would be less strongly selected for
willingness to do hard continuous work (although they might be selected for
the quick burst of energy needed for fighting). Males might even benefit
reproductively from laziness, if that led them to remain in camp where they
could mate extra-maritally. Thus, the prediction is that tropical women would
appear harder working than tropical males.
While direct evidence on this prediction is lacking, many have noted the
greater occupational and educational success of U. S. black females relative
to black males (see Taylor, 1992, p. 25). Black females earn 99.0% of white
female annual earnings, versus 64.6% of white male earnings by black males
(Jaynes & Williams, 1989, Table 6-5). The personality traits that were
required to feed an African family, both in gathering and in agricultural
times (notably consistent, continuous effort), are more consistent with
occupational and educational success in an industrial society than those
required for achieving multiple matings for males (aggression, for instance).
African females without these traits probably left fewer descendants. A low
level of male provisioning appears to have existed in sub-Saharan Africa both
pre and post agriculture. Even in contemporary Africa, the women appear much
more industrious than the men (Lamb, 1987, p. 38).
Why the Emphasis on Hunter-Gatherers? So far this study has focused on the
selection for mating versus provisioning during the long hunter-gatherer
period. This hunter-gatherer emphasis is traditional in sociobiology, since
Homo sapiens have been hunter-gatherers for 99 percent of their time here on
earth. Disagreement continues among experts as to just when modern humans
emerged (Gee, 1992; Harpending, in press) and how long current races have
existed. Mountain, Lin, Bowcock, & Cavalli-Sforza (1992) have shown the
classifications that result from using several different methods. Their
descent trees and those of others (Zhao and Lee, 1989; Nei & Roychoudhury
1993) agree that the largest genetic difference is between Africans and all
other populations.
Recent interpretations of mitochondrial DNA mismatch distributions are
consistent with the existence of racial differences. Harpending, Sherry,
Rogers, and Stoneking, (1993, p. 494) report that "Given these caveats, our
results show that human populations are derived from separate ancestral
populations that were relatively isolated from each other before 50,000 years
ago," and (p. 495), "The existence of between-group differences far older than
within-group differences implies that the late Pleistocene expansion of our
species occurred separately in populations that had been isolated from each
other for several tens of thousands of years."
An alternative to the "out of Africa" hypothesis for human origins is the
multi-regional hypothesis. Recently, two well preserved Homo erectus fossils
in China were found that displayed many characteristics similar to those of
current Mongoloid populations (Tianyuan & Etler, 1992). This discovery that
possibly the early races were the ancestors of the current races. Under either
hypothesis, there would have been time for racial differences in behavior to
have evolved.
It is clear from the differences in skin color and other traits that human
populations have been separate for long enough for major differences to have
emerged. These adaptations to climate are believed to have emerged through
small differences in survival rates among carriers of different genes. For
instance long noses are believed to warm and humidify the air entering the
lungs in dry or cold climates (Krantz, 1980, pp. 101-118), presumably reducing
the death rate from respiratory diseases. Long periods are required for such
small differences in survival to produce observable differences between
populations.
In contrast, differences in mating success have the potential for
comparatively rapid changes in gene frequencies. Just consider the difference
in number of descendants between a male who has children with two wives, and
one who has only a single one in areas where survival does not require male
provisioning. Any personality traits that handicap a male in obtaining the
second wife in such areas would be strongly selected against. For instance,
Chagnon (1988) has reported that the Yanomamo males unokais (one who has
killed another, usually in a raid) enjoyed higher marital success (1.63 wives
per male versus .63 for non-unokais) and had more offspring (4.91 versus
1.59). If certain personality traits (aggressiveness, courage, sensation
seeking) contribute to achieving unokais status, selection for these traits
could be very rapid, much more rapid then selection that depends on merely
slightly lower death rates for carriers of certain genes. In particular,
population differences in personality relevant to marital success should
emerge quicker than differences in noses. The observed differences in noses
between populations imply that there has been time for mental differences to
have emerged.
Recently, a behaviorally relevant allele was shown to vary with race, being
more common in blacks than whites (Blum, et al. 1991) The relevant gene (the
D2 dopamine receptor gene) is associated with severe alcoholism. It is easy to
imagine that alcoholics would be avoided as mates, and that once alcohol was
abundant in a society that the genes contributing to it would be rapidly
selected against.
Thus, from the observation that populations differ in skin color and
related traits whose frequency is determined by differential survival, we can
deduce that northern and southern populations have been separated long enough
for differences in personality variables that affect mating versus
provisioning to have emerged.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF POLYGYNY
Once a population had evolved drives for low paternal investment and high
mating effort, these genes would survive the adoption of agriculture. Men
would devote their efforts to acquiring additional wives, and to mating with
other available females. This would be especially likely if technology was
such that a female could raise enough food to provision herself and her
family, as is frequently the case in tropical horticulture. Thus, the paternal
investment versus mating theory predicts that polygyny would be more common
among tropical origin populations.
The model predicts the pattern of current polygyny. In White's (1988, p.
553) map of what he calls male stratified polygyny with autonomous cowives
("autonomous cowives" means that the wives basically support themselves)
Africa is conspicuous. Interestingly, several New World examples are among
Negroid or mixed populations (Saramacca, Goajiro). Pebley and Mbugua (1989, p.
338) report that "throughout most of southern West Africa and western Central
Africa, as many as 20 to 50% of married men have more than one wife," and that
"The frequency is somewhat lower in East and South Africa, although 15 to 30%
of husbands are reported to be polygynists in Kenya and Tanzania," confirming
Welch & Glick's (1981) summary of official statistics. In contrast, in Arab
Muslim countries only 5 to 12% of men have more than one wife. While polygyny
occurred in Europe and Asia, the rates do not appear to have been as high.
Much of their polygyny was in ruling class harems.
The average polygyny rate in each of several "culture areas" was
calculated from a tabulation provided by Hartung (1982), whose measure
correlates with other measures of polygyny (Low, 1987). The highest was 39%
for sub-Saharan Africa. The second highest was 21% for the Island area
(including Australia, Indonesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar) which is populated
by people that appear to have evolved in warm areas of Southeast Asia. The
rates for societies containing Caucasoid (circum-Mediterranean, 15%) and
Mongoloid (Eastern Eurasian, 10%) peoples are much lower, with the rates for
North (11%) and South American (11%) natives resembling those of other
Mongoloid peoples. These rates seem low, even where polygyny is culturally
acceptable.
It was argued that during the hunter-gatherer period stronger mating
drives emerged in warm areas where winter gathering was possible, and these
survived the coming of agriculture. To test this theory, a regression of
polygyny on latitude was computed giving (standard errors in parenthesis):
Percentage Polygyny= 32.1 - 0.481 latitude
R2=0.098 (2.5) (0.098)
A highly significant effect exists for the Old World considered alone:
Percentage Polygyny= 35.0 - 0.56 latitude
R2=0.11 (2.8) (.13)
However, the New World lacks a statistically significant correlation of
polygyny with latitude. This lack is striking, and inconsistent with the Old
World correlation being caused by the environment somehow affecting culture.
Africa's high polygyny rate has been associated with its lack of animal drawn
plows (possibly due to tsetse fly infection eliminating draft animals or due
to failure to invent or to adopt the device) (see Burton & Reitz, 1981; Goody,
1976; White & Burton, 1988). Animal drawn plows are argued to require male
operation, and a male cannot plow enough land to support several families.
However, the low New World polygyny (prior to the European arrival), where the
lack of suitable draft animals also prevented plow agriculture, presents a
problem for this theory. The New World uniformity across latitudes can be
explained by inadequate time for climate to have affected gene frequencies
related to polygyny. This explains why New World polygyny rates resemble those
of other Mongoloids.
Admittedly, African conditions were such that a woman engaged in
horticulture could continue to support herself and her offspring. There was a
low population density (possibly due to disease) which made shifting
cultivation possible. Such slash and burn horticulture has a high per unit
labor output (Boserup, 1970). This is because newly cleared land is relatively
fertile. In such conditions females can grow enough food for themselves and
their children, making it possible for the males to continue their old high
mating effort strategy. Males who diverted effort from mating to tending crops
would have increased their offspring's survival too little to offset the
reduction in the number of children fathered. There are other theories.
Low (1988, 1990) argues that pathogen stress leads to polygyny, through
increasing the female incentive to seek genetically superior males. Her data
does show a statistically significant relationship between polygyny and
pathogen exposure, although the relationship may reflect only the above noted
tendency for polygyny to be more common in tropical areas, and the higher
disease rates within these areas. Besides Low's mechanism, high pathogen
levels could lead to polygyny through lowering the population density to where
land productivity was high enough so that females did not require male
provisioning. The story then becomes very similar to the argument of this
paper.
Hrdy (992, p. 434) has concluded that in horticultural Africa that
"Matrilineal social organization combined with female-centered horticultural
practices mean that by and large male investment is not critical for child
survival and well-being. . ." These are presumedly the conditions in which the
optimal male strategy is to emphasis mating rather than paternal investment.
The theory here is that polygyny is at least partially a response to an
evolved male desire for sexual variety. This theory has appeared before, only
to be quickly dismissed. G. Lee (1979, p. 702) claimed there was no biological
evidence in favor of the view that males had a predisposition for variety in
sexual partners, and that "there is no reason to expect the properties of the
male sex drive to differ across cultures." Male/female differences in the
nature of sex drives are now a stable in sociobiology (Symons, 1979), while
this paper provides a plausible reason for the properties of the male sex
drive to vary across cultures. It should be noted that in a society where
polygyny is both accepted and practical (i.e. a typical man can support more
than one wife and her offspring), males who lack the drives which lead to
polygyny will leave fewer descendants, and such drives will be selected for,
or more strongly selected for, than in other societies. Where polygyny is
either forbidden, or not usually practical (i.e. multiple wives can not be
successfully provisioned), the drives may be selected against, especially if
they reduce the provisioning of offspring, or lead to conflicts with other
males. Thus, conditions that lead to polygyny are likely to select for male
characteristics that will lead to its continuation. However, in the proposed
theory, the drives had been earlier selected for in the hunter-gatherer stage,
and favorable conditions in many tropical lands (low enough population
densities so that women could grow enough food to support themselves and their
offspring) merely permitted polygyny to become widespread, and continued the
selection for drives leading to mating success.
Thus, African polygyny is probably not recent, but has existed since the
early days of African agriculture. Notice how evolutionary reasoning can
provide evidence about the period before a written history.
Once males had multiple wives, they rationalized their behavior. Many will
protest that culture is independent of biological drives, and that it has
entirely separate origins. Here mores are argued to be affected by actions, as
well as to affect actions. If someone doubts man's power to rationalize what
his drives lead him to do, he might consider homosexuality. There is a
remarkable correspondence between acceptance of homosexual acts and
homosexuality (defined as a type of sexual orientation). Relatively few
homosexuals (i.e., those with strong attractions to those of the same sex)
strongly condemn homosexual acts. Current scientific evidence is that
homosexuality has biological correlates (Allen & Gorski, 1992; Bailey &
Pillard, 1991; Bailey, Pillard, Neale, & Agyei, 1993; LeVay, 1991), and
probably a biological basis. If biology does not influence mores (a cultural
variable), why the strong correlation between homosexual drives and having
mores permitting acting on such drives?
As a thought experiment, it may be useful to imagine the sexual culture and
mores that would emerge on an island occupied only by homosexuals (perhaps as
a result of exile). As an even stronger thought experiment imagine an island
inhabitant by Lesbians who were supplied with sperm from males conducive to
offspring being Lesbian. Very likely, in a few generations the culture's
sexual mores would be quite different from those of a heterosexual population.
As another thought experiment, imagine a good family man who becomes
involved with an attractive female worker at a Christmas party. Surely, he
would be less condemning of extramarital affairs afterwards.
Work with bisected brain patients and other sources suggests the left
hemisphere of the brain has an "interpreter" which provides interpretation for
actions undertaken for reasons it is not conscious of (Gazzaniga 1992, pp.
121-137). While culture clearly influences behavior, behavior and the drives
leading to it may also influence culture.
It should be noted that the African polygyny with autonomous cowives would
select for a high level of mating effort relative to provisioning effort, and
continue a pattern that had probably emerged earlier in hunter-gatherer times.
If the argument regarding hunter-gatherer conditions is rejected, African
patterns of horticulture with the potential for wives to be self supporting
may have existed long enough to select for some of the same traits (especially
allowing for the difference in reproductive success among males who differ in
their ability to acquire self-supporting wives).
Where males are following a high mating effort strategy, fathers will
frequently leave their mates while the children are young and still dependent
on their mothers. In such circumstances, the link with the mother will appear
more important than those with the father. It then becomes logical to trace
descent through the mother rather than the father. This is a plausible
explanation for the observations that matrilineal systems are most frequent in
simple horticultural systems (Aberle, 1962, Table 17-4), where females supply
most of the agricultural labor (i..e. male provisioning is not necessary).
Indeed, Schneider (1962, p. 16) asserts that, "The institutionalization of
very strong, lasting, or intense solidarities between husband and wife is not
compatible with the maintenance of matrilineal descent groups." and that (p.
22) "In matrilineal descent groups the emotional interest of the father in his
own children constitutes a source of strain . . ."
To argue that cultural differences led to appreciable differences in gene
frequencies one must argue that the relevant cultural differences have
persisted for a very long period, given the slow speed at which natural
selection operates. One should provide a plausible explanation for the
persistence of the cultural differences. Cultural differences due to random
drift probably do not last long enough to produce appreciable differences in
gene frequencies. However, cultural differences due to environmental features
can persist long enough for natural selection to change gene frequencies.
Suppose African polygyny can indeed to be traced to a low population density
(perhaps disease caused) which makes fertile land abundant enough so that
wives can support themselves and their children. Then such a pattern could
persist for long enough to shift gene frequencies in directions conducive to
mating success.
Of course differences between populations in the frequency of behavior
relevant genes could arise without being related to differences in appearance,
or "race." One plausible place to look for differences would be between
populations dependent on herding and those dependent on agriculture. Several
observers have noted higher levels of aggression in herding populations.
Edgerton (1971) discovered that herding populations are more aggressive than
agricultural populations in four East African cultures. Livestock is easily
stolen since it can merely be driven away, while crops usually must be
harvested and then carried away. Already harvested crops are likely to be in
defended storehouses. Thus, in herding areas a pattern of raiding for
livestock emerges. Herders appear to be very fierce and willing to fight.
Herding is a subsistence method that emerges in certain geographical areas
(notably those too dry for agriculture and not easily irrigated). Herding may
have been used by certain populations for a very long period, and populations
may have been selected for the personalities suitable for raiding or for
defending against raids. Higher levels of lactose tolerance in certain milk
drinking herders (Bedouins for instance) suggest that they have been dependent
on milk from their herds for long enough for gene frequencies to have been
altered (Durham, 1991)
Of course, once gene frequencies conducive to devoting efforts to mating at
the expense of provisioning had emerged for any reason, a transfer of the
populations to other environments would result in a continuation of high
mating effort and low provisioning. The forced transference of Africans to the
New World provides an opportunity to test this prediction in a manner
analogous to the adoption study in behavior genetics.
New World African Origin Populations
Interestingly, a pattern of weak husband-wife attachments with a succession
of liaisons exists in New World populations of African descent, such as in the
Caribbean, with its high percentage of female headed households (see
Otterbein, 1965, Table 1, column 4 for the percentage in many societies, and
Weinstein [1962, chap. 3] for a description of mating in the U. S. Virgin
Islands). Smith (1962, p. 263), after describing several Caribbean systems
with frequent changes of mate, notes that European societies have maintained
monogamous systems since Tacitus, while West Indians rejected it. While he
does not mention genetics, he does describe the extremely brittle marriage
systems of the polygynous Hausa of Nigeria, in which the typical woman marries
three or four times between menarche and menopause (p. 257). He describes how
formal polygyny is not accepted on Carriacou Island (presumably because of
church and government opposition), but describes a system where men frequently
mate simultaneously with two women, each living separately (p. 29-30).
Roberts & Sinclair (1978) document the Jamaican system, which they report
closely resembles the system among Trinidad Negroes (but not Trinidad
Indians), with widespread "visiting" unions which produce children without the
parents living together. They point out that the Jamaican marriage pattern
appears to have been stable since the last century in spite of many political,
economic, and social changes, an observation that appears inconsistent with it
being a cultural holdover from African days, and with it being a result of
slavery. Both cultural models would have predicted some response to the
government and church pressures to adopt a more European mating system.
These Caribbean family systems appear to be low paternal investment ones
not only because the fathers frequently do not live with the families, and
there are multiple partners during their lifetime, but also because the
fathers appear to make relatively small financial contributions to the support
of their mates and children, even when they live together (Roberts & Sinclair,
1978, p. 64 and their case studies)
The New World Negroid pattern has frequently been explained as a
continuation of African culture. "Retention of African polygamous practices
was observed by nineteenth-century abolitionists working in the Sea Islands
off the coast of South Carolina" (Staples & Johnson, 1993, p. 142). Sudarkasa
(1988, p. 31), after noting that "African conjugal families normally involved
polygynous marriages at some stage in their development," suggests that
polygyny is reemerging in the American black community. Herskovits, who
emphasizes the continuity of African traditions, comments that (1947, p. 299),
"the father, as in Africa, remains on the periphery of the nucleus
constituting the household, whose center is the mother, a grandmother, an
aunt." Alternatively, the matrifocal ex-African family can be viewed as a
social adaptation (possibly with a genetic component) to a male genetic
strategy of low paternal investment, and high mating effort. Among American
blacks, very high illegitimacy rates (66.7% of black women who bore a child in
the last year were unmarried, versus 16.9% of whites, and 6.9% of Asians and
Pacific Islanders [Bachu, 1993, table B]) show the continuation of a pattern
of weak paternal investment. Although the percentage of black children living
in families headed by women has been increasing (as has the white rate), it
appears to have been consistently higher than the white percentage (Morgan,
McDaniel, Miller, & Preston, 1993). Of course, the two parent black family has
been common in the US, and Gutman (1976) has shown that in slavery and
afterwards it was the most common pattern, although he does not claim that the
black pattern was the same as the white pattern.`Recent historical research
using a sample of Census returns shows that many never married black women
with children apparently reported themselves as widows in the Census of 1910
(and presumably in other censuses), making the true rates of illegitimacy
appear lower than they really were (Preston, Lim, & Morgan, 1992).
Bulcroft & Bulcroft (1993) found a relatively minor difference between
white males and white females in the desire to marry, but a much larger
differences between black males and black females. For instance, the
percentage of white males not desiring marriage aged 19-25 was 12.6% versus
11.2% for white females. Black females were similar at 12.7%, but 22.8% of
black males did not desire marriage. The authors present evidence that the
most important explanation for the black male's lower interest in marriage is
a belief that it will not have a positive effect on their sex lives. While the
authors interpret this as being a result of the favorable sex ratio black
males enjoy, the pattern of results could be explained by the hypothesis of
this paper. It reflects the blacks male's low paternal investment strategy,
with a strong desire for sexual variety (inconsistent with American monogamous
marriages) being one of the mechanisms that evolved to direct his primary
efforts to mating.
Ethnographic accounts of life among American lower class blacks also report
that black females desire traditional marriages, while black males are
reluctant (E. Anderson, 1989). Notice that ethnic culture cannot explain
differences between black males and females since both share the same
ethnicity, while the observed difference is well explained by the black males
having been selected in Africa to use a low paternal investment strategy. The
reproductive interests of black females both in Africa and in the US is served
by being mated to a male who will make high paternal investments.
These patterns of weak pair-bonding, and low levels of male provisioning,
are sometimes explained as a residue of plantation slavery. Testing this
theory requires finding a New World African origin population that lacks a
history of plantation slavery. Such a population exists. It is the Black Carib
(coastal Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras), who are the descendants of
survivors of slave ships wrecked before reaching the plantations, and who
intermarried with the Carib natives (and later with other blacks). Still there
emerged a pattern of multiple marriage partners during life, with some having
simultaneous wives (Gonzalez, 1969, p. 72). This mating pattern appears quite
similar to the pattern among other New World African origin populations.
The evidence provided by ex-Africans in the New World is important because,
like the adoption study in behavior genetics, it alters the environment while
leaving the genes unchanged (although often mixed). Since culture seems to
change rapidly among immigrants to a new land, it is hard to imagine much of
the original African culture having survived the voyage to the New World, and
the many generations of influence by Christianity and other aspects of Western
cultures.
Father Absent Societies
Differences in selection for provisioning versus mating may explain other
cultural regularities, such as the association between father-absence and
aggression or crime (Whiting, 1965; Bacon, Child, & Barry, 1963). Draper &
Harpending (1987, p. 349) have stated "father present societies are those
where most males act like dads and father absent societies are those where
most males act like cads," and have described other characteristics of the two
types of societies. For instance, father absent societies are associated with
local raiding and warfare, hostile relations between men and women, higher
level of male violence, male public bombast oratory and rhetoric, transient
bonding between males and females, less male direct provisioning, and women
devaluing the male paternal role.
Draper and Harpending recognize the relevance of paternal investment theory
(their theory involves early childhood experiences), but do not predict which
societies will be father-absent ones (but see Belsky, Steinberg, & Draper,
1991, for an update). The alternative proposed here is that father-absence
exists in descendants of tropical hunter-gatherers (which include most
so-called middle-range societies practicing non-intensive agriculture), while
the father-present pattern exists in descendants of northern hunter-gatherers
(including the wet rice and other plow-using grain growers).
Whiting & Whiting (1975) use the label, the "aloof societies." They
document an association between spouses sleeping apart and male aggressivity.
In their theory, male children deprived of father contact compensate by
becoming hyper-masculine and aggressive (notice the effect contradicts the
simple hypothesis that male children learn aggression from frequent contact
with their fathers, since father absence would then reduce aggressivity). The
provisioning versus mating model suggests that tropical selection for mating
success produces both polygyny (which leaves males with less opportunity to
interact with their children) and male aggression.
As an additional factor, males not selected for provisioning would be less
nurturing, and would not desire to spend time with small children. This would
make them more likely to live away from their wives. In addition, a
hyper-masculine male would not be very pleasant to live with, and the wives
would probably be content to live apart from him. Part of the individual level
correlation between criminality and father-absence (R. Anderson, 1968) may be
due to "hyper-masculinity" leading to both.
Likewise, White and Burton (1988) have documented a relationship between
warfare and polygyny. While the mechanisms they describe (such as marrying
captives) are plausible, an alternative is that both result from a complex of
traits, including aggressiveness, that reflect selection for mating success.
White and Burton end their paper by noting that their model works less well
for the New World, where the polygyny is different from the general polygyny
they describe. They note (p. 884) that, "Much of New World polygyny appears to
be of a different pattern, in which wives tend to be related to one another
and to live in the same house." As noted, the genetic theory proposed here
predicts lower rates of general polygyny in the New World, whose natives
descended from relatively recent North Asian immigrants.
TESTING THE THEORY WITH OTHER POPULATIONS
The above sexual selection theory was developed by considering the data
assembled by Rushton on the major races, Mongoloid, Caucasoid, and Negroid. As
seen, it seems to fit well.
However, there are other groups which are often considered distinct from
the major races, Australian aborigines, the "brown" people of Southeast Asia,
Polynesians, Micronesians, etc. Other populations appear to be mixtures of
original populations. A climatic adaptation theory predicts that populations
evolving in the tropics will resemble Negroids in their behavior and life
history. Differential K theory makes no such prediction until it is specified
how variable or predictable the area they evolved in is. If it is tropical
rain forest, it would be of low variability, and one would expect them to be K
selected.
While the writer's impression is that these other groups do resemble
Negroids more than they do Mongoloids in their behavior, no systematic
investigation has been undertaken. These peoples provide a holdout population
that others can use to test the hypothesis proposed here.
An interesting population to examine would be the pygmies of various
tropical rain forest groups. Their diminutive stature shows that they have
been separated from their neighbors long enough to be physically different.
These are predictable climatic areas, for which differential K theory would
predict K traits. It is here hypothesized that they will have most personality
and life history traits similar to those of their tropical neighbors.
Climatic theories predict gradual shifts in gene frequencies. As one moves
towards the Arctic, isolated populations should evolve more in the Mongoloid
direction. The theory here predicts that the more cold adapted groups among
the major races, such as the Eskimos among the Mongoloids, will exhibit an
even greater contrast with the tropical peoples than typical Mongoloids.
Likewise, as one moves south, the behavior should shift in the tropical
direction. Thus the northern European Caucasoids should resemble the
Mongoloids more than those further south, and the Mediterranean Caucasoids
should resemble the Negroids more. While formal studies appear lacking, the
reported greater sociability, macho complex (Peristiany, 1965), and
acceptability of mistress keeping among Mediterranean peoples, and the higher
levels of behavioral restraint further north, appear to be as predicted by the
existence of a male provisioning versus mating cline.
Thus, the provisioning versus mating theory is testable. Hopefully, further
research will test it.
CONCLUSIONS
Offspring survival in cold climates requires provisioning by male hunters,
while it is not critical in warm climates. Thus, the optimal male tradeoff
between seeking copulations and provisioning depends on the climate. Hence,
the colder the climate a population evolved in, the more they should have
evolved drives that lead to provisioning (altruism, sexual restraint, rule
following behavior) while in tropical areas the drives should have evolved
towards competing for mating opportunities (which implies dominance seeking,
aggression, high masculinity, extraversion etc.). This can explain many of the
observed differences between the major races. While cultural explanations
exist for many of the behavioral differences, they are unable to explain such
differences as body build, genital length, muscle structure, bone structure,
the size of the liver, testosterone levels, and monoamine oxidase levels, all
of which are explained by the paternal investment versus mating success
theory.
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Footnotes
* Acknowledgments: I would like to thank L. Clarke for help with the data entry and C. D. Ankney, P. Draper, L. Clarke, L. Ellis, W. Pederson, D. Kiefer and P. J. Rushton for useful comments. Errors remain mine.
*(1) One exception to the rule that women seldom hunt large game is known.
Among the Agna of the Philippines, hunting groups with only women and children
brought back 30% of the large game animals (Goodman, Griffin, Estioko-Griffin,
Grove 1985, p. 1204). In this particular tropical environment women
successfully hunted deer and pigs, sometimes carrying nursing babies, and did
so without affecting their reproductive success. Unlike the men, who
frequently stalked their prey or ambushed them from a tree, the women used a
drive with dogs (where noise from children and babies would be less of a
problem). There are several reasons why this case does not prove that women
typically could have supported themselves by hunting alone in the prehistoric
environment. Dogs were probably not available then. The rich environment of
the Agta facilitates brief hunting excursions, after which women can return to
their children. The short distances to the hunting grounds probably explains
their observed willingess to carry nursing infants with them on the hunt, and
their ability to carry both infants and game back home. Although some hunting
is done carrying nursing infants, in other cases the children are left with
others at camp. Presumably there are some toddlers too old to be carried and
too young to walk far themselves. The Agta do not get most of their food from
hunting , and it is not clear that their females' hunting efficiency would
have permitted prehistoric women to provision themselves, especially if
cooperative child care had not yet emerged. Even if such child care were
available, the labor needed for it would have to be subtracted from the labor
available for hunting.
*(2) Ember (1978) has disputed the findings that in most hunter-gatherer
societies gathering is more important than hunting and that females collect
most calories. She finds that in sub-Saharan Africa and the insular Pacific
(both predominantly tropical)e.
*(3) Negro women have also been found to be more mesomorphic than white
women, but the difference is less than in males (Damon et al. 1962, p. 470).
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