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The tendency for women, relative to men, to more strongly prefer mates with good financial prospects has been reliably documented across a variety of cultures. Malovicki-Yaffe et al. (2018) provided data to the contrary, demonstrating that Haredi women of the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel care little for a wealthy partner. They reported no significant sex difference in ratings of a partner's economic prospects, and a reversal for trait rankings, such that men rated a woman's earning capacity as more important than women did. These findings illustrate that status is culturally determined. The most conservative members of the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel endorse a sociocultural agreement in which women enter the workforce as the breadwinner to enable men to devote their time to religious pursuits. As a consequence, little power can be earned by men for their wealth, but is instead presumed to be conferred by their status as a religious scholar. Women's preferences follow suit, with a strong desire to acquire a highly intelligent and educated religious scholar as a mate. This sociocultural arrangement is still practiced within the ultra-Orthodox community, but recent shifts toward modernization in religious beliefs among some sects provide an opportunity to build on past research in three ways (1) replicate the reversed sex difference in mate preferences for economic prospects with a larger and more religiously varied sample (N = 1414 via an online Haredi Panel, Study 1), (2) examine whether the sex-reversed effect is weaker among those who have shifted to more modern religious beliefs (Study 1), and (3) validate the underlying assumptions made by past work with respect to how Haredi men and women earn power (N = 949 via online convenience sampling, Study 2). The results document a sex reversal in mate rankings and ratings for economic prospects, demonstrate that this effect is strongest among the most religiously conservative Haredi people, and confirm that men's strongest source of power in the ultra-Orthodox community is their role as a Torah scholar—eclipsing the impact of wealth. Additionally, we demonstrate the stability of men's preferences for a young and attractive partner, and explore whether women's role as an economic breadwinner translates into power in the home or community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Using an evolutionary perspective, we test the hypothesis that women's fear of rape will vary as a function of individual characteristics that increase vulnerability to rape, or which exacerbate the reproductive consequences thereof (i.e., mate value and conception risk). We also examine the internal structure and construct validity of the Fear of Rape (FOR) Scale (Senn & Dzinas, 1996). In a large sample of women (N = 1267) the FOR scale demonstrated uni-dimensionality, internal reliability, and construct validity. An interaction between conception risk and mate value indicated that mate value is a positive predictor of women's FOR among women at high conception risk, but not low conception risk. These findings are consistent with the idea that women possess a psychological system for protecting reproductive choice that is sensitive to both the threat likelihood and reproductive costs of victimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People frequently engage in mate retention behaviors to prevent a romantic partner's infidelity or relationship defection. Because many religions strongly emphasize commitment and fidelity in relationships, religious beliefs may facilitate mate retention behaviors. However, previous research has not investigated how perceptions of romantic partners' religious beliefs are related to religiosity and mate retention behavior. A sample of adults (n = 680) involved in long-term, committed relationships completed an online survey assessing self-reported religiosity, perceptions of partners' religiosity, and mate retention behaviors. Results indicated that self-reported religiosity is associated with cost-inflicting and benefit-provisioning behavior, and that the association between religiosity and benefit-provisioning mate retention depended on perceptions of partners' religiosity and participant sex. Specifically, religious individuals who perceived their partners as less religious performed more benefit-provisioning behaviors, and religious women performed more cost-inflicting behaviors when they perceived their partners as highly religious. These findings corroborate and extend upon previous cross-cultural research by contextualizing the link between religiosity and mate retention. • Self-reported religiosity is positively related to cost-inflicting and benefit-provisioning behavior. • Religious individuals who perceived their partners as less religious performed more benefit-provisioning behaviors. • Religious women performed more cost-inflicting behaviors when they perceived their partners as highly religious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moral judgment is influenced by both automatic and deliberative processing systems, and moral conflict arises when these systems produce competing intuitions. We investigated the role of emotional arousal in inhibiting harmful action in a behavioral study of utilitarian tradeoffs in a 3D digital simulation of two classic “trolley” scenarios in which participants decided whether to harm one person in order to avert harm to five others. Physiological arousal was measured via skin conductance response in real time. Results showed that physiological arousal is increased in situations in which using personal harm is necessary to achieve a utilitarian outcome relative to when the same outcome can be achieved with impersonal harm, and is linked to a decreased likelihood of engaging in harmful action, though a test of mediation was not statistically significant. In addition, when the use of personal harm was required to save lives, arousal was higher pre -action relative to post -action. Overall, our findings suggest that physiological arousal may be part of an affective system that functions to inhibit harmful action against others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the importance of reproductive choice in female mating strategies, women may be equipped with a threat-management system that functions to protect reproductive choice by avoiding individuals and situations that have historically posed an increased threat of sexual coercion. Previous research suggests that bias against outgroup men may be one consequence of such a system, resulting from an evolutionary history of intergroup conflict in which women were often at increased risk of sexual assault from outgroup men. We provide a critical extension to this literature by demonstrating that the output of this system is not limited to attitudinal biases, but extends to behavioral decisions regarding dating, particularly among women for whom threats to reproductive choice are most costly and perceived to be most likely. Participants received an unsolicited dating request made by an ingroup or outgroup member, with group boundaries manipulated in a minimal-group paradigm. Consistent with predictions, women self-appraised as vulnerable to sexual coercion were less likely to agree to date requests from outgroup members, but not ingroup members, during the fertile period of the menstrual cycle. Our findings are consistent with the notion that women possess a psychological system that functions to protect reproductive choice by avoiding individuals that historically posed an increased threat of sexual coercion, and that this system may be calibrated to be most strongly activated among women who both appraise themselves as vulnerable and for whom threats to reproductive choice are most costly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Research on prepared learning demonstrates that fear-conditioning biases may exist to natural hazards (e.g., snakes) compared to nonnatural hazards (e.g., electrical cords) and that fear is more readily learned toward exemplars of a racial out-group than toward exemplars of one''s own race. Here we push the limits of the generalizability of the mechanisms underlying race biases in a fear-conditioning paradigm by using arbitrary group categories not distinguished by race. Groups were distinguishable solely by t-shirt color, with assignment based on performance in a perceptual task. In this “minimal group paradigm,” we found that out-group exemplars were more readily associated with an aversive stimulus than exemplars of one''s in-group. Our findings suggest that prepared learning in an intergroup context is not limited to contexts involving racial categories involving histories rife with cultural stereotypes and that previous findings of learning biases along racial lines may be interpreted as a by-product of a broader psychological system for prepared fear learning toward categories of agents that may have posed persistent threats over human evolutionary history. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Researchers adopting an evolutionary perspective have conceptualized the Dark Triad as an exploitative interpersonal style reflective of a fast life history strategy. However, not all research has supported this claim. We posit that different elements of the constructs associated with the Dark Triad may reflect different life history strategies. Our results indicate that the measures of the Dark Triad and other indicators of life history strategies form two distinct factors: (1) a fast life strategy factor that includes the impulsive antisociality facet of psychopathy, the entitlement/exploitativeness facet of narcissism, Machiavellianism, unrestricted sociosexuality, and aggression, and (2) a slow life strategy factor that includes the fearless dominance facet of psychopathy and both the leadership/authority and grandiose exhibitionism facets of narcissism. These factors differentially correlate with established measures of life history strategy. These findings add to the literature by clarifying how the Dark Triad fits into a life history framework. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Research shows that women more positively evaluate targets evincing cues of high male genetic quality as a function of fertility across the menstrual cycle. Recently, a link between fertility and anti-black race bias has also been documented, an effect that is argued to serve a sexual coercion avoidance function. Here we demonstrate that both effects can be operative toward the same male target depending on inter-individual differences in race perception of the target. Across two studies, we found that the intention to vote for Barack Obama in the months preceding the 2008 election increased as a function of conception risk across the menstrual cycle. In the second study, we found that the effect is greatest among women who perceived him as more white than black, whereas the opposite was true among women who perceived him as mostly black. Our findings tie together separate conceptual research threads on positive and negative evaluations of men by women across the menstrual cycle — integrating them to shed light on women''s voting preferences. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Peers and primary caregivers influence the development of religious beliefs during childhood and adolescence. However, previous research has not assessed whether childhood religious experiences with peers and primary caregivers are differently related to individual differences in adult religiosity. We investigated whether the frequency of childhood religious experiences with peers and primary caregivers are related to adult religious beliefs and religious service attendance. An online sample of adults (n = 525) completed a survey that included a measure of religious beliefs and two recently developed measures that assess the ways in which peers and primary caregivers influenced religious experiences during childhood and adolescence. Results suggest that the frequency of childhood religious experiences with peers and primary caregivers are differently related to individual differences in adult religiosity: 1) Participation in religious activities with a peer, and primary caregiver's disapproval of religious deviation, are positively associated with adult religious attendance , 2) participation in religious activities with a peer, and primary caregiver's religious assurance, are positively associated with adult religious belief , and 3) primary caregiver's encouragement of religious skepticism is negatively associated with adult religious belief. Discussion highlights limitations of the current study and important directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]