858 results on '"Human behavioral ecology"'
Search Results
2. Does Bark Anatomy Influence the Selection of Woody Medicinal Plants in Seasonal Dry Forests from Brazil?
- Author
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Elias, Letícia, Arruda, Emilia Cristina Pereira, and Albuquerque, Ulysses Paulino
- Published
- 2024
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3. Human behaviors driving disease emergence.
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Friant, Sagan
- Abstract
Interactions between humans, animals, and the environment facilitate zoonotic spillover—the transmission of pathogens from animals to humans. Narratives that cast modern humans as exogenous and disruptive forces that encroach upon "natural" disease systems limit our understanding of human drivers of disease. This review leverages theory from evolutionary anthropology that situates humans as functional components of disease ecologies, to argue that human adaptive strategies to resource acquisition shape predictable patterns of high‐risk human–animal interactions, (2) humans construct ecological processes that facilitate spillover, and (3) contemporary patterns of epidemiological risk are emergent properties of interactions between human foraging ecology and niche construction. In turn, disease ecology serves as an important vehicle to link what some cast as opposing bodies of theory in human ecology. Disease control measures should consider human drivers of disease as rational, adaptive, and dynamic and capitalize on our capacity to influence ecological processes to mitigate risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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- 2024
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4. The economics and evolution of heroic behavior
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Daniel FARHAT
- Subjects
heroism ,social simulation modeling ,altruism ,human behavioral ecology ,Business ,HF5001-6182 ,Economic theory. Demography ,HB1-3840 ,Economics as a science ,HB71-74 - Abstract
This study uses a simulation model to explore the causes of ‘extreme civil heroism’: risking one’s life to help a stranger. The model uses a mixture of traditional economic thinking (based on rational self-interest) and human behavioral ecology (based on natural selection). Simulated agents choose between two competing communities (one with heroism and one without) by maximizing expected utility. Which community thrives is observed. Labor productivity, risk tolerance, perspectives on death, emergency response training and accident probability are analyzed as drivers of heroic community success. A preliminary assessment of the model is conducted using data from Eastern Europe. Avenues for future research are described.
- Published
- 2023
5. Of Game Keepers, Opportunism, and Conservation
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Hames, Raymond and Chacon, Richard J., Series Editor
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- 2023
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6. Human Behavioral Ecology and Coastal Environments
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Thakar, Heather B., editor and Fernandez, Carola Flores, editor
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- 2023
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7. Seagoing Watercraft in the Context of Marine Adaptations in Peter the Great Bay, Primorye Region, Russian Far East
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Vostretsov, Yuri E., Wu, Chunming, Series Editor, Cassidy, Jim, editor, Ponkratova, Irina, editor, and Fitzhugh, Ben, editor
- Published
- 2022
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8. A brief history of modeling Early Holocene landscape use in the American Southeast.
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Shane Miller, D., Smallwood, Ashley M., and Carr, Philip J.
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HOLOCENE Epoch , *ARCHAEOLOGY , *LANDSCAPE archaeology , *PLEISTOCENE Epoch - Abstract
The Early Holocene is a critical period in the American Southeast and represents the time between the end of the Pleistocene and emerging cultural complexity of the Mid-Holocene. Due to the limitations imposed by a relative lack of site preservation, an important avenue of inquiry for understanding this period has been connecting the few reported, well-dated sites with the distribution of surface finds to explore how people organized their mobility across landscapes. The most widely cited examples of studies examining Early Holocene landscape use in the region are Anderson and Hanson (1988), Daniel (2001), and Hollenbach (2009). In this article, we discuss the historical development of these three approaches to modeling landscape use and explore the impacts of these works in Southeastern archaeology. Finally, we introduce four articles that explore the applicability of these three approaches in Virginia (Gingerich, this issue), Florida (Halligan et al., this issue), the lower Ohio River valley (Jennings et al. this issue), and the upper Tombigbee River valley (Strawn et al., this issue). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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9. “Every Tradesman Must Also Be a Merchant”: Behavioral Ecology and Household-Level Production for Barter and Trade in Premodern Economies
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Demps, K and Winterhalder, B
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Economic anthropology ,Barter ,Trade ,Markets in prehistory ,Economic history ,Human behavioral ecology ,Missing markets ,Central place foraging ,Archaeology - Abstract
While archaeologists now have demonstrated that barter and trade of material commodities began in prehistory, theoretical efforts to explain these findings are just beginning. We adapt the central place foraging model from behavioral ecology and the missing-market model from development economics to investigate conditions favoring the origins of household-level production for barter and trade in premodern economies. Interhousehold exchange is constrained by production, travel and transportation, and transaction costs; however, we predict that barter and trade become more likely as the number and effect of the following factors grow in importance: (1) local environmental heterogeneity differentiates households by production advantages; (2) preexisting social mechanisms minimize transaction costs; (3) commodities have low demand elasticity; (4) family size, gender role differentiation, or seasonal restrictions on household production lessen opportunity costs to participate in exchange; (5) travel and transportation costs are low; and (6) exchange opportunities entail commodities that also can function as money. Population density is not a direct cause of exchange but is implicated inasmuch as most of the factors we identify as causal at the household level become more salient as population density increases. We review archaeological, ethnohistoric, and ethnographic evidence for premodern marketing, observing that the model assumptions, variables, and predictions generally receive preliminary support. Overall, we argue that case study and comparative investigation of the origins of marketing will benefit from explicit modeling within the framework of evolutionary anthropology.
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- 2019
10. Use of firewood for artisanal ceramic production in a context of forest scarcity in Northeastern Brazil.
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Soares da Silva, Maria Madelena, Soares Feitosa, Ivanilda, Salgueiro Cruz, Ramon, Aparecida de Sá, Vânia, Muniz de Medeiros, Patrícia, and Vasconcelos da Silva, Rafael Ricardo
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- *
FOREST productivity , *SMALL-scale fisheries , *FIRING (Ceramics) , *PLANT diversity , *CERAMICS , *SCARCITY , *FUELWOOD - Abstract
In this study, we sought to examine firewood use patterns in artisanal ceramic production by a quilombola community in the context of forest scarcity in Northeastern Brazil. This article aimed to answer the following questions: (1) Is the firing of ceramic products related to the perceived quality, diversity, or plant part used as firewood? (2) Does the diversity of plants used as firewood vary according to the age and gender of artisan potters? (3) What are the physical and energetic properties of the species most commonly used as firewood? Our main findings were that resource availability and accessibility seem to be the determining factors of firewood use. Exotic species were widely used. Variables commonly described as predictors of firewood diversity, such as age and gender, were not relevant in the context of forest scarcity. The most used exotic species have good physicochemical properties and can be a viable alternative to meet the firewood demand of ceramic production. However, the results showed that these species are more readily available to potters who have access to private woodlands. Therefore, in the studied context, we suggest the need for conservation strategies that foster the creation of energy forests composed of exotic species and, in parallel, promote conservation and reforestation actions aimed at native species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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- 2023
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11. Mountains as crossroads : temporal and spatial patterns of high elevation activity in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, USA
- Author
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Reckin, Rachel Jean and Nigst, Philip
- Subjects
930.1 ,archaeology ,high elevation ,lithics ,hunter-gatherers ,foragers ,landscape archaeology ,human behavioral ecology ,ice patch archaeology ,mountain archaeology ,climate change ,projectile points ,typology ,obsidian sourcing ,land tenure ,occupational duration ,lithic raw material studies ,climatic refugia ,paleodemography ,paleoclimate ,Absaroka Mountains ,Beartooth Mountains ,Montana ,Wyoming ,Yellowstone National Park ,Numic Expansion ,Shoshone ,Crow ,diversity index ,population ,dichotomous key ,high altitude ,glacial archaeology - Abstract
In the archaeological literature, mountains are often portrayed as the boundaries between inhabited spaces. Yet occupying high elevations may have been an adaptive choice for ancient peoples, as rapidly changing elevations also offer variation in climate and resources over a relatively small area. So what happens, instead, if we put mountain landscapes at the center of our analyses of prehistoric seasonal rounds and ecological adaptation? This Ph.D. argues that, in order to understand any landscape that includes mountains, from the Alps to the Andes, one must include the ecology and archaeology of the highest elevations. Specifically, I base my findings on new fieldwork and lithic collections from the Absaroka and Beartooth Mountains in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) of the Rocky Mountains, which was a vital crossroads of prehistoric cultures for more than 11,000 years. I include five interlocking analyses. First, I consider the impacts of anthropogenic climate change on high elevation cultural resources, focusing on the diminishing resiliency of ancient high elevation ice patches and the loss of the organic artifacts and paleobiological materials they contain. Second, I create a dichotomous key for chronologically typing projectile points, suggesting a methodological improvement for typological dating in the GYE and for surface archaeology more broadly. Third, I use obsidian source data to consider whether mountain people were a single, unified group or were represented by a variety of peoples with different zones of land tenure. Fourth, I consider high elevation occupation in both mountain ranges as part of the seasonal round, using indices of diversity in tool types and raw material to study how the duration of those occupations changed through time. And, finally, I test the common contention that ancient people primarily used mountains as refugia from extreme climatic pressure at lower elevations. Ultimately, I find that, in both mountain ranges, increased high elevation activity is most highly correlated with increased population, not with hot, dry climatic conditions. In other words, the mountains were more than simply refugia for plains or basin people to occupy when pressured by climatic hardship. In addition, between the Absarokas and the Beartooths the evidence suggests two different patterns of occupation, not a monolithic pan-mountain adaptation. These results demonstrate the potential contributions of surface archaeology to our understanding of prehistory, and have important implications for the way we think about mountain landscapes as peopled spaces in relation to adjacent lower-elevation areas.
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- 2018
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12. Human Behavioral Ecology
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Morita, Masahito, Sellers, Douglas, Section editor, Shackelford, Todd K, editor, and Weekes-Shackelford, Viviana A, editor
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- 2021
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13. Greater wealth inequality, less polygyny: rethinking the polygyny threshold model
- Author
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Ross, Cody T, Mulder, Monique Borgerhoff, Oh, Seung-Yun, Bowles, Samuel, Beheim, Bret, Bunce, John, Caudell, Mark, Clark, Gregory, Colleran, Heidi, Cortez, Carmen, Draper, Patricia, Greaves, Russell D, Gurven, Michael, Headland, Thomas, Headland, Janet, Hill, Kim, Hewlett, Barry, Kaplan, Hillard S, Koster, Jeremy, Kramer, Karen, Marlowe, Frank, McElreath, Richard, Nolin, David, Quinlan, Marsha, Quinlan, Robert, Revilla-Minaya, Caissa, Scelza, Brooke, Schacht, Ryan, Shenk, Mary, Uehara, Ray, Voland, Eckart, Willführ, Kai, Winterhalder, Bruce, and Ziker, John
- Subjects
Reduced Inequalities ,Female ,Humans ,Male ,Marriage ,Models ,Theoretical ,Socioeconomic Factors ,polygyny ,monogamy ,marriage systems ,wealth inequality ,behavioural ecology ,evolutionary anthropology ,Human behavioral ecology ,Life history theory ,Mating behavior ,Polygyny threshold model ,Marriage systems ,Wealth inequality ,Polygyny ,Monogamy ,Evolutionary anthropology ,General Science & Technology - Abstract
Monogamy appears to have become the predominant human mating system with the emergence of highly unequal agricultural populations that replaced relatively egalitarian horticultural populations, challenging the conventional idea-based on the polygyny threshold model-that polygyny should be positively associated with wealth inequality. To address this polygyny paradox, we generalize the standard polygyny threshold model to a mutual mate choice model predicting the fraction of women married polygynously. We then demonstrate two conditions that are jointly sufficient to make monogamy the predominant marriage form, even in highly unequal societies. We assess if these conditions are satisfied using individual-level data from 29 human populations. Our analysis shows that with the shift to stratified agricultural economies: (i) the population frequency of relatively poor individuals increased, increasing wealth inequality, but decreasing the frequency of individuals with sufficient wealth to secure polygynous marriage, and (ii) diminishing marginal fitness returns to additional wives prevent extremely wealthy men from obtaining as many wives as their relative wealth would otherwise predict. These conditions jointly lead to a high population-level frequency of monogamy.
- Published
- 2018
14. Evidence for encounter-conditional, area-restricted search in a preliminary study of Colombian blowgun hunters.
- Author
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Ross, Cody T and Winterhalder, Bruce
- Subjects
Animals ,Humans ,Bayes Theorem ,Appetitive Behavior ,Predatory Behavior ,Feeding Behavior ,Ecosystem ,Movement ,Models ,Biological ,Anthropology ,Cultural ,Colombia ,Male ,Blowgun hunters ,Hunter-gatherers ,Search tactics ,Area-restricted search ,Optimal foraging theory ,Behavioral ecology ,Human behavioral ecology ,General Science & Technology - Abstract
Active search for prey is energetically costly, so understanding how foragers optimize search has been central to foraging theory. Some theoretical work has suggested that foragers of randomly distributed prey should search using Lévy flights, while work on area-restricted and intermittent search strategies has demonstrated that foragers can use the information provided by prey encounters to more effectively adapt search direction and velocity. Previous empirical comparisons of these search modes have tended to rely on distribution-level analyses, due to the difficulty of collecting event-level data on encounters linked to the GPS tracks of foragers. Here we use a preliminary event-level data-set (18.7 hours of encounter-annotated focal follows over 6 trips) to show that two Colombian blowgun hunters use adaptive encounter-conditional heuristics, not non-conditional Lévy flights, when searching for prey. Using a theoretically derived Bayesian model, we estimate changes in turning-angle and search velocity as a function of encounters with prey at lagged time-steps, and find that: 1) hunters increase average turning-angle in response to encounters, producing a more tortuous search of patches of higher prey density, but adopt more efficient uni-directional, inter-patch movement after failing to encounter prey over a sufficient period of time; and, 2) hunters reduce search velocity in response to encounters, causing them to spend more of their search time in patches with demonstrably higher prey density. These results illustrate the importance of using event-level data to contrast encounter-conditional, area-restricted search and Lévy flights in explaining the search behavior of humans and other organisms.
- Published
- 2018
15. Dynamic Modeling of the Effects of Site Placement on Environmental Suitability: A Theoretical Example from Northwest Morocco.
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Collins-Elliott, Stephen A. and Jazwa, Christopher S.
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DYNAMIC models ,ECOLOGICAL models ,POPULATION density ,RESOURCE exploitation ,ARCHAEOLOGICAL excavations ,HABITATS - Abstract
This paper offers a new numerical approach to model the effects of archaeological site placement and population density on environmental suitability using two ecological models, the Ideal Free Distribution (IFD) and Ideal Despotic Distribution (IDD), treating the Oued Loukkos in northern Morocco as an example. This method incorporates local resource depletion with increasing population density consistent with the predictions of the IFD. It also incorporates the potential for the exclusion of part of the population from certain productive areas consistent with the IDD. In this study, we propose a dynamic approach to the impact of site placement on habitat suitability and therefore broader application for understanding changes in settlement distribution with population density through time. Furthermore, resulting settlements can be parameterized by a Zipf-Mandelbrot distribution, entailing a direct relationship between the ecological, demographic, and political factors and the resulting rank-size distribution of sites. This approach allows for a broader range of applications among foraging and agricultural economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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16. An Islandscape IFD: Using the Ideal Free Distribution to Predict Pre-Columbian Settlements from Grenada to St. Vincent, Eastern Caribbean.
- Author
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Hanna, Jonathan A. and Giovas, Christina M.
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ARCHAEOLOGICAL site location ,SALVAGE archaeology ,MULTIVARIATE analysis ,RIVER channels ,LAND settlement patterns ,WETLANDS - Abstract
This study employs an ideal free distribution (IFD) model to conduct a fine-grained analysis of environmental factors affecting the pre-Columbian colonisation sequence and settlement patterning in the southern Lesser Antilles of the Eastern Caribbean. We compiled a database of all known archaeological site locations and associated chronological data from St. Vincent, the Grenadines, and Grenada, and vetted this dataset for accuracy. We then performed multivariate statistical analysis of the vetted site data and 24 environmental variables hypothesised to influence settlement habitat quality, including soil attributes, proximity to freshwater/stream beds, structure and sizes of marine environments, and net primary productivity (NPP) layers. Iterative testing and refinement of the model allowed for the creation of a predictive map of pre-Columbian archaeological sites over time. Results indicate proximity to freshwater wetlands, NPP, and reef size were important variables influencing habitat choice. Additionally, latitude (distance from the equator) was also a significant variable, indicating support for a proposed colonisation of the southern Lesser Antilles that began in the northern Caribbean, rather than the south. Lastly, we provide a site inventory and map of predicted site locations that can aid in the management of threatened archaeological resources within the study region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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17. Resource Competition and Settlement Distribution in Bronze Age Greece.
- Author
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Jazwa, Christopher S. and Jazwa, Kyle A.
- Subjects
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HUMAN settlements , *LAND settlement patterns , *BRONZE Age , *AGRICULTURAL resources , *SOCIAL history , *HABITATS - Abstract
We apply the Ideal Free Distribution (IFD) and Ideal Despotic Distribution (IDD) models to two Bronze Age (ca. 3100–1050 BCE) mainland Greek regions with different local ecologies and culture histories: Messenia and the Argolid. Using existing settlement data, we show that regions within the same cultural system contemporaneously fit different settlement patterns, reflecting distinct environmental adaptations. Such differences help to understand regional variations in resource access and competition. Although the highest-ranked habitats were settled first in each region, large-scale expansion to lower-ranked habitats occurred more quickly in the Argolid, likely because highly productive agricultural land was limited, resulting in a competitive focus on the Argive Plain. This contrasts with Messenia, where access to agricultural resources is better distributed. Our results demonstrate that applying ideal distribution models at a regional scale provides valuable information about the development of social complexity and the conditions in which it occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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18. Deconstructing Hunting Returns: Can We Reconstruct and Predict Payoffs from Pursuing Prey?
- Author
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Morin, Eugène, Bird, Douglas, Winterhalder, Bruce, and Bliege Bird, Rebecca
- Subjects
- *
BODY size , *HUNTING , *HUMAN ecology - Abstract
Explaining variation in hunter-gatherer livelihoods hinges on our ability to predict the tradeoffs and opportunities of pursuing different kinds of prey. Central to this problem is the commonly held assumption that larger animals provide higher returns upon encounter than smaller ones. However, to test this assumption, actualistic observations of hunting payoffs must be comparable across different social, technological, and ecological contexts. In this meta-analysis, we revisit published and unpublished estimates of prey return rates (n = 217 from 181 prey types) to assess, first, whether they are methodologically comparable, and second, whether they correlate with body size. We find systematic inter-study differences in how carcass yield, energetic content, and foraging returns are calculated. We correct for these inconsistencies first by calculating new estimates of energetic yield (kcals per kg live weight) and processing costs for over 300 species of terrestrial and avian game. We then recalculate on-encounter returns using a standardized formula. We find that body size is a poor predictor of on-encounter return rate, while prey characteristics and behavior, mode of procurement, and hunting technology are better predictors. Although prey body size correlates well with processing costs and edibility, relationships with pursuit time and energetic value per kilogram are relatively weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
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19. The Position of Body Mass in a Network of Human Life History Indicators
- Author
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Janko Međedović
- Subjects
body mass ,life history theory ,harsh environment ,fitness ,Network Analysis ,human behavioral ecology ,Psychology ,BF1-990 - Abstract
Body mass is widely recognized as a morphological trait which is important for fitness optimization both in humans and other animals. Here, we propose that body mass is a part of fast life history trajectory – the fitness optimization pattern which emerges from harsh environment with a function to maximize reproductive output. To test this prediction, we measured body mass index (BMI) and a set of life history indicators in a large sample of reproductive individuals (N = 1,504; 32% males; Mage = 27.20; SD = 9.2). The data were collected via an online survey. Bivariate correlations showed that BMI was positively related to reproductive success, childhood poverty, and short-term mating success; furthermore, it was negatively associated to physical health, age of the first menarche, and economic reasons against reproduction. The Network Analysis confirmed that BMI is positively related to short-term mating success and reproductive success, and negatively to physical health and economic reasons against reproduction. Furthermore, centrality metrics showed that BMI has relatively low centrality indices, and thus represents a peripheral node in the network. The present data confirm that body mass is a morphological trait which participates in the fast life history trajectory of fitness optimization. A body mass which is slightly higher than population mean (but below obesity levels) probably represents an adaptive response to depriving economic conditions in childhood and contributes to the maximization of reproductive fitness. Finally, we highlight that the relations between body mass and life history may differ between and within species.
- Published
- 2022
20. Conclusion: Advances in Current Theoretical Approaches to Coastal Archaeology
- Author
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Thakar, Heather B., editor and Fernandez, Carola Flores, editor
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- 2023
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21. Introduction: Behavioral Ecology at the Coastal Margins
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Thakar, Heather B., author, Fernandez, Carola Flores, author, and Tushingham, Shannon, author
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- 2023
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22. Potential Applications of Human Behavioral Ecology in the Prehistoric Mediterranean
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Plekhov, Daniel, author, Levine, Evan, author, and Leppard, Thomas P., author
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- 2023
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23. Human Behavioral Ecology and the Complexities of Arctic Environments
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West, Catherine F., author, Gjesfjeld, Erik, author, Anderson, Shelby, author, and Fitzhugh, Ben, author
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- 2023
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24. Human Behavioral Ecology and Technological Decision-Making
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Herzog, Nicole M., Goodale, Nathan, and Prentiss, Anna Marie, editor
- Published
- 2019
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25. Human Behavioral Ecology and Plant Resources in Archaeological Research
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Gremillion, Kristen J. and Prentiss, Anna Marie, editor
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- 2019
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26. Human Ecology
- Author
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Prentiss, Anna Marie and Prentiss, Anna Marie, editor
- Published
- 2019
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27. Household Inequality, Community Formation, and Land Tenure in Classic Period Lowland Maya Society.
- Author
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Thompson, Amy E. and Prufer, Keith M.
- Subjects
- *
LAND tenure , *TRANSPORTATION corridors , *HOUSEHOLDS , *HUNTER-gatherer societies , *HUMAN ecology , *EQUALITY - Abstract
Access to social capital and valued resources modulates household decision-making as people seek to occupy the best-quality patches of land available. Prior occupancy, inheritance, and land tenure norms can constrain opportunities resulting in inequality between households. We examined processes of settlement development and structural inequality at two Classic Period (250–900 CE) Maya centers, Ix Kuku'il and Uxbenká, in Southern Belize. From the lens of human behavioral ecology (HBE), we evaluate the predictions of two population density models, the ideal free distribution (IFD) and the ideal despotic distribution (IDD), on household decision-making. To do so, we correlate the initial foundation date of households with nine measurable suitability variables as proxies for social and environmental resources. We conclude that at Uxbenká and Ix Kuku'il, social resources, such as the ability to mobilize labor, cooperation, and access to a transportation corridor, likely influenced where people chose to live. Environmental resources, including good farmland and access to perennial water sources, were widely distributed across the landscape and accessible to everyone. This study highlights the importance of social relationships on household decision-making, which is often difficult to detect in the archaeological record. The development and manifestation of institutionalized inequality are processes relevant to all societies past and present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
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28. Understanding Human-Wildlife Conflict as an Interspecific Competition Using Human Behavioral Ecology.
- Author
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Richard, Gaëtan
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- *
HUMAN ecology , *COMPETITION (Biology) , *FISHERY management , *FISH populations , *FORAGING behavior (Humans) , *ANIMAL feeding behavior , *ANIMAL behavior , *LONGLINE fishing - Abstract
Human behavioral ecology, Optimal foraging theory, Human-wildlife conflict, Depredation, Interspecific competition, Ecosystem-based management, Sustainable resource exploitation, Longline fisheries Keywords: Human behavioral ecology; Optimal foraging theory; Human-wildlife conflict; Depredation; Interspecific competition; Ecosystem-based management; Sustainable resource exploitation; Longline fisheries EN Human behavioral ecology Optimal foraging theory Human-wildlife conflict Depredation Interspecific competition Ecosystem-based management Sustainable resource exploitation Longline fisheries 649 653 5 11/11/21 20211001 NES 211001 Introduction Global expansion of the human population has shaped many of Earth's ecosystems. It is therefore curious that marine depredation has not been investigated from this standpoint, despite increasing interactions between fisheries and marine predators over the last 70 years (Gilman et al. [14]; Read [26]) that have particularly impacted the longline fishery, since baits and fish are freely accessible for marine predators. Understanding Human-Wildlife Conflict as an Interspecific Competition Using Human Behavioral Ecology. [Extracted from the article]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
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29. Niche Construction Theory in Archaeology: A Critical Review.
- Author
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Spengler III, Robert N.
- Subjects
- *
SCHOLARLY method , *CRITICAL theory , *ARCHAEOLOGY , *LIFE sciences , *HUMAN ecology , *ARCHAEOLOGISTS - Abstract
Over the past decade, niche construction theory (NCT) has been one of the fastest-growing theories or scholarly approaches in the social sciences, especially within archaeology. It was proposed in the biological sciences 25 years ago and is often referred to as a neglected evolutionary mechanism. Given its rapid acceptance by the archaeological community, it is important that scholars consider how it is being applied and look for discrepancies between applications of the concept. Many critical discussions of NCT have already been published, but most of them are in biology journals and may be overlooked by scholars in the social sciences. In this manuscript, my goal is to synthesis the criticisms of NCT, better allowing archaeologists to independently evaluate its usefulness. I focus on the claims of novelty and differences between NCT and other approaches to conceptualizing anthropogenic ecosystem impacts and culture-evolution feedbacks. I argue that the diverse concepts currently included in the wide-reaching purview of NCT are not new, but the terminology is and may be useful to some scholars. If proponents of the concept are able to unify their ideas, it may serve a descriptive function, but given that lack of a testable explanatory mechanism, it does not have a clear heuristic function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
30. My Flute Is Bigger Than Yours: Nature and Causes of Technological Changes on the American Great Plains at the End of the Pleistocene
- Author
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Sellet, Frédéric, Bates, Daniel G., Series editor, Lozny, Ludomir R., Series editor, Robinson, Erick, editor, and Sellet, Frédéric, editor
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
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31. The Population Ecology of Despotism
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Bell, Adrian Viliami and Winterhalder, Bruce
- Subjects
despotism ,social stratification ,human population dynamics ,migration ,human behavioral ecology - Abstract
Since despotism is a common evolutionary development in human history, we seek to understand the conditions under which it can originate, persist, and affect population trajectories. We describe a general system of population ecology equations representing the Ideal Free and Despotic Distributions for one and two habitats, one of which contains a despotic class that controls the distribution of resources. Using analytical and numerical solutions we derive the optimal concession strategy by despots with and without subordinate migration to an alternative habitat. We show that low concessions exponentially increase the time it takes for the despotic habitat to fill, and we discuss the trade-offs despots and subordinates confront at various levels of exploitation. Contrary to previous hypotheses, higher levels of despotism do not necessarily cause faster migration to alternative habitats. We further show how, during colonization, divergent population trajectories may arise if despotic systems experience Allee-type economies of scale.
- Published
- 2014
32. Cultural Differences and Similarities in the Nature of Infidelity
- Author
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Pazhoohi, Farid, DeLecce, Tara, book editor, and Shackelford, Todd K., book editor
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
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33. Prehistoric Human Ecology of the Big Sur Coast
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Jones, Terry L.
- Subjects
human behavioral ecology ,archaeology - Published
- 2003
34. Human behavioral ecology and niche construction.
- Author
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Ready, Elspeth and Price, Michael Holton
- Abstract
We examine the relationship between niche construction theory (NCT) and human behavioral ecology (HBE), two branches of evolutionary science that are important sources of theory in archeology. We distinguish between formal models of niche construction as an evolutionary process, and uses of niche construction to refer to a kind of human behavior. Formal models from NCT examine how environmental modification can change the selection pressures that organisms face. In contrast, formal models from HBE predict behavior assuming people behave adaptively in their local setting, and can be used to predict when and why people engage in niche construction. We emphasize that HBE as a field is much broader than foraging theory and can incorporate social and cultural influences on decision‐making. We demonstrate how these approaches can be formally incorporated in a multi‐inheritance framework for evolutionary research, and argue that archeologists can best contribute to evolutionary theory by building and testing models that flexibly incorporate HBE and NCT elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
35. Ideal Free Settlement of California's Northern Channel Islands
- Author
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Winterhalder, Bruce, Kennett, Douglas J, Grote, Mark N, and Bartruff, Jacob
- Subjects
Human behavioral ecology ,Population ecology ,Settlement archaeology ,California prehistory ,Northern Channel Islands ,Bayesian methods ,Gibbs sampler ,Censored observations ,Measurement error - Abstract
The prehistoric establishment and expansion of permanent settlements on the Northern Channel Islands of southern California generally follows a pattern predicted by the population ecology model, the ideal free distribution (IFD). We determine this by comparing the abundant archaeological record of these Islands against a careful quantification of habitat suitability using areal photography, satellite imagery, and field studies. We assess watershed area, length of rocky intertidal zone, length of sandy beach for plank canoe pull-outs and area of off-shore kelp beds, for 46 coastal locations. A simple descriptive anal- ysis supports key IFD predictions. A Bayesian model fitted with the Gibbs sampler allows us to recon- struct the Native assessment of habitat that appears to underlie this process. Use of the Gibbs sampler mitigates the impact of missing data, censored variables, and uncertainty in radiocarbon dates; it allows us to predict where new settlements may yet be discovered. Theoretically, our results support a behav- ioral ecology interpretation of settlement history, human population expansion, and economic intensifi- cation in this region. They also demonstrate Bayesian analytical methods capable of making full use of the information available in archaeological datasets.
- Published
- 2010
36. On the Incongruence between Psychometric and Psychosocial-Biodemographic Measures of Life History.
- Author
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Međedović, Janko
- Subjects
- *
LIFE history theory , *ENVIRONMENTAL indicators , *FACTOR analysis , *HUMAN sexuality - Abstract
In evolutionary psychology, it is customary to measure life-history via psychometric inventories such as the Arizona Life History Battery (ALHB). The validity of this approach has been questioned: it is argued that these measures are not congruent with biological life history events, such as the number of children, age at first birth, or pubertal timing. However, empirical data to test this critique are lacking. We therefore administered the ALHB to a convenience sample of young adults in Serbia (N = 447). We also collected information on psychosocial-biodemographic life history parameters closely related to biological life history traits: pubertal timing, onset of sexual behavior, short- and long-term mating, number of children, timing of reproduction, parenthood values, and environmental harshness. We found that correlations between these two sets of measures were rare, unsystematic, and mostly low in magnitude. Stable patterns of relations emerged only between the indicators of environmental conditions from both sets of measures. Furthermore, some ALHB indicators were found to be positively related with early fertility, which is incongruent with the conceptual foundation of ALHB. Finally, network analysis and factor analysis within each set of measures revealed different structures and that the hypothesis of unidimensionality, on which the ALHB was founded, cannot be applied to psychosocial-biodemographic life history indicators. Our results support the critique of ALHB as a set of measures lacking validity to capture biodemographic life-history parameters. ALHB measures are indeed relevant for understanding life-history variation, but they cannot be used as a substitute for specific life history characteristics. Our findings are a warning to researchers to use direct measures of biological events in order to measure life-history dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
37. RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN BASIC EMOTIONS AND REPRODUCTIVE FITNESS ARE MODERATED BY SEX AS AN INTERNAL STATE.
- Author
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Međedović, Janko and Petrović, Boban
- Subjects
- *
ANGER , *EMOTIONS , *GENITALIA , *PHYSICAL fitness , *PERSONALITY - Abstract
One of the key features of personality is the existence of interindividual differences in motivation, emotions and behavior. Individual differences may be maintained in a population if personality traits are linked to states - conditions which affect the fitness-related outcomes of personality. We tested this assumption using the participants' sex as an internal state. Personality was operationalized via basic emotional systems: FEAR, ANGER, SADNESS, SEEKING, PLAYFULNESS and CARE. We measured several fitness-related outcomes like reproductive success, residual reproductive value, reproductive timing, the onset of sexual activity and short- term mating frequency. The data were collected in a community sample via an online study (N = 635; Mage = 29.4; 69.4% females). We used linear regression to predict fitness-related outcomes by basic emotions and tested interactions between sex and emotions to the prediction of these criteria measures. Predictable sex differences in basic emotions were obtained: males [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
38. Propaganda, Public Information, and Prospecting: Explaining the Irrational Exuberance of Central Place Foragers During a Late Nineteenth Century Colorado Silver Rush
- Author
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Glover, Susan M.
- Subjects
Social Sciences, general ,Sociology ,Geography (general) ,Environmental Management ,Anthropology ,Central place foraging ,Social learning ,Natural resource extraction ,Human behavioral ecology ,American frontier - Abstract
Traditionally, models of resource extraction assume individuals act as if they form strategies based on complete information. In reality, gathering information about environmental parameters may be costly. An efficient information gathering strategy is to observe the foraging behavior of others, termed public information. However, media can exploit this strategy by appearing to supply accurate information while actually shaping information to manipulate people to behave in ways that benefit the media or their clients. Here, I use Central Place Foraging (CPF) models to investigate how newspaper propaganda shaped ore foraging strategies of late nineteenth-century Colorado silver prospectors. Data show that optimistic values of silver ore published in local newspapers led prospectors to place mines at a much greater distance than was profitable. Models assuming perfect information neglect the possibility of misinformation among investors, and may underestimate the extent and degree of human impacts on areas of resource extraction.
- Published
- 2009
39. Awn Reduction and the Domestication of Asian Rice: A Syndrome or Crop Improvement Trait?
- Author
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Svizzero, Serge, Ray, Avik, and Chakraborty, Debarati
- Subjects
CROP improvement ,SEED dispersal ,SYNDROMES ,EVOLUTIONARY models ,HUMAN ecology - Abstract
Awn Reduction and the Domestication of Asian Rice: A Syndrome or Crop Improvement Trait? Although wild progenitors of Asian cultivated rice have long awns, they are shorter or absent in domesticated landraces and cultivars. Thus, one may wonder when and why such transition from awned to awnless has occurred, i.e., is the reduction of awns a domestication syndrome trait or a trait that emerged during crop improvement? The proponents of an evolutionary model of rice domestication consider the loss/reduction of seed dispersal aids as a key domestication syndrome trait, apart from the fixation of seed retention. We challenge this view by showing that early cultivators had incentives for selecting long awns before and even after the fixation of the non-shattering trait. This is because long awns prevented seed predation by animals and facilitated harvest by means of the basket-beating method, which implies that their presence improved yield and labor efficiency. Our arguments also reveal that awns perhaps have persisted long after domestication and even after the introduction of sickles. Taken together, the reduction of awns may not fit into a domestication syndrome trait, but it can most plausibly be considered as a crop improvement trait. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
40. The Human Ecology of Conflict: A Case Study from the Prehispanic Nasca Highlands of Peru
- Author
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McCool, Weston Craig
- Subjects
Archaeology ,Conflict ,Human Behavioral Ecology ,Osteology Paradox ,Peru ,Stable Isotopes ,Violence - Abstract
This dissertation research addresses two central questions: 1) what conditions promote warfare? 2) how do people cope with conflict? I seek to answer these questions by developing and employing osteological, stable isotope, and statistical methods, and using theoretical models from Human Behavioral Ecology (HBE). The four dissertation chapters presented here articulate distinct but related aspects of warfare and concern casual forces, subsistence trade-offs, and well-being. The dissertation builds towards the third and fourth chapters, which evaluate the two primary questions of this research: 1) what variables explain the emergence and persistence of warfare? and 2) how do individuals manage the tradeoff between the risk of food shortages and the risk of wartime violence? Chapter three will focus on the climatological, demographic, and sociopolitical conditions that explain variability in warfare, and how these conditions may promote violence from an evolutionary perspective. Chapter four explores the ways in which the risk of interpersonal violence (RIV) structures the costs and benefits of alternative subsistence strategies and their attendant health impacts. Further, it investigates the factors that influence individual variability in risk-preference. Chapters one and two set the stage for the latter half of the dissertation by investigating 1) evidence for internecine warfare in the study region, and heterogeneity in the risk of interpersonal violence, and 2) changes in pathology, mortality, and longevity by engaging with the osteological paradox using a multimethod approach. These topics are explored using a case study population of agropastoralists from the Late Intermediate period (950 – 1450 C.E.; LIP) Nasca highlands of Peru. To accomplish dissertation goals, my research must demonstrate that 1) the LIP Nasca highland population experienced chronic, internecine warfare which produced high probabilities of interpersonal violence; 2) increasing pathological burden is the result of elevated biological stress rather than increasing longevity or robusticity; 3) variability in violent conflict can be explained by changes in socioecological and demographic variables, and 4) wartime changes in subsistence practices and dietary stress can be understood as optimal strategies that attempt to balance the risk of food insecurity with the risk of interpersonal violence. Chapter one focuses on using osteological data and formal quantitative analyses to test various hypotheses concerning the character of conflict in the Nasca highlands region. This chapter develops and tests osteological expectations of what patterns should be observed if LIP violence is defined by intra-group violence, ritual conflict, intermittent raiding, or internecine warfare. This chapter will also highlight heterogeneity in violent mortality to assess whether certain subgroups were targeted for violence, or whether violence is best explained by the concept of social substitutability. Chapter two assesses changes in morbidity, mortality, and longevity during the LIP. We leverage recent multimethod approaches to address the implications of the osteological paradox, which revealed profound equifinality in interpretations of health from skeletal samples. The goal of this chapter is to evaluate how conditions during the LIP impacted the general well-being of the population as well as variability in the risk of disease and death. Chapter three investigates individual motivations for participating in warfare from an evolutionary perspective, and how they relate to the emergence and spread of conflict on large spatiotemporal scales. I derive and test hypotheses that predict how political transitions, climate change, dietary stress, and demographic pressure structure the payoffs for conflict and interact to promote warfare. Chapter four develops and tests a risk sensitive HBE model that outlines how the local economy, while designed to reduce the risk of food shortages in the arid Andean environment, nevertheless puts individuals at increased risk of violence during wartime. The model specifies resource returns and violence avoidance as an explicit tradeoff, whereby the probability of violence can be mitigated at the cost of food security and vice versa. This chapter seeks to develop a model that can explain how populations and individuals cope with subsistence needs during times of war, especially when local environmental conditions promote subsistence strategies that put individuals at a high risk of interpersonal violence.
- Published
- 2020
41. A simple model of technological intensification
- Author
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Bettinger, Robert L, Winterhalder, Bruce, and McElreath, Richard
- Subjects
technology ,technological investment ,bow ,Atlatl ,human behavioral ecology ,foraging theory ,marginal analysis ,Optimal foraging theory ,Technological evolution ,Technology ,Human behavioral ecology ,Archaeology ,Tools ,Geochemistry ,Geology - Abstract
Ugan, Bright and Rogers [When is technology worth the trouble? Journal of Archaeological Science 30 (10) (2003) 1315-1329] develop procurement and processing versions of an optimization model, termed the tech investment model, to formalize the conditions that favor investing time in the manufacture of more productive but more costly technologies. Their approach captures the tradeoffs that occur as less costly versions are supplanted by more costly versions of the same category of technology (e.g., fishhooks), but not the tradeoffs that occur when more costly categories of technology supplant different but less costly categories used for the same purpose (e.g., hook and line vs. spear). We (i) propose an alternative model in which different categories of technology are characterized by separate cost-benefit curves, (ii) develop point-estimate and curve-estimate versions on this model, and (iii) show how they might be applied using the development of weaponry in aboriginal California as an example. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
- Published
- 2006
42. Appealing to the minds of gods: religious beliefs and appeals correspond to features of local social ecologies
- Author
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Theiss Bendixen, Coren Apicella, Quentin Atkinson, Emma Cohen, Joseph Henrich, Rita A. McNamara, Ara Norenzayan, Aiyana K. Willard, Dimitris Xygalatas, and Benjamin Grant Purzycki
- Subjects
Religious studies ,cognitive anthropology ,cultural evolution ,religious systems ,human behavioral ecology ,free-list method ,gods’ minds - Abstract
Data availability statement: All data and code to reproduce the present study are available at: https://github.com/tbendixen/cross-cultural-free-list-project. The main project repository including raw data, full protocols, and related materials is available at: https://github.com/bgpurzycki/Evolution-of-Religion-and-Morality . The file available on this institutional repository is a preprint available on PsyArXiv at https://psyarxiv.com/tjn3e/. It has not been certified by peer review. We recommend you consult the version of record published by Routledge at https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2023.2178487. How do beliefs about gods vary across populations, and what accounts for this variation? We argue that appeals to gods generally reflect prominent features of local social ecologies. We first draw from a synthesis of theoretical, experimental, and ethnographic evidence to delineate a set of predictive criteria for the kinds of contexts with which religious beliefs and behaviors will be associated. To evaluate these criteria, we examine the content of freely-listed data about gods’ concerns collected from individuals across eight diverse field sites and contextualize these beliefs in their respective cultural milieus. In our analysis, we find that local deities’ concerns point to costly threats to local coordination and cooperation. We conclude with a discussion of how alternative approaches to religious beliefs and appeals fare in light of our results and close by considering some key implications for the cognitive and evolutionary sciences of religion. Cultural Evolution of Religion Research Consortium, funded by a SSHRC partnership grant and the John Templeton Foundation (awarded to A.N. and J.H.); B.G.P. acknowledges support from the Max Planck Society; T.B. and B.G.P. acknowledge generous support from the Aarhus University Research Foundation.
- Published
- 2023
43. The half of it
- Author
-
Winterhalder, Bruce
- Subjects
Autobiography ,Hunter-gatherer research ,Human behavioral ecology ,Ethnography ,Archaeology - Published
- 2004
44. Behavioral Ecology of the Family: Harnessing Theory to Better Understand Variation in Human Families
- Author
-
Paula Sheppard and Kristin Snopkowski
- Subjects
human behavioral ecology ,kinship ,marriage systems ,cross-cultural variation ,family formation ,cooperation and conflict ,Social Sciences - Abstract
Researchers across the social sciences have long been interested in families. How people make decisions such as who to marry, when to have a baby, how big or small a family to have, or whether to stay with a partner or stray are questions that continue to interest economists, sociologists, demographers, and anthropologists. Human families vary across the globe; different cultures have different marriage practices, different ideas about who raises children, and even different notions of what a family is. Human behavioral ecology is a branch of anthropology that is particularly interested in cultural variation of family systems and how these differences impact upon the people that inhabit them; the children, parents, grandparents. It draws on evolutionary theory to direct research and generate testable hypotheses to uncover how different ecologies, including social contexts, can explain diversity in families. In this Special Issue on the behavioral ecology of the family, we have collated a selection of papers that showcase just how useful this framework is for understanding cultural variation in families, which we hope will convince other social scientists interested in family research to draw upon evolutionary and ecological insight in their own work.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
45. Married Too Young? The Behavioral Ecology of ‘Child Marriage’
- Author
-
Susan B. Schaffnit and David W. Lawson
- Subjects
child marriage ,anthropology ,human behavioral ecology ,global health ,harmful cultural practices ,life history theory ,Social Sciences - Abstract
For girls and women, marriage under 18 years is commonplace in many low-income nations today and was culturally widespread historically. Global health campaigns refer to marriage below this threshold as ‘child marriage’ and increasingly aim for its universal eradication, citing its apparent negative wellbeing consequences. Here, we outline and evaluate four alternative hypotheses for the persistence of early marriage, despite its associations with poor wellbeing, arising from the theoretical framework of human behavioral ecology. First, early marriage may be adaptive (e.g., it maximizes reproductive success), even if detrimental to wellbeing, when life expectancy is short. Second, parent–offspring conflict may explain early marriage, with parents profiting economically at the expense of their daughter’s best interests. Third, early marriage may be explained by intergenerational conflict, whereby girls marry young to emancipate themselves from continued labor within natal households. Finally, both daughters and parents from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds favor early marriage as a ‘best of a bad job strategy’ when it represents the best option given a lack of feasible alternatives. The explanatory power of each hypothesis is context-dependent, highlighting the complex drivers of life history transitions and reinforcing the need for context-specific policies addressing the vulnerabilities of adolescence worldwide.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
46. Demographic consequences of unpredictability in fertility outcomes
- Author
-
Leslie, Paul and Winterhalder, Bruce
- Subjects
Human Society ,Demography ,Prevention ,Contraception/Reproduction ,Pediatric ,Behavioral and Social Science ,Reproductive health and childbirth ,Good Health and Well Being ,Birth Rate ,Child ,Family Characteristics ,Female ,Fertility ,Humans ,Models ,Theoretical ,Mortality ,Population Dynamics ,Risk ,Risk-sensitive adaptation ,Variance compensation ,Human behavioral ecology ,Evolutionary Biology ,Nutrition and Dietetics ,Anthropology ,Nutrition and dietetics - Abstract
Abstract: Child survival is probabilistic, but the unpredictability in family formation and completed family size has been neglected in the fertility literature. In many societies, ending the family cycle with too few or too many surviving offspring entails serious social, economic, or fitness consequences. A model of risk‐ (or variance‐) sensitive adaptive behavior that addresses long‐term fertility outcomes is presented. The model shows that under conditions likely to be common, optimal, risk‐sensitive reproductive strategies deviate systematically from the completed family size that would be expected if reproductive outcome is were predictable. This is termed the “variance compensation hypothesis.” Variance compensation may be either positive or negative, resulting in augmented or diminished fertility. Which outcome obtained is a function of identifiable social, economic, and environmental factors. Through its effect on fertility behavior, variance compensation has a direct bearing on birth spacing and completed fertility, and thereby on problems in demography and human population biology ranging from demographic transitions to maternal depletion and child health. Risk‐sensitive models will be a necessary component of a general theory of fertility. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 14:168–183, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
- Published
- 2002
47. Evolutionary social science: The behavioral ecology approach
- Author
-
Smith, Eric Alden and Winterhalder, Bruce
- Subjects
Human behavioral ecology ,Evolutionary social science ,Evolutionary anthropology - Abstract
Evolutionary social science applies theory and method developed in evolutionary biology, anthropology, psychology and economics to understand adaptive variation in human behavior, particularly social behavior. Hypotheses and models about resource use, mating and parenting strategies, and cooperation and competition are derived from evolutionary theory, and empirically tested to understand how humans adapt to their diverse natural and social environments.
- Published
- 2002
48. Behavioral and Other Human Ecologies: Critique, Response and Progress through Criticism
- Author
-
Winterhalder, Bruce
- Subjects
Behavioral and Social Science ,Human behavioral ecology ,Ecosystem ecology ,Scientific method ,Cultural ecology ,Political ecology - Abstract
This paper has three goals:(1) to define the anthropological subfield of human behavioral ecology (HBE) and characterize recent progress in this research tradition; (2) to address Joseph's (2000) critique of HBE from the perspective of an advocate of that field;•and (3) to suggest features that make for effective criticism of research traditions. (1) HBE attempts to understand intra- and inter-societal diversity in human behavior as theproduct of species-wide adaptive goals which must be realized in highly diverse, socio-environmental circumstances. Theoretically, HBE draws selectively from neo-Darwinism and its cultural-evolutionary analogs, from micro-economics, and from elements of formal decision and game theory. Applications generally use simple, formal models as heuristic devices for generating testable hypotheses about resource use, reproductive and social behavior, and life history traits. (2) Using Kuhn's (1977) and McMullin's (1983) criteria for assessing progress in a research tradition, I examine Joseph's review of HBE, indicating the several points on which we agree and the greater number for which I believe her criticisms are misplaced or in error. (3) Finally, I try to describe general features of effective critique, in the sense of critical commentary that enables the advance of scientific understanding through collective scholarly effort. Such criticism will be necessary if we are to sort out the relative strengths and potential contributions of the several research traditions in human ecology (e.g., cultural ecology, historical ecology, political ecology, etc.).
- Published
- 2002
49. Resource Competition and Settlement Distribution in Bronze Age Greece
- Author
-
Christopher S. Jazwa, Kyle A. Jazwa, RS: FSE MSP, and Maastricht Science Programme
- Subjects
Mycenaean Archaeology ,Sociology and Political Science ,Ecology ,MIGRATION ,BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY ,Ideal free distribution ,Environmental Science (miscellaneous) ,Bronze Age Greece ,DESPOTISM ,Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) ,IDEAL FREE ,EAST ,Anthropology ,PATTERNS ,Settlement patterns ,Human behavioral ecology - Abstract
We apply the Ideal Free Distribution (IFD) and Ideal Despotic Distribution (IDD) models to two Bronze Age (ca. 3100-1050 BCE) mainland Greek regions with different local ecologies and culture histories: Messenia and the Argolid. Using existing settlement data, we show that regions within the same cultural system contemporaneously fit different settlement patterns, reflecting distinct environmental adaptations. Such differences help to understand regional variations in resource access and competition. Although the highest-ranked habitats were settled first in each region, large-scale expansion to lower-ranked habitats occurred more quickly in the Argolid, likely because highly productive agricultural land was limited, resulting in a competitive focus on the Argive Plain. This contrasts with Messenia, where access to agricultural resources is better distributed. Our results demonstrate that applying ideal distribution models at a regional scale provides valuable information about the development of social complexity and the conditions in which it occurs.
- Published
- 2022
50. Consequences of stochasticity in reproductive outcomes.
- Author
-
Leslie, PW and Winterhalder, BP
- Subjects
Prevention ,Behavioral and Social Science ,Pediatric ,Contraception/Reproduction ,Reproductive Health and Childbirth ,Demography ,Fertility ,Risk-sensitive adaptation ,Variance compensation ,Human behavioral ecology ,Evolutionary Biology ,Anthropology ,Nutrition and Dietetics - Abstract
Child survival is probabilistic, but the unpredictability in family formation and completed family size has been neglected in the fertility literature. In many societies, ending the family cycle with too few or too many surviving offspring entails serious social, economic, or fitness consequences. A model of risk- or variance-) sensitive adaptive behavior that addresses long-term fertility outcomes is presented. The model shows that under conditions likely to be common, optimal, risk-sensitive reproductive strategies deviate systematically from the completed family size that would be expected if reproductive outcome is were predictable. This is termed the ÔÔvariance com- pensation hypothesis.ÕÕ Variance compensation may be either positive or negative, resulting in aug- mented or diminished fertility. Which outcome obtained is a function of identifiable social, economic, and environmental factors. Through its effect on fertility behavior, variance compensation has a direct bearing on birth spacing and completed fertility, and thereby on problems in demography and human population biology ranging from demographic transitions to maternal depletion and child health. Risk-sensitive models will be a necessary component of a general theory of fertility.
- Published
- 2001
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