Adaptation to Sperm Competition in Humans

ABSTRACT— With the recognition, afforded by recent evolutionary science, that female infidelity was a recurrent feature of modern humans' evolutionary history has come the development of a unique area in the study of human mating: sperm competition. A form of male–male postcopulatory competition, sperm competition occurs when the sperm of two or more males concurrently occupy the reproductive tract of a female and compete to fertilize her ova. Males must compete for mates, but if two or more males have copulated with a female within a sufficiently short period of time, sperm will compete for fertilizations. Psychological, behavioral, physiological, and anatomical evidence indicates that men have evolved solutions to combat the adaptive problem of sperm competition, but research has only just begun to uncover these adaptations.     

No War, No Peace: Northern Ireland after the Agreement

In 1998 a historic agreement, commonly known as the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement, formed the basis of a negotiated settlement for the future of Northern Ireland. Since that time the level of violence in Northern Ireland has reduced but many problematic issues related to governance, sectarianism, and community relations remain on the political agenda and have destabilized the post-peace accord environment. Many of these issues can be viewed as either causes or consequences of the protracted conflict in Northern Ireland. This special issue examines some of these issues from a political psychology perspective. Economic, political, social, and psychological factors that have supported and hindered progress towards peace and stability are considered. While the paramilitary ceasefires have remained intact and certain aspects of life in Northern Ireland have been transformed, the road to peace has been hindered by both political and psychological intransigence. This paper offers an opportunity to reevaluate conceptualisations of conflict and its management in chronic situations, where divisions are deeply embedded within societal structures and relationships, and consider factors that may act as barriers to the development of a lasting peace.     

The goals of psychoanalytic treatment: Conceptual considerations and follow‐up interview evaluation with a former analysand1

There has been a long, ongoing discussion of goals in psychoanalytic treatment. Some analysts are even of the opinion that psychoanalysis ought to be goalless (‘just analysing’). The growing number of outcome studies, however, is in need of a generally accepted set of criteria by which treatment results can be judged. The author proposes a definition of the goals of psychoanalysis that covers four areas: the alleviation of symptoms and complaints, changes in life adjustment, changes in personality structure, and procedural goals such as the resolution of the transference neurosis. She illustrates the relevance of this conceptualization by an empirical study that considers the assessments of 19 psychoanalysts discussing statements made by a former patient about her analytic treatment. On the basis of this case, which comes from the follow‐up study of the DPV (German Psychoanalytical Society), reported by Leuzinger‐Bohleber et al. in 2002, the author demonstrates that psychoanalysts use the criteria defined above implicitly in forming their opinions. Moreover, they arrived at similar judgements regarding the treatment's outcome.     

Chimpanzees really know what others can see in a competitive situation

Chimpanzee’s perspective-taking abilities are currently disputed. Here we show that in some food competition contexts, subordinate chimpanzees do take the visual perspective of dominant individuals, preferentially targeting a hidden piece of the food that the dominant cannot see over a piece that is visible to both individuals. However, the space where the animals compete is critical in determining whether subjects demonstrate this skill. We suggest that competition intensity, as mediated by these spatial factors, may play an important role in determining the strategy chimpanzees utilize in competitive contexts. Since some strategies may not require visual perspective taking in order to be successful, chimpanzees may not always demonstrate this skill. Differences in spatial arrangement may therefore account for the conflicting results of past studies.     

Experimental evidence for route integration and strategic planning in wild capuchin monkeys

Both in captivity and the wild, primates are found to travel mostly to the nearest available resource, but they may skip over the closest resource and travel to more distant resources, which are often found to be more productive. This study examines the tradeoff between distance and reward in the foraging choices of one group of wild capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella nigritus) using feeding platforms in large-scale foraging experiments conducted over four years. Three feeding sites were arrayed in an oblique triangle, such that once the monkey group had chosen one site to feed, they had a choice between two remaining sites, a close one with less food and the other up to 2.3 times as far away but with more food. Sites were provisioned once per day. The capuchins generally chose the closer feeding site, even when the more distant site offered up to 12 times as much food. The distances to, rewards of, or various profitability measures applied to each alternative site individually did not explain the group’s choices in ways consistent with foraging theory or principles of operant psychology. The group’s site choices were predicted only by comparing efficiency measures of entire foraging pathways: (1) direct travel to the more rewarding distant site, versus (2) the longer ‘detour’ through the closer site on the way to the more distant one. The group chose the detour more often when the reward was larger and the added detour distance shorter. They appeared to be more sensitive to the absolute increase in detour distance than to the relative increase compared to the straight route. The qualitative and quantitative results agree with a simple rule: do not use the detour unless the energy gain from extra food outweighs the energy cost of extra travel. These results suggest that members of this group integrate information on spatial location, reward, and perhaps potential food competition in their choice of multi-site foraging routes, with important implications for social foraging. This contribution is part of the special issue “ A Socioecological Perspective on Primate Cognition” (Cunningham and Janson 2007b).     

Heart rate and blood pressure responses to a competitive role‐playing game

The effects of the outcome of competitive encounters on physiological parameters have been studied, especially testosterone levels, but hardly on other systems that, however, present a high sensitivity to stress. This study assessed the effect of a competitive game on heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) in a sample of university students. In addition, the influence of anxiety and attributions of the outcome was also explored. Only winners significantly showed a rise in HR during the competition followed by a decrease along the posttask phase in addition to more internal attributions. On the contrary, the average HR for losers during the competition was lower compared with their baseline values. No differences depending on the outcome were found in BP. The cardiovascular response as well as the subjective interpretation of the outcome suggest a more active strategy employed by winners vs. a more passive strategy of losers. Future studies should specifically investigate the importance of coping strategies for psychophysiological adaptation to contests and for the outcome reached. This would permit an advance in the understanding of the role of individual differences in the processes of stress and in associated diseases. Aggr. Behav. 27:351–359, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Brief Report: Young Adult Women Resolving Interpersonal Conflicts

Little is known about the social cognitive development of young adults. Furthermore, existing studies of young adults tend to rely on college-age participants. A study of social cognition during interpersonal conflict was conducted with 100 young adult women (mean age = 25 years). The relationship of contextual variables to conflict-resolution strategy was examined. Strategy coding was done according to Selman's (1980) four-level model of interpersonal negotiation strategies. Of the features of context studied, the nature of the relationship between the participant and the other person (work-based, personal, or impersonal) was related to strategy use. Most strategies used (46%) were low-level unilateral strategies, e.g., giving in to the demands of the other person. Most participants reported conflicts at work. These data, taken with other research on young adults' perceived lack of ability at handling conflicts at work, suggest that constructive conflict management programs may be important for young adult women in the school-to-work transition.     

刺激的编码效力对重复知盲的影响

通过改变目标刺激和非目标刺激的编码效力, 探讨重复知盲发生的机制。采用RSVP任务, 操作目标的重复性与目标的性质(实验1a和实验2)、位置(实验1b)和非目标的字频(实验2), 对比不同条件下第二个重复刺激的正确报告率。结果是：(1)非目标为字母、目标是字母时的重复知盲大于目标为电脑符号时的重复知盲。(2)非目标为字母、目标为电脑符号时, 目标在1和3位置时出现了重复知盲, 而在2和4位置时没有出现重复知盲。(3)当非目标为高频汉字、目标也是高频汉字时的重复知盲大于目标为符号时的重复知盲。(4)当目标为高频汉字、非目标是高频汉字时出现了重复知盲, 而非目标是低频汉字时重复知盲消失。实验结果表明, 字母和汉字条件下, 目标刺激和非目标刺激的编码效力都会对重复知盲产生影响, 支持竞争假设。     

提取诱发遗忘：项目强度与测试顺序的影响

提取诱发遗忘是指对先前学过的部分材料进行提取练习会使与练习材料相关的其它材料发生遗忘。目前该现象存在抑制与非抑制理论之争。本研究以64名大学生为被试,通过考察项目强度和测试顺序对提取诱发遗忘的影响,对上述争论进行了探讨。结果表明：（1）只有高强度项目才会引发提取诱发遗忘;（2）当控制由测试顺序所产生的输出干扰效应后,高强度项目仍然会引发提取诱发遗忘。本研究结果支持了提取诱发遗忘的抑制理论。