The Evolution of Dominance, Status, and Prestige

1. The Evolution of Dominance, Status, and Prestige

2. Dominance Hierarchies (1) • Form at extremely rapid rates • Are a group consequence of individual actions • Are transitive (i.e., A > B > C) in their simplest form • Dynamic

3. Dominance Hierarchies (2) • Related to reproductive and nonreproductive benefits • “Duke of Marlborough” effect • Epigamic and intrasexual paths • Not explicitly related to size in primate groups

4. Sex Differences in Dominance • Since male reproductive variance is greater, we should expect sexual access to increase • High dominance increases sexual access to high quality females (Betzig 1993; Perusse, 1993) • Male dominance is typically egoistic while female dominance is prosocial

5. Theories of Dominance • Dominance theory • Intellectual arms race • Related to Machiavellian Intelligence and Theory of Mind concepts • Social-Attention Holding theory • Similar to RHP concept • Rank is conferred by positive attention held by an individual

6. Testosterone and Dominance • The relationship between T and dominance is still unclear • Generally thought to be reciprocal • Questions remain as to the “directness” of the relationship (e.g., to motivate status striving, aggression, etc.?) • T changes prior to and post-competition among males, and increases in between-coalition competition

7. Female Facial Preferences • Masculinized faces signal dominance and immunocompetency, whereas feminized ones signal parental investment • Females prefer slightly feminized faces • However, over the menstrual cycle, the preferences change • Masculinized faces preferred when conception risk is high (and for STM) Perrett et al, 1998; Penton-Voak et al, 1999

8. Focus: Female Mountain Goats • According to life history theory, reproductive effort increases as reproductive value decreases • As expected, age predicts kid production • Moreover, social rank also predicts kid production • Age and rank do not predict kid survival, though Côté & Festa-Bianchet (2001)

9. Cell Phones as Lekking Devices • Leks (Swedish for party) refer to the gathering of one sex to display epigamic sexual traits to members of the opposite sex • Men at a bar are more likely to display their cell phones than are women • The proportion of cell phone displays by men increases as the number of men increases, but not the number of women Lycett & Dunbar (2000)

10. Hierarchy in the Forest • Although hierarchies occur quite readily in most other species, humans are strikingly – though not perfectly – egalitarian • Boehm (1999) argues that this is due to mechanics of multilevel selection • Weakening of within-group hierarchies • Strengthening of between-group differences

11. The Wrap-Up • Characteristics of dominance hierarchies • Sex differences in dominance behaviours • Theories of dominance • Testosterone and dominance • Special cases (facial attractiveness, rank, lekking) • Egalitarianism and multilevel seleciton

12. Things to Come • Evolutionary forensic psychology • Psychopathy • Pedophilia • Homicide