Terms & Definitions

Index

A

“accelerator” (sexual excitation system, SES)

Sexual response mechanism in the brain that constantly scans environment (including thoughts and feelings) for sexually relevant stimuli and sends signals from the brain to the genitals to “turn-on.”  Predominant system in males.  (Emily Nagoski, Come As You Are, 2015).

adaptation

Product (biological trait) of evolution by natural and sexual section that allows the human species to solve particular problems, most importantly the problems of survival and reproduction.

alliance formation

As size of human groups began to increase in our ancestral past, the forming of alliances and coalitions became critical for survival; the genesis of reciprocal altruism among humans.

alpha traits

Alpha means highest ranking (men or women), often with traits of dominance, status, influence, prestige, fame, resource acquisition, and for males, above average physical size.  Male alpha chimpanzees, gorillas, and baboons, command territory and greater sexual access to females but also retain their popularity through keeping the peace, coalition building and showing empathy. Anthropologists identify high-testosterone human males as “big men” – having high rank and more reproductive opportunities than average (beta) males.  Modern human mate selection mostly rewards alpha traits, except for flagrant bullying.

Applied Evolutionary Psychology Society

Professional organization dedicated to furthering the knowledge of how evolutionary psychology and evolutionary theory can be applied to solve current human problems.

assortative mating

Tendency to pursue and be attracted to someone who is similar in age, socio-economic status, educational attainment, geographic location, physical appearance, and facial attractiveness.  Assortative mating is the dominant force in the mating market.

attachment theory

Theory that suggests the drive to form attachments early in life is an essential part of child development.  Attachment outcomes are conditional and ecologically sensitive (e.g. social-economic class) resulting in secure, avoidant or insecure attachment styles.  The latter may cause a “fast” life history strategy with traits such as risk-taking, questioning of authority, and early pregnancy.

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B

“baby face phenomenon”

Tendency to find infant-like facial features attractive, such as large eyes, short nose, and large curved forehead.  Connotes youth and elicits warm feelings like a typical response to a baby, both human and animal.

beta traits

Male traits congruent with the personality dimension “agreeableness” (one of the “Big Five”) and associated with empathy, desire to please others, and sometimes the derisive label of “nice guy.”   Beta males have less career success and fewer sex partners than men who score low on agreeableness and conscientiousness.  Beta also means a lower position in a status hierarchy and in some way subservient to an “alpha” person who has higher or highest ranking in that hierarchy.

“big five” personality traits

Extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience.

Identified by psychologists and studied extensively.  Research shows both men and women want agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability (low neuroticism) in a long-term mate, called the “stability suite” (Geher & Kaufman, 2013). Both men and women prefer extraversion for a short-term encounter.

“brakes” (sexual inhibition system – SIS)

Sexual response mechanism that notices all potential threats in the environment and sends a signal from the brain to the genitals to “turn-off” for fear of consequences.    A second “brake” is associated with a fear of performance “failure.”  The SIS in more predominant in females.  (Emily Nagoski, Come As You Are, 2015)

bilateral symmetry

Humans tend to be the same on the left and right side of the body, and on sides of the face.  A bilaterally symmetrical face is a clue to genetic quality and developmental stability.  Symmetry is a sign of parasite resistance, survival, and fecundity.  Symmetrical bodies tend to be more athletic and dominant in personality.  Degree of symmetry equals degree of physical beauty and sexual attractiveness.  Symmetrical males begin having sex three-four years earlier than asymmetric males, have sex earlier in courtship, and have two-three times as many partners.

beauty bias

Hard-wired, mostly unconscious bias for the most beautiful humans to receive multiple benefits: favorable treatment by teachers, employers, juries, and service personnel. Economics of beauty (pulchronomics) reveals that beauty tends to bring higher earnings, a higher standard of living, more suitors, better marriage prospects (and marrying-up/hypergamy), and non-monetary benefits in interpersonal relations, such as greater default to truth from others.  Research (Judith Langlois) shows that beautiful faces are easier on the brain of the perceiver. The beauty bias is especially salient for women; female sexuality for the average women is a fungible asset, i.e. exchangeable for just about any goods and services.  For a beautiful woman, beauty is not only immensely exchangeable but can exalt her to the pinnacle of privilege and social envy.

“blank slate”

Based on the “tabula rasa” theory proposed by John Locke, the belief that humans are born with no innate pre-dispositions, that all behavior is shaped by cultural conditions — by “nurture” instead of “nature.”  Title of a book by Steven Pinker, subtitled “The Modern Denial of Human Nature,” (2002).

byproducts (spandrels)

Products of evolution that do not solve adaptive problems but are coupled with adaptations that do have functional design, such as the human belly button.

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C

cheater detection

Mental module of deductive reasoning that allows humans to “police” human social contracts and determine those who can be trusted from those who are “free-riders” at the expense of the group.

competitive altruism

Altruistic behavior that primarily serves as a courtship display for “winning the competition” of attracting mates.

courtship or “nuptial” gift

Offering to a female by the male of most species in order to gain sexual access.

concordance and non-concordance sexual response

Degree of alignment between subjective sexual desire and physiological arousal.  Women have random or very little concordance (10%) between physical arousal and psychological sexual desire.  Female non-concordance means a woman can lubricate or have vaso-congestion without experiencing psychological desire, and also have no physiological signs of arousal while psychologically in a desire state.  Men have much greater agreement (concordance) between their subjective experience of desire and physiological arousal.  The difference between men and women in this realm has dramatic consequences for male-female sexual relating. (Emily Nagoski, Come As You Are, 2015)

contrast effect (“vogue factor”)

Judgment of another’s attractiveness influenced by the relative attractiveness of others in the current environment.  A principle of perception whereby the difference between two things is exaggerated depending on the order in which those things are presented.  Men are more susceptible than women to the contrast effect as its relates to physical beauty.  A woman of average attractiveness seems less attractive if a male has first seen a highly attractive woman.  The contrast effect is more severe than ever before because of the number and quality of beautiful people in our current media environment.  It influences the views of ourselves and our mates.

courtship display mechanisms (attractors)

Individual displays of intellect, personality, emotions, and creativity used intentionally to attract potential mates.  Together with mating mechanisms, part of the framework called “mating intelligence.”

cuckoldry

When a wife or female partner has sex with another man causing the possibility of producing a child from that liaison that is raised by the husband or primary partner.

cultural universals

Evolutionary processes of sexual selection and natural selection that appear with little variation in any and all human cultures, past or present.  Known also as “human universals,” behavior traits that are universal across human populations.

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D

dark triad

In combination, the character traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy.  Can present in both sexes, but more prevalent in males for direct expression of power and the benefits of sexual access.  Men with dark triad traits have more sex partners and are chosen by women for short-term liaisons.

desire

State of “wanting”; sexual desire is when “arousal meets a great context.” (Emily Nagoski, Come As You Are, 2015).

double Bind

Psychological conundrum whereby a person is damned if they do a thing, damned if they don’t, and damned if they say anything about it.  A few double binds imposed upon men result from the ongoing tension (“trade-off problem”) between a preference for alpha traits of power and beta traits of loyalty, a confusion made dramatically worse in the milieu of modern feminism.

dual control model

Central sexual response mechanism in the brains of men and women with two universal components: the sexual excitation system (SES) or accelerator, and the sexual inhibition system (SIS), the sexual brake.  Arousal happens with activation of the “accelerator” and deactivation of the “brake.” Sexual functioning and sexual dysfunction is a balance (or imbalance) between these two systems. (Emily Nagoski, Come As You Are, 2015)

dynamic attraction

Sexual attraction to movements, gestures, gait, and other postural expressiveness of a potential mate; women particularly observe and/or respond to a variety of men’s movements and gather mating information, including signs of status.

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E

environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA)

Adaptation of a species to the ecological conditions most common in their ancestral past that often do not match current conditions (e.g. human adaptation of thousands of years on the East African savanna).

“erotic-economic bargain” (and collusion)

Ancient and ubiquitous agreement between men and women:  men provide resources, women provide sexual access in exchange.  The unconscious and conscious infrastructure of heterosexuality.  The bargain has various levels of influence and nuance in modern mate selection and is mostly unexplored and undiscussable in this cultural moment.

erotic power

Power of choice in mate selection that is wielded primarily by women over men, relative to the degree of her physical attractiveness.  Erotic power is synonymous with female beauty, sexual attractiveness, female fertility, and the perception of high mate value.  It is the sine qua non, the essential ingredient, of sexual selection.   Erotic power fuels all intra-sexual (male-on-male) competition and the pursuit of status and economic power.  Erotic power is “first cause” in the expression of creativity and the creation of human culture.

evolution

Change over time of organic structures with cumulative genetic modification due to natural selection, sexual selection, and various random effects.

evolutionarily informed (EI)

Application or solution to a current social problem that draws from evolutionary psychology and evolutionary theory.

evolutionary mismatch

Ways in which humans (or other species) live in conditions unlike the conditions in which they evolved (their EEA).  A growing area of interest in evolutionary psychology focused on diet, sleep, size and structure of groups and cities, exercise, modern contraception, relationship to the natural world, technology, and “de-individuated” communication.

evolutionary psychology (EP)

Study of human psychological adaptations, including their evolutionary origins, adaptive functions, brain mechanisms, genetic inheritance, and social effects.

evoked culture

Cultural differences between groups that arise from the combination of a universal psychological mechanism and different environmental inputs.

evolved behavioral sex difference

Differences between men and women resulting from evolutionary processes — including physical morphology, emotions, behavior, cognition, hormones, brain structures and a host of mechanisms for mate selection and reproduction.  A concept often resisted in academic social sciences and in contemporary culture because of its supposed impact on political progress for gender equality.  Evolutionary psychology is more likely (albeit cautiously) to assert that “men and women are not different because they are socialized differently; they are socialized differently because they are different” (Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters, Miller & Kanazawa, 2007, p. 32).

eugenics

Theory and belief in selective breeding to optimize the gene pool for a selected group.

extra-pair copulation (EPC)

Having sexual relations outside of a pair-bond relationship.

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F

fear of engulfment vs. fear of abandonment

Two opposing psychological “schemas.”  Fear of engulfment is concerned with protecting personal boundary and identity, not allowing others to encroach upon personal space.  It is associated with an avoidant attachment style.  Fear of abandonment is a fear of rejection, being left unprotected and alone. Fear of abandonment is most associated with an insecure attachment style.  While both fears are neurotic, female sexual psychology much prefers a man who defends against engulfment versus one who worries about abandonment (like a child).

fecundity

Ability to produce an abundance of offspring.

female privilege

Benefits of being a female that co-exist with the disadvantages and burdens of being female.  Privileges include less dangerous work and fewer workplace injuries and fatalities, fewer suicides, fewer military deaths, advantages in criminal and family courts, greater life expectancy, less pressure to produce economically to succeed in the mating marketplace, greater range allowed for emotional expression, stronger interpersonal networks, innate nature and permission for sexual preference fluidity, largest benefactor of the “beauty bias” (see above), and preeminence of female erotic power as a fungible (convertible) asset for advantage in securing mates and other resources.

fertility window

In evolutionary psychology, the age range in which a woman can get pregnant: peak reproductive years are between the late teens and late 20s.  Fertility declines in the 30s.  By age 45, getting pregnant naturally is unlikely for most women.   Fertility window also refers to the days in a woman’s menstrual cycle when pregnancy is possible, five to 0 days before an egg is released from the ovary.

“fitness” indicator

An adaptation that evolved to advertise an individual’s genetic fitness during courtship and mating.  Fitness means propensity to survive and reproduce successfully and indicates a low mutation load.  Courtship displays of fitness include capacities for creative expression.

fluctuating asymmetry (FAs)

Deviations from bilateral symmetry of the human body.  Low FAs increase perception of genetic quality, developmental stability, and physical attractiveness.    Low FAs are correlated with positive personality markers and stronger female sexual response to low FA partners.

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G

gender equity paradox

Paradox whereby greater sexual freedom and gender equality produces larger, not smaller, psychological sex differences. When scientists measured the five personality traits (see “big five”), dark triad traits, self-esteem, subjective well-being, and depression, they found sex differences are larger in cultures with more egalitarian gender roles.  When treated the same, as in Nordic countries, it is only the genetic differences that produce the most individual differences.

golden ratio

An “appealing” mathematical relationship (a/b= (a+b)/a = 1.618) and geometric form that appears in all nature and science.  Occurs repeatedly in dimensions of the human face and produces our perception of balance and physical beauty.  Has been called the “divine proportion.”

gossip hypothesis

Proposed by British anthropologist Robin Dunbar in 1993, the theory that language evolved to bond large social groups and exchange information about the social environment and who can be trusted.

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H

heritable versus inheritable

A trait can be heritable due to genetics or the environment.  Habits, behaviors and experiences can be shared not by genetics.   Inherited traits are genetically passed down from parent to children.  Traits can vary between individuals and the proportion of variation that is explained by genetics can range from 0 to 100 percent.

“honest signal”

Trait of genetic fitness that is transparent and obvious, such as male height.

hypergamy

“Marrying-up” – the act of marrying a person of superior caste or class, or prioritizing wealth or social status in mate selection.

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I

indirect reciprocity

Form of reciprocal altruism — when a person gives something to someone in their intact group with hopes that someone else in the group will return the favor.  Indirect reciprocity builds a good reputation in the group.

infidelity

Having a sexual or emotional relationship outside of the pair-bond relationship.  Considered a threat to reproductive success and a leading cause of homicide.  Women react more negatively to emotional infidelity and the prospect of abandonment and loss of resources.  Men react more negatively to sexual infidelity and the risk of raising offspring that is not his own (cuckoldry).

intersectionality

Theoretical framework for understanding discrimination imposed on a person or group through a lens of multiples identities or conditions, such as race, gender, physical ability, and class. This framework sees social categorizations as interconnected and overlapping, with interdependent systems of discrimination and disadvantage.  It may be argued (as does Meghan Daum, The Problem With Everything, 2009) that an analysis of intersectionality is not equally applied to men who are disadvantaged by class and economic conditions.

intersexual selection

Selection of mating partners by females.  The pre-eminent dynamic for all mate selection and reproduction:  a female chooses a man among a group of men, most of whom are consciously competing for her; intersexual selection has direct and indirect causality for male power, status, and creative aspiration, and thus, for all social, economic, and political hierarchies.

intra-sexual competition

Men-on-men competition and women-on-women competition for the attraction of mates that is gender specific in its expression.   Women use more rival derogation tactics related to sexual reputation and physical appearance. Men use verbal derogation of a competitor’s status and engage in physical altercations, often with deadly results that account for a male-to-female mortality rate disparity found in late adolescence and early adulthood.

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J

jealousy

Emotion of evolutionary adaptation that helps both men and women thwart reproductive threats (e.g. mate poaching) from the outside or potential acts of infidelity.  Gender difference in the jealousy response to sexual versus emotional infidelity reveals the central difference between the mating goals of men and women.   Excessive jealousy (especially by men) can be destructive and quite dangerous, but moderate jealousy can signal commitment (The Dangerous Passion, David Buss, 2000).  Because female infidelity is a greater threat to male reproductive success than male infidelity is to female reproductive success, men have evolved to be more concerned about sexual infidelity than women.

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K

kindness

Character trait reportedly desired by both men and women for a mate.  An expression of compassion, care-taking, or generosity that may be prioritized differently or have different meanings for males and females.  Kindness as a female preference in a mate emphasizes generosity and willingness (loyalty) to provide care-taking over time; this is a central need in the female long-term mating strategy.   Kindness as a male preference in a mate may mean primarily sexual access and fidelity.

kin-selected altruism

Evolutionary process that tends to favor generosity to blood relatives in proportion to their genetic relatedness.

koinophilia

General preference for the appearance of an average face (and averageness overall); from an evolutionary perspective, averageness indicates less genetic mutations and is easier for others to perceive.

kyriarchy

Term coined by feminist Elisabeth Fiorenza in 1922 to describe a theory of interconnected, interacting systems of domination and submission, in which a single individual might be oppressed in some relationships and privileged in others.  Importantly, it is an intersectional extension of patriarchy beyond gender.  Kyriarchy sets the stage for modern intersectionality but recognizes that class instead of gender (i.e. patriarchy) may be a more astute lens for broad political analysis.  The ruling class includes women and their children supporting the structures of power.

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L

limbal ring

Dark circle toward the edges of the iris that signals youth or health in both men and women. Thickness may contribute to facial attractiveness.

long-term mating strategy

Mating strategy to attract a mate to ensure sexual access and fidelity (especially for men) and the provision of resources and protection of children over time (especial for women.)  A long-term strategy is predominant for women and forms the basis of our ancient pair-bond and tendency toward a monogamous (albeit serial) human culture.

lumbar curvature

Female spinal curvature that indicates less pressure when carrying a fetus and better foraging ability for an ancestral female; a newly discovered “fitness relevant trait” that is considered more attractive by human males.

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M

major histocompatibility complex (MHC)

Set of genes that function in human immune response; a good mate has MHC genes that are different, producing offspring better equipped to fight disease than either parent.

male parental investment (MPI)

Relative measure of the amount of time, attention, and protection needed by a male parent for the survival of progeny.   Compared to other primates, humans need a high level of male parental investment due to the vulnerability of offspring over time.

mate copying (social proofing)

Phenomenon of becoming more attractive and desirable because others find you attractive. Women (especially) use endorsement by other women as a basis for their own mate choice. “Women don’t look for handsome men, they look for men with beautiful women” (Milan Kundera). Mate copying is also explained by the “sexy son hypothesis”: by mating with men who can attract women, it is assumed their sons will also have those traits (genes), be attractive to females, and deliver those genes into future generations.

mate deprivation hypothesis

According to this hypothesis, when men experience prolonged deprivation of sexual access to women, an evolved conditional mating strategy results in more sexually aggressive tactics.

mating economy/marketplace

Interaction between mating strategies of men and women given their individual mate value, mating priorities, trade-offs, and conditions/sex ratio of the local mating environment.  Subject to a “collision” between a woman’s long-term strategy and a man’s short-term mating strategy, the mating marketplace commonly “sorts” by similarities (see assortative mating).

mating intelligence

Entire set of universal cognitive processes (mating mechanisms) that underlie human mating psychology: assessing one’s mate value and the mate value of others, modifying one’s mating behavior as a function of ecological conditions, displaying one’s self in an attractive manner, assessing the mate relevant thoughts of a potential partner and discriminating dishonest mating signals from honest ones.  Mating intelligence also includes (more recently in EP) individual differences in creativity (courtship display mechanisms) such as musical ability, artistic ability and sense of humor.

mate guarding

Behaviors of vigilance to prevent a mate from defecting or a “poaching” attempt by a nearby competitor; includes concealment of a mate.

mate poaching

Pursuit of someone that is already in a relationship with the intent of prying that person away from their partner.  Mate poaching commonly involves a woman pursuing the attention of a high-status male.  Evolutionary psychologist David Schmitt reported in a world-wide study that mate poaching impacts as many as 10-15% of all committed relationships.

mating pool

Available, “suitable” mates (by standards of similarity; equal mate value or above) in the local, proximate physical environment and/or in the digital environment that can be reliably accessed.

mate retention

Battery of behaviors most commonly used by men to retain their mates as outlined by David Buss in Evolutionary Psychology, (1999): vigilance, concealment, monopolizing mate’s time, jealousy induction, derogation of competitors, emotional manipulation, resource display, submission and self-abasement, physical signs of possession, intra-sexual threats, violence toward the partner, and violence toward rivals.

mate selection science

Area of study within the field of evolutionary psychology focused on how human beings choose sexual partners and mates. Includes mating mechanisms and courtship display mechanisms of mating intelligence, operation of the mating marketplace, relationship agreements (monogamy and consensual non-monogamy), forms of sexual preference, and all psychological processes that occur in the mating domain.

mating strategies

Strategies employed by humans for mate selection, sexual access, mate retention and provision and care of children over time.   Strategies include long-term and short-term strategies, serial monogamy, infidelity, (extra pair copulation), and consensual non-monogamy agreements.

mate value

Degree of attractiveness a person embodies as perceived by potential mates, relative to the local mating pool. Men with resources, status and larger physical attributes (height and v-torso) have greater mate value than men who are less successful and smaller.  Women who are physically beautiful (signaling fertility) have greater mate value than average looking women.  Creativity, humor, generosity, and intelligence also influence value attributions.  Mate value rankings of 1-10 are in colloquial usage with moderate reliability and agreement.  Mate value drives the initial mate selection process.

mate value mismatch

Usually a temporary condition of unsuccessful courtship behavior.  When a person (most commonly a man) romantically pursues another person who has significantly higher mate value.  A mating strategy that is strategically and evolutionarily unsustainable.

mate value trajectory

Assessment of future mate value, most commonly made by a woman about a man, given his socio-economic family background, education, career tract, education, and traits of industriousness and ambition.

medial preoptic area (MPOA)

Area for sexual pursuit found in the hypothalamus that is 2.5 times larger in males than in females. (Louann Brizendine, The Male Brain, 2010)

men’s Issues

Human rights issues that disproportionately affect men such as father custody rights, prison sentencing disparities, suicide, and veteran’s issues.

mental modules

Specialized capacities within the brain that provide particular adaptations for survival, reproduction, or other human interactions.  Each module has its own rules for processing information (informational encapsulation) and is activated only when relevant inputs are provided that are needed to solve a particular problem (domain specificity.)

misandry

Hatred or contempt for men.   Often with demonization of male sexuality and assertions of toxicity that go beyond specific behavior into characterizations of innate nature.  Societal tolerance for negative portrayals of men in the media:  television plots and characters, commercials, movies, print, and digital.   A blind spot to male burdens and therefore an unbalanced view of male privilege.  Tendency to support a negative view of men’s role in the history of human progress and the building of civilization.   Tendency to view male control of institutions (patriarchy) independent of evolutionary theory, biological difference, and the power of intersexual selection by females.  Tendency to downplay the influence of socio-economic class hierarchies supported by women.  Tendency not to apply intersectional analysis of disadvantage to men (especially Caucasian men) as it is applied to women.

monogamy

An exclusive sexual relationship between two people.  An agreement by partners not to have sexual intercourse or erotic love with another partner.  Based on parental investment theory, monogamy is adaptive for females (especially) and also for males as a long-term mating strategy to secure the health of offspring (this assumes a heterosexual context). Males are better positioned and inclined to pursue a short-term mating strategy of multiple partners but achieve a reproductive benefit from a monogamous long-term strategy.  It is perhaps most accurate to view humans as a “semi-monogamous ape”; infidelity and extra-pair relationships comprise a significant part of human mating.  One interesting theory: monogamy may have appeared relatively late in human history as the size of human groups became large enough so that a person could not know everyone else in the group and stability and order became more complicated to maintain.  Monogamy may have become the vehicle for “spreading women out” among men in a way that diffused violence and lawlessness.  (See polygyny.)

moralistic fallacy

Belief that what is good, or moral, ought to be true and is found in nature.  A fallacy more common to the political left, such as:  men and women ought to be given equal opportunities, and so women and men can do everything equally well.

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N

natural selection

Darwin’s theory of the process by which evolutionary change occurs, based upon the principles of variation, inheritance, and adaptation. Natural selection means changes in the gene pool of a species due to ability of individuals to survive.

naturalistic fallacy

Belief that what is true, ought to be true.  Critics of evolutionary psychology accuse the field of engaging in this fallacy, but that is not true.   Evolutionary psychology describes what human nature is like; it does not prescribe what humans should do.   Evolutionary psychology does not make moral or value judgments.

nature versus nurture

Long-standing philosophical and scientific debate about how human beings evolved in the past and continue to evolve and behave in the present.  Evolutionary psychology considers this a false debate and a settled issue, recognizing the co-evolution of biology and culture within an evolutionary time frame and under conditions of “environmental adaptedness.”  Evolutionary psychology does not believe the mind was shaped primarily or entirely by culture (nurture).  The nature versus nurture debate rages on in the background of current disputes about evolved behavioral sex differences.

“nice guys”

Moniker describing men who exhibit (beta) traits congruent with the personality dimension “agreeableness” (one of the “Big Five”) and associated with empathy and desire to please others.  Also associated with the personality trait of “conscientiousness” — restraint, responsibility, and avoidance of risk. Nice guys have less career success (status and money) and fewer sex partners than men who score low on agreeableness and conscientiousness.  Surveys of college women indicate nice guys are perceived as less sexually experienced, less sexually/physically attractive, more passive in their interactions with women, lacking in confidence, and being unsure of themselves.  Nice guys are perceived as good people, friends, and good (long-term) marriage partners, but not passionate lovers or short-term partners.  Nice guys (in one study) were preferred by women who placed less importance on sex.

non-monogamy (consensual and otherwise)

Engaging in sexual relationships with more than one person concurrently, with or without knowledge by all parties involved.  Consensual non-monogamy usually implies transparency of action by all parties and mutual agreement.

nobility

Youth and youthfulness.

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O

orgasm

Defined by Emily Nagoski (Come As You Are, 2015) as “the sudden, involuntary release of sexual tension.”  Male orgasm is associated with ejaculation and therefore under strong selective pressure as an evolutionary adaptation.  Female orgasms are under weak selective pressure and not needed for reproduction. There are two broad explanations for evolution of the female orgasm:  1) the “mate-choice hypothesis” states female orgasm has adaptive value as a mate selection device and evolved to strengthen the pair-bond, aid mate retention and mate guarding, test for quality partners, increase the frequency of copulations, and enhance fertility and 2) female orgasm exists as a by-product of the male orgasm with no evolutionary function; it is an artifact of homologous evolution of the male ejaculatory response.

“out of your league”

Term describing a mate-value mismatch.  A potential mate whose mate value (via physical attractiveness, intelligence, or social-rank, etc.) is clearly higher than the mate value of the one pursuing.

over-perception bias and error management theory

Men will infer (over-perceive) sexual interest from a woman (a false positive) because the cost of being turned down is not as great as the cost of a false negative — to infer that a woman is not sexually interested when she is and lose an opportunity for sexual intercourse and reproductive success.  There is a pervasive sex difference in cognitive bias as a result of sexual selection.  Evolutionary psychologists Martie Haselton and David Buss named this the “error management theory” of biases in cross-sex mind reading.  Predicted also by this theory, women should underestimate a man’s romantic commitment to them because the cost of a false positive (thinking he is committed, getting pregnant, and being left) is much greater than a false negative – missing an opportunity for a long-term relationship with one man while another man is lined up to give her another opportunity.  Using principles studied in evolutionary psychology, error management theory also applies to social situations whereby people have a mental module for mistrust to discover free riders.

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P

pair-bonding

A strong affinity in some species between a mating pair that implies long-term sexual or social monogamy for purposes of reproduction and ongoing care of offspring.  Evolutionary psychologists and biologists also point to features of human physiology that promote face-to-face copulation and to concealed ovulation that may promote a more long-term bond.

patriarchy

Male power and control in the family or in the hierarchy of social institutions.  A social system in which men hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property.  Supremacy of the father in a clan or family.

parental investment

Any investment that parents make in an offspring which increase that offspring’s chances of surviving.  By definition, such investment imposes a cost to parents as measured by their ability to invest in other offspring, current or future.  See male parental investment (MPI).

paternal certainty

Confidence that an offspring is genetically related.  Paternal uncertainty is strongest in species with internal female fertilization. Females have 100% paternal certainty and males do not; the risk for males of investing time and resources in a genetically unrelated child has significant impact on male parental investment (MPI).   One of many effects: stepchildren receive less transfer of resources and are more at risk of injury or death from a stepfather.

pheromone

An odor-signal evolved to covey important physical or genetic information about their source and activate a physiological or behavioral response in the recipient.

Pleistocene Epoch

Geological epoch that lasted from about 2.6 million years ago to 11.7 million years ago, during which time the majority of human psychological adaptations evolved.

polyamory

Having multiple committed relationships at the same time with mutual agreement and a strong ethos of transparency, clarity and honesty.   “Poly” relationships are varied in their composition, with open or closed boundaries, primary and secondary partners, co-habitation and non-cohabitation, and group “marriage.”

polygamy

Practice of having more than one wife or husband at one time.  Because having multiple husbands is so rare in human cultures, “polygamy” is commonly use to refer to multiple wives.

polygyny

State or practice of a man having two or more wives.  Also, commonly referred to as polygamy. Polygyny and non-monogamy by alpha men create intense competition among lower-status men.  Polygyny means some males gain more than their “fair share” of copulations while other males are sexually and genetically shut out, leading to more high-risk behavior and violence.  Within primate species, the greater the effective polygyny, the more pronounced the sexual dimorphism and reproductive variance between the sexes.  (See reproductive variance and monogamy.)

polyandry

Having multiple husbands.  Rare in human cultures.  Fraternal polyandry is when two or more brothers are married to the same wife, with the wife having equal “sexual access” to them.

Practiced among Tibetans in Nepal and in parts of China and northern India.

positive evolutionary psychology

Multi-disciplinary combination of evolutionary psychology and positive psychology that focuses on promising applications of evolutionary principles for the solution of social problems.

proximate cause

Immediate factors that underlie some behavior; stimuli in immediate environment of the organism, or physiological mechanisms inside the organism.

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Q

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R

random effect (noise)

Evolutionary effects produced by mutation, sudden and unprecedented changes in the environment, or accidents during development.

reciprocal altruism

Benefits of cooperation and social exchange among non-kin, a seminal evolutionary theory proposed by Robert Trivers in 1971.

reparative altruism

Drive to repair disruptions or mismatches in the affective connection between care-giver and child in a process of mutual regulation.  Recognized also in adult relationships.

reproductive variance

Variability in reproductive success is greater among human males than females (Bateman’s principle).  This variance is exposed in DNA studies by Jason Wilder and colleagues that revealed approximately 80% of women in human history have reproduced compared to approximately 40% of men. 

response desire

Desire that occurs when one is willing to engage in sex although not initially feeling desire or sexual arousal.  With sufficient sexual stimuli and appropriate context, response desire allows one to move from a place of neutrality to being aroused and desirous of sexual connection.  This is the predominant (not universal) “brake-dominant” response system for women supported by sexual selection theory for a female long-term mating strategy. (Emily Nagoski, Come As You Are, 2015).  A response desire system produces a lower operational “sex drive” than that produced by a spontaneous desire system, which is predominant for males.

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S

savanna hypothesis

Human body and brain evolved primarily during the Pleistocene Epoch about 11,700 to 2.6 million years ago on the African savanna when humans lived as hunter-gatherers in small bands of 150 related individuals.   This hypothesis asserts the majority of human psychological mechanisms are adapted to solve survival and reproductive problems encountered in the African Pleistocene environment — the “environment of evolutionary adaptedness” (EEA).  Since the advent of agriculture, humans have not had a stable environment long enough for natural selection to alter the preferences, motivations and cognitions that developed on the African savanna.

science of attraction and beauty

Study of human perception and preferences for physical traits that are aesthetically pleasing to humans because they signal reproductive fitness and genetic strength.  Study of traits desired in a mate that solve adaptive problems for mate selection and reproductive success.  Sociological study of the benefits of beauty for altruism and economic advantage.

“shadow self”

Jungian psychological concept of the unconsciousness mind and the realm of desires, impulses, and repressed emotions normally hidden from conscious awareness.

sex drive

Commonly defined as the frequency of sexual thoughts, frequency of masturbation, interest in sexual activity with another person, frequency of intercourse in a specified time period, desire for multiple sex partners, habits of pornography use, response to erotic images in everyday life, and frequency and nature of sexual fantasies.  Sex is not really a drive according to Emily Nagoski (Come As You Are, 2015) because it is not necessary for personal survival.  She calls it an “incentive motivation system.”  But calling sexual desire a motivation system and not a drive (which takes away the pejorative label of dysfunction for women) does not change the fact that men think about and have the urge to engage in sexual behavior (all components above) more than women, primarily because of the effects of greater testosterone and the concomitant power of their predominant short-term mating strategy.

sex ratio (operational)

Ratio of men to women in any local mating pool.  Operational sex ratio means the ratio of men to women who are reproductively viable.

sexual selection

Darwin’s theory of evolutionary change due to heritable differences in the ability to attract sexual partners, repel sexual rivals, or do anything else that promotes reproduction.  Sometimes considered a category or subset of natural selection where traits are selected to increase an individual’s likelihood of reproducing, rather than surviving.

sexy son hypothesis

By mating with men who can attract women, it is assumed their sons will also have those traits (genes), be attractive to females, and deliver those genes into future generations.  (See mate copying.)

short-term mating strategy

As an evolutionary adaptation, men’s short-term mating strategy seeks more immediate sexual access and variety of partners to garner genetic fecundity. Men’s short-term strategy is more predominant than men’s long-term strategy but the difference is less pronounced behaviorally in modern times.  A woman’s short-term strategy seeks short-term mating in order to secure resources for survival and higher quality genes to pass on to potential offspring.  (The latter reason is now disputed.)  A woman’s short-term strategy is decidedly less predominant than her long-term strategy.

social dominance orientation (SDO)

Measure of extent an individual wishes his or her group to be dominant over another.  SDO was found to predict political conservatism.

spontaneous desire

Desire that occurs with a sense of urgency (activation of sexual excitation system, SES) eagerness, and passion.  This “accelerator-dominant” desire is more predominant for men and is supported by sexual selection theory for a male short-term mating strategy.  A spontaneous desire system produces a higher operational “sex drive” than a response desire system which is predominant for females.

standard social science model (SSSM)

Model of human development that assumes the mind was shaped primarily, if not entirely, by culture and social conditioning.  Often associated with concepts of “blank slate,” social constructivism, or cultural determinism that dominated the social sciences throughout the 20^th century.

strategic pluralism

Mating strategies for males who do not have physical features (attractiveness) that ensure successful short-term mating.   Becoming attractive as a long-term mate by display of humor, intelligence, creativity and character traits of kindness, altruism, ambitiousness and resourcefulness.  Possessing actual resources is the best strategy to align with female long-term mating.  (See trade-offs.)

“straight talk”

Telling the truth about human nature, male-female mating strategies, and evolved behavioral sex difference.  Uncovering and exploring what is often avoided or denied and pushing back against censorship and politically correct speech.

“Straight Talk Fundamentals”

A menu of foundational insights and questions from evolutionary psychology and other scientific disciplines related to sexuality, biological sex difference, mating strategies, gender politics, and heterosexual relationship dynamics.

survival

Fact of an organism continuing to live that allows it to potentially pass on heritable traits selected to aid survival of future generations.  Geoffrey Miller says “survival of the fittest” was a misleading phrase invented by Herbert Spencer to describe natural selection, causing biologists to neglect sexual selection.

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T

“tender-defender”

Term proffered by Tucker Max and Geoffrey Miller in Mate (2015) that describes the “sweet spot” (or holy grail) of female mate preference for a man who has status, power, and authority, and who is also empathetic, loyal and sensitive to her.  This lofty, if not tricky, integration has also been called (by other relationship authors and sexuality coaches) the “macho-caretaker” (Stephen Marche), “noble badass” (Allana Pratt), “nice and dominant” (Gabrielle Moore), “tamed beast” (Esther Perel), or simply “the ideal man” by Glenn Geher in Mating Intelligence Unleased, 2013.  Striving by men to effectuate this “tender-defender” personality profile forces them to navigate the complexity of women’s competing intentions and potential psychological double-binds lurking near this “sweet spot.”

testosterone

An androgen hormone produced by the adrenal cortex, the testes (in men) and the ovaries (in woman.)  Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone; it stimulates development of male secondary sex characteristics and is essential in production of sperm.  Testosterone is essential to both male and female health; it plays a much bigger role in men.  Males after puberty have roughly 10 to 25X more testosterone than females.  Testosterone level heavily governs sexual appetite and is often underestimated in its effect on male sexual ideation and sex “drive.”   Arousal in the male brain starts with erotic thoughts or images.  With adequate supply of testosterone, erotic images will automatically activate the brain’s sex circuits. The “male gaze,” fueled by testosterone, is a powerfully hard-wired feature of male sexuality.

“trade-offs” and trade-off problem (in the mating economy)

A woman’s long-term mating strategy often involves significant tension between her desire for a mate with resources and status, and her preference for loyalty, kindness, and traits for parenting.   These traits in men often present as (nearly) mutually exclusive; thus, women face a problem of trading-off or compromising for traits on each side of this polarity or along a continuum, while always being aware of mate value comparisons.  Trade-offs typify the entire mate selection process for both men and women: seeking a good measure of physical attractiveness, amiable character and personality, and minimums for intelligence and resources (needed for female choice).  Prioritizing traits needed in a mate and allocating a “mate value budget” characterize the operation of the mating economy.

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U

ultimate cause

Causes of human behavior and psychological processes that were adaptive for survival (natural selection) or sexual selection for our ancestors, most of which occurred during the Pleistocene Epoch.

undiscussable

Topics that are avoided because of fear of exposing a truth that is uncomfortable to bosses, romantic partners, family, or friends — often with fear of reprisal. Observations about sexuality, male–female differences, race, money, and power are often undiscussable.  Many truths or insights from evolutionary psychology fall into this bucket and are resisted in the current environment of gender politics. 

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V

v-torso

Hip-to-shoulder ratio on men that signaled good hunting and protection in the ancestral environment; an important signature of sexual attraction preferred by women in modern times.  Men with high shoulder-to-hip ratio (“broad shoulders”) begin having sex earlier, have more sex partners and more affairs than slim-shouldered men.

virtue signaling

Showing moral virtues, ethical principles, religious convictions, political attitudes, and lifestyle choices to others in order to gain in-group acceptance and favor.  Humans have always done this but there are new versions of virtue signaling in the “politically correct” environment of modern America.

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W

wage gap

A political trope that is the sine qua non of virtue signaling — an assertion that there is a wage gap of roughly 23 cents between men and women that is caused by discrimination. The falsity of this assertion is well documented in research by Harvard economist, Claudia Goldin and others.  Goldin cites two reasons for the aggregate gap: “temporal inflexibility” and “occupational segregation.”  Essentially, men work more continuous, uninterrupted hours than women and thus get paid more.  Women choose academic disciplines and job categories that pay less than those chosen by men.  There is an aggregate 23-cent (statistically approximate) wage gap.  But the actual “unexplained” wage gap, caused perhaps by discrimination (most likely embedded in salary negotiation and promotion), is estimated to be from 0 to 3%.  That discrimination is, unfortunately, perniciously hard to prove and unpack.

waist to hip ratio

Dividing the circumference of the female waist by the circumference of her hips, a woman is perceived as being more sexually attractive if that ratio is close to .7.   A ratio of .7 signals high estrogen and low testosterone.  A cue for fertility across all cultures throughout time that is independent of amount of overall body fat. 

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X

X chromosomes

One of two sex chromosomes in humans.  Two X chromosomes produce a biological female, one inherited from the father, and one inherited from the mother.  Since the X chromosome is larger than the Y, most genes present on the X are not on the Y chromosome.  The X chromosome, unlike the Y, has an extremely low mutation rate.  Early in mammalian evolutionary history, the X chromosome was just like other chromosomes; then it evolved to be different.

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Y

Y chromosome

A XY chromosome combination produces a biological male.  Neurologically all humans start as female.  During prenatal development, the Y chromosome of human males initiates a series of masculinizing events of both the body and brain. In the second trimester, a male brain is permanently altered by exposure to androgens that influence psychological and cognitive sex differences.  According to Marianne Legato, (Why Men Never Remember, 2005), the Y chromosome is a “genetic mess.”  The original Y chromosome contained some 1,500 genes; almost all are now lost or inactivated.  The assault on the Y chromosome has advantages to both sexes in spite of its cost.  The Y chromosome drives evolution because of its frequent mutations.

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Z

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