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Risk-taking as a Situationally Sensitive Male Mating Strategy

Risk-taking as a Situationally Sensitive Male Mating Strategy. Article by: Michael D. Baker Jr , Jon K. Maner (2008) Made intelligible by: Spencer and Taylor. What guides risk? When and in whom Past research focused on goals and emotions What about ultimate adaptive functions?

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Risk-taking as a Situationally Sensitive Male Mating Strategy

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  1. Risk-taking as a Situationally Sensitive Male Mating Strategy Article by: Michael D. Baker Jr, Jon K. Maner (2008) Made intelligible by: Spencer and Taylor

  2. What guides risk? • When and in whom • Past research focused on goals and emotions • What about ultimate adaptive functions? • Daly & Wilson (1985); Ackerman et al. (2006); Griskevicius et al. (2007) • Affective influence a product of adaptive functions • Emotions/goals motivate cognitive and behavioral tendencies that increases reproductive success Introduction: Background

  3. Evolutionary hypotheses • Intersexual: show desirable traits • Intrasexual: show value / formidability • Benefit versus cost, must be selective • Situations will influence risk-taking behavior • Fessler, Pillsworth, and Flamson (2004) • Anger increases risk-taking in men, not women • Male intrasexual competition • Disgust decreases risk-taking in women, not men • Female selection foraging, protection of offspring Introduction: Background

  4. Daly & Wilson (2001): Men, not women, increase risk in presence of others • Kenrick& Keefe (1992); Singh (1993); Symons (1979): Attractiveness in women indicative of reproductive success • Wilson & Daly (2004): Attractive faces increases “future discounting,” a type of risk Introduction: Background

  5. Prediction 1: Interest in procuring a mate will be positively associated with increased risk-taking among men • Prediction 2: Exposure to attractive women increases the effect of mating motives on risk-taking • Enhanced processing of attractive faces • Memory Introduction: Hypothesis

  6. 139 (78 Females / 61 Males) undergraduate psych students • Procedure • Greeted by female experimenter • View 10 attractive or unattractive faces for five seconds • Take a measure of mating motivation • Blackjack task (DV), choose to hit or stay • 11 hands: 3 “stay,” 3 “hit,” 5 “ambiguous” (target) • Facial recognition test of faces + foils Methods

  7. Mean Levels of Risk Taking • Men who viewed attractive faces (mean=3.04, SD=1.68) • Men who viewed unattractive faces (mean=3.09, SD=1.63) • Women who viewed attractive faces (mean=3.50, SD=1.88) • Women who viewed unattractive faces (mean=3.32, SD=1.74) • 2 x 2 ANCOVA • No main effects or two-way interactions Results

  8. Significant Findings • Mating motivation • r(24) = .55, p < 0.01 • Z = 2.36, p < 0.05 • Memory for faces • r(24) = .62, p< 0.01 • Z = 2.54, p < 0.05 Results: Significant Findings

  9. Results

  10. Significant Findings • Mating motivation positively associated with risky decision-making • Only in men • When physical attractiveness cues indicate desirable mating opportunity • Positive association between memory for attractive female faces and risk-taking • Risk-taking: associated with heightened processing of attractive female faces Discussion

  11. Non-Significant Findings • No associations between mating motivation, memory for faces, and risk-taking • Men who viewed unattractive faces • Women • No main effects of exposure to attractive faces Discussion

  12. Decision making is influenced by mating-related motives to increase fitness • Reproductive differences: Men vs. Women • Men’s higher degree of intrasexual competition • Physiological mechanism: heightened processing of attractive female faces Discussion

  13. Risk-taking among men signals particular traits to other men and women • Women: audience for men to signal their desirability as a mate • Men: risk-taking is a signal of formidability / value • Competition over resources (females with attractive faces) Discussion

  14. Confound of gender • No main effects or interactions found • Possible Type II error from weak variables • Static pictures on a screen • Low ecological validity • Alternatives: experimenters, real people, video • Young, risky boys • Can we generalize male risk to an older population? • Predictor of mating motivation • Somewhat weak, variable predictor Limitations

  15. Future Studies • What about women and risk? • What situations do women show greater risk-taking propensity (e.g., offspring in danger) • Field study in a casino or sport • Experimenter gender • Control: attractiveness of faces • Personality • Chronic interest in mate seeking • Chronic risk-taking Conclusion

  16. Why is this important? • Role of motivation • Situationally sensitive • Not just a blanket personality trait • Risk-taking and decision-making affect a broad domain of behavior Conclusion

  17. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W_iMve4xvg

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