Today, a little Evo Psych Pop Quiz for you all!
5 of the following 6 statements are actual quotes from a 2007 article in the open access peer-reviewed journal Evolutionary Psychology. Can you spot the quote that isn’t from the article?
- “The section on intra-vaginal anti-cuckoldry tactics focuses on sperm competition, providing fascinating descriptions of the semen-displacement hypothesis (Gallup Jr. and Burch) and the psychobiology of semen (Burch and Gallup Jr.).”
- “[I]ntra-vaginal battles demand men to become aroused to situations that are actually unpleasant for them, for instance the suspicion of their partner’s infidelity.”
- “This section also includes discussions of the interesting notions that … women should not be motivated to have sex with their main partner right after an extra-pair copulation because of the possibility of sperm displacement (the penis appears to be shaped to do just that), [and] that a man may manipulate a woman’s mood via semen content (Rice, 1996, has experimentally shown something similar in fruit flies) … .”
- “One of the mating strategies examined as an early prevention method is violence against women within partnered relationships.”
- “Despite this scrutiny, a man can still gain from deliberately ejaculating in front of his partner from time to time. Choosing each occasion carefully so as to display a good ejaculation can be a powerful way to advertise his continuing good health.”
- “Affirmative feedback did not increase men’s likelihood to allocate resources to self-morphed images, but men were significantly less likely to allocate resources to self morphed images when told the morphed image did not resemble them … . “
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Answer: Number 5 is the ringer! But, lacking confidence in my own ability to come up with something as convincingly batty as the quotes from the real article, I cheated a little here, borrowing this quote from a real Evo Psych book — Sperm Wars, by Robin Baker, a popular title from a major publisher recommended on countless Pickup Artist and “Red Pill” reading lists. It’s a truly bizarre and often quite disturbing read. (If you have a bit of Google-fu you should be able to locate a pdf of it online with no trouble.)
And speaking of pdfs, if you want tp read the article in Evo Psych I got most of these quotes from, a book review by Kelly D. Suschinsky and Martin L. Lalumière titled The View From the Cuckold, you can find a pdf of it here. See, I really didn’t just make it up!
Maybe it’s just because I went to Uni in GodlessHeathenLand (London), but the fact that all my professors a. believed in evolution and b. assumed that when looking at any behavior there would probably be both nature and nurture-type factors at work was just kind of a given.
I didn’t go to uni anywhere, but I’d have assumed the same thing would be a given in such a course.
But we’re heathens here, too. Even at the University of Wolloomooloo. 😉
I was so confused to see “the other option is that God did it” (paraphrasing because I’m too lazy to scroll) come up in the comments upthread. Um, how is this relevant to a conversation about psychology?
‘Cos Freud ain’t God?
‘Cos there’s no room on the psychiatrist’s couch ‘cos Ceiling Cat is sleeping there?
Which Pratchett book deals with orcs?
Are you sure you want to know? It’s a giant spoiler that might make the book less fun to read.
I like the way Pratchett’s dealt with the whole species thing in the book in question, Thud and Snuff. Mind you I’d have enjoyed the latter two anyway, ‘cos Vimes.
Thud and Jingo are both awesome in that regard. I just finished re-reading Night Watch so I’ve been on a Vimes kick lately.
Oh, then no. But maybe in a few days, you could suggest a few Pratchett books for me to read. My memory is so bad, I will have forgotten about this conversation by then. XD
Oh I guess I should’ve hit refresh.
Bad memory or just sleep deprived? You have seemed super busy lately.
Given the recent arguments about religion I would totally recommend Monstrous Regiment, just because of the holy book that has an appendix that God keeps adding to.
I’ve always had a bad memory. But I am sleep-deprived & tense because I’ve been applying for jobs. You get to a point where your CV just looks like gibberish, you know?
“I’m a psych drop-out, actually XD”
Me too!
I have no other comment on this mess.
“Or is there a group of people somewhere who think that snot is the most amazing thing ever and has semi-mystical powers?”
The Jatravartid People of Viltvodle Six firmly believe that the entire universe was sneezed out of the nose of a being called The Great Green Arkleseizure. They live in perpetual fear of the time they call The Coming Of The Great White Handkerchief.
(Someone had to quote that).
ted, to go back to one of your earlier comments, I understand that there’s a difference between evo psych as practiced by academics and as understood by pickup artists, etc., but the stuff I quoted today IS from academics. The paper I quoted was written by a grad student under the supervision of her advisor (who’s currently a full prof at a Canadian university); the book — which is one of the strangest and most misguided things I’ve ever read — is by a former academic who taught at a number of British universities and published dozens of papers in academic journals.
Meanwhile, some of the strangest and most backward notions I’ve run across in Evo Psych have come from some of the biggest names in the field. David Buss, for example.
I certainly understand the logic behind evo psych, and I would like to believe there is good work being done in the field, but I keep running across stuff that is astonishingly bad as science and completely retrograde in its politics — lots of casual discussion of domestic violence as a “mate retention strategy,” for example, with not even the barest acknowledgement that DV is, you know, a bad thing.
Also, I can’t remember who mentioned the thing about “blocker” sperm, but that was one of the big arguments of the Baker book. It seems to have been discredited. I can dig up some links if necessary.
Also, someone mentioned they wanted to email me. I realize pple reading this on smartphones may not be able to see the sidebar; I’m reachable at futrelle at well dot com.
Blocker sperm was brought up by pecunium. And I’m still staying out of this one.
David, do you know what’s happened to the Recent Comments widget?
*Offers Argenti the high-five of the not-quite-graduated*
I’ve never actually referred to myself as a drop-out before outside of my own head. I’ve been a “student taking a break” for a long time. But October 1 was my real-fulltime-grownup-job-aversary so there’s really no point in pretending.
I’ll go back someday I’m sure.
I read Sperm Wars a few years ago. I’ve always been skeptical of his conclusions, and the fact that PUAs find it relevant makes me feel better about my decision to get rid of my copy.
I don’t know what’s going on with the recent comments widget. It’s working ok for me right now. I assume it’s a wordpress problem; I know they’ve had other wordpress.com-wide problems with widgets before.
Viscaria — yeah I don’t really call myself a drop-out either, though I’ve been out for like 6 years now. Because I’d have finished, but no $
That’s a sh***y situation, I’m sorry.
I am so confused. EvoPsych is weird.
Alice – it boils down to “menz get to fuck whoever they want and wimmenz make them mammoth and mustard sammiches and pump out babies, because NATURE!”
As a nice succinct guide to the dumbassery, I offer this link from the world’s least reputable “psychology” publication. I’m still not entirely convinced that Murdoch doesn’t own this rag.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200706/ten-politically-incorrect-truths-about-human-nature