Foundations of the crazy bastard hypothesis: Nonviolent physical risk-taking enhances conceptualized formidability

Evolution and Human Behavior

Volumn 35, Issue 1, 2014, Pages 26-33

  Fessler, Daniel M T ^a   Tiokhin, Leonid B ^a   Holbrook, Colin ^a   Gervais, Matthew M ^a   Snyder, Jeffrey K ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

Formidability; Height; Risk taking; Strength; Violence

Indexed keywords

EID: 84891147314     PISSN: 10905138     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2013.09.003     Document Type: Article

References (58)

1. Apicella C.L., Dreber A., Campbell B., Gray P.B., Hoffman M., Little A.C. Testosterone and financial risk preferences. Evolution and Human Behavior 2008, 29(6):384-390. 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2008.07.001.
2. Archer J. Does sexual selection explain human sex differences in aggression?. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 2009, 32(3-4):249-266. 10.1017/S0140525X09990951.
3. Baker M.D., Maner J.K. Male risk-taking as a context-sensitive signaling device. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2009, 45(5):1136-1139. 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.06.006.
4. Ball S., Eckel C., Heracleous M. Risk aversion and physical prowess: Prediction, choice and bias. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 2010, 41(3):167-193. 10.1007/s11166-010-9105-x.
5. Bassett J.F., Moss B. Men and women prefer risk takers as romantic and nonromantic partners. Current Research in Social Psychology 2004, 9(10):135-144.
6. Blais A.-R., Weber E.U. A domain-specific risk-taking (DOSPERT) scale for adult populations. Judgment and Decision Making 2006, 1(1):33-47.
7. Bliege Bird R., Smith E.A. Signaling theory, strategic interaction, and symbolic capital. Current Anthropology 2005, 46(2):221-248. 10.1086/427115.
8. Daly M., Wilson M. Homicide 1988, A. de Gruyter, New York.
9. Daly M., Wilson M. Killing the competition: Female/female and male/male homicide. Human Nature 1990, 1(1):81-107.
10. Daly M., Wilson M. Risk-taking, intrasexual competition, and homicide. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation 2001, 47:1-36.
11. Dohmen T., Falk A., Huffman D., Sunde U., Schupp J., Wagner G.G. Individual risk attitudes: Measurement, determinants, and behavioral consequences. Journal of the European Economic Association 2011, 9(3):522-550. 10.1111/j.1542-4774.2011.01015.x.
12. Duguid M.M., Goncalo J.A. Living large: The powerful overestimate their own height. Psychological Science 2012, 23(1):36-40. 10.1177/0956797611422915.
13. Ermer E., Cosmides L., Tooby J. Relative status regulates risky decision making about resources in men: Evidence for the co-evolution of motivation and cognition. Evolution and Human Behavior 2008, 29(2):106-118. 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2007.11.002.
14. Farthing G. Attitudes toward heroic and nonheroic physical risk takers as mates and as friends. Evolution and Human Behavior 2005, 26(2):171-185. 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2004.08.004.
15. Fessler D.M.T. Madmen: An evolutionary perspective on anger and men's violent responses to transgression 2010, 361-381. Springer, New York. M. Potegal, G. Stemmler, C.D. Spielberger (Eds.).
16. Fessler D.M.T., Holbrook C. Friends shrink foes: The presence of comrades decreases the envisioned physical formidability of an opponent. Psychological Science 2013, 24(5):797-802. 10.1177/0956797612461508.
17. Fessler D.M.T., Holbrook C. Bound to lose: Physical incapacitation increases the conceptualized dimensions of an antagonist. PLoS ONE 2013, 8(8):e71306. 10.1371/journal.pone.0071306.
18. Fessler D.M.T., Holbrook C., Snyder J.K. Weapons make the man (larger): Formidability is represented as size and strength in humans. PloS ONE 2012, 7(4):e32751. 10.1371/journal.pone.0032751.
19. Fessler, D. M. T., Holbrook, C., & Gervais, M. (n.d.). Men's physical strength influences conceptualizations of prospective foes in two disparate societies. Manuscript in preparation.
20. Fischer D., Hills T.T. The baby effect and young male syndrome: Social influences on cooperative risk-taking in women and men. Evolution and Human Behavior 2012, 33(5):530-536. 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.01.006.
21. Frankenhuis W.E., Dotsch R., Karremans J.C., Wigboldus D.H.J. Male physical risk taking in a virtual environment. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 2010, 8(1):75-86. 10.1556/JEP.8.2010.1.6.
22. Gervais, M. M. (2013). Structures of sentiment: Mapping the affective bases of social relationships in Yasawa, Fiji. Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.
23. Griskevicius V., Tybur J.M., Gangestad S.W., Perea E.F., Shapiro J.R., Kenrick D.T. Aggress to impress: Hostility as an evolved context-dependent strategy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2009, 96(5):980. 10.1037/a0013907.
24. Hansen C.P. Personality characteristics of the accident involved employee. Journal of Business and Psychology 1988, 2(4):346-365. 10.1007/BF01013766.
25. Hawkes K., Bliege Bird R. Showing off, handicap signaling, and the evolution of men's work. Evolutionary Anthropology 2002, 11(2):58-67. 10.1002/evan.20005.
26. Henrich, J., and Henrich, N. (in press). Fairness without punishment: Behavioral experiments in the Yasawa Island, Fiji. To appear in Fairness and punishment in cross-cultural perspective. Edited by J. Ensminger and J. Henrich. Retrieved from on March 1, 2013. http://www2.psych.ubc.ca/henrich/Published.html#chapters.
27. Hess N., Helfrecht C., Hagen E., Sell A., Hewlett B. Interpersonal aggression among Aka hunter-gatherers of the Central African Republic. Human Nature 2010, 21(3):330-354. 10.1007/s12110-010-9094-0.
28. Higham P.A., Carment D.W. The rise and fall of politicians: The judged heights of Broadbent, Mulroney and Turner before and after the 1988 Canadian federal election. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science 1992, 24(3):404-409.
29. Hill E.M., Thomson Ross L., Low B.S. The role of future unpredictability in human risk-taking. Human Nature 1997, 8(4):287-325. 10.1007/BF02913037.
30. Holbrook C., Fessler D.M.T. Sizing up the threat: The envisioned physical formidability of terrorists tracks their leaders' failures and successes. Cognition 2013, 127(1):46-56. 10.1016/j.cognition.2012.12.002.
31. Holbrook, C., Piazza, J., & Fessler, D. M. T. (in press). Conceptual and empirical challenges to the 'Authentic' versus 'Hubristic' model of pride. Emotion.
32. Junger M., Tremblay R.E. Self-control, accidents, and crime. Criminal Justice and Behavior 1999, 26(4):485. 10.1177/0093854899026004005.
33. Kelly S., Dunbar R.I.M. Who dares, wins: Heroism versus altruism in women's mate choice. Human Nature 2001, 12(2):89-105. 10.1007/s12110-001-1018-6.
34. Korniotis, G., & Kumar, A. (in press). Tall versus short: Height, lifelong experiences, and portfolio choice. Journal of Finance.
35. Kruger D.J., Wang X.T., Wilke A. Towards the development of an evolutionarily valid domain-specific risk-taking scale. Evolutionary Psychology 2007, 5(3):555-568.
36. Marsh A.A., Yu H.H., Schechter J.C., Blair R.J.R. Larger than life: Humans' nonverbal status cues alter perceived size. PLoS ONE 2009, 4:e5707. 10.1371/journal.pone.0005707.
37. Masters R., Poolton J., van der Kamp J. Regard and perceptions of size in soccer: Better is bigger. Perception 2010, 39(9):1290-1295. 10.1068/p6746.
38. Murray G.R., Schmitz J.D. Caveman politics: Evolutionary leadership preferences and physical stature. Social Science Quarterly 2011, 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2011.00815.x.
39. Preacher K.J., Hayes A.F. Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods 2008, 40(3):879-891. 10.3758/BRM.40.3.879.
40. Ronay R., von Hippel W. The presence of an attractive woman elevates testosterone and physical risk taking in young men. Social Psychological and Personality Science 2010, 1(1):57-64. 10.1177/1948550609352807.
41. Sell A., Hone L.S.E., Pound N. The importance of physical strength to human males. Human Nature 2012, 23(1):30-44. 10.1007/s12110-012-9131-2.
42. Sell A., Tooby J., Cosmides L. Formidability and the logic of human anger. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 2009, 106(35):15073-15078. 10.1073/pnas.0904312106.
43. Snyder J.K., Fessler D.M.T., Tiokhin L., Frederick D.A., Lee S.W., Navarrete C.D. Trade-offs in a dangerous world: Women's fear of crime predicts preferences for aggressive and formidable mates. Evolution & Human Behavior 2011, 32(2):127-137. 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.08.007.
44. Sorokowski P. Politicians' estimated height as an indicator of their popularity. European Journal of Social Psychology 2009, 40(7):1302-1309. 10.1002/ejsp.710.
45. Stenstrom E., Saad G., Nepomuceno M.V., Mendenhall Z. Testosterone and domain-specific risk: Digit ratios (2D: 4D and rel2) as predictors of recreational, financial, and social risk-taking behaviors. Personality and Individual Differences 2011, 51(4):412-416. 10.1016/j.paid.2010.07.003.
46. Stulp G., Buunk A.P., Verhulst S., Pollet T.V. High and mighty: Height increases authority in professional refereeing. Evolutionary Psychology 2012, 10(3):588-601.
47. Suchman E.A. Accidents and social deviance. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 1970, 11(1):4-15.
48. Sylwester K., Pawłowski B. Daring to be darling: Attractiveness of risk takers as partners in long-and short-term sexual relationships. Sex Roles 2011, 64(9):695-706. 10.1007/s11199-010-9790-6.
49. Wang X.T., Kruger D.J., Wilke A. Life history variables and risk-taking propensity. Evolution and Human Behavior 2009, 30(2):77-84. 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2008.09.006.
50. Watkins C.D., Debruine L.M., Feinberg D.R., Jones B.C. A sex difference in the context-sensitivity of dominance perceptions. Evolution and Human Behavior 2013, 34(5):366-372. 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2013.06.004.
51. Watkins C.D., Fraccaro P.J., Smith F.G., Vukovic J., Feinberg D.R., DeBruine L.M., et al. Taller men are less sensitive to cues of dominance in other men. Behavioral Ecology 2010, 21(5):943-947. 10.1093/beheco/arq091.
52. Watkins C.D., Jones B.C. Priming men with different contest outcomes modulates their dominance perceptions. Behavioral Ecology 2012, 23(3):539-543. 10.1093/beheco/arr221.
53. Wilke A., Hutchinson J.M.C., Todd P.M., Kruger D.J. Is risk taking used as a cue in mate choice?. Evolutionary Psychology 2006, 4:367-393.
54. Wilson P.R. Perceptual distortion of height as a function of ascribed academic status. Journal of Social Psychology 1968, 74(1):97-102.
55. Wilson M., Daly M. Competitiveness, risk taking, and violence: The young male syndrome. Ethology & Sociobiology 1985, 6(1):59-73.
56. Wilson M., Daly M. Lethal confrontational violence among young men. Adolescent risk taking 1993, 84-106. Sage Publications, Inc., Newbury Park, CA. N.J. Bell, R.W. Bell (Eds.).
57. Wilson M., Daly M., Pound N. An evolutionary psychological perspective on the modulation of competitive confrontation and risk taking. Hormones, brain and behavior 2002, Vol. 5:381-408. Academic Press, San Diego.
58. Yap A.J., Mason M.F., Ames D.R. The powerful size others down: The link between power and estimates of others' size. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2013, 49(3):591-594. 10.1016/j.jesp.2012.10.003.