African marriage systems: Perspectives from evolutionary ecology

Evolution and proximate expression of human paternal investment.

“…Basically, many fathers invest more in their children when they are residing with their children and the children's mother (Brunelli, Wasserman, Rauh, Alvarado, & Caraballo, 1995;Draper, 1989;Flinn, 1992;Furstenberg et al, 1983;Hewlett, 1992b;Hill & Hurtado, 1996;West & Konner, 1976). For instance, in an observational study of parent-child social interactions in a Caribbean village, Flinn (1992) found that resident fathers were much more likely to provide some level of care to their children than were nonresident fathers, especially after the nonresident father or the mother remarried (see also Draper, 1989;Furstenberg et al, 1983). A similar pattern of paternal disengagement following remarriage is evident in industrial societies (Emery, 1988) and indicates that the level of paternal investment following divorce is influenced by a number of social factors--remarriage, nature of the relationship with his ex-spouse, and so on--above and beyond the inherent differences in maternal and paternal investment.…”

“…These conditions "are particularly prevalent in so-called middle-range societies, i.e., those where agriculture is practiced at a very low level" (Draper & Harpending, 1988, p. 349), and in resource-rich ecologies. In the latter, women can often provide adequate care to their children--for example, through small-scale agriculture--without the direct contribution of the father (Draper, 1989;E. M. Miller, 1994).…”

Evolution of Paternal Investment

“…These conditions "are particularly prevalent in so-called middle-range societies, that is, those where agriculture is practiced at a very low level" (Draper & Harpending, 1988, p. 349) and in resource-rich ecologies. In the latter, women can often provision their children without the direct contribution of the father (Draper, 1989), although the father may control the land and other resources women use to feed their children (Borgerhoff Mulder, 2000). In these societies, polygynous marriages are not prohibited, and wealthy men often invest resources or social power in attempting to secure additional wives, often to their reproductive advantage (Chagnon, 1988) and often at a risk of increased child mortality and thus a reproductive cost to individual wives (Marlowe, 2000).…”

Personality Development in Evolutionary Perspective

“…In our discussion, we separate the mix of environmental mfluences, maturation, reanng expenences, and personahty outcomes into four components of a process model, A -* B -* C -» D (Table 1) In our scheme, A includes macroecological context-environment, technology, food and wealth, mstitutions of kmship and mamage, B, contexts of rearmg-family sttucture, interactK)ns widi caretakers, parental versus nonparental caretakers, C, personahty development, and D, reIHoductive strategies-tirmng of %xual maturation, initiation of sexual behavior, numbers of sexual partners, numbers of offspnng, anHnmC of parental mvestn:wnt We find that many studies iKldress sections of tfus conceptual continuum, but that few entirely encompass it from the point of view of individual vanability in expenence conceived of as serving the ends of individual fitness, given the context qf development Indeed, components of our organization will be familiar to many researchers of leammg theory (Bandura, 1973) or cross-cultural psychology, with its emphasis on functional interrelationships among environment, social stmcture, child rearmg, and outcomes m personality or adult social roles (Barry, Bacon, & Child, 1957, Barry, Child, & Bacon, 1959, Whitmg & Whiting, 1975b Our presentation is novel in that it emphasizes how mdividual vanabihty m response to differently expenenced settmgs (B) can have fitness consequences for the individual, particularly m those stages of life concemed with courtship, matmg, and parenting Attempts to link up (A) macroecological context, (B) rearmg context, and (D) reproductive strategy have been made in a recent senes of articles (Draper, 1989, Draper & Harpendmg, 1982, 1987. Notably missing from these analyse is an attempt to specify the psychological mechanisms and processes that intervene as transducers between the more extenor, contextual elements of early expenence and the outcomes in adult reproductive behavior As yet there has been no senous attempt to open iq) tte black box that is the individual's unique expenence or to suggest how expenential factors produce vanability in personahty characterutics leading to mdividual differences in reproductive bdiavior Later, we consider what is known about the antecedents of psychological processes important in early childhood and how these processes may be related to reproductive behavior We propose that varied macroecological contexts promote specific reanng expenences, and that these m tum foster particular pattems of psychological development, all of which serve the more distal biological function of shaping reproductive behavior, including mate attraction and selection, procreation, and parental care Indeed, an exphcit assumption IS that reanng practices and denvative personality development, shaped as they are by macroecological circumstances, are strategic to reproductive fitness Draper and Harpendmg's ideas regarding fatherabsence and reproductive behavior that link together A, B, and D and are considered later in this article set the stage for consideration of psychological processes (C) which may mediate the relation between reanng expenences (B) and processes of mating and parenting (D) We review Bowlby's (1969) attachment theory and recent research related to It m order to make the case that it is via expectations about self, others, and interpersonal relationships that rearing expenences come to influence reproductive beha...…”