Knowing your neighbourhood: local ecology and personal experience predict neighbourhood perceptions in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Gilbert, James D.; Uggla, Caroline; Mace, Ruth

doi:10.1098/rsos.160468

Cited by 14 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Thus, the ASR may be a very useful rule of thumb used to evaluate optimal reproductive strategies, particularly in a 'noisy' ecological context [38]. Accordingly, variation in responses to ASR imbalance could be additionally driven by perceptions of partner availability, which may vary in accuracy across individuals [39].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causes and consequences of adult sex ratio imbalance in a historical U.S. population

Schacht

Smith

2017

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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The responsiveness of individuals to partner availability has been well-documented across the literature. However, there is disagreement regarding the direction of the consequences of sex ratio imbalance. Specifically, does an excess of males or females promote male-male mating competition? In an attempt to clarify the role of the adult sex ratio (ASR) on behaviour, here we evaluate both competing and complimentary expectations derived from theory across the social and biological sciences. We use data drawn from a historical, nineteenth century population in North America and target several life-history traits thought to be affected by partner availability: age at first birth, relationship status, completed fertility and longevity. Furthermore, we assess the role of various contributors to a population's ASR. We find that both the contributors to and consequences of sex ratio imbalance vary over time. Our results largely support predictions of greater male pairbond commitment and lesser male mating effort, as well as elevated bargaining power of women in response to female scarcity. After reviewing our findings, and others from across the literature, we highlight the need to adjust predictions in response to ASR imbalance by the: (i) culturally mediated mating arena, (ii) variable role of demographic inputs across time and place, (iii) constraints to behavioural outcomes across populations, and (iv) ability and accuracy of individuals to assess partner availability.This article is part of the themed issue 'Adult sex ratios and reproductive strategies: a critical re-examination of sex differences in human and animal societies'.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causes and consequences of adult sex ratio imbalance in a historical U.S. population

Schacht

Smith

2017

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…It is therefore important to test whether individuals' reported risks map onto the ecological conditions to which they are exposed. A recent study that compared perceived and actual area characteristics in Belfast, Northern Ireland, found that whether individuals accurately gauged their neighbourhood varied with the type of characteristic; perceptions of median age at death were more accurate than perceptions of local levels of crime and the local adult sex ratio (Gilbert et al 2016). P&N do acknowledge that individuals might respond to other extrinsic factors, such as illnesses, but it is only by testing these factors alongside the EMR and comparing their relative effects that we can achieve a fuller understanding of the root causes of ill health.…”

Section: Notementioning

confidence: 99%

The behavioural constellation of deprivation: Causes and consequences

Pepper¹,

Nettle²

2017

Behav Brain Sci

303

279

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Socioeconomic differences in behaviour are pervasive and well documented, but their causes are not yet well understood. Here, we make the case that a cluster of behaviours is associated with lower socioeconomic status (SES), which we call "the behavioural constellation of deprivation." We propose that the relatively limited control associated with lower SES curtails the extent to which people can expect to realise deferred rewards, leading to more present-oriented behaviour in a range of domains. We illustrate this idea using the specific factor of extrinsic mortality risk, an important factor in evolutionary theoretical models. We emphasise the idea that the present-oriented behaviours of the constellation are a contextually appropriate response to structural and ecological factors rather than a pathology or a failure of willpower. We highlight some principles from evolutionary theoretical models that can deepen our understanding of how socioeconomic inequalities can become amplified and embedded. These principles are that (1) small initial disparities can lead to larger eventual inequalities, (2) feedback loops can embed early-life circumstances, (3) constraints can breed further constraints, and (4) feedback loops can operate over generations. We discuss some of the mechanisms by which SES may influence behaviour. We then review how the contextually appropriate response perspective that we have outlined fits with other findings about control and temporal discounting. Finally, we discuss the implications of this interpretation for research and policy.

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“…Given this asymmetry, error-management theory predicts that individuals should be biased to overdetect negative events. In line with this idea, surveys consistently show that people overperceive all kinds of threats: crime rates, terrorism or unemployment risk (Lieder, Griffiths & Hsu, 2018;Gilbert, Uggla & Mace, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Disease, perceived infectibility and threat reactivity: a COVID-19 study

Chevallier¹,

A²,

Safra³

2020

Preprint

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We investigate whether COVID-19 exposure changes participants’ threat-detection threshold. Sensitivity to threat was measured in a signal detection task among 397 British adults who also reported how much vulnerable they felt to infectious disease. Participants’ data were then matched to the number of confirmed COVID-19 collected from the NHS database. We found that participants who perceive themselves as more likely to catch infectious diseases displayed a higher negativity bias in response to increased COVID-19 cases. In addition, we found a significant effect of education on participants’ punishment responsiveness in response to COVID-19 exposure. A second wave of data collection is planned exactly two weeks after the first one. The goal of this second wave is to replicate the findings and document the impact of increasing COVID-19 cases and deaths on people’s psychology.

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Knowing your neighbourhood: local ecology and personal experience predict neighbourhood perceptions in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Cited by 14 publications

References 23 publications

Causes and consequences of adult sex ratio imbalance in a historical U.S. population

Causes and consequences of adult sex ratio imbalance in a historical U.S. population

The behavioural constellation of deprivation: Causes and consequences

Disease, perceived infectibility and threat reactivity: a COVID-19 study

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