Parental investment theory and gender differences in the evolution of inhibition mechanisms.

Bjorklund, David F.; Kipp, Katherine

doi:10.1037/0033-2909.120.2.163

Cited by 274 publications

(206 citation statements)

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“…Secondly, it is also possible that different inhibitory mechanisms may be evident in women. Specifically, inhibitory patterns may be better developed in women (Bjorklund & Kipp, 1996), women may be less variable in their tendency for inhibition than men (Bancroft, 1999), and inhibition may occur earlier on in a sexual interaction among women than among men (Graham et al, 2004;Tolman, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of the Sexual Excitation/Sexual Inhibition Inventory for Women and Men

et al. 2009

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The purpose of the current investigation was to develop a scale that would assess propensity for sexual arousal in response to a broad range of stimuli and sexual situations in both men and women. In Study 1, data from a nonclinical sample of 481 male and female students (graduate and undergraduate) were submitted to exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in order to develop the Sexual Excitation Sexual Inhibition Scale for Women and Men (SESII-W/M), and gender differences on the subscales were tested. In Study 2, construct validity and test-retest reliability of the SESII-W/M were assessed with a second sample of undergraduate students.The resultant measurement tool was comprised of six subscales: Inhibitory Cognitions, Relationship Importance, Arousability, Partner Characteristics and Behaviors, Setting (Unusual or Unconcealed), and Dyadic Elements of the Sexual Interaction. The measure demonstrated good test-retest reliability and discriminant and convergent validity. The SESII-W/M will likely be a useful measure in investigations in which sexual inhibition and sexual excitation must be assessed identically for men and women.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of the Sexual Excitation/Sexual Inhibition Inventory for Women and Men

et al. 2009

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“…Developing the capacity for behavioral control in the classroom may be particularly challenging for children who are highly active (Victor, Halverson, & Montague, 1985). Relevant to this point, prior investigators have often found gender differences in measures of behavioral inhibition, but not on measures of cognitive inhibition, suggesting some differences in the factors that influence development in these two areas of inhibitory control (Bjorklund & Kipp, 1996).Conceptually, EF skills are regulatory abilities that develop and organize the emotionarousal systems associated with behavioral inhibition and behavioral approach, as well as to organize reactivity to threat and stress (Blair et al, 2005). One tension in studies of EF skills is to increase precision in measurement, by selecting tasks that require specific cognitive activities to more effectively isolate the dimension of EF being studied.…”

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confidence: 99%

Executive functions and school readiness intervention: Impact, moderation, and mediation in the Head Start REDI program

et al. 2008

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Despite their potentially central role in fostering school readiness, executive function (EF) skills have received little explicit attention in the design and evaluation of school readiness interventions for socioeconomically disadvantaged children. The present study examined a set of five EF measures in the context of a randomized-controlled trial of a research-based intervention integrated into Head Start programs (Head Start REDI). Three hundred fifty-six 4-year-old children (17% Hispanic, 25% African American; 54% girls) were followed over the course of the prekindergarten year. Initial EF predicted gains in cognitive and social-emotional skills and moderated the impact of the Head Start REDI intervention on some outcomes. The REDI intervention promoted gains on two EF measures, which partially mediated intervention effects on school readiness. We discuss the importance of further study of the neurobiological bases of school readiness, the implications for intervention design, and the value of incorporating markers of neurobiological processes into school readiness interventions.Growing up in poverty significantly increases the likelihood that children will start school well behind their advantaged peers in key areas of language development and emergent literacy skills (Zill et al., 2003). Perhaps even more critically, many will start school without the social-emotional maturity and classroom behaviors that foster "readiness to learn," impeding their rate of progress once in school, and contributing to gaping disparities in school performance, high school graduation rates, and long-term employment potential (Campbell & von Stauffenberg, 2008;McClelland, Acock, & Morrison, 2006;Ryan, Fauth, & Brooks-Gunn, 2006). Rates of child poverty are on the rise in the United States, now affecting nearly one out of five children (Children's Defense Fund, 2005), making the problem of understanding and promoting school readiness a national priority.Recent efforts to promote school readiness for children growing up in poverty have focused on improving the instructional content of preschool programs, particularly Head Start programs, to enhance children's acquisition of key emergent literacy skills (such as letter identification and phonemic sensitivity) that are strong predictors of later achievement (Lonigan, Burgess, & Anthony, 2000). Although important, instructional strategies that focus narrowly on promoting the memorization of discrete content may "miss the mark" developmentally. The long-term impact of preschool interventions may depend on the degree to which they foster the development of mental systems that support learning and adaptive learning behaviors (Blair, 2002). For this reason, the Committee on Integrating the Science of Early Childhood Development (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000) and others have underscored the importance of promoting self-regulation and social competence in preschool Copyright ©2008 Cambridge University Press Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Karen Bierman, Pennsylvania ...

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“…Despite female preference for masculine characteristics in men when fertility probability is high (Jones et al, 2005a andPenton-Voak et al, 1999) these influences may be "counteracted" to some extent by superior inhibitory brain function and heightened detection of inhibitory failures. The suggestion here is that selection pressures on female ancestors resulted in both an increased attraction to advantageous traits (e.g., increased preference for heritable immunity to infectious disease; Penton-Voak et al, 1999) and an increased ability to be selective and cautious when committing to a sexual encounter (e.g., selecting mates that will also provide resources for the females and their offspring; Bjorklund and Kipp, 1996).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Menstrual cycle phase modulates cognitive control over male but not female stimuli

et al. 2008

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Evolutionary selection pressures have been one of the factors proposed to underlie sex differences in inhibitory control. Consequently, inhibitory control may vary as a function of the menstrual cycle and may be modulated by the stimuli being processed if these stimuli are related to reproductive success. We used functional MRI to study women's brain activation across the menstrual cycle on a GO/NOGO response inhibition task using attractive male and female faces as stimuli. We detected brain activity changes for both successful inhibitions and errors of commission that were unique to the male stimuli during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. That is, when pregnancy was possible women had superior inhibitory brain function and heightened detection of inhibitory failures when processing male stimuli. Moreover, we show that individual differences between females in sexual desire and social risk taking negatively correlate with error-related brain activity to the male stimuli during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. These results suggest an interaction between hormonal influences and stimulus-specific effects in producing an endophenotypic outcome predicted by evolutionary psychology, and suggest that the functioning of the brain's monitoring system can predict individual differences in both traits and real-world risk-taking behaviours.© 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords:Menstrual cycle Attractiveness Inhibition fMRI IntroductionParental investment theory (Trivers, 1972) postulates that many psychological differences between the sexes derive from different evolutionary pressures particular to the investment of resources in finding a mate vs. parenting. Theorists (Bjorkund and Kipp, 1996) have proposed that the greater parenting demands placed on females and the advantage of forming stable bonds with males, confer a selection advantage on those females with the ability to suppress sexual interests in other males or aggressive tendencies towards one's own offspring. Consequently, greater selection pressures on female ancestors

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Parental investment theory and gender differences in the evolution of inhibition mechanisms.

Cited by 274 publications

References 220 publications

Validation of the Sexual Excitation/Sexual Inhibition Inventory for Women and Men

Validation of the Sexual Excitation/Sexual Inhibition Inventory for Women and Men

Executive functions and school readiness intervention: Impact, moderation, and mediation in the Head Start REDI program

Menstrual cycle phase modulates cognitive control over male but not female stimuli

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