Submitted by Lilian Soares Pereira Carvalho (lilianpereiracarvalho@gmail.com) on 2016-10-14T12:42:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_Lilian_Carvalho.pdf: 1044443 bytes, checksum: 9e76130086e4bde5beb6377bb35a1fab (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Pamela Beltran Tonsa (pamela.tonsa@fgv.br) on 2016-10-14T12:43:53Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_Lilian_Carvalho.pdf: 1044443 bytes, checksum: 9e76130086e4bde5beb6377bb35a1fab (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-14T12:48:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_Lilian_Carvalho.pdf: 1044443 bytes, checksum: 9e76130086e4bde5beb6377bb35a1fab (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-02 / This dissertation is a set of three studies focusing on the implications of evolutionary psychology (EP) to consumer behavior research. EP derives from the Darwinian theory of evolution and posits that just as our bodies are subject to natural and sexual selection, also our minds are adapted to their environment and, as such, we can investigate the biological basis of our behaviors. The first study is a theoretical article, focusing on the effects of hormone oxytocin (OXT) on consumer behavior. OXT has been shown to have effects on maternal care, attachment, relationships, and trust. This hormone is the focus of studies in behavioral economics, psychology and neurology, with obvious implications for consumer behavior. Previous studies on OXT have shown that oxytocin is related to our social life, i.e. related to situations with family and friends, as well as increasing our attention to the social cues in our faces (as eye gaze and smiles). Research on OXT and other hormones opens a new era of interdisciplinary studies on consumer behavior, in which researchers can incorporate psychometric measures (answered by research subjects) to biological features, as OXT, endorsing and validating findings that go beyond responses to questionnaires. It is thus possible to investigate the biological basis of consumer behavior regarding the effects of OXT on measures such as brand trust, and others. The second article is an experimental study, double-blinded, that checks the effects of OXT on brand trust. The results show that OXT is context-dependent, and it shows its most prominent results when the brand relates to social situations (friends and family). Three experiments were conducted comparing known and unknown brands, the country of origin effect and social and status brands. Known and unknown brands improved their brand trust measures when respondents were under the effect of OXT compared to placebo. Furthermore, social brands had the most pronounced effects of OXT when compared to status brands. Thus, this is first study to show positive effects of OXT on brand trust. The final study is an investigation of the post-modern epistemology to the positivist paradigm in the sex vs. gender subject. Various researchers posit that gender is as a new paradigm for our generation, in which every individual can choose his set of male and female characteristics. But when comparing the effect of biological sex vs. gender (using the Bem Sex-Role Inventory) in retaliatory behaviors in a consumer setting, only sex was able to explain the differences in behavior, not gender. Although post-modernists affirm that our biology only affects our gender as far as our genitals are concerned, differences in retaliatory behaviors are better explained by sex, not gender, corroborating the positivist epistemology. / Essa tese é um conjunto de três estudos tendo como pano de fundo teórico a psicologia evolucionista. Esta deriva da teoria da evolução darwiniana e postula que, assim como nossos corpos foram sujeitos à seleção natural e sexual, também nossas mentes são adaptações ao ambiente e por isso podemos investigar as bases biológicas de nossos comportamentos. O primeiro artigo, teórico, foca no hormônio oxitocina, cujos efeitos vão do cuidado materno até a confiança. Esse hormônio é objeto de estudo da economia comportamental, da psicologia e da neurologia, com implicações óbvias para o comportamento do consumidor. Estudos prévios comprovam que a oxitocina é um hormônio relacionado à nossa vida social, i.e. relacionado a situações com família e amigos, além de aumentar nossa atenção às “pistas” sociais em nossas faces (como olhares ou sorrisos). A pesquisa com oxitocina, e outros hormônios abre uma nova era de estudos interdisciplinares no comportamento do consumidor, na qual os pesquisadores podem aliar medidas psicométricas respondidas pelos sujeitos de pesquisa, mas adicionando o elemento biológico, referendando e validando achados que vão além de respostas a questionários. É possível, assim, investigar as bases biológicas do comportamento do consumidor. O segundo artigo é um estudo experimental, duplo-cego, que verifica os efeitos da oxitocina na confiança da marca. Os resultados mostram que a oxitocina tem efeito dependente do contexto, sendo seus resultados mais proeminentes quando as marcas se valem de apelos que relembrem família e amigos. Foram realizados três experimentos, comparando marcas conhecidas e desconhecidas, efeito do país de origem e marcas sociais e de status. Marcas conhecidas e desconhecidas tiveram a confiança aumentada quando os respondentes estavam sob o efeito da oxitocina, quando comparado com o placebo. Além disso, marcas sociais tiveram efeitos mais pronunciados da oxitocina, quando comparados com marcas de status. Assim, fica pela primeira vez registrado o efeito da oxitocina na confiança da marca. O último estudo é uma investigação sobre a epistemologia relativista comparando-a ao paradigma positivista na questão sexo vs. gênero. Muito se fala do gênero como novo paradigma para nossa geração, na qual cada indivíduo poderá escolher seu conjunto de características femininas e masculinas. Mas, ao comparar o efeito do sexo biológico vs. o gênero (usando o inventário sexual de Bem), somente o sexo foi capaz de explicar as diferenças de sexo, não o gênero. Apesar de relativistas culturais afirmarem que a biologia do sexo só influencia a genitália dos seres humanos, o comportamento de retaliação em comportamento do consumo é explicado pelo sexo, e não pelo gênero dos indivíduos, corroborando a epistemologia positivista.

Language is arguably one of the most salient features that distinguish humans from other animal species. However, despite the existence of a large body of relevant theoretical and empirical research, there is currently no consensus as to why language emerged exclusively in the human species or how it evolved its unique communicative structure. In this thesis, I therefore take a multi-pronged approach to analysing and testing several different hypotheses for the biological function and evolution of language. In Chapter I, I review the evidence and theoretical arguments for each of these proposals and provide, in place, a synthetic perspective which integrates or eliminates each of these ostensibly competing hypotheses for the biological function of language. In Chapter II, I employ the first experimental test of the interdependence hypothesis: the unique proposal offered to explain the emergence and potential coevolution of language and cooperation in the human species. In pursuit of this experiment, I employed a cooperative social foraging task using small and large groups to determine what factors enable individuals to make sense of information from others and converge upon a group consensus. In Chapter III, I take an experimental approach to determine whether aspects of human language can be characterised in terms of honest signalling theory. In this respect, I test several different proposals predicted by the sexual selection and deception hypotheses for human language function. In Chapter IV, I divert attention away from biological function to focus more closely on language structure. More specifically, I take an experimental approach to the problem of how and indeed whether recursive syntax evolved to be a consistent feature of human language. In pursuit of this experiment, I utilized the Imposing Memory Task (IMT) and a recursive syntax measure, to determine relative performance on each of these cognitive tasks, thereby testing whether recursive syntax may have evolved in tandem with higher-order intentionality (also known as embedded mindreading). Finally, in Chapter V, I discuss the results and implications of these experiments, and possible suggestions for future studies.

[pt] Diversos fatores são considerados no julgamento da atratividade de possíveis parceiros amorosos. Esses fatores abrangem características físicas, traços psicológicos, status social e demonstração de recursos. Homens que ostentam posse de recursos são considerados mais atraentes por mulheres que preferem relacionamentos de longo prazo. Pesquisas recentes vêm mostrando que o consumo conspícuo pode ter importante papel como critério de atratividade. Por outro lado, o consumo conspícuo parece aumentar a atratividade dos homens perante mulheres interessadas em relações de curto prazo. Desse modo, o primeiro capítulo consiste numa revisão de literatura sobre recursos como sinais de atratividade em relacionamentos de longo prazo. O segundo capítulo consiste numa análise dos resultados de quatro experimentos que tiveram como objetivo investigar a influência do consumo conspícuo como critério de atratividade de mulheres interessadas em relacionamentos de curto prazo. O segundo objetivo desse estudo foi verificar se o consumo conspícuo influenciaria a atratividade de indivíduos não-heterossexuais em relacionamentos de curto prazo. Os resultados não mostraram influência do consumo conspícuo sobre a atratividade, independente da orientação sexual. Surpreendentemente, alguns resultados sugeriram que as mulheres acharam mais atraentes os indivíduos na condição sem consumo conspícuo. Isso pode ter ocorrido devido a um viés amostral. A maioria dos participantes tinha alto grau educacional, o que pode estar associado maior preferência por relacionamentos de longo prazo. O objeto usado como consumo conspícuo (carro popular e carro luxuoso) pode, ainda, não ser de especial interesse dessa amostra com alto grau de escolaridade. / [en] Several factors are essential in judging the attractions of your mating partners. These encompassing physical factors, psychological traits, social status and demonstration of resources/wealth. Men who possess resources are considered more attractive by women who prefer long-term relationships. Recent research showing conspicuous consumption may play an important role as a criterion of attractiveness. On the other hand, conspicuous consumption seems to increase the attractiveness of men to women interested in short-term relationships. Thus, the first chapter consists of a literature review of resources as signs of attractiveness in long-term relationships. The second method is an analysis of the results of four experiments that attempt to corroborate an influence of conspicuous consumption as a criterion of attractiveness of women interested in short-term relationships. Considering the scarcity of studies with non-heterosexual participants, the second objective of this study was to verify if conspicuous consumption would influence the attractiveness of non-heterosexual individuals in short-term relationships. The results did not showed influence of conspicuous consumption on attractiveness, regardless of sexual orientation. Surprisingly, some results suggested that women found individuals more attractive in the condition without conspicuous consumption. This may have occurred due to sample bias. Most participants had a high educational level, which may be associated with higher preference for long-term relationships. The object used as conspicuous consumption (popular car and luxury car) may still not be of special interest to the sample with a high degree of schooling.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:37:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Phellipe_DISSERT.pdf: 4218890 bytes, checksum: 964dfbc842fd211a3c7595fba2a881b8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-06-17 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / The basis of sociability in humans is based on cooperation. The relationship of friendship is vital to the social, emotional and cognitive development of an individual and can be understood as a consequence of selection for reciprocal altruism in humans. The period of adulthood is considered very suitable and appropriate for the investigation of the relations of friendship, but the Brazilian literature on friendship in adults is still nascent. Therefore, the objective was to characterize the relationship of friendship among college students. The study gathered 500 students from higher education institutions in the city of Natal-RN, Brazil, and 250 women (average age 24.1 ? 7.66 years) and 250 men (mean age 26.77 ? 9.64 years). Two questionnaires anonymously and individual were applied: a sociodemographic questionnaire and the other with the desired characteristics in idealized friends. Study 1 assessed the degree of importance of characteristics in the process of choosing a friend of the same sex and opposite sex of the participant. Study 2 investigated the relationship between patterns of idealization of friends and self-assessment of participants. Overall, were the preferred characteristics "Companionship" and "Sincerity" to idealized friends. We also found the influence of sex on the characteristics attributed to an female ideal friend, with emphasis on men for "Beauty/Good looks" and "Intelligence" and women to "Companionship" and "Sincerity". Finally, we observed a positive correlation between participants' self-assessment and preferences for the characteristics of the friends devised. This study revealed important elements for understanding the relationship of friendship, specifically the process of choosing friends. The results reinforce the importance of studying the relationship of friendship to a better understanding of human social behavior. / A base da sociabilidade na esp?cie humana ? fundamentada na coopera??o. A rela??o de amizade, fundamental para o desenvolvimento social, emocional e cognitivo de um indiv?duo, pode ser compreendida como consequ?ncia da sele??o para altru?smo rec?proco em humanos. O per?odo da adultez ? considerado muito prop?cio e adequado para a investiga??o das rela??es de amizade, por?m a literatura brasileira sobre amizade em adultos ainda ? incipiente. Diante disso, o objetivo deste trabalho foi caracterizar a rela??o de amizade em estudantes universit?rios. Participaram desta pesquisa 500 estudantes de institui??es de ensino superior do munic?pio de Natal-RN, Brasil, sendo 250 mulheres (idade m?dia 24,1?7,66 anos) e 250 homens (idade m?dia 26,77?9,64 anos). Dois question?rios de car?ter an?nimo e individual foram aplicados: um question?rio sociodemogr?fico e outro com caracter?sticas desejadas em amigos idealizados. No Estudo 1 avaliamos o grau de import?ncia de caracter?sticas no processo de escolha de um amigo do mesmo sexo e do sexo oposto ao do participante. No estudo 2 investigamos a rela??o entre os padr?es de idealiza??o de amigos(as) e a autoavalia??o dos participantes. De maneira geral, houve prefer?ncia pelas caracter?sticas Companheirismo e Sinceridade para amigos idealizados. Foi poss?vel tamb?m constatar a influ?ncia do sexo sobre as caracter?sticas atribu?das para uma amiga ideal, com ?nfase masculina para Beleza/Boa apar?ncia e Intelig?ncia , e feminina para Companheirismo e Sinceridade . Por fim, observou-se uma correla??o positiva entre a autoavalia??o dos participantes e as prefer?ncias para as caracter?sticas nos amigos(as) idealizados. Este trabalho revelou elementos importantes para a compreens?o da rela??o de amizades, mais especificamente do processo de escolha de amigos. Os resultados encontrados refor?am a relev?ncia do estudo da rela??o de amizade para uma melhor compreens?o do comportamento social humano.

Evolutionary psychology often relies on experimental methods for testing theories due to their capacity to isolate independent variables, thereby enhancing internal validity. The scientific problem in this study, however, lies in the fact that an increase in internal validity in experiments might risk reducing ecological validity. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to test experimental results from the evolutionary coalitional psychology in a real case, to evaluate the ecological validity of the theory. The case is the Ukraine war and the method is a qualitative thematic text analysis, of President Volodymyr Zelensky's speeches, close to Russia's invasion on February 24, 2022. The results reveal that the president in his speeches, motivates with a collective gain of participating in the defence of Ukraine, exhibits a punitive attitude towards perceived free-riders, and does not show any gender bias in his appeals. The evidence of collective gain and a punitive attitude is particularly notable as it aligns precisely with the theoretical expectations based on previous experimental results from coalitional psychology. This alignment between real-world findings and experimental predictions enhances the ecological validity of the theory, thus fulfilling the aim of the study. The conclusion is that evolutionary psychology can be effectively applied to real- world conflicts within peace and conflict studies.

No description available.

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The current study examined whether there are sex-based differences in adolescents’ accuracy in perceiving and acceptance of parental socialisation values. Together with their parents, a total of 134 adolescents (aged 13 to 18) from private Christian schools in Johannesburg, South Africa participated in the study. After creating the measures of overall accuracy, overall acceptance, specific accuracy and specific acceptance, a series of mixed-design ANOVAs were conducted in order to evaluate the six research hypotheses. The results illustrated that there may be sex-based differences in adolescents’ accuracy in perceiving the importance that their mothers and fathers place on the value of power as a socialisation value. However, the overall results suggested that the focus on the effect of adolescent sex on adolescents’ accuracy in perceiving and acceptance of parental socialisation values was too narrow because various parent sex and adolescent sex interaction effects were found. Furthermore, there is no clear pattern indicating how sex influences adolescents’ accuracy in perceiving and acceptance of parental socialisation values, thus suggesting that the influence of sex is value-specific. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology: Research Consultation)

Voices are used as a vehicle for language, and variation in the acoustic properties of voices also contains information about the speaker. Listeners use measurable qualities, such as pitch and formant traits, as cues to a speaker’s physical stature and attractiveness. Emotional states and personality characteristics are also judged from vocal stimuli. The research contained in this thesis examines vocal masculinity, aesthetics and personality, with an emphasis on the perception of prosocial traits including trustworthiness and cooperativeness. I will also explore themes which are more cognitive in nature, testing aspects of vocal stimuli which may affect trait attribution, memory and the ascription of identity. Chapters 2 and 3 explore systematic differences across vocal utterances, both in types of utterance using different classes of stimuli and across the time course of perception of the auditory signal. These chapters examine variation in acoustic measurements in addition to variation in listener attributions of commonly-judged speaker traits. The most important result from this work was that evaluations of attractiveness made using spontaneous speech correlated with those made using scripted speech recordings, but did not correlate with those made of the same persons using vowel stimuli. This calls into question the use of sustained vowel sounds for the attainment of ratings of subjective characteristics. Vowel and single-word stimuli are also quite short – while I found that attributions of masculinity were reliable at very short exposure times, more subjective traits like attractiveness and trustworthiness require a longer exposure time to elicit reliable attributions. I conclude with recommending an exposure time of at least 5 seconds in duration for such traits to be reliably assessed. Chapter 4 examines what vocal traits affect perceptions of pro-social qualities using both natural and manipulated variation in voices. While feminine pitch traits (F0 and F0-SD) were linked to cooperativeness ratings, masculine formant traits (Df and Pf) were also associated with cooperativeness. The relative importance of these traits as social signals is discussed. Chapter 5 questions what makes a voice memorable, and helps to differentiate between memory for individual voice identities and for the content which was spoken by administering recognition tests both within and across sensory modalities. While the data suggest that experimental manipulation of voice pitch did not influence memory for vocalised stimuli, attractive male voices were better remembered than unattractive voices, independent of pitch manipulation. Memory for cross-modal (textual) content was enhanced by raising the voice pitch of both male and female speakers. I link this pattern of results to the perceived dominance of voices which have been raised and lowered in pitch, and how this might impact how memories are formed and retained. Chapter 6 examines masculinity across visual and auditory sensory modalities using a cross-modal matching task. While participants were able to match voices to muted videos of both male and female speakers at rates above chance, and to static face images of men (but not women), differences in masculinity did not influence observers in their judgements, and voice and face masculinity were not correlated. These results are discussed in terms of the generally-accepted theory that masculinity and femininity in faces and voices communicate the same underlying genetic quality. The biological mechanisms by which vocal and facial masculinity could develop independently are speculated.

In this thesis I discuss one way in which evolutionary theory has been brought to bear on the evaluation of competing meta-normative views in epistemology. More specifically, I investigate whether normative realism in epistemology (epistemic realism) is compatible with the view that we are justified in holding many of the epistemic beliefs we hold, on the assumption that those beliefs can be explained in evolutionary terms. In Part I I discuss normativity in epistemology and meta-epistemology. I begin by drawing attention to the fact that there are very different ways of understanding which concepts in epistemology are normative and what their normativity consists in. I focus on the concept of an epistemic reason to illustrate this point. I then discuss, in some detail, how different interpretations of epistemic-normativity will affect the form which normative-realist views in epistemology can take. I conclude by drawing a taxonomy of epistemic-realist views which is mindful of the different interpretations of epistemic normativity which I distinguished. In Part II I turn to discuss the topic of Darwinian arguments against normative-realist views in epistemology. I begin by considering the form which Darwinian arguments have taken in recent metaethical literature. I argue that Darwinian arguments of a kind which is meant to raise a distinctively epistemological challenge for normative-realist views – I call those 'Darwinian-epistemological' arguments – represent a more interesting object of philosophical investigation than Darwinian arguments of a different 'metaphysical' kind. I then formulate a Darwinian-epistemological argument which targets normative-realist views in epistemology (DEA), explain how it works, and spend some time discussing its key premises. In Part III I engage with the Darwinian-epistemological challenge against realism about epistemic normativity that Sharon Street presents in her paper 'Evolution and the Normativity of Epistemic Reasons' (2009). I argue that Street’s epistemological challenge is best viewed as an instance of a Darwinian-epistemological argument of the kind I formulated (DEA). I then go on to reply to Street’s argument on behalf of the epistemic realist. I conclude that arguments with the form of DEA do not represent a serious threat for normative realist views in epistemology.