The reported study investigated temporal agency (i.e., the assignment of cause for temporal shift) in newlyweds’ courtship narratives. Transcripts of courtship narratives generated by each partner of 23 recently married couples (approximately 3 months) participating in the PAIR project (Huston, McHale, & Crouter, 1986) were analyzed for the presence of different linguistic strategies for encoding temporal shift. Statements were coded as “human agency assignments” when they assigned the cause of temporal shift to humans (e.g., we started seeing each other in June); statements that assigned temporal shift to abstract entities such as the events themselves (e.g., the summer started out well for us) or to the relationship (e.g., the relationship started to slow down) were coded as “abstract agency assignments.” The frequency with which narrators mentioned positiveand negative emotions was also coded to explore the possibility that emotional valence mediated agency assignments. The frequency of different agency assignments and emotion words were considered in the context of portions of the courtship accounts that narrators designated as describing “upturns” (episodes that increased the likelihood of marriage) or “downturns” (episodes that decreased marriage likelihood). Results indicated that the frequency of human agency assignments and positive emotion mention were higher in upturn than downturn narrative segments; in contrast, abstract agency assignments and negative emotion mention were more frequent in downturn than upturn segments. Subsequent analyses indicated that positive word mention partially mediated human agency assignments in upturns and that negative word mention partially mediated abstract agency assignments in downturns. These findings are consistent with previous research demonstrating an association between the emotional valence of an event and temporal agency assignment: In general, people assign temporal agency to themselves when describing positive events, but prefer abstract agency assignments for negative events (McGlone & Pfiester, 2009). / text

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Although sexual selection often explains the evolution and maintenance of a single male ornament, it is unclear how the multicomponent nature of most sexual displays evolves. Theoretical models suggest that handicap signalling should converge on a single most informative quality indicator, whereas additional signals are more likely to be arbitrary Fisherian traits, amplifiers, or exploitations of receiver psychology. Despite the predictions that multiple handicap signals are unlikely to be stable, the male nuptial plumage of the highly polygynous (ca. 3, but up to 9 actively nesting females) red-collared widowbird Euplectes ardens comprises two classic quality-indicating avian ornaments (handicaps); a long graduated tail (22 cm) and a red carotenoid throat patch (collar). To investigate the evolution and maintenance of these handicaps in the red-collared widowbird, a population was studied in the Hilton district, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where these small (males ca. 20 g) African weaverbirds (Ploeceidae) inhabit a grassy valley during the breeding season. Multivariate selection analyses, used to investigate net, direct and indirect female selection, demonstrated an unusually strong fitness effect of natural tail length (47%) on male reproductive success (the order and total number of nests acquired). There were no other effects of morphology, ectoparasite load, display rate, territory quality, tail asymmetry or collar measures (hue, brightness and size) on reproductive success, suggesting that females base their mate choice exclusively on only one handicap signal, extreme tail elongation. Although ignored in mate choice, there is strong evidence that the variable carotenoid collar (ranging from yellow to red) functions as a status or agonistic signal in male contest competition for territories. Compared to 'floating' males (that did not establish a territory in the area), resident males had a 60% larger and 23 nm 'redder' (longwave hue) collar. Model presentations also corroborated the status signalling function of the collar as territorial males were less aggressive towards conspecific models with intense collar displays, and males with greater carotenoid investment responded more aggressively to the models. In captive experiments, non-breeding brown males painted with red 'collars' dominated orange painted, control brown, novel blue collared and testosterone-implanted males in dyadic contests over food resources. In addition, experiments in the field demonstrated that males manipulated with larger and redder collars established and maintained territories in the area, whereas most males with small, orange or blackened collars failed to establish or retain territories. Thus the size and particularly redness of the costly carotenoid collar reliably signals male status and fighting ability in male contests. The unique negative phenotypic relationship between the expression of tail length and carotenoid pigmentation, suggests strong overlapping developmental costs (and allocation conflicts) between the two handicap ornaments. This tradeoff is predicted to be strongest between signals with the same or similar costs. Although current theory predicts that multiple handicaps should be evolutionary unstable, the coexistence of multiple costly ornaments in the red-collared widowbird is stable because of selection by different receivers, females and males (i.e., multiple receivers). / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

No description available.

In this thesis my initial goal was to use yellow warblers to examine the effect of paternal care on female mate choice. I first examined whether mate choice based on paternal care could be considered adaptive. Paternal care was variable among males and important to female fitness, but, contrary to a previous report, male chest striping could not be used to predict paternal care. Females did not compensate for reductions of male parental care, which resulted in significantly reduced nestling growth. In chapter two I tested the idea that monogamy in birds is maintained because of the need for biparental care. I reduced the need of strict biparental care by providing pairs at some nests with supplemental food, and found that the main effect of supplemental food was on maternal, not paternal behaviour. The first two chapters suggest that males and females provide for their brood independently from each other, which is in disagreement with current models on the maintenance of biparental care. These models assume that any given factor must affect maternal and paternal care equally for biparental care to be maintained. In Chapter three I showed that the effects of brood size and nestling age on parental care are similar for both sexes. In Chapter four I deal with age-related changes in reproductive success and the possible effects on female mate choice. Age affected the likelihood of breeding in females, but only the time of breeding in males. These changes were accompanied by age-related increases in size in both sexes. These results raise the possibility of age-related increases in parental ability, and female preference for older males.

This thesis examines the romantic relationship of Henry Tutte and Edith Willey according to three main influences – religion, gender, and letter writing – seeking to understand Henry and Edith’s conceptions of courtship and marriage by analyzing their love letters to one another. It argues that all three shaped their relationship – religion and gender serving as frameworks of understanding and correspondence as a space for identity creation. Edith and Henry’s status as officers in the Salvation Army meant that they were officially regulated by Army sanction and unofficially regulated by the Salvationist community. The couple followed the majority of the regulations placed on them but at times negotiated and refashioned the limits of acceptably in order to foster emotional and spiritual intimacy. Henry and Edith saw connections between the spiritual love supported by Army ideology and the romantic love that they felt for one another, which lead them to couch their relationship in their faith. Conceptual connections between faith and gender continued as they wrote about their future roles as husband and wife, imagining their lives together and molding one another through subtle written interactions. / Graduate

Zaprionus tuberculatus and Z. sepsoides are two sibling species of drosophilid fly which are sympatric throughout tropical Africa. Their sexual behaviour has previously received little study. In this thesis, the courtship behaviours of the two species are described, and the descriptions compared with previously published descriptions by other authors. Three different laboratory-bred strains of Z. sepsoides, and two of Z. tuberculatus, were studied, and their male courtship "songs" (produced by male wing vibration) were compared. The main objects of the project were to study the mechanisms by which members of these two species identify the sex of other individuals (sexual dimorphism being slight); and the isolating mechanisms operating between the two species. Preliminary observations suggested that males could probably identify females by chemosensory cues. However, males would sometimes also court each other. Further experiments on the males' ability to distinguish sex-specific pheromones gave ambiguous results. There were no grounds to suspect that females could distinguish between the sexes by chemosensory means, and further experiments gave no evidence for such an ability. Preliminary observations indicated that that there was an effective pre-mating reproductive barrier between male Z. sepsoides and female Z. tuberculatus, but male Z. tuberculatus were sometimes able to copulate with female Z. sepsoides. These interspecific matings resulted in infertile eggs. Further experiments seemed to confirm that the isolating mechanism between the two species is asymmetric, the onus of species recognition lying largely on Z. sepsoides. Male Z. sepsoides apparently recognise a female's species by chemosensory means, while female Z. sepsoides recognize a male's species by his "Type-2" courtship "song". There was also some evidence that female Z. sepsoides could distinguish between males of the two species by olfactory means. Z. tuberculatus were not shown to be able to distinguish reliably between the two species. The relevance of these findings to current theories about mechanisms of speciation is discussed.

Both major histocompatibility genes (MHC) and infection have been shown to influence urinary odours in mice, and mice may use MHC-associated odours to detect kin for the purpose of choosing communal nesting partners, or to avoid mating with close relatives. Additionally, mice may use infection-related odours to avoid mating with sick individuals or those genetically susceptible to infection. I tested the above theories using urine as the source of odour. In a series of odour preference experiments, employing two MHC-congenic strains of mice (B10 and B10.Q), I tested the proposition that females prefer MHC-similar female odours when choosing female relatives as nesting partners, and that females prefer MHC-disparate male odours for the purpose of disassoratative mating. I found that females did not display a preference for MHC-similar female odours or MHC-disparate male odours. However, when B10.Q male urine donors were infected with 100 L3 larvae of Heligmosomoides polygyrus (Nematoda), both strains of female displayed a significant preference for the odours of uninfected B10 males. To determine whether female odour preference for uninfected males extended to actual mate choice, I subsequently examined female mate choice in a controlled setting. Using CD-1 outbred mice, I found that females preferred to mate with uninfected males over males subclinically infected with 200 L3 of H. polygyrus , as evidenced by first ejaculation preferences. In this experiment, males were tethered, and as such, male dominance interactions were prevented. Thus, in the final experiment, to assess whether male dominance interactions influenced female mate choice, in addition to infection, I tested female mate choice in a seminatural setting, which allowed for social interactions to occur. In this study, paternity was ascertained through DNA analysis and the resulting data indicated that neither male dominance status nor infection had a substantial impact on fema / Overall, the data do not support the theory that MHC-based preferences occur through urinary odours. However, the results do substantiate previous findings regarding female preferences for the odours of uninfected males. Furthermore, data from the controlled mate choice assay indicate that female odour preference for uninfected males extends to actual mate choice. Conversely, in the seminatural setting neither dominance nor infection prevailed as factors driving female mate choice. I suggest that this may be a consequence of the structural complexity of my arenas.

This study explores the morphology and electrical behavior of breeding weakly electric fish. Wave-type electric fish communicate by means of a continuous oscillatory electric signal produced by an electric organ. The electric organ discharges at frequencies which are sexually dimorphic in many species of electric fish. This dimorphism is thought to be attributed to female mate choice, although to date, there is no evidence for mate choice or intrasexual competition to have driven the evolution of this signaling dimorphism in wave-type electric fish. Here, I have tracked changes in body shape and electric organ discharge (EOD) frequency of A. leptorhynchus throughout a breeding conditioning period. I find that only females alter the shape of their bodies, presumably to account for increasing egg mass, during the breeding conditioning period. Throughout this period, both females and males do not alter their EOD frequencies significantly. Gravid females were used in an unforced preference test, where they were presented with two live, male A. leptorhynchus. Female preference was indicated by a passage of the female into one of the two male compartments. I find that females show a preference for higher EOD frequency males, while no preference is shown for longer, heavier or larger-amplitude males. Further investigations are needed to dissociate the role of EOD frequency from potentially correlated male traits, such as rate and type of modulations of EOD frequency. The finding of this study that female A. leptorhynchus prefer males of higher EOD frequency establishes wave-type weakly electric fish as a promising model system for the study of the evolution and the sensory mechanisms of female choice.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 1989. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the World Wide Web.