Department of Anthropology, University of Durham, 43 Old Elvet, DH1 3HN, Durham, United Kingdom,
Hum Nat. 1996 Dec;7(4):381-401. doi: 10.1007/BF02732900.
We summarize the ethnographic literature illustrating that "abnormal birth" circumstances and "ill omens" operate as cues to terminate parental investment. A review of the medical literature provides evidence to support our assertion that ill omens serve as markers of biological conditions that will threaten the survival of infants. Daly and Wilson (1984) tested the prediction that children of demonstrably poor phenotypic quality will be common victims of infanticide. We take this hypothesis one stage further and argue that some children will be poor vehicles for parental investment yet are not of demonstrably poor quality at birth. We conclude that when people dispose of infants due to "superstitious beliefs" they are pursuing an adaptive strategy in eliminating infants who are poor vehicles for parental investment.
我们总结了民族志文献，表明“异常分娩”情况和“不祥之兆”是终止父母投资的线索。对医学文献的回顾提供了证据支持我们的断言，即不祥之兆是威胁婴儿生存的生物状况的标志。戴利和威尔逊（1984 年）检验了这样一种预测，即明显表型质量差的儿童将成为普遍的杀婴受害者。我们将这一假设更进一步，并认为有些儿童将是父母投资的不良载体，但在出生时并没有明显的低质量。我们得出结论，当人们因为“迷信”而处理婴儿时，他们是在采取一种适应性策略来消除那些父母投资不良的婴儿。
