Geary David C
Department of Psychological Sciences, Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211-2500, United States.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2021 Jun;125:26-32. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.02.020. Epub 2021 Feb 17.
The contributions of evolutionary processes to human sex differences are vigorously debated. One counterargument is that the magnitude of many sex differences fluctuates from one context to the next, implying an environment origin. Sexual selection provides a framework for integrating evolutionary processes and environmental influences on the origin and magnitude of sex differences. The dynamics of sexual selection involve competition for mates and discriminative mate choices. The associated traits are typically exaggerated and condition-dependent, that is, their development and expression are very sensitive to social and ecological conditions. The magnitude of sex differences in sexually selected traits should then be largest under optimal social and ecological conditions and shrink as conditions deteriorate. The basics of this framework are described, and its utility is illustrated with discussion of fluctuations in the magnitude of human physical, behavioral, and cognitive sex differences.
进化过程对人类性别差异的影响引发了激烈的争论。一种反对观点认为，许多性别差异的程度会因环境背景的不同而波动，这意味着其源于环境。性选择为整合进化过程以及环境对性别差异的起源和程度的影响提供了一个框架。性选择的动态过程涉及配偶竞争和有歧视性的配偶选择。与之相关的特征通常被夸大且依赖于条件，也就是说，它们的发育和表现对社会和生态条件非常敏感。那么，在最佳的社会和生态条件下，性选择特征的性别差异程度应该最大，而随着条件恶化则会缩小。本文描述了这个框架的基本原理，并通过讨论人类身体、行为和认知方面性别差异程度的波动来说明其效用。
