Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
By:Alan S. Miller Ph.D., Satoshi Kanazawa Ph.D.
4. Most suicide bombers are Muslim
According to the Oxford University sociologist Diego Gambetta, editor of Making Sense of Suicide Missions, a comprehensive history of this troubling yet topical phenomenon, while suicide missions are not always religiously motivated, when religion is involved, it is always Muslim. Why is this? Why is Islam the only religion that motivates its followers to commit suicide missions?
The surprising answer from the evolutionary psychological perspective is that Muslim suicide bombing may have nothing to do with Islam or the Koran (except for two lines in it). It may have nothing to do with the religion, politics, the culture, the race, the ethnicity, the language, or the region. As with everything else from this perspective, it may have a lot to do with sex, or, in this case, the absence of sex.
What distinguishes Islam from other major religions is that it tolerates polygyny. By allowing some men to monopolize all women and altogether excluding many men from reproductive opportunities, polygyny creates shortages of available women. If 50 percent of men have two wives each, then the other 50 percent don’t get any wives at all.
So polygyny increases competitive pressure on men, especially young men of low status. It therefore increases the likelihood that young men resort to violent means to gain access to mates. By doing so, they have little to lose and much to gain compared with men who already have wives. Across all societies, polygyny makes men violent, increasing crimes such as murder and rape, even after controlling for such obvious factors as economic development, economic inequality, population density, the level of democracy, and political factors in the region.
However, polygyny itself is not a sufficient cause of suicide bombing. Societies in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean are much more polygynous than the Muslim nations in the Middle East and North Africa. And they do have very high levels of violence. Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from a long history of continuous civil wars—but not suicide bombings.
The other key ingredient is the promise of 72 virgins waiting in heaven for any martyr in Islam. The prospect of exclusive access to virgins may not be so appealing to anyone who has even one mate on earth, which strict monogamy virtually guarantees. However, the prospect is quite appealing to anyone who faces the bleak reality on earth of being a complete reproductive loser.
It is the combination of polygyny and the promise of a large harem of virgins in heaven that motivates many young Muslim men to commit suicide bombings. Consistent with this explanation, all studies of suicide bombers indicate that they are significantly younger than not only the Muslim population in general but other (nonsuicidal) members of their own extreme political organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. And nearly all suicide bombers are single.
5. Having sons reduces the likelihood of divorce
Sociologists and demographers have discovered that couples who have at least one son face significantly less risk of divorce than couples who have only daughters. Why is this?
Since a man’s mate value is largely determined by his wealth, status, and power—whereas a woman’s is largely determined by her youth and physical attractiveness—the father has to make sure that his son will inherit his wealth, status, and power, regardless of how much or how little of these resources he has. In contrast, there is relatively little that a father (or mother) can do to keep a daughter youthful or make her more physically attractive.
The continued presence of (and investment by) the father is therefore important for the son, but not as crucial for the daughter. The presence of sons thus deters divorce and departure of the father from the family more than the presence of daughters, and this effect tends to be stronger among wealthy families.
6. Beautiful people have more daughters
It is commonly believed that whether parents conceive a boy or a girl is up to random chance. Close, but not quite; it is largely up to chance. The normal sex ratio at birth is 105 boys for every 100 girls. But the sex ratio varies slightly in different circumstances and for different families. There are factors that subtly influence the sex of an offspring.
One of the most celebrated principles in evolutionary biology, the Trivers-Willard hypothesis, states that wealthy parents of high status have more sons, while poor parents of low status have more daughters. This is because children generally inherit the wealth and social status of their parents. Throughout history, sons from wealthy families who would themselves become wealthy could expect to have a large number of wives, mistresses and concubines, and produce dozens or hundreds of children, whereas their equally wealthy sisters can have only so many children. So natural selection designs parents to have biased sex ratio at birth depending upon their economic circumstances—more boys if they are wealthy, more girls if they are poor. (The biological mechanism by which this occurs is not yet understood.)
This hypothesis has been documented around the globe. American presidents, vice presidents, and cabinet secretaries have more sons than daughters. Poor Mukogodo herders in East Africa have more daughters than sons. Church parish records from the 17th and 18th centuries show that wealthy landowners in Leezen, Germany, had more sons than daughters, while farm laborers and tradesmen without property had more daughters than sons. In a survey of respondents from 46 nations, wealthy individuals are more likely to indicate a preference for sons if they could only have one child, whereas less wealthy individuals are more likely to indicate a preference for daughters.
The generalized Trivers-Willard hypothesis goes beyond a family’s wealth and status: If parents have any traits that they can pass on to their children and that are better for sons than for daughters, then they will have more boys. Conversely, if parents have any traits that they can pass on to their children and that are better for daughters, they will have more girls.
Physical attractiveness, while a universally positive quality, contributes even more to women’s reproductive success than to men’s. The generalized hypothesis would therefore predict that physically attractive parents should have more daughters than sons. Once again, this is the case. Americans who are rated “very attractive” have a 56 percent chance of having a daughter for their first child, compared with 48 percent for everyone else.
Copyright belongs to Psychology Today.
5000: 我还是单身也。。不会有什么问题吧。。。。不会做出什么吧。。。...
正: 那是不是娶个丑老婆更容易生男孩？
alice: 太不专业了，而且是站在男权的角度说的，很难想象它是一项心理研...
那是不是娶个丑老婆更容易生男孩？
剑:2007-08-29 11:05 AM
拜读了,以前从来没有意识到这方面的东西.
skyfire:2007-08-29 11:35 AM
父亲必须确定他的儿子能继承他的财富、地位和权利，而不考虑他拥有的资源量。
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这句读起来怪怪的，看不太懂～～
qk:2007-08-29 12:55 PM
confused
Moses:2007-08-29 14:04 PM
看过 Suiside Killer 这部纪录片的人, 大概都能了解参与 Jihad 的穆斯林的想法, 那些人肉炸弹甚至还有少数女性. 人肉炸弹们都是来自贫穷的家庭, 性欲旺盛却对性有强烈负罪感, 因而产生焦虑.
serein:2007-08-29 14:22 PM
先有鸡还是先有蛋？
富有的家庭需要生男孩，所以他们生男孩的概率大？贫穷的人家不需要继承人所以生女孩的概率大？
意思是生男生女的概率来源于我们的需求？？
puzzle~
jkfh:2007-08-29 17:11 PM
好多的朋友喜欢以不是。。。就是。。。得出结论，这种方法是错误滴。
即：相关关系并不代表因果关系。
人性的真相的误区，我想，是理解上的误区，或者说就是心理上的盲区。
Kevin:2007-08-29 17:32 PM
额，那时不是说，以后美女会越来越多，帅哥会越来越少？
因为长得pp的才容易生女儿，不pp的生男孩。。。
xia4.org:2007-08-29 20:41 PM
另外，至于男性拥有大量女性的结果……我觉得看情况吧。目前现代社会奉行的制度是，90%的人都是一夫一妻制，只有在金字塔顶尖的那群人才是一夫多妻，但他们的人数是如此之少，以至于不会影响到整体。
xia4.org:2007-08-29 20:44 PM
伊斯兰教并不是唯一在教义中加入自杀的一群，事实上任何国家主义、大部分的宗教都有。中国在第二次世界大战时，在战况紧逼的时候，甚至有烈士在身上捆着炸药滚到坦克底下去。之所以伊斯兰国家要采用自杀式攻击的主因是……他们实在太穷了！他们没有航空母舰，没有经济发展，没有高科技遥控，他们可以使用的只是自己的肉体。
yanli9119:2007-08-29 23:02 PM
为什么把女性说得那么无能呢，只有长相一样，我身边有很多长相又好，又有实力的人，都什么时代了。
spark:2007-08-30 0:34 AM
这些东西说实话 我早就意识到了 但是我觉得 人类根本解释不了 这样的解释不算是解释 所以有时候人只能说一些确实存在的现象但是 不要搬过某某科学家调查研究什么的 他调查 调查的也是一中现象 不能因为多就说明确实存在 也不能因为它确实存在而就用可以听得懂的语言或是人类的那点小聪明来乱加猜测 更不要觉得很对盖以什么什么理论什么的
…………………………………..
人就是人 许多东西 人只能解决一部分 ….就很不错了
danny:2007-08-30 9:25 AM
生育的性别比是1：1吧 105：100是因为男女的年龄差别而不是生育比例
初九:2007-08-30 23:30 PM
总不能为了生儿子找个丑媳妇去吧…我还是喜欢漂亮的
太不专业了，而且是站在男权的角度说的，很难想象它是一项心理研究得出的结论。
右石:2007-09-03 20:40 PM
那么按照我们现在的男女比例，岂不是未来二三十年的社会会很不安定？
Guest:2007-09-08 16:32 PM
下面这一部分的翻译怎么感觉和原文有出入？
If parents have any traits that they can pass on to their children and that are better for sons than for daughters, then they will have more boys. Conversely, if parents have any traits that they can pass on to their children and that are better for daughters, they will have more girls.
如果父母有任何可以传递给孩子的特质，他们都更倾向于传给儿子而不是女儿，因而他们的儿子更多。相反的，如果他们没有什么特质可以传给孩子，这可能对女儿更好，所以他们将有更多的女儿。
芒果的季节…:2007-09-09 0:50 AM
一句话… 宗教百分之99.9是害人的!!!
我还是单身也。。不会有什么问题吧。。。。不会做出什么吧。。。。。
社会现象，它难道真的只是一种现象吗？在聪明的人人。还是用现象。来分析。。
用心良苦啊。。。。
难道这样就可以改变一个人对另一半选择的。重新考虑吗？
如果真的像，漂亮的MM就生女了。那现在这个社会又对GG要求那么高。。。。不是有好多的MM要流落街头。。不会吧。。。
现实中好多男人都在说那个那个的老婆漂亮。。。。。
哎人啊。。。矛盾啊。。
在矛盾中生活。。在无奈中选择。。
Bop:2007-09-12 23:27 PM
不太赞同
hellexu:2007-09-16 10:32 AM
只是从历史进化而积累的生物机制角度做了一种说明，一定意义上，还是显示出规律， 但是我们现在看这些问题的时候不能从个案的角度去作任何推导，只有形成很多数据的时候才会显示出规律。
babyblue:2007-09-30 12:22 PM
hehe,刚刚看到哦。
同意17楼的看法，译文的确有些问题，这样子好像有点误导读者噢。。。
Guest:2007-10-09 10:45 AM
翻译很有问题，应该是如果父母有任何可以传给下一代的特质，如果这特质对儿子更好，他们就会多生儿子，如果这特质是对女儿更好，他们就会多生女儿
jean:2007-11-01 0:31 AM
http://austrolabe.com/2007/07/13/psychology-today-suicide-bombers-are-trying-to-mate/
to have a look at this, i think the ‘truth’ is doubtable (as part of the suicide bomber).
Dora:2007-11-06 21:54 PM
If parents have any traits that they can pass on to their children and that are better for sons than for daughters, then they will have more boys. Conversely, if parents have any traits that they can pass on to their children and that are better for daughters, they will have more girls.
这段应该这样翻译吧：
如果父母有的是比起女儿对儿子会是更好的遗传特质，他们生的孩子儿子会更多。相反的，如果他们有的是对女儿更好的遗传特质，他们将有更多的女儿。
lovergiraffe:2008-02-24 13:39 PM
期待人性真相误区（下），在哪里有？
米高:2008-04-17 17:22 PM
原来生男生女还有这种解释，虽然还不太明白，不过在慢慢理解中。原来换个角度思考会有这么大的不同。
芏啦啦:2008-04-24 11:28 AM
富人多生男 窮人多生女 漂亮女性多生女
那富人娶了漂亮女性 生男的比率和生女的比率是多少？
zergback:2008-06-06 13:02 PM
可不可以这样理解，生育后代的目的就是为了传递基因；而性的选择上，男性的社会地位更重要，女性的漂亮程度更重要。对于一个具有较高社会地位的家庭来说，他们的儿子具有高社会地位的可能性要大于他们的女儿漂亮的可能性，故而生儿子几率大。而对于贫穷家庭来说，他们的儿子具有高社会地位的可能性较小，相对而言女儿漂亮的可能性显的更大了。
冰雨:2008-08-07 23:07 PM
单身不是也很好嘛，实在不行同性恋也不错啊！非得找个异性结婚岂不是太普通、太没意思了吗？
我亦＆Ψ逍遥:2008-09-24 20:21 PM
我也喜欢但身
我来说两句