Commentary on Boysen and Isaacs (2022) and Boysen et al. (2022).

Abstract

We provide a commentary and critique on two recently published articles Boysen & Isaacs, 2022) about sexual exploitation of people who experience mental illness as evolutionarily adaptive. We suggest that the studies in both these articles have conceptual and methodological issues that misrepresent the extent to which actual mental illness is a cue to sexual exploitability. Our concerns include the presentation of mental illness as a unitary construct, that the cues suggested are not representative of actual mental illness, and that the evolutionary arguments about sexually exploiting people with mental illness are weak.

Perceptions of exploitability and mental illness: A response to commentary.

“…In their commentary, Kavanagh and Kahl (2022) focus almost exclusively on sexual exploitation of people with mental illness, but this ignores the evidence I presented for a generalized, not sex-specific, perception of exploitability. Although the focus of my first study was on sex (Boysen & Isaacs, 2022), the second study demonstrated that people associate mental illness with vulnerability to several different types of exploitation (Boysen et al, 2022).…”

“…In my first publication examining the association between mental illness and perceived exploitability (Boysen & Isaacs, 2022), the materials from study 1 included survey items adapted from previously established cues of sexual exploitability (Goetz et al, 2012). Kavanagh and Kahl (2022) inaccurately characterize this adaption as misleading. The commentators focus on a single survey item about acting unintelligent.…”

“…Kavanagh and Kahl (2022) ignore the fact that my methods follow standard procedures for research about the perception of social groups. Participants in my studies considered the general category of “people with mental illness” and descriptions of specific disorders.…”

“…Consider Kavanagh and Kahl’s (2022) argument when applied in different contexts. In their commentary, Kavanagh and Kahl’s (2022) argue that mating with people who have mental illness has no fitness benefits.…”

“…Across 9 individual studies, multiple experimental designs, and almost 2,500 participants, clear evidence emerged to suggest that people perceive mental illness as a generalized cue of exploitability. In their commentary on the 2 publications, Kavanagh and Kahl (2022) dismiss the validity of this finding. The purpose of this response is to examine the validity of their concerns.…”