Content, cost, and context: A framework for understanding human signaling systems

Barker, Jessica; Heap, Stephen; Puurtinen, Mikael; Sosis, Richard

doi:10.1002/evan.21768

Cited by 51 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 95 publications

(196 reference statements)

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“…Many evolutionary scholars emphasize the costliness of prohibitions (Barker, Power, Heap, Puurtinen, & Sosis, 2019;Sosis, 2006), but our research indicates that other factors might influence prohibition. In line with the emphasis on costliness, we found that shamans are tabooed from sex and freely eating during healing ceremonies and initiations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

Self-denial by shamans promotes perceptions of religious credibility

Singh¹,

Henrich²

2019

Preprint

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Religious leaders refrain from sex and food across human societies. Researchers argue that this self-denial promotes perceptions of credibility, invoking such associations in explanations of shamanism and prosocial religion, but few, if any, quantitative data exist testing these claims. Here we show that shamans in a small-scale society observe costly prohibitions and that observers infer three dimensions of credibility – cooperativeness, religious belief, and supernatural power – from shamans’ self-denial. We investigated costly prohibitions on shamanic healers, known as sikerei, among the rainforest horticulturalist Mentawai people of Siberut Island. We found that shamans must observe permanent taboos on various animals, as well as prohibitions on sex and food during initiation and ceremonial healing. Using vignettes, we evaluated Mentawai participants’ inferences about self-denial, testing three mechanisms of religious credibility: cooperative costly signaling, credibility-enhancing displays, and supernatural otherness. We found support for all three mechanisms: Mentawai participants infer self-denying shamans to be (1) cooperative, (2) sincere believers in the religious rules, and (3) dissimilar from normal humans and with greater supernatural powers. These data provide novel, quantitative evidence that self-denial develops to promote perceptions of practitioners’ religious credibility.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

Self-denial by shamans promotes perceptions of religious credibility

Singh¹,

Henrich²

2019

Preprint

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“…Second, men's investment in their children may serve as a signal to current and future mates and allies of their generosity, their sociability or their provisioning ability [36][37][38]. In the animal literature, Kokko et al [39] describe a similar concept, where males compete for females by demonstrating their prowess as good providers and there is a substantial literature more broadly positing that paternal care can serve as mating effort [40,41].…”

Section: (B) Paternity Confidence and Paternal Care Decisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why men invest in non-biological offspring: paternal care and paternity confidence among Himba pastoralists

Prall

Scelza

2020

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Paternal investment is predicted to be a facultative calculation based on expected fitness returns and modulated by a host of social predictors including paternity uncertainty. However, the direct role of paternity confidence on the patterns of paternal investment is relatively unknown, in part due to a lack of research in populations with high levels of paternity uncertainty. Additionally, much of the work on paternity certainty uses cues of paternity confidence rather than direct assessments from fathers. We examine the effect of paternity assertions on the multiple measures of paternal investment in Himba pastoralists. Despite a high degree of paternity uncertainty, Himba have strong norms associated with social fatherhood, with men expected to invest equally in biological and non-biological offspring. Our behavioural data show patterns that largely conform to these norms. For domains of investment that are highly visible to the community, such as brideprice payments, we find no evidence of investment biased by paternity confidence. However, more private investment decisions do show some evidence of sex-specific titration. We discuss these results in light of broader considerations about paternal care and the mating–parenting trade-off.

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“…Regarding human signaling, there is a variety of traits that cannot be directly observed and the only way to provide others with information about such strategic qualities is to signal them by the behavior directly linked to that trait (e.g., Barker et al, 2019 identify material, embodied and social capital as different kinds of qualities that are beneficial for humans to signal). For example, Bliege Bird and her colleagues (2001) have utilized CST to reconceptualize hunting and altruistic meat sharing among the Meriam turtle hunters.…”

Section: The Costly Signaling Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

An Integrative Framework of Commitment Displays in Religious Systems

Chvaja¹,

Řezníček²

2019

HEB

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The occurrence of apparently costly and wasteful ritual behavior has long been puzzling for evolutionary scholars. We summarize two models of ritual behavior anchored in the theory of honest signaling. First, the costly signaling theory of ritual (CSTR) is introduced as a solution to the problem of cooperation by allowing ritual participants to signal their commitment to the social norms, which are often fostered by supernatural agents. Second, credibility enhancing displays (CREDs) are proposed as a cultural evolutionary extension of CSTR, which helps to spread the ritual practice and the associated commitment to moralizing supernatural agents. In our view, both mechanisms promote cooperation, and thus help spread and preserve costly ritual behavior. We outline a framework in which CSTR and CREDs can be hierarchically integrated and discuss the outstanding questions related to both CSTR and CREDs, including suggestions for future research.

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Content, cost, and context: A framework for understanding human signaling systems

Cited by 51 publications

References 95 publications

Self-denial by shamans promotes perceptions of religious credibility

Self-denial by shamans promotes perceptions of religious credibility

Why men invest in non-biological offspring: paternal care and paternity confidence among Himba pastoralists

An Integrative Framework of Commitment Displays in Religious Systems

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