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(Super-)cultural clustering explains gender differences too

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2022

Lynda G. Boothroyd Open the ORCID record for Lynda G. Boothroyd [Opens in a new window]  and
Catharine P. Cross
Lynda G. Boothroyd
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham DH1 1HQ, [email protected]://www.boothlab.org
Catharine P. Cross
Affiliation:
School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AJ, UK. [email protected]
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Abstract

The target paper shows how cultural adaptations to ecological problems can underpin “paradoxical” patterns of phenotypic variation. We argue: (1) Gendered social learning is a cultural adaptation to an ecological problem. (2) In evolutionarily novel environments, this adaptation generates arbitrary-gendered outcomes, leading to the paradoxical case of larger sex differences in more gender equal societies.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e156
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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