This article argues that social science can be conducted beneath the umbrella of natural science and evolutionary theory. Evolutionary social science makes four key causal assumptions: (a) that modern societies owe their character to an interaction of hunter—gatherer adaptations with the modern environment, (b) that some changes in societies reflect change in individuals, (c) that historical changes and cross-societal differences can be due to similar adaptational mechanisms, given (d) that different social contexts (e.g., food scarcity, single parenthood) modify psychological development through adaptive mechanisms. This approach is illustrated by cross-national data on violent crime and single parenthood.
Abrahamson, M. (1998). Out-of-wedlock births: The United States in comparative perspective. Westport, CT: Praeger .
2.
Abrahamson, M. (2000). Case studies of surges in nonmarital births. Marriage and Family Review, 30, 127-151.
3.
Alaimao, K., Olson, C.M., & Frongillo, E.A. (2002). Family food insufficiency, but not low family income, is positively associated with dysthymia and suicide in adolescents. Journal of Nutrition, 132, 719-725.
4.
Alaimao, K., Olson, C.M., Frongillo, E.A., & Briefel, R. (2001). Food insufficiency, family income, and health in U.S. preschool and school-age children. American Journal of Public Health, 91, 781-786.
5.
Anderson, A.L. (2002). Individual and contextual influences on delinquency: The role of the single-parent family. Journal of Criminal Justice, 30, 575-587.
6.
Argyle, M. (1994). The psychology of social class. LondonRoutledge.
7.
Barber, N. (2000a). On the relationship between country sex ratios and teen pregnancy rates: A replication. Cross-Cultural Research , 34, 26-37.
8.
Barber, N. (2000b). The sex ratio as a predictor of cross-national variation in violent crime. Cross-Cultural Research, 34, 264-282.
9.
Barber, N. (2000c). Why parents matter: Parental investment and child outcomes. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey.
10.
Barber, N. (2001). On the relationship between marital opportunity and teen pregnancy: The sex ratio question. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32, 259-267.
11.
Barber, N. (2002). The science of romance. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus.
12.
Barber, N. (2003a). Divorce and reduced economic and emotional interdependence: A cross-national study. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage , 39, 113-124.
13.
Barber, N. (2003b). Paternal investment prospects and cross-national differences in single parenthood. Cross-Cultural Research , 37, 163-177.
14.
Barber, N. (2003c). The sex ratio and female marital opportunity as predictors of violent crime in England, Scotland, and the U.S. Cross-Cultural Research, 37, 373-392.
15.
Barber, N. (2004a). Kindness in a cruel world: The evolution of altruism . Buffalo, NY: Prometheus.
16.
Barber, N. (2004b). Single parenthood as a predictor of cross-national variation in violent crime. Cross-Cultural Research, 38, 343-358.
17.
Barber, N. (2005a). Educational and ecological correlates of IQ: A cross-national investigation. Intelligence, 33, 273-284.
18.
Barber, N. (2005b). Evolutionary explanations for societal differences in single parenthood. EvolutionaryPsychology, 3, 133-165.
19.
Barber, N. (2006a). Is the effect of national wealth on academic achievement mediated by mass media and computers?Cross-Cultural Research, 40, 130-151.
20.
Barber, N. (2006b). Why is violent crime so common on the Americas ? Aggressive Behavior, 32, 442-450.
21.
Barkow, J.H., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (1992). The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture. New York: Oxford University Press.
22.
Belsky, J., Steinberg, L., & Draper, P. (1991). Childhood experience, interpersonal development, and reproductive strategy: An evolutionary theory of socialization. Child Development, 62, 647-670.
23.
Boehm, C. (2000). Hierarchy in the forest. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
24.
Cashdan, E. (1993). Attracting mates: The effects of paternal investment on mate attraction strategies. Ethology and Sociobiology, 14, 1-24.
25.
Cohen, L.E., & Machalek, R. (1988). A general theory of expropriative crime. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 465-501.
26.
Cookston, J.T. (1999). Parental supervision and family structure: Effects on adolescent problem behaviors. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage , 32, 107-122.
27.
Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (1987). From evolution to behavior: Evolutionary psychology as the missing link. In J. Dupre (Ed.), The latest on the best: Essays on evolution and optimality (pp. 277-306). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
28.
Dallman, M.F., Akana, S.F., Laugero, K.D., et al. (2003). A spoonful of sugar: Feedback signals of energy stores and corticosterone regulate response to chronic stress. Physiology and Behavior, 79, 3-12.
29.
Daly, M., & Wilson, M. (1983). Sex, evolution, and behavior (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth .
30.
Daly, M., & Wilson, M. (1988). Homicide. Hawthorne, NY: Aldinede Gruyter.
31.
Demuth, S., & Brown, S.L. (2004). Family structure, family processes, and adolescent delinquency. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency , 41, 58-81.
32.
Dietz, T.L. (2000). Disciplining children: Characteristics associated with the use of corporal punishment. Child Abuse and Neglect , 24, 1529-1542.
33.
Draper, P., & Harpending, H. (1982). Father absence and reproductive strategy: An evolutionary synthesis. Journal of Anthropological Research, 38, 255-273.
34.
Durrant, R., & Ellis, B.J. (2003). Evolutionary psychology. In M. Gallagher & R. Nelson (Eds.), Comprehensive handbook of psychology, vol. 3 biological psychology (pp. 1-33). New York: John Wiley.
35.
Elliott, D.S., & Ageton, S.S. (1980). Reconciling age and class differences in self-reported and official estimates of delinquency. American Sociological Review, 45, 95-110.
36.
Ellis, B.J. (2004). Timing of pubertal maturation in girls: An integrated life history approach. Psychological Bulletin,130, 920-958.
37.
Ellis, L., & Walsh, A. (1997). Gene-based evolutionary theories in criminology . Criminology, 35, 229-276.
38.
Ember, C.R., & Ember, M. (1994). War, socialization, and interpersonal violence . Journal of Conflict Resolution, 38, 620-646.
39.
Ember, M. (1974). Warfare, sex ratio and polygyny. Ethnology, 13, 197-206.
40.
Eysenck, K.J. (1976). Sex and personality. London : Open Books.
41.
Fessler, D.M.T. (2004). Shame in two cultures: Implications for evolutionary approaches. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 4, 207-262.
42.
Field, T. (2001). Touch. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press .
43.
Flinn, M.V. (1999). Family environment, stress, and health during childhood. In C. Panter-Brick & C. Worthman (Eds.), Hormones, health and behavior (pp. 105-138). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
44.
Geary, D.C. (1998). Male, female: The evolution of human sex differences . Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
45.
Geary, D.C., & Flinn, M.V. (2001). Evolution of human parental behavior and the human family. Parenting: Science and Practice, 1, 5-61.
46.
Guttentag, M., & Secord, P.F. (1983). Too many women: The sex ratio question. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
47.
Hart, B., & Risley, T. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
48.
Hawkes, K., O'Connell, J.F., & Blurton-Jones, N.G. (2001). Hunting and nuclear families: Some lessons from the Hadza about men's work. Current Anthropology, 42, 681-709.
49.
Hetherington, E.M., & Kelly, J. (2002). For better of for worse: Divorce reconsidered . New York: Norton.
50.
Jaffee, S.R., Moffitt, T.E., & Taylor, A. (2003). Life with, or without, father: Benefits of living with two biological parents depends on the father's antisocial behavior. Child Development, 74, 109-126.
51.
Kalinichev, M., Easterling, K.W., Plotsky, P.M., & Holtzgman, S.G. (2002). Long-lasting changes in stress-induced corticosterone response and anxiety-like behaviors as a consequence of neonatal maternal separation in Long-Evans rats. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior, 73, 131-140.
52.
Kelly, M. (2000). Inequality and crime. Review of Economics and Statistics, 82, 530-539.
53.
Kotch, J.B., Browne, D.C., Dufort, V., & Winsor, J. (1999). Predicting child maltreatment in the first 4 years of life from characteristics assessed in the neonatal period. Child Abuse and Neglect, 23, 305-319.
54.
Lancaster, J.B. (1997). An evolutionary perspective on human parental investment. In P. A. Gowaty (Ed.), Feminism and evolutionary biology: Boundaries, intersections and frontiers (pp. 466-488). New York: Chapman and Hall.
55.
Lopreato, J., & Crippen, T.A. (1999). Crisis in sociology: The need forDarwin. Somerset, NJ: Transaction .
56.
Low, B. ( 1989). Cross-cultural patterns in the training of children. Journal of ComparativePsychology, 103, 311-319.
57.
Lupien, S.J., King, S., Meaney, M.J., & McEwen, B.S. (2001). Can poverty get under your skin? Basal cortisol levels and cognitive function in children from low and high socioeconomic status. DevelopmentalPsychopathology, 13, 653-676.
58.
Lykken, D. (1995). The antisocial personalities. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
59.
Mealey, L. (1995). The sociobiology of sociopathy. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 18, 523-599.
60.
Murdock, G.P. (1967). Ethnographic atlas. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
61.
Neapolitan, J.L. (1996). Cross-national crime data: Some undressed problems . Journal of Crime and Justice, 19, 95-112.
62.
Neapolitan, J.L. (1999). A comparative analysis of nations with low and high levels of violent crime. Journal of Criminal Justice , 27, 259-274.
63.
Nightingale, C.H. (1993). On the edge: A history of poor Black children and their American dreams. NewYork: Basic.
64.
Onyeiu, S. (1997). Altruism and economic development: The case of the Igbo of south-eastern Nigeria. Journal of Socioeconomics , 26, 407-420.
65.
Paschall, M.J., Ennett, S.T., & Flewellin, R.L. (1996). Relationship among family characteristics and violent behavior by Black and White male adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 25, 177-197.
66.
Patterson, G.R., DeBaryshe, B.D., & Ramsey, E. (1989). A developmental perspective on antisocial behavior . American Psychologist, 44, 329-335.
67.
Plomin, R. (1990). Nature and nurture: An introduction to human behavioral genetics. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole .
68.
Quinlan, R. (2003). Father absence, parental care, and female reproductive development. Evolution andHuman Behavior, 24, 376-390.
69.
Reiss, D., Heatherington, E.M., Plomin, R., Howe, G.W., Simmens, S.J., Henderson, S.H., et al. (1995). Genetic questions for environmental studies: Differential parenting and psychopathology in adolescence. Archives of General Psychiatry,52, 925-936.
70.
Robinson, W.S. (1950). Ecological correlations and the behavior of individuals . American Sociological Review, 15, 351-357.
71.
Roff, D.A. (2002). Life history evolution. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer.
72.
Rosen, B.C., & Dandrade, R. (1959). The psychological origins of achievement motivation . Sociometry, 22, 185-218.
73.
Sauvola, A., Koskinen, O., Jokelainen, J., Hakko, H., Jarvelin, M.R., & Rasanen, P. (2002). Family type and criminal behavior of male offspring: The Northern Finland Birth Cohort Study. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 48, 115-121.
74.
Shostak, M. (1981). Nisa: The life and words of a !Kung woman. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
75.
Simpson, J.A., & Gangestad, S.W. (1992). Sociosexuality and romantic partner choice. Journal of Personality, 60, 31-51.
76.
Smith, E.A., & Winterhalder, B. (1992). Evolutionary ecology and human behavior. New York: Aldinede Gruyter.
77.
Soares, R.R. (2004). Development, crime and punishment: Accounting for the international differences in crime rates. Journal of Development Economics, 73, 155-184.
78.
South, S.J., & Messner, S.F. (1986). The sex ratio and women's involvement in crime: A cross-national analysis. Sociological Quarterly, 28, 171-188.
79.
Strassman, B. (1997). Polygyny as a risk factor for child mortality among the Dogon. Current Anthropology, 38, 688-695.
80.
Strsaus, M.A., Sugarman, D.B., & Giles-Sims, J. (1997). Spanking by parents and subsequent antisocial behavior of children. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 151, 761-767.
81.
Suomi, S.J. (1997). Early determinants of behaviour: Evidence from primate studies. British MedicalBulletin, 53, 170-184.
82.
Symons, D. (1979). The evolution of human sexuality. New York: Oxford University Press.
83.
Teicher, M.H., Andersen, S.L., Polcari, A., Anderson, C.M., & Navalta, C.P. (2002). Developmental neurobiology of childhood stress and trauma. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 25, 397-426.
84.
Trivers, R.L. (1972). Parental investment and sexual selection. In B. Campbell (Ed.), Sexual selection and the descent of man (pp. 136-179). Chicago: Aldine Atherton.
85.
Uvnas-Moberg, K. (1998). Oxytocin may mediate the benefits of positive social interaction and emotions. Psychoneuroendocrinology , 23, 819-835.
86.
Vila, B. (1994). A general paradigm for understanding criminal behavior: Extending evolutionary ecological theory. Criminology , 32, 311-359.
87.
Wallerstein, J.S. (1998). Children of divorce: A society in search of policy . In M. A. Mason, A. Skolnick, & S. D. Sugarman (Eds.), All our families: New policies for a new century (pp. 66-95). New York: Oxford University Press.
88.
Whiting, B.B., & Whiting J.W.M. (1975). Children of six cultures . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
