Many sex differences in humans are largest under optimal conditions and shrink as conditions deteriorate; sex differences in growth, social behavior, and cognition illustrate the approach

Now You See Them, and Now You Don’t: An Evolutionarily Informed Model of Environmental Influences on Human Sex Differences. David C. Geary. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, February 17 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.02.020

Highlights

• The magnitude of human sex differences varies across contexts

• An evolutionarily informed model of these environmental influences is discussed

• Many sex differences are largest under optimal conditions and shrink as conditions deteriorate

• Human sex differences in growth, social behavior, and cognition illustrate the approach

• The approach has implications for better understanding sex-specific vulnerabilities

Abstract: The contributions of evolutionary processes to human sex differences are vigorously debated. One counterargument is that the magnitude of many sex differences fluctuates from one context to the next, implying an environment origin. Sexual selection provides a framework for integrating evolutionary processes and environmental influences on the origin and magnitude of sex differences. The dynamics of sexual selection involve competition for mates and discriminative mate choices. The associated traits are typically exaggerated and condition-dependent, that is, their development and expression are very sensitive to social and ecological conditions. The magnitude of sex differences in sexually selected traits should then be largest under optimal social and ecological conditions and shrink as conditions deteriorate. The basics of this framework are described, and its utility is illustrated with discussion of fluctuations in the magnitude of human physical, behavioral, and cognitive sex differences.

Keywords: Sex differencessexual selectioncognitioncondition-dependentstressor