Parasites: Male psychopaths are not set against fatherhood, as long as someone else takes on the effort of raising the kids

Cads in Dads’ Clothing? Psychopathic Traits and Men’s Preferences for Mating, Parental, and Somatic Investment. Kristopher J. Brazil & Anthony A. Volk. Evolutionary Psychological Science, Mar 30 2022. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40806-022-00318-z

Abstract: Psychopathic traits are sometimes viewed as an alternative reproductive strategy that prioritizes mating over parental investment, particularly in men. Two aspects of this research receiving less attention are (1) the inclusion of somatic investment, which refers to the growth and maintenance of oneself, and (2) measuring perceptions of investment domains in addition to behavior and attitude outcomes. In this study, we used a sample of 255 young adult men from MTurk (Mage = 29.55, SD = 2.97) to examine how the three domains of investment (mating, parental, and somatic) relate to individual differences in men’s psychopathic traits, relationship/parental status, and age using outcome measures of (1) behavioral attitudes and (2) perceptions of stimuli associated with each investment domain (e.g., attractive women’s faces and cute infants). Results showed that while they were associated with being a parent, psychopathic traits were associated with higher mating and lower parental and somatic behavioral attitudes. Psychopathic traits were associated with negative perceptions of indirect somatic cues (e.g., working and forming friendships), positive perceptions of mating cues, and no relationship with perceptions of direct somatic (e.g., exercising) or parental cues. Our results agree with previous research but extend them by showing that while they engage in lower somatic behavior, men higher in psychopathic traits do not appear to have aversive reactions towards infant stimuli and are more likely to be parents themselves. We argue that these patterns are consistent with a parasitic parenting strategy that focuses on mating while depending on others to invest in their children.