Archer/Human Sex Differences in Aggression: BBS Call for Commentators

Dear Dr. Qwerty, ================================================================== *** CALL RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS *** ================================================================== Please DO NOT respond to this email. If you wish to submit a proposal for commentary and/or suggest potential commentators, please go to the new Online Commentary Proposal System at the following URL: http://www.bbsonline.org/perl/commentary/commproposal?authordir=Archer-0514… * If you only wish to suggest potential commentators, please ignore prompts to submit a proposal with expertise information. * If you experience technical difficulties, please email bbs(a)bbsonline.org. * Please respond to this Call no later than January 28, 2009. NOTE: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) is an international, interdisciplinary journal providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current research in the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences. Commentators must be BBS Associates, or suggested by a BBS Associate. If you are not a BBS Associate, please follow the instructions linked below: http://www.bbsonline.org/Instructions/associnst.html ================================================================== ** Target Article Information ** ================================================================== To help you decide whether you would be an appropriate commentator for this article, an unedited, uncorrected target article is retrievable at the URL that follows the abstract and keywords below. This unedited draft has been prepared only for potential commentators who wish to nominate themselves for formal commentary invitation. Please DO NOT write a commentary until you receive a formal invitation. If you are invited to submit a commentary, a copyedited, corrected version of this paper will be posted in the invitation letter. The commentary invitation list is compiled by the Editors so as to balance proposals, areas of expertise, and frequency of prior commentaries in BBS. TITLE: Does Sexual Selection Explain Human Sex Differences in Aggression? AUTHORS: John Archer ABSTRACT: Evidence on human sex differences in aggression is assessed in relation to sexual selection and social role explanations. A distinction is first made between within-sex and between-sex aggression. Within-sex aggression showed a pattern of larger sex differences in physical than verbal aggression and little overall difference in indirect aggression, consistent with an evolutionary cost-benefit analysis. Sex differences in physical aggression are found early in life, and peak in young adulthood, again consistent with an evolutionary origin. Possible mediators of the sex difference in physical aggression are fear of physical danger, impulsiveness, and empathy, which broadly fit both explanations. Individual differences are discussed in relation to alternative life history strategies, and ecologically-produced and role-related variability. Aggression is placed into the context of other sex differences that are also likely to have resulted from sexual selection. Research on between-sex (partner) aggression in western samples showed that women and men are equally likely to physically aggress. A cross-national analysis found that there was a strong correlation between the magnitude of the sex difference and a national measure of gender empowerment. Both sets of findings are discussed in relation to models derived from sexual selection, and social role analyses. Sexual selection in its original form provides a plausible ultimate explanation for sex differences in within-sex aggression. Between-sex aggression can be viewed in evolutionary terms as the outcome of conflicts of interest and inequality of coercive power between the sexes, although this is heavily overlaid with influences from gender roles, particularly patriarchal values, which can explain the marked cross-national variations. KEYWORDS: sex differences; aggression; partner violence; social role theory; sexual selection FULL PREPRINT TEXT: http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/Archer-05142007/Referees/ ================================================================== *** CALL RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS *** ================================================================== Please DO NOT respond to this email. If you wish to submit a proposal for commentary and/or suggest potential commentators, please go to the new Online Commentary Proposal System at the following URL: http://www.bbsonline.org/perl/commentary/commproposal?authordir=Archer-0514… * If you only wish to suggest potential commentators, please ignore prompts to submit a proposal with expertise information. * If you experience technical difficulties, please email bbs(a)bbsonline.org. * Please respond to this Call no later than January 28, 2009. NOTE: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) is an international, interdisciplinary journal providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current research in the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences. Commentators must be BBS Associates, or suggested by a BBS Associate. If you are not a BBS Associate, please follow the instructions linked below: http://www.bbsonline.org/Instructions/associnst.html ================================================================== ================================================================== Paul Bloom - Editor Barbara Finlay - Editor Behavioral and Brain Sciences bbs(a)bbsonline.org http://www.bbsonline.org -------------------------------------------------------------------