Rewilding psychology

Men display faster in male-biased mating contexts

Across diverse species with sexual reproduction, typically the more male-biased the adult sex ratio (ASR), the greater the investments by the more populous males in the rarer females who hold greater bargaining power in a mating context. Relatively few studies have examined this effect in humans however, and almost none involve observations of actual male investment in a potential mating context. Here, we present one of the first studies to observe investments of men in a potential mating context under differing ASRs. Across 163 mixed-sex groups from three taverns on 7 days of observation, we measured both a group's ASR and each group's leading man's latency to position himself at the tavern's bar to order and pay for beverages. The higher the proportion of men in a group (ASR) and the fewer the absolute number of women in a group, the faster the leading man in the group travelled to reach the bar to order and pay for beverages. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that similar to males in many species, men tactically regulate their investments to adapt to the fluctuation in the ASR in order to maximize their probabilities of attracting a mate.

People, places, things and communities: expanding behaviour settings theory in the twenty-first century

Trends and developments in recent behavioural and cognitive sciences demonstrate the need for a well-developed theoretical and empirical framework for examining the ecology of human behaviour. The increasing recognition of the role of the environment and interaction with the environment in the organization of behaviour within the cognitive sciences has not been met with an equally disciplined and systematic account of that environment (Heft 2018 Ecol. Psychol. 30, 99-123 (doi:10.1080/10407413.2018.1410045); McGann 2014 Synth. Philos. 29, 217-233). Several bodies of work in behavioural ecology, anthropology and ecological psychology provide some frameworks for such an account. At present, however, the most systematic and theoretically disciplined account of the human behavioural ecosystem is that of behaviour settings, as developed by the researchers of the Midwest Psychological Field Station (see Barker 1968 Ecological psychology: concepts and methods for studying the environment of human behavior). The articles in this theme issue provide a critical examination of these theoretical and methodological resources. The collection addresses their theoretical value in connecting with contemporary issues in cognitive science and research practice in psychology, as well as the importance of the methodological specifics of behaviour settings research. Additionally, articles diagnose limitations and identify points of potential extension of both theory and methods, particularly with regard to changes owing to the advance of technology, and the complex relationship between the individual and the collective in behaviour settings work. This article is part of the theme issue 'People, places, things, and communities: expanding behaviour settings theory in the twenty-first century'.