Dissertation Research: Long-Term Mate Choice among the Shuar of Ecuador

论文研究：厄瓜多尔舒阿尔人的长期择偶

• 批准号: 0451287
• 负责人: Daniel Fessler
• 金额: $ 1.17万
• 依托单位: University of California-Los Angeles
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-03-01 至 2006-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0451287&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Long; Term; Mate

The choice of a long-term romantic partner is an issue of central importance in the lives of most people; and must have been an adaptive challenge to our evolutionary ancestors, for whom cooperative parenting was probably necessary to raise several offspring simultaneously. The ability to choose a partner with whom one is able to interact pleasurably and productively has far-reaching and critical consequences, yet we know little about the psychological mechanisms that underlie this vital decision-making process. This dissertation research by a cultural anthropologist combines ethnographic and experimental psychological methods in order to address some of the current gaps in our understanding of the factors that contribute to the selection of romantic partners. The study will be carried out among the Shuar, a lowland Ecuadorian population for whom the mating environment more closely matches that in which our mating psychology most likely evolved: in a subsistence pattern of hunting and horticulture, living in small communities of few families, and for whom the combined efforts of husband and wife are essential for successfully raising offspring. Ethnographic interviews will enrich our understanding of relationship processes and variables in a community very different from the usual study populations, and structured rating tasks will shed light on the variables that make up the elusive quality of "compatibility" between romantic partners. By systematically studying the processes through which people negotiate the beginning of a romantic relationship, it may be possible to enhance long-term outcomes in terms of relationship satisfaction and quality. At a period in our nation's history when romantic partnerships and the families that are built upon them are increasingly fragile and short-lived, new knowledge on this aspect of human nature will have important broader impacts for society at large as well as for policy makers.

在大多数人的生活中，选择一个长期的浪漫伴侣是一个至关重要的问题；对于我们进化的祖先来说，这肯定是一个适应性挑战，对他们来说，合作育儿可能是同时抚养几个孩子所必需的。选择一个能够愉快和富有成效地与之互动的伴侣的能力具有深远和关键的后果，但我们对这一重要决策过程所依据的心理机制知之甚少。这篇由一位文化人类学家进行的研究结合了人种学和实验心理学的方法，旨在解决目前我们对影响浪漫伴侣选择的因素的理解上的一些空白。这项研究将在低地厄瓜多尔人Shuar中进行，对他们来说，交配环境与我们的交配心理最有可能进化的地方更接近：他们生活在狩猎和园艺的生存模式中，生活在没有几个家庭的小社区里，对他们来说，夫妻的共同努力对成功抚养后代至关重要。人种学访谈将丰富我们对一个与通常研究人群截然不同的社区中的关系过程和变量的理解，结构化的评分任务将揭示构成浪漫伴侣之间难以捉摸的“兼容性”的变量。通过系统地研究人们通过谈判开始一段浪漫关系的过程，可能会在关系满意度和质量方面提高长期结果。在我们国家历史上，浪漫的伙伴关系和建立在这种伙伴关系上的家庭越来越脆弱和短暂，关于人性这一方面的新知识将对整个社会以及政策制定者产生重要的更广泛的影响。