Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters: From Dating, Shopping, and Praying to Going to War and Becoming a Billionaire–Two Evolutionary Psychologists Explain Why We Do What We Do Read online

  Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters

  Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters

  From Dating, Shopping, and Praying to Going to War and Becoming a Billionaire—Two Evolutionary Psychologists Explain Why We Do What We Do

  Alan S. Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa

  A Perigee Book

  A PERIGEE BOOK

  Published by the Penguin Group

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  Copyright © 2007 by Itzy

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Miller, Alan S.

  Why beautiful people have more daughters: from dating, shopping, and praying to going to war and becoming a billionaire—two evolutionary psychologists explain why we do what we do / Alan S. Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa.—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  “A Perigee book.”

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN: 978-1-1012-0347-7

  1. Evolutionary psychology. 2. Beauty, Personal—Psychological aspects. 3. Sex differences (Psychology) I. Kanazawa, Satoshi. II. Title.

  BF698.95.M545 2007

  155.7—dc22

  2007011491

  To our long-suffering foreign wives:

  and

  A. S. M. & S. K.

  Contents

  Preface

  Acknowledgments

  INTRODUCTION Human Nature “R” Us

  The Forgotten Half of the Equation

  Two Errors in Thinking That We Must Avoid

  A Note about Stereotypes

  How to Use This Book

  CHAPTER 1 What Is Evolutionary Psychology?

  A Typical View from the Social Sciences

  The Evolutionary Psychological Perspective

  The Savanna Principle: Why Our Brains Are Stuck in the Stone Age

  CHAPTER 2 Why Are Men and Women So Different?

  What about Culture? Is Anything Cultural?

  On to the Puzzles and Questions

  CHAPTER 3 Barbie—Manufactured by Mattel, Designed by Evolution: The Evolutionary Psychology of Sex and Mating

  Why Do Men Like Blonde Bombshells (and Why Do Women Want to Look Like Them)?

  Why Is Beauty Not in the Eye of the Beholder or Skin-Deep?

  Why Is Prostitution the World’s Oldest Profession, and Why Is Pornography a Billion-Dollar Industry?

  Why Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones, but Not Lauren Bacall and Brad Pitt?

  He Said, She Said: Why Do Men and Women Perceive the Same Situation Differently?

  CHAPTER 4 Go Together Like a Horse and Carriage? The Evolutionary Psychology of Marriage

  Why Are There Virtually No Polyandrous Societies?

  Why (and How) Are Contemporary Westerners Polygynous?

  Why Does Having Sons Reduce the Likelihood of Divorce?

  Why Are Diamonds a Girl’s Best Friend?

  Why Might Hand some Men Make Bad Husbands?

  CHAPTER 5 Some Things Are More Important Than Money: The Evolutionary Psychology of the Family

  Boy or Girl? What Influences the Sex of Your Child?

  Why Does the Baby Have Daddy’s Eyes but Not Mommy’s?

  Why Are There So Many Deadbeat Dads but So Few Deadbeat Moms?

  Why Is Family More Important to Women Than to Men?

  Why Do Girls of Divorced Parents Experience Puberty Earlier Than Girls Whose Parents Remain Married?

  CHAPTER 6 Guys Gone Wild: The Evolutionary Psychology of Crime and Violence

  Why Are Almost All Violent Criminals Men?

  What Do Bill Gates and Paul McCartney Have in Common with Criminals?

  Why Does Marriage “Settle” Men Down?

  Why Do Some Men Beat Up Their Wives and Girlfriends?

  CHAPTER 7 Life’s Not Fair, or Politically Correct: The Evolutionary Psychology of Political and Economic Inequalities

  Why Do Politicians Risk Everything by Having an Affair (but Only If They Are Male)?

  Why Do Men So Often Earn More Money and Attain Higher Status Than Women?

  Why Are Most Neurosurgeons Male and Most Kindergarten Teachers Female?

  Why Is Sexual Harassment So Per sis tent?

  CHAPTER 8 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Evolutionary Psychology of Religion and Conflict

  Where Does Religion Come From?

  Why Are Women More Religious Than Men?

  Why Are Most Suicide Bombers Muslim?

  Why Is Ethnic and Nationalist Conflict So Persistent throughout the World?

  Why Are Single Women More Likely to Travel Abroad—and Why Are Young Single Men More Likely to Be Xenophobic?

  CONCLUSION Stump the Evolutionary Psychologists: A Few Tougher Questions

  Notes

  References

  Index

  Preface

  I first met Alan S. Miller in the Department of Sociology at the University of Washington, where I began my graduate study in 1985. Alan joined me in the department a year later, after having received his master’s degree from California State University, Dominguez Hills, in 1986. Both Alan and I were trained in a field of sociology called rational choice theory, an application of microeconomic theory to sociological problems. After receiving my master’s degree from Washington, I moved to the University of Arizona to pursue my PhD. Alan received his PhD from Washington in 1991, and took up his first teaching post at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

  Years went by, and Alan and I kept in touch by email and telephone, although the very last time I ever saw Alan in person was August 1993 in Mi
ami Beach, during the annual conference of the American Sociological Association. In 1998, Alan was beginning to write a book on group conformity and social order in Japan from a rational choice perspective. He had been teaching a course on the topic at Hokkaido University, to which he moved in 1996, and was frustrated by the lack of good textbooks in the subject area, so he decided to write one himself. He could write all of the empirical chapters on various aspects of life in Japan by himself, being an established Japan specialist and having lived in the country for a few years. But he needed help with writing the theoretical chapters, and asked me if I wanted to write them as the second author of the book. It was a very generous offer; he gave me joint authorship of the book for writing only two chapters in it. So even though I knew very little about Japan, we decided to write the book together. It was published in 2000.1

  When Alan and I began collaborating on our first book, I started pitching evolutionary psychology to him. Alan was “hooked” instantaneously. He realized its tremendous value, as I did, and started reading evolutionary psychology voraciously. We later said that the best thing that came out of our collaboration on our first book was not the book itself but Alan’s conversion to evolutionary psychology. We could never stop talking about it; it is just that good. It is an endless fountain of ideas.

  In September 2000, soon after our first book was published, Alan had an idea for our second book. He thought it would be great for us to write an introduction to evolutionary psychology for a general nonacademic audience. He also had the idea to make it an adult version of a children’s question-and-answer book of science. I thought it was a fantastic idea, so we began collaborating on our second book immediately.

  Then, in early 2001, Alan fell ill and was later diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. He spent two years in and out of hospital, undergoing several major operations and constant chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Despite the fact that his initial prognosis was reasonably good (70 percent chance of survival), he became progressively ill. I visited Sapporo in late December 2002, but I was not able to see him; he was simply too ill, and the doctors didn’t allow any visitors except for his wife. He died on January 17, 2003, at the tragically young age of 44. He is the closest friend whom I have ever lost to date, and I am not sure if I can ever get over it.

  Before his death, while he was still relatively healthy, Alan was able to complete the first draft of several chapters of this book. He had also seen and commented on the first draft of several other chapters that I had written. However, as the nature of the book has changed since his death, I have had to rework all of Alan’s chapters, while retaining his original ideas.

  Thus, Alan never had a chance to see the final manuscript or approve the subsequent revisions that I made to his chapters. I am keeping Alan as the first author of this book because that was the arrangement we agreed upon when we began our collaboration, and because the book was originally his idea. However, the reader should know that I am solely responsible for the entire contents of the final manuscript, which Alan did not have a chance to see or approve. Alan should be credited as the genius behind this book, while any remaining shortcomings should be attributed to me.

  —Satoshi Kanazawa

  Acknowledgments

  This book has been a long time in the making. Due to the controversial and often politically incorrect nature of its subject matter, we have encountered obstacles and resistance from many corners in our effort to publish this book.

  For bringing this project to long-delayed fruition, I must first of all thank my editor at Perigee, Marian Lizzi, for believing in me and in this project as no other editors have. Until I met Marian, I had not known that editors could be so supportive and encouraging; I had never had an editor who I felt was completely “on my side” and had my interests at heart. I could not have found Marian without my able literary agent, Andrew Stuart, who, through his worldwide network of subagents, also found several foreign publishers who wanted to translate and publish this book on three other continents.

  I thank Laura L. Betzig, Martie G. Haselton, and Kaja Perina for commenting on parts of the book in earlier forms, and Sarah E. Hill, Bobbi S. Low, Frank J. Sulloway, and Robert L. Trivers for providing me with various pieces of information. I must apologize to David M. Buss because, even though he has been supportive of me and this book project, I know he will not like its title. (But it was Marian’s idea!)

  Two editors in chief of Psychology Today have played significant roles in the course of both my career and the development of this book project. Hara Estroff Marano, former editor in chief of PT and current editor at large, was the very first journalist ever to interview me and feature my scientific work in the media. We have since become friends, and she has been very supportive of me throughout the years, offering me sage advice, warm support, and delicious ginger-poached pears. Most importantly, she introduced me to her agent, Andrew Stuart; and to her colleague Kaja Perina.

  My dear friend Kaja Perina, current editor in chief of PT, has been a truly unfailing supporter of me, my career, and this book project. Kaja is the most frighteningly intelligent, cultured, sophisticated, and beautiful woman that I know. She became editor in chief of PT at the astonishingly young age of 27. At the current pace, Kaja can become President of the United States on her 35th birthday, except that it would be far beneath her to take on such a job. Despite her enormously important and demanding job, Kaja is always available to talk whenever I make trans-Atlantic phone calls to her desk in New York, ready with brilliant insight and judicious advice. Kaja has been the wisdom and maturity behind this book, since I have neither.

  While working on this book, I made the transition from untenured Assistant Professor on an annual contract at a small college in Western Pennsylvania, to tenured Reader on a lifetime contract at the London School of Economics and Political Science, among other things. For never losing faith in me during the years I was in academic exile, I thank Denise L. Anthony, Paula En gland, Roberto Franzosi, Debra Friedman, Michael Hechter, Christine Horne, Lisa A. Keister, Michael W. Macy, Toshio Yamagishi, Lawrence A. Young, and—above all and always—Mary C. Still. Thanks and unbounded love to Cary Lee Coryell and Abigail Iris Coryell for being the greatest daughters that a delusional man can pretend to have. I am grateful to Bruce J. Ellis, Diane J. Reyniers, and David de Meza for rescuing me.

  —Satoshi Kanazawa

  Introduction

  Human Nature “R” Us

  This book is about human nature. “Human nature” is one of those things that everybody knows and uses in their daily conversation, but that is difficult to define precisely. What is human nature?

  The answer is both complex and remarkably simple. Every time we fall in love, every time we fight with our spouse, every time we enjoy watching our favorite TV show, every time we get scared walking at night in bad neighborhoods where tough young men loiter, every time we are upset about the influx of immigrants into our country, every time we go to church, we are—in part—behaving as a human animal with its own unique evolved nature—human nature.

  This means two things. First, our thoughts, feelings, and behavior are produced not only by our individual experiences and environment in our own lifetime, but also by what happened to our ancestors millions of years ago. Our human nature is the cumulative product of the experiences of our ancestors in the past, and it affects how we think, feel, and behave today.

  Second, because human nature is universal—sometimes shared by all humans, sometimes only shared by members of our own sex—our thoughts, feelings, and behavior are shared, to a large extent, by all other humans on earth (or all other men or women). Despite the seemingly large cultural differences in various societies, our daily experiences are essentially the same as those of people from Aberdeen, Bombay, and Cairo, to Xian, Yukon, and Zanzibar.

  Human behavior is a product both of our innate human nature and of our unique individual experiences and environment. Both are important influences on our thoughts, fe
elings, and behavior. In this book, we emphasize human nature to the near exclusion of experience and environment. But there is a very good reason for that.

  The Forgotten Half of the Equation

  Everyone agrees that experience and environment are both important influences on human behavior. Despite critics’ claims to the contrary, there are no serious biological or genetic determinists in science.1 There are a few genetic diseases, such as Hunting-ton’s disease, which are 100 percent determined by genes; if someone carries the affected gene, they will develop the disease no matter what their experiences or environment.2 An individual’s eye color and blood type are also 100 percent determined by genes. So these (and a few other) traits are entirely genetically determined. Otherwise, there are no human traits that are 100 percent determined by genes. Nor are there any serious scientists who think there are.

  However, there are many social scientists, journalists, and others who believe that human traits and behavior are almost entirely determined by the environment.3 As we will see in chapters 1 and 2, most social scientists tend to be environmental determinists. They believe that individual experiences and social environments completely determine human behavior, and there are no roles played by genetic and biological factors.