We are delighted to present the Rising Stars: Evolutionary Psychology 2022 article collection. This collection showcases the high-quality work of internationally recognized researchers in the early stages of their independent careers. All Rising Star researchers were individually nominated by the Evolutionary Psychology editors in recognition of their potential to influence the future directions in their respective fields. The work presented here highlights the diversity of research performed across the entire breadth of Evolutionary Psychology and presents advances in theory, experiment, and methodology with applications to compelling problems. New articles will be added to this collection as they are published.

University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw

University of Hawaii–West Oahu

School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia

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Frontiers in Psychology

Evolutionary Psychology

Rising Stars In: Evolutionary Psychology 2022

For the past several decades the field of evolutionary psychology has significantly contributed to our understanding of the evolved nature of human cognition, behavior, and emotion. To reveal the latest insights in the field, we presented the Research Topic: Rising Stars in Evolutionary Psychology 2022. In this editorial, we endeavor to integrate insights garnered from these rising stars, who elucidated distinct facets of human experience through the lens of evolutionary psychology. Our analysis navigates the intricate interplay of biological heritage, reproductive strategies, masculine perceptions, and environmental conscientiousness to demonstrate the need for continued methodological refinement and cross-disciplinary collaboration.<a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1215481">Varella</a> posits a paradigmatic hypothesis concerning the evolutionary trajectory of human musicality. The theory centers on the expansion of nocturnal activities throughout human evolution, identifying the night-time environment as a crucial factor in the development of human musicality. Drawing from independent principles, the hypothesis offers a nuanced perspective on the multifaceted roles assumed by human musicality in response to ancestral adaptive challenges/opportunities.The study implicates nocturnal adaptive challenges such as low luminosity, imminent danger, and concealment of identity as key factors that may have selected for traits conducive to acoustic communication and imaginative, gregarious, and risk-taking dispositions. The integration of musicality into survival and reproductive roles is discussed within the context of the night-time adaptive landscape, shedding light on the evolutionary underpinnings of various musical features and functions.<a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1199735">Corpuz et al.</a> extend the exploration into evolutionary dynamics, specifically focusing on the tradeoff between current and future reproduction from a life history theory perspective. Departing from the conventional focus on female sexual developmental milestones, the article turns toward male sexual developmental milestones to provide a more inclusive model of parental investment. The study measured sexual maturation using three indicators: thorarche, age at sexual debut, and the difference between thorarche and reproduction to predict the time invested in direct parental care. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1199735">Corpuz et al.</a> utilized the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) to overcome biases and limitations imposed by self-report. The unexpected finding that males with earlier sexual debut invest more time in infant care challenges established paradigms and underscores the complexity of reproductive timing and parental investment.This departure from the typical, albeit limited narrative of paternal investment models prompts a reconsideration of the relationship between sexual maturation and paternal investment. The study&apos;s implications invite a nuanced examination of fatherhood that encourages the use of diverse sampling methods and demographic considerations.In the domain of masculinity, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1105423">Christensen et al.</a> employ meticulous scrutiny of self-reported bodily markers, specifically in the tendency of men, at the aggregate level, to overestimate certain bodily measures linked to masculinity: penis size. Furthermore, it introduces the intriguing influence of monetary rewards on data quality, presenting a novel dimension to the methodological considerations of such studies.The cautionary note regarding the interpretation of self-reported measures of penis size urges the need for refinement in research methodology. The incorporation of monetary incentives as a factor influencing data quality adds a layer of complexity to the design of studies relying on self-reported bodily markers. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1105423">Christensen et al.</a>, similar to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1199735">Corpuz et al.</a> both found the importance of extending beyond the self-report method when collecting information that is sensitive to societal expectations.Speaking of societal expectations, the current focus on environmental conscientiousness and sustainability has increased recently. To discover more about the factors surrounding green consumption, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1105072">Otterbring et al.</a> introduced an unexplored dimension—the influence of birth order. The study, conducted on a sample of 335 participants, revealed a small-to-moderate effect size, indicating that firstborns exhibit lower concerns linked to environmental protection in their purchase patterns. This unexpected revelation prompts a reconsideration of birth order dynamics in relation to broader societal issues and environmental challenges.The findings, while modest in effect size, present informative nuances that warrant consideration, especially given the ease with which birth-order data can be collected. The implications of birth order on environmental concerns may be applied in a variety of contexts including economics, marketing, and legislation.In this eclectic group of studies, evolutionary psychology, life history theory, scrutinized masculinity, and birth order dynamics converge and extend beyond disciplinary boundaries. The unexpected findings and nuanced dimensions revealed by these articles beckon researchers to delve deeper, question assumptions, and refine methodologies. These rising stars have demonstrated the strength of data collection methods that extend beyond self-report and the power of integration of disciplines. The scientific pursuit of understanding the ever-evolving nature of human cognition, behavior, and emotion will benefit from this continued collaboration.KA: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Validation, Writing&#x2014;original draft, Writing&#x2014;review &amp; editing. GC: Writing&#x2014;review &amp; editing. PJ: Supervision, Writing&#x2014;review &amp; editing.The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Editorial: Rising stars in: evolutionary psychology 2022

Human musicality exhibits the necessary hallmarks for biological adaptations. Evolutionary explanations focus on recurrent adaptive problems that human musicality possibly solved in ancestral environments, such as mate selection and competition, social bonding/cohesion and social grooming, perceptual and motor skill development, conflict reduction, safe time-passing, transgenerational communication, mood regulation and synchronization, and credible signaling of coalition and territorial/predator defense. Although not mutually exclusive, these different hypotheses are still not conceptually integrated nor clearly derived from independent principles. I propose The Nocturnal Evolution of Human Musicality and Performativity Theory in which the night-time is the missing piece of the adaptationist puzzle of human musicality and performing arts. The expansion of nocturnal activities throughout human evolution, which is tied to tree-to-ground sleep transition and habitual use of fire, might help (i) explain the evolution of musicality from independent principles, (ii) explain various seemingly unrelated music features and functions, and (iii) integrate many ancestral adaptive values proposed. The expansion into the nocturnal niche posed recurrent ancestral adaptive challenges/opportunities: lack of luminosity, regrouping to cook before sleep, imminent dangerousness, low temperatures, peak tiredness, and concealment of identity. These crucial night-time features might have selected evening-oriented individuals who were prone to acoustic communication, more alert and imaginative, gregarious, risk-taking and novelty-seeking, prone to anxiety modulation, hedonistic, promiscuous, and disinhibited. Those night-time selected dispositions may have converged and enhanced protomusicality into human musicality by facilitating it to assume many survival- and reproduction-enhancing roles (social cohesion and coordination, signaling of coalitions, territorial defense, antipredatorial defense, knowledge transference, safe passage of time, children lullabies, and sexual selection) that are correspondent to the co-occurring night-time adaptive challenges/opportunities. The nocturnal dynamic may help explain musical features (sound, loudness, repetitiveness, call and response, song, elaboration/virtuosity, and duetting/chorusing). Across vertebrates, acoustic communication mostly occurs in nocturnal species. The eveningness chronotype is common among musicians and composers. Adolescents, who are the most evening-oriented humans, enjoy more music. Contemporary tribal nocturnal activities around the campfire involve eating, singing/dancing, storytelling, and rituals. I discuss the nocturnal integration of musicality’s many roles and conclude that musicality is probably a multifunctional mental adaptation that evolved along with the night-time adaptive landscape.

Human musicality exhibits the necessary hallmarks for biological adaptations. Evolutionary explanations focus on recurrent adaptive problems that human musicality possibly solved in ancestral environments, such as mate selection and competition, social bonding/cohesion and social grooming, perceptual and motor skill development, conflict reduction, safe time-passing, transgenerational communication, mood regulation and synchronization, and credible signaling of coalition and territorial/predator defense. Although not mutually exclusive, these different hypotheses are still not conceptually integrated nor clearly derived from independent principles. I propose The Nocturnal Evolution of Human Musicality and Performativity Theory in which the night-time is the missing piece of the adaptationist puzzle of human musicality and performing arts. The expansion of nocturnal activities throughout human evolution, which is tied to tree-to-ground sleep transition and habitual use of fire, might help (i) explain the evolution of musicality from independent principles, (ii) explain various seemingly unrelated music features and functions, and (iii) integrate many ancestral adaptive values proposed. The expansion into the nocturnal niche posed recurrent ancestral adaptive challenges/opportunities: lack of luminosity, regrouping to cook before sleep, imminent dangerousness, low temperatures, peak tiredness, and concealment of identity. These crucial night-time features might have selected evening-oriented individuals who were prone to acoustic communication, more alert and imaginative, gregarious, risk-taking and novelty-seeking, prone to anxiety modulation, hedonistic, promiscuous, and disinhibited. Those night-time selected dispositions may have converged and enhanced protomusicality into human musicality by facilitating it to assume many survival- and reproduction-enhancing roles (social cohesion and coordination, signaling of coalitions, territorial defense, antipredatorial defense, knowledge transference, safe passage of time, children lullabies, and sexual selection) that are correspondent to the co-occurring night-time adaptive challenges/opportunities. The nocturnal dynamic may help explain musical features (sound, loudness, repetitiveness, call and response, song, elaboration/virtuosity, and duetting/chorusing). Across vertebrates, acoustic communication mostly occurs in nocturnal species. The eveningness chronotype is common among musicians and composers. Adolescents, who are the most evening-oriented humans, enjoy more music. Contemporary tribal nocturnal activities around the campfire involve eating, singing/dancing, storytelling, and rituals. I discuss the nocturnal integration of musicality’s many roles and conclude that musicality is probably a multifunctional mental adaptation that evolved along with the night-time adaptive landscape.

Nocturnal selective pressures on the evolution of human musicality as a missing piece of the adaptationist puzzle

Across the lifespan, males negotiate the tradeoff between current and future reproduction. From a life history theory (LHT) perspective, resources invested into earlier reproduction pose a cost to later reproduction. The age of sexual debut is a commonplace measure of sexual maturation. However, in males, thorarche (age of first ejaculation) and years from thorarche to age of first reproduction both represent milestones related to reproductive timing. A fundamental prediction from LHT is that earlier sexual maturation—a “quantity” strategy—predicts decreased levels of care per offspring. In the current study, we test this straightforward relationship looking specifically at a father’s investment of time. In a sample of first-time fathers, we measured the amount of time spent with their 9-to-12-month infants longitudinally using an experience sampling method (ESM)—an ecologically valid method of collecting self-report data on fathers’ use of time Fathers contributed data on their time allocation across a 12-week period. They reported on ages of sexual debut, thorarche, and the years between thorarche and first reproduction (i.e., current age) was calculated. Only age of sexual debut had a relationship with time allocated toward infants. Importantly however, this effect was in a direction opposite of our LHT derived hypothesis. Males with earlier sexual debut spent more time with their infants. Discussion focuses on the potential contributions to this finding and limitations related to small effect size, methods and measurement, and sample demographics.

Across the lifespan, males negotiate the tradeoff between current and future reproduction. From a life history theory (LHT) perspective, resources invested into earlier reproduction pose a cost to later reproduction. The age of sexual debut is a commonplace measure of sexual maturation. However, in males, thorarche (age of first ejaculation) and years from thorarche to age of first reproduction both represent milestones related to reproductive timing. A fundamental prediction from LHT is that earlier sexual maturation&#x2014;a &#x201c;quantity&#x201d; strategy&#x2014;predicts decreased levels of care per offspring. In the current study, we test this straightforward relationship looking specifically at a father&#x2019;s investment of time. In a sample of first-time fathers, we measured the amount of time spent with their 9-to-12-month infants longitudinally using an experience sampling method (ESM)&#x2014;an ecologically valid method of collecting self-report data on fathers&#x2019; use of time Fathers contributed data on their time allocation across a 12-week period. They reported on ages of sexual debut, thorarche, and the years between thorarche and first reproduction (i.e., current age) was calculated. Only age of sexual debut had a relationship with time allocated toward infants. Importantly however, this effect was in a direction opposite of our LHT derived hypothesis. Males with earlier sexual debut spent more time with their infants. Discussion focuses on the potential contributions to this finding and limitations related to small effect size, methods and measurement, and sample demographics.

Earlier sexual debut predicts higher (not lower) levels of father care measured across 12 weeks: an experience sampling study

Several studies have examined the role of birth order in shaping human personality, but fewer have tested this variable in relation to other pressing issues. We conducted a birth-order study on green consumption, which enabled us to detect a small-to-moderate effect size equivalent to r = 0.15 or d = 0.30 with sufficient statistical power (N = 335). To capture green consumption, participants indicated their tendency to express the value of environmental protection through purchases and consumption behaviors. Firstborns (vs. laterborns) consistently expressed lower concerns linked to environmental protection in their purchase patterns. While the effect size of this finding was small-to-moderate by conventional standards and in direct contrast to the findings from a recent article on the same topic, these results could still be informative to address challenges associated with climate change considering the number of individuals with siblings in the world and the ease with which birth-order data can be collected.

Several studies have examined the role of birth order in shaping human personality, but fewer have tested this variable in relation to other pressing issues. We conducted a birth-order study on green consumption, which enabled us to detect a small-to-moderate effect size equivalent to r = 0.15 or d = 0.30 with sufficient statistical power (N = 335). To capture green consumption, participants indicated their tendency to express the value of environmental protection through purchases and consumption behaviors. Firstborns (vs. laterborns) consistently expressed lower concerns linked to environmental protection in their purchase patterns. While the effect size of this finding was small-to-moderate by conventional standards and in direct contrast to the findings from a recent article on the same topic, these results could still be informative to address challenges associated with climate change considering the number of individuals with siblings in the world and the ease with which birth-order data can be collected.

Siblings, shopping, and sustainability: Birth-order differences in green consumption

Bodily markers, often self-reported, are frequently used in research to predict a variety of outcomes. The present study examined whether men, at the aggregate level, would overestimate certain bodily markers linked to masculinity, and if so, to what extent. Furthermore, the study explored whether the amount of monetary rewards distributed to male participants would influence the obtained data quality. Men from two participant pools were asked to self-report a series of bodily measures. All self-report measures except weight were consistently found to be above the population mean (height and penis size) or the scale midpoint (athleticism). Additionally, the participant pool that received the lower (vs. higher) monetary reward showed a particularly powerful deviation from the population mean in penis size and were significantly more likely to report their erect and flaccid penis size to be larger than the claimed but not verified world record of 34 cm. These findings indicate that studies relying on men’s self-reported measures of certain body parts should be interpreted with great caution, but that higher monetary rewards seem to improve data quality slightly for such measures.

Bodily markers, often self-reported, are frequently used in research to predict a variety of outcomes. The present study examined whether men, at the aggregate level, would overestimate certain bodily markers linked to masculinity, and if so, to what extent. Furthermore, the study explored whether the amount of monetary rewards distributed to male participants would influence the obtained data quality. Men from two participant pools were asked to self-report a series of bodily measures. All self-report measures except weight were consistently found to be above the population mean (height and penis size) or the scale midpoint (athleticism). Additionally, the participant pool that received the lower (vs. higher) monetary reward showed a particularly powerful deviation from the population mean in penis size and were significantly more likely to report their erect and flaccid penis size to be larger than the claimed but not verified world record of 34 cm. These findings indicate that studies relying on men&#x2019;s self-reported measures of certain body parts should be interpreted with great caution, but that higher monetary rewards seem to improve data quality slightly for such measures.