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Fisherian runaway: Difference between revisions
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Such feedback loops can be initiated by arbitrary aesthetic selection, but also when a trait is slightly correlated with fitness, or when a trait is similar in appearance to attractive or otherwise valuable objects or body parts.<ref>Fuller, R. C., Houle, D., & Travis, J. 2005. ''Sensory Bias as an Explanation for the Evolution of Mate Preferences.'' [[https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/444443 Abstract]], p. 444</ref> For example, women's breasts may have evolved to mimic their buttocks because the latter was already a sexually attractive body part before humans developed upright posture, and then Fisherian runaway may have lead to breasts becoming increasingly larger and rounder. | Such feedback loops can be initiated by arbitrary aesthetic selection, but also when a trait is slightly correlated with fitness, or when a trait is similar in appearance to attractive or otherwise valuable objects or body parts.<ref>Fuller, R. C., Houle, D., & Travis, J. 2005. ''Sensory Bias as an Explanation for the Evolution of Mate Preferences.'' [[https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/444443 Abstract]], p. 444</ref> For example, women's breasts may have evolved to mimic their buttocks because the latter was already a sexually attractive body part before humans developed upright posture, and then Fisherian runaway may have lead to breasts becoming increasingly larger and rounder. | ||
Beauty could have evolved simply by sexual selection, i.e. mate selection favoring objectively good looks. But feedback loops as mentioned above may have exaggerated aspects of it, increased sexual dimorphism and amplified our attraction to beauty. | |||
Since females are [[Bateman's principle|more choosy]] in many species throughout the animal kingdom (including humans), the males tend to be more ornamented. | Since females are [[Bateman's principle|more choosy]] in many species throughout the animal kingdom (including humans), the males tend to be more ornamented. | ||
Another mechanism that could explain exaggerated ornament and the immense sexual attraction to it, could be [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handicap_principle Zahavi's handicap principle] which claims that exaggerated ornament is a costly and hence reliable signal of other desirable traits. For example a peacock with a particularly large tail can signal that even though he is easy prey (which is costly), he had good traits otherwise that enabled his survival. There is, however, little supporting scientific evidence. In particular, beauty is not | Another mechanism that could explain exaggerated ornament and the immense sexual attraction to it, could be [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handicap_principle Zahavi's handicap principle], also called '''good genes hypothesis''' which claims that exaggerated ornament is a costly and hence reliable signal of other desirable traits. For example, a peacock with a particularly large tail can signal that even though he is easy prey (which is costly), he had good traits otherwise that enabled his survival. There is, however, little supporting scientific evidence. In particular, beauty is not strongly correlated with health at all, and even less with cognitive ability.<ref>https://incels.wiki/w/Scientific_Blackpill#Attractive_people_are_perceived_much_more_positively_than_they_really_are</ref> | ||
== Peafowl == | == Peafowl == | ||