Fisherian runaway: Difference between revisions

Good genes hypothesis or ''Zahavi's handicap principle'' claims exaggerated ornament is a costly and hence a reliable signal of other desirable traits. For example, a peacock with a very large tail would be easy prey (which is costly), and thus would most likely have other good traits that make up for this handicap (good genes). There is, however, little supporting scientific evidence.  In humans in particular, beauty and ornament is not strongly correlated with health at all (only weakly), 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>

Base sexual preference of an entire species can make them more likely to go extinct.<ref>https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.12601</ref><ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691875/</ref><ref>https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180411131646.htm</ref><ref>https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-04059-7</ref> But the runaway selection of the most exaggerated members alone, arguably cannot cause the entire species to go extinct.  However, together with environmental factors, runaway female selection has played a role in extinction, for example in the the Irish Elk.<ref>The evolution of sexual strategy in modern humans: an interdisciplinary approach by Collins, Kendra Marie, https://studyres.com/doc/2550939/--california-state-university</ref><ref>Moen et al., 1999</ref>  

There are scientific models that show under a stable environment, a feedback loop can develop where male intrasexual competition leads to a linear increase in size dimorphism, outstripping the ability of the environment to to support this increased size.<ref>http://www.jstor.org/stable/2410506</ref>