The sexy and formidable male body: men's height and weight are conditfion-dependent, sexually selected traits.

On average men are taller and more muscular than women, which confers on them advantages related to female choice and during physical competition with other men. Sexual size dimorphisms such as these come with vulnerabilities due to higher maintenance and developmental costs for the sex with the larger trait. These costs are in keeping with evolutionary theory that posits large, elaborate, sexually selected traits are signals of health and vitality because stressor exposure (e.

Does greater variation reside in the larger sex?

The question of whether males or females are the more variable sex is long-standing, and yet to be fully answered. We investigate the relationships between body mass and variation across species using a phylogenetically informed analysis of the body mass of 337 species representing six mammalian orders. Within each order, we found that the larger sex is typically the more variable sex, whether male or female, and the variation-size relationship is arguably often close to unity.

The Gender-Equality Paradox in Intraindividual Academic Strengths: A Cross-Temporal Analysis.

Independent of overall achievement, girls' intraindividual academic strength is typically reading, whereas boys' strength is typically mathematics or science. Sex differences in intraindividual strengths are associated with educational and occupational sex disparities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Paradoxically, these sex differences are larger in more gender-equal countries, but the stability of this paradox is debated.

Assessing phenotypic variation and plasticity of endemic gastropods from thermal water refugia using complex morphometric techniques: A case study of Lake Pețea melanopsids.

Understanding the underlying reasons for phenotypic plasticity and resulting morphological disparity is one of the key topics of evolutionary research. The phenotypic plasticity of extant and fossil melanopsids has been widely documented. Yet millennial-resolution, well-dated records from small aquatic habitats harboring endemics are scarce.

The relation between number line performance and mathematics outcomes: Two meta-analyses.

Understanding the magnitudes represented by numerals is a core component of early mathematical development and is often assessed by accuracy in situating numerals and fractions on a number line. Performance on these measures is consistently related to performance in other mathematics domains, but the strength of these relations may be overestimated because general cognitive ability has not been fully controlled in prior studies. The first of two meta-analyses (162 studies, 33,101 participants) confirmed a relation between performance on whole number (r = 0.

Relative Contributions of and Basic Domain-Specific Mathematics Skills to Complex Mathematics Competencies.

Meta-analytic structural equation modeling was used to estimate the relative contributions of general cognitive ability or (defined by executive functions, short-term memory, and intelligence) and basic domain-specific mathematical abilities to performance in more complex mathematics domains. The domain-specific abilities included mathematics fluency (e.g.

Prosocial motives underlie scientific censorship by scientists: A perspective and research agenda.

Science is among humanity's greatest achievements, yet scientific censorship is rarely studied empirically. We explore the social, psychological, and institutional causes and consequences of scientific censorship (defined as actions aimed at obstructing particular scientific ideas from reaching an audience for reasons other than low scientific quality). Popular narratives suggest that scientific censorship is driven by authoritarian officials with dark motives, such as dogmatism and intolerance.

Sex Differences and Similarities in Relations Between Mathematics Achievement, Attitudes, and Anxiety: A Seventh-to-Ninth Grade Longitudinal Study.

There are consistent correlations between mathematics achievement, attitudes, and anxiety, but the longitudinal relations among these constructs are not well understood nor are sex differences in these relations. To address this gap, mathematics achievement, attitudes, and anxiety were longitudinally assessed for 342 (169 boys) adolescents from 7th to 9th grade, inclusive, and Latent Growth Curve Models were used to assess the relations among these traits and developmental change in them. Spatial abilities (7th, 8th grade) and trait anxiety (8th, 9th grade) were also assessed and used for control for sex differences in these traits.

Sex Differences in Developmental Pathways to Mathematical Competence.

The study tested the hypothesis that there are sex differences in the pathways to mathematical development. Three hundred forty-two adolescents (169 boys) were assessed in various mathematics areas from arithmetic fluency to algebra across 6 to 9 grade, inclusive, and completed a battery of working memory, spatial, and intelligence measures in middle school. Their middle school and 9 grade teachers reported on their in-class attentive behavior.

Developing evolutionary psychology: Commentary on Narvaez et al. (2022).

Narvaez et al. (2022), in their article "Evolving Evolutionary Psychology," argue that mainstream evolutionary psychology is based on misguided neo-Darwinian adaptationist thinking and an antiquated computationalist, "mind-as-computer" framework and offer their own developmentally informed theory as an alternative. While applauding Narvaez et al.

Boys' advantage in solving algebra word problems is mediated by spatial abilities and mathematics anxiety.

Adolescents' ( = 342, 169 boys) general algebra and algebra word problems performance were assessed in 9th grade as were intelligence, academic achievement, working memory, and spatial abilities in prior grades. The adolescents reported on their academic attitudes and anxiety and their teachers reported on their in-class attentive behavior in 7th to 9th grade. There were no sex differences on the general algebra measure or for mathematics achievement, but boys had an advantage on the algebra word problems measure ( = .

The role of domain-general attention and domain-specific processing in working memory in algebraic performance: An experimental approach.

We investigated the role of working memory in symbolic and spatial algebra and related tasks across five experiments. Each experiment combined a processing task (expression evaluation, arithmetic, coordinate plane, geometry, or mental rotation) with verbal and spatial memory loads in a dual-task design. Spatial memory was compromised in the presence of more difficult processing tasks, and verbal memory was only compromised in the presence of algebraic tasks.

Evolution of Self-Awareness and the Cultural Emergence of Academic and Non-academic Self-Concepts.

Schooling is ubiquitous in the modern world and academic development is now a critical aspect of preparation for adulthood. A step back in time to pre-modern societies and an examination of life in remaining traditional societies today reveals that universal formal schooling is an historically recent phenomenon. This evolutionary and historical recency has profound implications for understanding academic development, including how instructional practices modify evolved or biological primary abilities (e.

Connections between Mathematics and Reading Development: Numerical Cognition Mediates Relations between Foundational Competencies and Later Academic Outcomes.

We examined longitudinal relations between 1-grade cognitive predictors (early nonverbal reasoning, processing speed, listening comprehension, working memory, calculation skill, word-problem solving, word-reading fluency, attentive behavior, and numerical cognition) and 2-grade academic outcomes (calculations, word-problem solving, and word reading) in 370 children ( = 6.55 years, = 0.33 years at the start of the study) who were identified as at-risk or not-at-risk for mathematics disability.

Sex differences in adolescents' occupational aspirations: Variations across time and place.

We investigated sex differences in 473,260 adolescents' aspirations to work in things-oriented (e.g., mechanic), people-oriented (e.

Mathematics Clusters Reveal Strengths and Weaknesses in Adolescents' Mathematical Competencies, Spatial Abilities, and Mathematics Attitudes.

Pre-algebra mathematical competencies were assessed for a large and diverse sample of sixth graders ( = 1,926), including whole number and fractions arithmetic, conceptual understanding of equality and fractions magnitudes, and the fractions number line. The goal was to determine if there were clusters of students with similar patterns of pre-algebra strengths and weaknesses and if variation between clusters was related to mathematics attitudes, anxiety, or for a subsample ( = 342) some combination of intelligence, working memory, or spatial abilities. Critically, strengths and weaknesses were not uniform across the three identified clusters.

Boys' visuospatial abilities compensate for their relatively poor in-class attentive behavior in learning mathematics.

The mathematics and reading achievement of 322 adolescents (159 boys) was assessed in seventh and eighth grades, as were their intelligence, working memory, and spatial abilities. Their seventh- and eighth-grade mathematics and English language arts teachers reported on their in-class attentive behavior. The latter emerged as an important predictor of achievement, but more so for mathematics than for reading.

In-Class Attention, Spatial Ability, and Mathematics Anxiety Predict Across-Grade Gains in Adolescents' Mathematics Achievement.

Identifying meaningful cognitive and non-cognitive predictors of mathematical competence is critical for developing targeted interventions for students struggling with mathematics. Here, 317 students' short-term verbal memory, verbal and visuospatial working memory, complex spatial abilities, intelligence, and mathematics attitudes and anxiety were assessed, and their teachers reported on their attentive-behavior in seventh-grade mathematics classrooms. Bayesian regression models revealed that complex spatial abilities and in-class attention were the most plausible predictors of seventh-grade mathematics, but not word reading, achievement, controlling for prior achievement.

Mitochondrial Functioning and the Relations among Health, Cognition, and Aging: Where Cell Biology Meets Cognitive Science.

Cognitive scientists have determined that there is a set of mechanisms common to all sensory, perceptual, and cognitive abilities and correlated with age- and disease-related declines in cognition. These mechanisms also contribute to the development and functional coherence of the large-scale brain networks that support complex forms of cognition. At the same time, these brain and cognitive patterns are correlated with myriad health outcomes, indicating that at least some of the underlying mechanisms are common to all biological systems.

Closing the Word-Problem Achievement Gap in First Grade: Schema-Based Word-Problem Intervention with Embedded Language Comprehension Instruction.

The main purpose of this study was to test the effects of word-problem intervention, with versus without embedded language comprehension instruction, on at-risk 1 graders' word-problem performance. We also isolated the need for a structured approach to word-problem intervention and tested the efficacy of schema-based instruction at 1 grade. Children (n=391; mean age = 6.

Now you see them, and now you don't: An evolutionarily informed model of environmental influences on human sex differences.

The contributions of evolutionary processes to human sex differences are vigorously debated. One counterargument is that the magnitude of many sex differences fluctuates from one context to the next, implying an environment origin. Sexual selection provides a framework for integrating evolutionary processes and environmental influences on the origin and magnitude of sex differences.

Maternal DHA supplementation influences sex-specific disruption of placental gene expression following early prenatal stress.

Early life adversity is widely recognized as a key risk factor for early developmental perturbations and contributes to the presentation of neuropsychiatric disorders in adulthood. Neurodevelopmental disorders exhibit a strong sex bias in susceptibility, presentation, onset, and severity, although the underlying mechanisms conferring vulnerability are not well understood. Environmental perturbations during pregnancy, such as malnutrition or stress, have been associated with sex-specific reprogramming that contribute to increased disease risk in adulthood, whereby stress and nutritional insufficiency may be additive and further exacerbate poor offspring outcomes.

Comorbid Learning Difficulties in Reading and Mathematics: The Role of Intelligence and In-Class Attentive Behavior.

The goal was to identify the domain-general cognitive abilities and academic attitudes that are common and unique to reading and mathematics learning difficulties that in turn will have implications for intervention development. Across seventh and eighth grade, 315 (155 boys) adolescents ( age = 12.75 years) were administered intelligence, verbal short-term and working memory, and visuospatial memory, attention, and ability measures, along with measures of English and mathematics attitudes and mathematics anxiety.

Mitochondrial Functions, Cognition, and the Evolution of Intelligence: Reply to Commentaries and Moving Forward.

In response to commentaries, I address questions regarding the proposal that general intelligence () is a manifestation of the functioning of intramodular and intermodular brain networks undergirded by the efficiency of mitochondrial functioning (Geary 2018). The core issues include the relative contribution of mitochondrial functioning to individual differences in ; studies that can be used to test associated hypotheses; and, the adaptive function of intelligence from an evolutionary perspective. I attempt to address these and related issues, as well as note areas in which other issues remain to be addressed.