Hostname: page-component-758b78586c-t6f8b Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2023-11-27T14:43:24.035Z Has data issue: false Feature Flags: { "corePageComponentGetUserInfoFromSharedSession": true, "coreDisableEcommerce": false, "useRatesEcommerce": true } hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

INTELLIGENCE AND HOMOSEXUALITY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2012

SATOSHI KANAZAWA
SATOSHI KANAZAWA
Affiliation:
Department of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The origin of preferences and values is an unresolved theoretical problem in behavioural sciences. The Savanna-IQ Interaction Hypothesis, derived from the Savanna Principle and a theory of the evolution of general intelligence, suggests that more intelligent individuals are more likely to acquire and espouse evolutionarily novel preferences and values than less intelligent individuals, but general intelligence has no effect on the acquisition and espousal of evolutionarily familiar preferences and values. Ethnographies of traditional societies suggest that exclusively homosexual behaviour was probably rare in the ancestral environment, so the Hypothesis would predict that more intelligent individuals are more likely to identify themselves as homosexual and engage in homosexual behaviour. Analyses of three large, nationally representative samples (two of which are prospectively longitudinal) from two different nations confirm the prediction.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 44 , Issue 5 , September 2012 , pp. 595 - 623
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, H. E., Wright, L. W. & Lohr, B. A. (1996) Is homophobia associated with homosexual arousal? Journal of Abnormal Psychology 105, 440–445.Google Scholar
Alexander, R. D., Hoogland, J. L., Howard, R. D., Noonan, K. M. & Sherman, P. W. (1979) Sexual dimorphisms and breeding systems in pinnipeds, ungulates, primates and humans. In Chagnon, N. A. & Irons, W. (eds) Evolutionary Biology and Human Social Behavior: An Anthropological Perspective. Duxbury Press, North Scituate, pp. 402–435.Google Scholar
Arabsheibani, G. R., Marin, A. & Wadsworth, J. (2005) Gay pay in the UK. Economica 72, 333–347.Google Scholar
Atran, S. (2002) In Gods we Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Bagemihl, B. (2000) Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity. St Martin's Press, New York.Google Scholar
Bailey, J. M. & Pillard, R. C. (1991) A genetic study of male sexual orientation. Archives of General Psychiatry 48, 1089–1096.Google Scholar
Bell, A. P. & Weinberg, M. S. (1978) Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity among Men and Women. Simon and Schuster, New York.Google Scholar
Bell, A. P., Weinberg, M. S. & Hammersmith, S. K. (1981) Sexual Preference: Its Development in Men and Women. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.Google Scholar
Blanchard, R. & Bogaert, A. F. (1996) Biodemographic comparisons of homosexual and heterosexual men in the Kinsey interview data. Archives of Sexual Behavior 25, 551–579.Google Scholar
Bogaert, A. F. & Blanchard, R. (1996) Physical development and sexual orientation in men: height, weight and age of puberty differences. Personality and Individual Differences 21, 77–84.Google Scholar
Boyer, P. (2001) Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought. Basic, New York.Google Scholar
Chagnon, N. (1992) Yanomamö (4th edition). Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Fort Worth, TX, USA.Google Scholar
Chivers, M. L., Seto, M. C. & Blanchard, R. (2007) Gender and sexual orientation differences in sexual response to sexual activities versus gender of actors in sexual films. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 93, 1108–1121.Google Scholar
Cochran, G. & Harpending, H. (2009) The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution. Basic, New York.Google Scholar
Crapo, R. H. (1995) Factors in the cross-cultural patterning of male homosexuality: a reappraisal of the literature. Cross-Cultural Research 29, 178–202.Google Scholar
Crawford, C. B. (1993) The future of sociobiology: counting babies or proximate mechanisms? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 8, 183–186.Google Scholar
Cronk, L. (2004) From Mukogodo to Maasai: Ethnicity and Cultural Change in Kenya. Westview, Boulder.Google Scholar
de Waal, F. B. M. (1989) Food sharing and reciprocal obligations among chimpanzees. Journal of Human Evolution 18, 433–459.Google Scholar
de Waal, F. B. M. (1992) Appeasement, celebration, and food sharing in the two Pan species. In Nishida, T., McGrew, W. C. & Marler, P. (eds) Topics in Primatology: Human Origins. University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo, pp. 37–50.Google Scholar
de Waal, F. B. M., Luttrell, L. M. & Canfield, M. E. (1993) Preliminary data on voluntary food sharing in brown capuchin monkeys. American Journal of Primatology 29, 73–78.Google Scholar
Deary, I. J., Batty, G. D. & Gale, C. R. (2008) Bright children become enlightened adults. Psychological Science 19, 1–6.Google Scholar
Deary, I. J., Whiteman, M. C., Starr, J. M., Whalley, L. J. & Fox, H. C. (2004) The impact of childhood intelligence on later life: following up the Scottish Mental Surveys of 1932 and 1947. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 86, 130–147.Google Scholar
Diamond, L. M. (2008) Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love and Desire. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Ellis, L. (1998) NeoDarwinian theories of violent criminality and antisocial behavior: photographic evidence from nonhuman animals and a review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior 3, 61–110.Google Scholar
Ellis, L. & Ames, M. A. (1987) Neurohormonal functioning and sexual orientation: a theory of homosexuality–heterosexuality. Psychological Bulletin 101, 233–258.Google Scholar
Evans, P. D., Gilbert, S. L., Mekel-Bobrov, N., Vallender, E. J., Anderson, J. R., Vaez-Azizi, L. M. et al. (2005) Microcephalin, a gene regulating brain size, continues to evolve adaptively in humans. Science 309, 1717–1720.Google Scholar
Gallup, G. G. Jr. & Suarez, S. D. (1983) Homosexuality as a by-product of selection for optimal heterosexual strategies. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 26, 315–322.Google Scholar
Gallup, G. G. Jr (1995) Have attitudes toward homosexuals been shaped by natural selection? Ethology and Sociobiology 17, 53–70.Google Scholar
Grov, C., Bimbi, D. S., Nanín, J. E. & Parsons, J. T. (2006) Race, ethnicity, gender, and generational factors associated with the coming-out processes among gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals. Journal of Sex Research 43, 115–121.Google Scholar
Guthrie, S. E. (1993) Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Hamer, D. H., Hu, S., Magnuson, V. L., Hu, N. & Pattatucci, A. M. I. (1993) A linkage between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation. Science 261, 321–327.Google Scholar
Harvey, P. H. & Bennett, P. M. (1985) Sexual dimorphism and reproductive strategies. In Ghesquiere, J., Martin, R. D. & Newcombe, F. (eds) Human Sexual Dimorphism. Taylor and Francis, London, pp. 43–59.Google Scholar
Haselton, M. G. & Nettle, D. (2006) The paranoid optimist: an integrative evolutionary model of cognitive biases. Personality and Social Psychology Review 10, 47–66.Google Scholar
Herrnstein, R. J. & Murray, C. (1994) The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life. Free Press, New York.Google Scholar
Hewlett, B. S. & Hewlett, B. L. (2010) Sex and searching for children among Aka foragers and Ngandu farmers of central Africa. African Study Monographs 31, 107–125.Google Scholar
Hilbe, J. M. (2007) Negative Binomial Regression. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hill, K. & Hurtado, A. M. (1996) Ache Life History: The Ecology and Demography of a Foraging People. Aldine, New York.Google Scholar
Huang, M-H. & Hauser, R. M. (1998) Trends in black–white test-score differentials: II. The WORDSUM vocabulary test. In Neisser, U. (ed.) The Rising Curve: Long-term Gains in IQ and Related Measure. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, pp. 303–332.Google Scholar
Kanazawa, S. (2001) De gustibus est disputandum. Social Forces 79, 1131–1163.Google Scholar
Kanazawa, S. (2002) Bowling with our imaginary friends. Evolution and Human Behavior 23, 167–171.Google Scholar
Kanazawa, S. (2004a) The Savanna Principle. Managerial and Decision Economics 25, 41–54.Google Scholar
Kanazawa, S. (2004b) General intelligence as a domain-specific adaptation. Psychological Review 111, 512–523.Google Scholar
Kanazawa, S. (2008) Temperature and evolutionary novelty as forces behind the evolution of general intelligence. Intelligence 36, 99–108.Google Scholar
Kanazawa, S. (2009) Evolutionary psychology and crime. In Walsh, A. & Beaver, K. M. (eds) Biosocial Criminology: New Directions in Theory and Research. Routledge, New York, pp. 90–110.Google Scholar
Kanazawa, S. (2010a) Why liberals and atheists are more intelligent. Social Psychology Quarterly 73, 33–57.Google Scholar
Kanazawa, S. (2010b) Evolutionary psychology and intelligence research. American Psychologist 65, 279–289.Google Scholar
Kanazawa, S. & Hellberg, J. E. E. U. (2010) Intelligence and substance use. Review of General Psychology 14, 382–396.Google Scholar
Kanazawa, S. & Novak, D. L. (2005) Human sexual dimorphism in size may be triggered by environmental cues. Journal of Biosocial Science 37, 657–665.Google Scholar
Kanazawa, S. & Perina, K. (2009) Why night owls are more intelligent. Personality and Individual Differences 47, 685–690.Google Scholar
Kauth, M. R. (2000) True Nature: A Theory of Sexual Attraction. Kluwer, New York.Google Scholar
Kirk, K. M., Bailey, J. M., Dunne, M. P. & Martin, N. G. (2000) Measurement models for sexual orientation in a community of twin sample. Behavior Genetics 30, 345–356.Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, L. A. (2005) Attachment, Evolution, and the Psychology of Religion. Guilford, New York.Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, R. C. (2000) The evolution of human homosexual behavior. Current Anthropology 41, 385–413.Google Scholar
Kluegel, J. R. & Smith, E. R. (1986) Beliefs about Inequality: Americans' View of What is and What Ought To Be. Aldine, New York.Google Scholar
Lake, C. C. & Breglio, V. J. (1992) Different voices, different views: the politics of gender. In Ries, P. & Stone, A. J. (eds) The American Woman, 1992–93: A Status Report. Norton, New York, pp. 178–201.Google Scholar
Lee, R. B. (1979) The !Kung San: Men, Women, and Work in a Foraging Society. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Leutenegger, W. & Kelly, J. T. (1977) Relationship of sexual dimorphism in canine size and body size to social, behavioral, and ecological correlates in anthropoid primates. Primates 18, 117–136.Google Scholar
LeVay, S. (2010) Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Levinson, D.(Editor in Chief) (1991–1995) Encyclopedia of World Cultures (10 Volumes). G. K. Hall, Boston.Google Scholar
Miller, A. S. & Hoffmann, J. P. (1995) Risk and religion: an explanation of gender differences in religiosity. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 34, 63–75.Google Scholar
Miller, A. S. & Stark, R. (2002) Gender and religiousness: can socialization explanations be saved? American Journal of Sociology 107, 1399–1423.Google Scholar
Miner, J. B. (1957) Intelligence in the United States: A Survey – With Conclusions for Manpower Utilization in Education and Employment. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Murray, S. O. (2000) Homosexualities. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Muscarella, F. (2000) The evolution of homoerotic behavior in humans. Journal of Homosexuality 40, 51–77.Google Scholar
Mustanski, B. S., Chivers, M. L. & Bailey, J. M. (2002) A critical review of recent biological research on human sexual orientation. Annual Review of Sex Research 13, 89–140.Google Scholar
Nash, G. (2001) The subversive male: homosexual and bestial images on European Mesolithic rock art. In Bevan, L. (ed.) Indecent Exposure: Sexuality, Society and the Archaeological Record, Cruithne Press pp. 43–63.Google Scholar
Pickford, M. (1986) On the origins of body size dimorphism in primates. In Pickford, M. & Chiarelli, B. (eds) Sexual Dimorphism in Living and Fossil Primates. Il Sedicesimo, Florence, pp. 77–91.Google Scholar
Rahman, Q., Abrahams, S. & Wilson, G. D. (2003) Sexual-orientation-related differences in verbal fluency. Neuropsychology 17, 240–246.Google Scholar
Rahman, Q., Bhanot, S., Emrith-Small, H., Ghafoor, S. & Roberts, S.Gender nonconformity, intelligence, and sexual orientation. Archives of Sexual Behavior (in press).Google Scholar
Shapiro, R. Y. & Mahajan, H. (1986) Gender differences in policy preferences: a summary of trends from the 1960s to the 1980s. Public Opinion Quarterly 50, 42–61.Google Scholar
Sundquist, J. L. (1983) Dynamics of the Party System (revised edition). Brookings Institution, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Symons, D. (1990) Adaptiveness and adaptation. Ethology and Sociobiology 11, 427–444.Google Scholar
Tooby, J. & Cosmides, L. (1990) The past explains the present: emotional adaptations and the structure of ancestral environments. Ethology and Sociobiology 11, 375–424.Google Scholar
Trivers, R. (2000) The elements of a scientific theory of self-deception. Annals of New York Academy of Sciences of the USA 907, 114–131.Google Scholar
Turner, G. (1996) Finding genes on the X chromosome by which Homo may have become sapiens. American Journal of Human Genetics 58, 1109–1110.Google Scholar
Tuttle, G. E. & Pillard, R. C. (1991) Sexual orientation and cognitive abilities. Archives of Sexual Behavior 20, 307–318.Google Scholar
Weinrich, J. (1978) Nonreproduction, homosexuality, transsexualism, and intelligence. Journal of Homosexuality 3, 275–290.Google Scholar
Whitten, N. E. Jr (1976) Sacha Runa: Ethnicity and Adaptation of Ecuadorian Jungle Quichua. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.Google Scholar
Wilson, G. & Rahman, Q. (2005) Born Gay: The Psychobiology of Sex Orientation. Peter Owen, London.Google Scholar
Wilson, J. Q. & Herrnstein, R. J. (1985) Crime and Human Nature: The Definitive Study of the Causes of Crime. Touchstone, New York.Google Scholar
Wirls, D. (1986) Reinterpreting the gender gap. Public Opinion Quarterly 50, 316–330.Google Scholar
Wolfle, L. M. (1980) The enduring effects of education on verbal skills. Sociology of Education 53, 104–114.Google Scholar