adaptation (cooperation was essential for survival especially under harsher
climates), guilt was probably selected at the level of the individual (Boyer,
2002, p. 213; Richerson & Boyd, 2005, p. 214).
2.2.8 Traits Favored by Sexual SelectionIn the human species, the female sex is the limiting sex (see section 2.1), as
women invest substantially more time into reproduction (including pregnancy,
giving birth, and breast-feeding) and in any society there will be less receptive
women than sexually active men, at most times. The limiting sex can choose
from the other sex for immediate benefits (such as protection) or for good genes
(that contribute to thefitness of their common offspring). Ornaments (the
textbook example being the peacock’s tail) and behavioral displays (such as
courtship dances) are signals of good genes because they are costly (act as a
“handicap,”for example, by attracting predators and slowing down the organ-
ism’s movement); that is, the morefitness the organism has, the more of such
luxuries it can afford. In the past ten years, women’smatingchoicehasbeen
evoked as an explanation of various human cognitive and behavioral traits. On
this account, men have evolved a tendency to create costly displays of health,
intelligence, and creativity. As Geoffrey Miller noted,“Male humans paint more
pictures, record more jazz albums, write more books, commit more murders,
and perform more strange feats to enter the Guinness Book”(Miller, 2001,
p. 82). It has been suggested that more men than women practice religion in
public, despite the fact that more women than man have a personal appreciation
for religiosity, spirituality, and esotericism (Vaas & Blume, 2009, pp. 136–7).
Men’s spectacular displays of religiosity are widely attested in biblical and early
Christian literature from Samson and Saul to John the Baptist and the pillar
saints, yet these displays did not necessarily result in abundant offspring. Jewish
literature explicitly connects moderate religious practice with an increased
chance of leaving numerous offspring (e.g., Psalm 128). It is important to note
that female choice can explain only men’s exhibitionistic tendencies, but not the
evolution of the related cognitive traits (intelligence, creativity, religious com-
mitment), which are present in both sexes.
The emphasis on female choice in sexual selection misses the fact that the
mating system of our ancestors was different from that in modern Western
marriage which is largely based on courtship and individual preference (Puts,
2010). However, if male contest is present it is more effective than female
choice: if a male can control a group of females (such as in elephant seals),
female choice has little chance. Traditional human marriage systems world-
wide provide little opportunity for female choice. Although it is not evident
from our appearance, human sexual dimorphism (differences between the
sexes) is as big as in gorillas, if body mass (without fat), and especially strategic
38 Cognitive Science and the New Testament