Meet the Dark Empath + Why humans mate in private? + Different views on infidelity

[C C]

Why do humans prefer to mate in private?
https://phys.org/news/2020-08-humans-private.html

EXCERPTS: Anecdotal evidence suggests that human beings generally prefer to mate in private -- but why? And why is it so rare? Other than humans, only one other species has demonstrated a preference for privacy during mating: Arabian babblers. [...] Ben Mocha ... was unable to find any evolutionary theories on the topic. Ben Mocha concludes his paper by introducing a theory of his own -- he believes that the reason humans (and babblers) began looking for privacy during sex was because the male wanted to prevent other males from seeing his female partner in a state of arousal. Such a state, he suggests, would likely have encouraged other males to attempt to mate with her. Thus, privacy, or perhaps more accurately, seclusion, allowed the male to maintain control over a sexual partner... (MORE - details)

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Men and women tend to have different views on infidelity
https://psychcentral.com/news/2020/08/02...58489.html

INTRO: A new study discovers men and women look at infidelity differently. The distinction is instructive as infidelity has been found to be one of the most common reasons for relationship dissolution worldwide. However, despite the different views most people, regardless of gender, believe they would be hard-pressed to forgive an unfaithful partner.

In the research, Norwegian investigators discovered men usually regard physical infidelity — when the partner has sex with another person — more seriously than women do. Women regard emotional infidelity — when the partner initiates a close relationship with another person — as more serious. Despite experiencing the different types of infidelity differently, men and women are about equally willing to forgive their partner. And the new findings show that the degree of forgiveness is not related to the type of infidelity... (MORE)

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Introducing the Dark Empath
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/...k-empath-0

INTRO: It may seem that people with elevated Dark Triad traits are not empathic, but it isn't so simple. In a basic sense empathy serves people higher in dark traits. Dark traits may be a "necessary evil", arguably important for group survival at critical times. Empathy, while serving altruism, is also a tool for the Machiavellian mind, which needs good “intel” for appraising, and potentially taking advantage of, others.

Empathy comes in two flavors—cognitive and affective. They are independent of one another, but also often work in tandem. Cognitive empathy is the ability to see things from another’s point of view. Affective empathy is the capacity to vibe with others' emotions. Cognitive empathy is stronger in narcissism, while affective empathy is weaker.

Psychopathy may serve the greater good. In performance-demanding situations such as those faced by first responders, health-care workers, soldiers, and others in high-stakes situations, emotions may fade away, opening up to cool, streamlined calculation. Mihailides, Galligan and Bates (2017) call this “adaptive psychopathy," describing the “quarantine vector” within which empathic information marries with psychopathic mental processes useful for dealing with threatening, alien experiences that conflict with one’s own values and beliefs.

We need to understand the role of empathy in the Dark Triad because it relates to important factors including aggression, personal and professional functioning, and well-being. Research has not systematically looked at the role of empathy in the Dark Triad, or whether there is an empathic version of the Dark Triad—a “Dark Empath." To investigate this possibility, researchers from Nottingham Trent University, UK (Heym et al., 2020) conducted surveys of 991 participants, in their early 20s to 30s and about 30 percent male. They completed the following... (MORE)

[Syne]

Why do humans prefer to mate in private?
https://phys.org/news/2020-08-humans-private.html

EXCERPTS: Anecdotal evidence suggests that human beings generally prefer to mate in private -- but why? And why is it so rare? Other than humans, only one other species has demonstrated a preference for privacy during mating: Arabian babblers. [...] Ben Mocha ... was unable to find any evolutionary theories on the topic. Ben Mocha concludes his paper by introducing a theory of his own -- he believes that the reason humans (and babblers) began looking for privacy during sex was because the male wanted to prevent other males from seeing his female partner in a state of arousal. Such a state, he suggests, would likely have encouraged other males to attempt to mate with her. Thus, privacy, or perhaps more accurately, seclusion, allowed the male to maintain control over a sexual partner... (MORE - details)

That seems like a completely unsupported hypothesis. Mocha makes correlations between human and bird behavior without any reasoning whatsoever.

Ben-Mocha says that the important thing to highlight is that both humans, and possibly Arabian babblers, don’t hide the fact that sex is occurring, but merely the act itself.

“It’s mostly about concealing the stimulus, and not the fact that it happens,” he says.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/anima...mals-news/

He doesn't seem to give any evidence for this assertion. But human female evolutionary psychology would certainly suggest that women would want to hide both the fact and the act, as either could negatively impact their social/mating value. This is congruent with how hidden estrus in humans aids female sexual selection.

He posits that this occurs in the babblers, and possibly some other species of bird, because they are cooperative breeders, where more than the parents tend to the offspring. Humans are not cooperative breeders, so it does not follow that the behaviors have similar motives.