by Jesse Bering
One especially vivid example : Jules R. Bemporad, H. Donald Dunton, and Frieda H. Spady, “The Treatment of a Child Foot Fetishist,” American Journal of Psychotherapy 30, no. 2 (1976): 303–16.
About a decade later : Juliet Hopkins, “A Case of Foot and Shoe Fetishism in a 6-Year-Old Girl,” in The Borderline Psychiatric Child: A Selective Integration, ed. Trevor Lubbe (London: Routledge, 2000), 109–29.
This live-and-let-live approach: Joseph R. Cautela, “Behavioral Analysis of a Fetish: First Interview,” Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Psychiatry 17, no. 3 (1986): 161– 65.
This is the intriguing : A. James Giannini et al., “Sexualization of the Female Foot as a Response to Sexually Transmitted Epidemics: A Preliminary Study,” Psychological Reports 83, no. 2 (1998): 491–98.
A Rubber Lover’s Tale
“When I was four”: Narcyz Lukianowicz, “Imaginary Sexual Partner: Visual Masturbatory Fantasies,” Archives of General Psychiatry 3, no. 4 (1960): 432.
As reported in their : Thomas J. Fillion and Elliott M. Blass, “Infantile Experience with Suckling Odors Determines Adult Sexual Behavior in Male Rats,” Science 231, no. 4739 (1986): 729–31.
Female Ejaculation: A Scientific Road Less Traveled
In an extraordinary 2010 review : Joanna B. Korda, Sue W. Goldstein, and Frank Sommer, “The History of Female Ejaculation,” Journal of Sexual Medicine 7, no. 5 (2010): 1965–75.
report “copious” amounts: Amy L. Gilliland, “Women’s Experiences of Female Ejaculation,” Sexuality and Culture 13, no. 3 (2009): 121–34.
a team of Egyptian researchers: Ahmed Shafik et al., “An Electrophysiologic Study of Female Ejaculation,” Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy 35, no. 5 (2009): 337– 46.
a team of Czechs : Milan Zaviačič et al., “Female Urethral Expulsions Evoked by Local Digital Stimulation of the G-Spot: Differences in the Response Patterns,” Journal of Sex Research 24, no. 1 (1988): 311–18.
dubious 1966 assertion: William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson, Human Sexual Response (New York: Little, Brown, 1966).
“Before he’d say”: Gilliland, “Women’s Experiences of Female Ejaculation,” 126.
Studying the Elusive “Fag Hag”: Women Who Like Men Who Like Men
her Wikipedia entry: Rue McClanahan, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rue_McClanahan (accessed June 14, 2011).
Nancy Bartlett and her colleagues: Nancy H. Bartlett et al., “The Relation Between Women’s Body Esteem and Friendships with Gay Men,” Body Image 6, no. 3 (2009): 235– 41.
“The gay man in your life”: Margaret Cho, I’m the One That I Want (New York: Ballantine Books, 2002), 37.
Darwin’s Mystery Theater Presents … The Case of the Female Orgasm
“Female orgasm is a variable”: Cindy M. Meston et al., “Women’s Orgasm,” Annual Review of Sex Research 15 (2004): 174.
Gould fleshed out : Stephen Jay Gould, “Male Nipples and Clitoral Ripples,” in Bully for Brontosaurus: Further Reflections in Natural History (New York: W. W. Norton, 1992), 124 –38.
it was Lloyd who: Elisabeth A. Lloyd, The Case of the Female Orgasm (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2005).
Twin-based evidence : Kate M. Dunn, Lynn F. Cherkas, and Tim D. Spector, “Genetic Influences on Variation in Female Orgasmic Function: A Twin Study,” Biology Letters 1, no. 3 (2005): 260 – 63.
“just because something”: David P. Barash, “Let a Thousand Orgasms Bloom! A Review of The Case of the Female Orgasm by Elisabeth A. Lloyd,” Evolutionary Psychology 3 (2005): 351.
Religiosity is another : Sheryl A. Kingsberg and Jeffrey W. Janata, “Female Sexual Disorders: Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment,” Urologic Clinics of North America 34, no. 4 (2007): 497–506.
Using self-report data: Todd K. Shackelford et al., “Female Coital Orgasm and Male Attractiveness,” Human Nature 11, no. 3 (2000): 299–306.
orgasm and the physical attractiveness: Randy Thornhill et al., “Human Female Orgasm and Mate Fluctuating Asymmetry,” Animal Behaviour 50, no. 6 (1995): 1601–15.
“During the female copulatory”: Danielle Cohen and Jay Belsky, “Avoidant Romantic Attachment and Female Orgasm: Testing an Emotion-Regulation Hypothesis,” Attachment and Human Development 10, no. 1 (2008): 1.
Chinese women who were dating : Thomas Pollet and Daniel Nettle, “Partner Wealth Predicts Self-Reported Orgasm Frequency in a Sample of Chinese Women,” Evolution and Human Behavior 30, no. 2 (2009): 146 –51.
“is a signal whereby”: Barash, “Let a Thousand Orgasms Bloom!,” 349.
The Bitch Evolved: Why Are Girls So Cruel to Each Other?
“Jo is a fifteen-year-old girl ”: Rosalyn Shute, Laurence Owens, and Phillip Slee, “‘You Just Stare at Them and Give Them Daggers’: Nonverbal Expressions of Social Aggression in Teenage Girls,” International Journal of Adolescence 10, no. 4 (2002): 353–72.
which I’ll summarize here : Nicole H. Hess and Edward H. Hagen, “Sex Differences in Indirect Aggression: Psychological Evidence from Young Adults,” Evolution and Human Behavior 27 (2006): 231– 45.
Never Ask a Gay Man for Directions
In a study reported: Qazi Rahman, Davinia Andersson, and Ernest Govier, “A Specific Sexual Orientation–Related Difference in Navigation Strategy,” Behavioral Neuroscience 119, no. 1 (2005): 311–16.
in a follow-up study: Qazi Rahman and Johanna Koerting, “Sexual Orientation–Related Differences in Allocentric Spatial Memory Tasks,” Hippocampus 18, no. 1 (2008): 55– 63.
different armpit odors: Ivanka Savic et al., “Smelling of Odorous Sex Hormone–Like Compounds Causes Sex-Differentiated Hypothalamic Activations in Humans,” Neuron 31, no. 4 (2001): 661– 68.
“Single, Angry, Straight Male … Seeks Same”: Homophobia as Repressed Desire
One of the most important : Henry E. Adams, Lester W. Wright Jr., and Bethany A. Lohr, “Is Homophobia Associated with Homosexual Arousal?,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 105, no. 3 (1996): 440 – 45.
“a mercury-in-rubber … gauge”: Ibid., 441.
“We believe it is inaccurate”: Brian P. Meier et al., “A Secret Attraction or Defensive Loathing? Homophobia, Defense, and Implicit Cognition,” Journal of Research in Personality 40, no. 4 (2006): 388.
Some of the most startling data : Gregory M. Herek, Stigma and Sexual Orientation: Understanding Prejudice Against Lesbians, Gay Men, and Bisexuals (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 1998).
a later study published: Jeffrey A. Bernat et al., “Homophobia and Physical Aggression Toward Homosexual and Heterosexual Individuals,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 110, no. 1 (2001): 179–87.
Baby-Mama Drama-less Sex: How Gay Heartbreak Rains on the Polyamory Parade
“abandoned lovers are”: Helen E. Fisher, “Broken Hearts: The Nature and Risks of Romantic Rejection,” in Romance and Sex in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: Risks and Opportunities, ed. Ann C. Crouter and Alan Booth (Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2006), 13.
“a same-sex infidelity”: Brad J. Sagarin et al., “Sex Differences (and Similarities) in Jealousy: The Moderating Influence of Infidelity Experience and Sexual Orientation of the Infidelity,” Evolution and Human Behavior 24, no. 1 (2003): 18.
“When asked in a 2010 interview”: Boris Kachka, “The Kid Stays in the Picture,” New York, May 16, 2010, nymag.com/arts/theater/features/66008/.
Top Scientists Get to the Bottom of Gay Male Sex Role Preferences
Several years ago: Trevor A. Hart et al., “Sexual Behavior Among HIV-Positive Men Who Have Sex with Men: What’s in a Label?,” Journal of Sex Research 40, no. 2 (2003): 179–88.
a study showing that tops: David A. Moskowitz, Gerulf Rieger, and Michael E. Roloff, “Tops, Bottoms, and Versatiles,” Sexual and Relationship Therapy 23, no. 3 (2008): 191–202.
“Although self-labels”: Hart et al., “Sexual Behavior Among HIV-Positive Men Who Have Sex with Men”: 188.
“such relationships also”: Moskowitz, Rieger, and Roloff, “Tops, Bottoms, and Versatiles
”: 199.
Another intriguing study: Matthew H. McIntyre, “Letter to the Editor: Digit Ratios, Childhood Gender Role Behavior, and Erotic Role Preferences of Gay Men,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 32, no. 6 (2003): 495–97.
Is Your Child a “Pre-homosexual”? Forecasting Adult Sexual Orientation
“was to review the evidence”: J. Michael Bailey and Kenneth J. Zucker, “Childhood Sex-Typed Behavior and Sexual Orientation: A Conceptual Analysis and Quantitative Review,” Developmental Psychology 31, no. 1 (1995): 44.
list of innate sex differences: Ibid.
interviewed twenty-five adult women: Kelley D. Drummond et al., “A Follow-Up Study of Girls with Gender Identity Disorder,” Developmental Psychology 44, no. 1 (2008): 34 – 45.
“those targets who”: Gerulf Rieger et al., “Sexual Orientation and Childhood Gender Nonconformity: Evidence from Home Videos,” Developmental Psychology 44, no. 1 (2008): 53.
Cross-cultural data show: Fernando Luiz Cardoso, “Recalled Sex-Typed Behavior in Childhood and Sports’ Preferences in Adulthood of Heterosexual, Bisexual, and Homosexual Men from Brazil, Turkey, and Thailand,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 38, no. 5 (2008): 726 –36.
in a rather stunning case : Helen W. Wilson and Cathy Spatz Wisdom, “Does Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, or Neglect in Childhood Increase the Likelihood of Same-Sex Sexual Relationships and Cohabitation? A Prospective 30-Year Follow-Up,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 39, no. 1 (2010): 63–74.
Good Christians (but Only on Sundays)
In my book The Belief Instinct: Jesse Bering, The Belief Instinct : The Psychology of Souls, Destiny, and the Meaning of Life (New York: W. W. Norton, 2011).
“If supernatural punishment is held ”: Dominic Johnson and Jesse Bering, “Hand of God, Mind of Man: Punishment and Cognition in the Evolution of Cooperation,” Evolutionary Psychology 4 (2006): 219–33.
This is a term coined: Azim F. Shariff and Ara Norenzayan, “God Is Watching You: Priming God Concepts Increases Prosocial Behavior in an Anonymous Economic Game,” Psychological Science 18, no. 9 (2007): 803–9.
More recent work: Will Gervais and Ara Norenzayan, “Like a Camera in the Sky? Thinking About God Increases Public Self-awareness and Socially Desirable Responding,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (in press).
“This approach helps to shift”: Deepak Malhotra, “(When) Are Religious People Nicer? Religious Salience and the ‘Sunday Effect’ on Pro-Social Behavior,” Judgment and Decision Making 5, no. 2 (2010): 139.
In crunching the salacious: Benjamin Edelman, “Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 23, no. 1 (2009): 209–20.
God’s Little Rabbits: Believers Outreproduce Nonbelievers by a Landslide
“In the long run”: Michael Blume, “The Reproductive Benefits of Religious Affiliation,” in The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behaviour, ed. E. Voland and W. Schiefenhövel (Berlin: Springer Frontiers Collection, 2009), 122.
“The results are ”: Ibid., 119.
“Some naturalists are trying ”: Ibid., 125.
Planting Roots with My Dead Mother
Consider that before : “Natural burial,” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_burial (accessed June 14, 2011).
“You could drive about”: www.naturallegacies.org (accessed June 14, 2011).
This was a term: Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death (New York: Free Press, 1973).
Being Suicidal: Is Killing Yourself Adaptive? That Depends: Suicide for Your Genes’ Sake (Part I)
deCatanzaro posited that human brains: Denys deCatanzaro, Suicide/Self-Damage Behavior, Studies in Archaeological Science (New York: Academic Press, 1981).
But when biologists looked: Maydianne C. B. Andrade, “Sexual Selection for Male Sacrifice in the Australian Redback Spider,” Science 5, no. 5245 (1996): 70 –72.
Another example is bumblebees: Robert Poulin, “Altered Behaviour in Parasitized Bumblebees: Parasite Manipulation or Adaptive Suicide?,” Animal Behaviour 44, no. 1 (1992): 176.
To crystallize his position: Denys deCatanzaro, “A Mathematical Model of Evolutionary Pressures Regulating Self-Preservation and Self-Destruction,” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 16, no. 2 (1986): 166 –81.
In a 1995 study: Denys deCatanzaro, “Reproductive Status, Family Interactions, and Suicidal Ideation: Surveys of the General Public and High-Risk Groups,” Ethology and Sociobiology 16, no. 5 (1995): 385–94.
“the observational nature of”: Ibid., 391.
A few years after : R. Michael Brown et al., “Evaluation of an Evolutionary Model of Self-Preservation and Self-Destruction,” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 29, no. 1 (1999): 58–71.
“[She] was described as being”: Kimberly A. Van Orden et al., “The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide,” Psychological Review 117, no. 2 (2010): 585.
“The adoption of a more dangerous”: Poulin, “Altered Behaviour in Parasitized Bumblebees: Parasite Manipulation or Adaptive Suicide?
Being Suicidal: What It Feels Like to Want to Kill Yourself (Part II)
According to the researchers: David Cohen and Angèle Consoli, “Production of Supernatural Beliefs During Cotard’s Syndrome, a Rare Psychotic Depression,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29, no. 5 (2006): 468–70.
Some recent evidence suggests: Anders Helldén et al., “Death Delusion,” British Medical Journal 335, no. 7633 (2007): 1305.
“The delusion consisted of”: Cohen and Consoli, “Production of Supernatural Beliefs During Cotard’s Syndrome, a Rare Psychotic Depression,” 469.
I don’t think any scholar : Roy F. Baumeister, “Suicide as Escape from Self,” Psychological Review 97, no. 1 (1990): 90 –113.
“A large body of evidence”: Ibid., 95.
“it is apparently the size”: Ibid., 95.
“The essence of self-awareness”: Ibid., 98.
“Our best route to understanding ”: Edwin S. Shneidman, The Suicidal Mind (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 6.
“his file contained”: Susanne Langer, Jonathan Scourfield, and Ben Fincham, “Documenting the Quick and the Dead: A Study of Suicide Case Files in a Coroner’s Office,” Sociological Review 56, no. 2 (2008): 304.
“Concluding simply that depression”: Baumeister, “Suicide as Escape from Self,” 90.
“Thus suicidal people resemble”: Ibid., 100.
“When preparing for suicide”: Ibid., 108.
“acquired capability for suicide”: Kimberly A. Van Orden et al., “The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide,” Psychological Review 117, no. 2 (2010): 585.
“Scientists Say Free Will Probably Doesn’t Exist, Urge ‘Don’t Stop Believing!’”
“At the core of”: Roy F. Baumeister, “Free Will in Scientific Psychology,” Perspectives on Psychological Science 3, no. 1 (2008): 14.
The first study to directly: Kathleen D. Vohs and Jonathan W. Schooler, “The Value of Believing in Free Will,” Psychological Science 19, no. 1 (2008): 49–54.
“‘You,’ your joys and ”: Francis Crick, The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul (New York: Scribner, 1994), 3.
“If exposure to deterministic”: Vohs and Schooler, “Value of Believing in Free Will”: 54.
“Some philosophical analyses”: Roy F. Baumeister, E. J. Masicampo, and C. Nathan DeWall, “Prosocial Benefits of Feeling Free: Disbelief in Free Will Increases Aggression and Reduces Helpfulness,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 35, no. 2 (2009): 267.
The Rat That Wouldn’t Stop Laughing: Joy and Mirth in the Animal Kingdom
“the possibility that our”: Jaak Panksepp, “Neuroevolutionary Sources of Laughter and Social Joy: Modeling Primal Human Laughter in Laboratory Rats,” Behavioural Brain Research 182, no. 2 (2007): 232.
“Having just concluded ”: Ibid., 235.
“one must be adept”: Ibid., 234.
“unless they have been tickled”: Ibid., 235.
“We have tried t
o”: Ibid., 235.
“If a cat”: Ibid., 241.
In the same issue : Martin Meyer et al., “How the Brain Laughs: Comparative Evidence from Behavioral, Electrophysiological, and Neuroimaging Studies in Human and Monkey,” Behavioural Brain Research 182, no. 2 (2007): 245– 60.
the first experimental evidence : Diana P. Szameitat et al., “Differentiation of Emotions in Laughter at the Behavioral Level,” Emotion 9, no. 3 (2009): 397– 405.
“the actors were instructed”: Ibid., 398.
“Schadenfreude laughter might”: Ibid., 403.
Acknowledgments
Many people poked me in the ribs in response to things I’ve written in this book. Much to his chagrin, my partner, Juan Quiles, makes an appearance from time to time, and I’m very grateful to him for serving as a muse, a critic, and, more generally speaking, the ever-mysterious yin to my yang. He’s one of the few people who have managed to keep me continuously guessing (which means that he brings a healthy chaos that I’m ever in need of).
My agent, Peter Tallack of the Science Factory, has been a fantastic ally working tirelessly behind the scenes. I’m very fortunate to have him representing me, not only because I think he’s one of the best agents working the science world today—that makes him sound like a pimp; my profound apologies, Peter—but also because he usually agrees with me. That’s what he leads me to believe, anyway.
I’m also lucky to have collaborated on this project with a wonderful team of editors and proofreaders. Most notably, my lead editor, Amanda Moon of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and her wonderful assistant, Karen Maine, have been at the helm in organizing this collection. Amanda represents Person Number One in the editorial process; as my first-pass reader, she’s the person who evaluates the strengths and, certainly, the many weaknesses of my essays before anyone else can point them out to me. I feel as if I should include one of those disclaimers about “the attitudes and opinions here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect those of his employer.” But you know what I mean. We’re both, you and I, in very good hands with her.