In Other Nests | Macken Murphy | Species Podcast

A natural history of infidelity and a history of science on the topic. Listen and learn about the oldest known laws in history, fish that get pessismistic without their boyfriend, the costs of monogamy, the ovulatory shift hypothesis (and a conspiracy theory about it), the mate-switching vs. dual-mating debate, and so much more.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro
12:38 Theme
13:42 The Costs of Monogamy
20:01 The Many Strategic Functions of Infidelity
27:16 The Primary Reason Men Cheat
29:21 Intro to The Dual Mating Strategy
32:02 Ovulatory Shifts in Mate Preferences
34:26 Intro to the Mate Switching Hypothesis
36:13 Initial Impressions
42:15 Testing Mate-Switching vs. Dual-Mating
46:35 Addressing Critiques
48:16 The Usual Caveats
50:26 The Manosphere Reaction
51:31 Rollo’s Conspiracy (lol)
55:01 Nature’s Curse, Nature’s Gift
58:15 Outro

Selected references (most key information is in, or referenced in, these texts):

Murphy, M., Phillips, C. A., & Blake, K. R. (2024). Why women cheat: testing evolutionary hypotheses for female infidelity in a multinational sample. Evolution and Human Behavior, 45(5), 106595.

Buss, D. M., Goetz, C., Duntley, J. D., Asao, K., & Conroy-Beam, D. (2017). The mate switching hypothesis. Personality and Individual Differences, 104, 143-149.

Gangestad, S. W., & Thornhill, R. (1998). Menstrual cycle variation in women's preferences for the scent of symmetrical men. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 265(1399), 927-933.

Gangestad, S. W., Thornhill, R., & Garver-Apgar, C. E. (2005). Adaptations to ovulation: Implications for sexual and social behavior. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(6), 312-316.

Also:

Finkelstein, J. J. (1968). The Laws of Ur-Nammu. Journal of cuneiform studies, 22(3-4), 66-82.

Hicks, T. V., & Leitenberg, H. (2001). Sexual fantasies about one's partner versus someone else: Gender differences in incidence and frequency. Journal of Sex Research, 38(1), 43-50.

Laubu, C., Louâpre, P., & Dechaume-Moncharmont, F. X. (2019). Pair-bonding influences affective state in a monogamous fish species. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 286(1904), 20190760.

Scelza, B. A. (2011). Female choice and extra-pair paternity in a traditional human population. Biology Letters, 7(6), 889-891.

Scelza, B. A. (2013). Choosy but not chaste: Multiple mating in human females. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 22(5), 259-269.

Scelza, B. A. (2014). Jealousy in a small-scale, natural fertility population: The roles of paternity, investment and love in jealous response. Evolution and Human Behavior, 35(2), 103-108.

Yildiz, F. (1981). A tablet of codex Ur-Nammu from Sippar. Orientalia, 50(1), 87-97.

[murphymacken]

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Intro
12:38 Theme
13:42 The Costs of Monogamy
20:01 The Many Strategic Functions of Infidelity
27:16 The Primary Reason Men Cheat
29:21 Intro to The Dual Mating Strategy
32:02 Ovulatory Shifts in Mate Preferences
34:26 Intro to the Mate Switching Hypothesis
36:13 Initial Impressions
42:15 Testing Mate-Switching vs. Dual-Mating
46:35 Addressing Critiques
48:16 The Usual Caveats
50:26 The Manosphere Reaction
51:31 Rollo’s Conspiracy (lol)
55:01 Nature’s Curse, Nature’s Gift
58:15 Outro

[iaaiaa]

The ending was boderline philosophical. Loved it.

[mohina]

Thank you for podcast. Its definitely been a while but worth it! Glad to hear you have another planned. I wish i could articulate as well as you. Five ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐😊

[king]

Have you ever done a video or podcast on how to improve when it comes to physical attractiveness / help when it comes to getting dates?

[Ken]

I was wondering if this podcast was still active

[Legendaryplaya]

Dunno why this podcast reminds me of Hardcore History.

[Ken]

Guess you're not done with the manosphere afterall

[BlackJesusChrist]

Another banger from the Chad lightster, the Mystic Macken. Me? Well... Still can't breed! Help!...

[terratokyo]

I'd argue a reason for mate switching for women or afair is that women like pretty things. Handbags etc. social status also is impacted by a highly attractive mate. So maybe it's just they want a better human handbag to show off. ... A more pretty male to be seen with has some inherent value.

[ASoniaM]

Everything you say pertains to those with xy chromosomes, for the most part, and doesn't pertain to those with xx chromosomes, with a ver few miniscule exception.