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Phenotypic Resemblance and Kinship Detection

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Many types of cues can correlate with genetic relatedness. Contemporary researchers categorize potential kinship cues in two main classes: contextual and phenotypic (reviewed in Penn and Frommen 2010).

Contextual cues include information such as spatial location, timing of association, mating history, and state-dependent association (e.g., during the hormonal state that characterizes recent childbirth), as well as interactions between such factors. For example, co-residence duration is generally positively correlated with measures of altruism and incest avoidance between siblings (Lieberman et al. 2003). However, individuals who have experienced maternal perinatal association (i.e., the close association between your mother and a newborn potential sibling) show high levels of altruism and incest avoidance towards that sibling and do not show effects of co-residence duration (Lieberman et al. 2007).

Phenotypic cues are physical cues that correlate with genetic relatedness, such as odor,...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Lisa DeBruine

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  1. Lisa DeBruine
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Correspondence to Lisa DeBruine .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, MI, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

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  1. University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Minna Lyons

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DeBruine, L. (2018). Phenotypic Resemblance and Kinship Detection. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1535-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1535-1

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