Definition
The act nomination method is a means by which evolutionary scientists can identify the behavioral manifestations of psychological adaptations.
Introduction
All adaptations, decision rules, cognitive procedures, personality traits, and mating strategies must be manifested in actual behavior, broadly conceived. The act nomination procedure is simply one method for identifying those behavioral manifestations (Buss and Craik 1983).
Early research using this method identified manifestations of personality traits such dominance, submissiveness, aggression, and cooperation. During the first phase of a study, participants would be asked: “Think of the most dominant individual you know or have observed. In the spaces below, list 10 acts this person has performed that reflect or exemplify their dominance.” The instructions typically had participants nominate dominant acts that a man might perform and separately...
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References
Buss, D. M. (1981). Sex differences in the evaluation and performance of dominant acts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40(1), 147–154.
Buss, D. M. (1988a). The evolution of human intrasexual competition: Tactics of mate attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(4), 616–628.
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Buss, D. M., & Craik, K. H. (1983). The act frequency approach to personality. Psychological Review, 90(2), 105–126.
Buss, D. M., & Shackelford, T. K. (1997). From vigilance to violence: Mate retention tactics in married couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(2), 346–363.
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Schmitt, D. P., & Buss, D. M. (2001). Human mate poaching: Tactics and temptations for infiltrating existing mateships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(6), 894–917.
Tooke, W., & Camire, L. (1991). Patterns of deception in intersexual and intrasexual mating strategies. Ethology and Sociobiology, 12(5), 345–364.
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Buss, D.M. (2016). Act Nomination Method. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1862-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1862-1
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