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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science pp 1–4Cite as

Adoption Preferences

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  • First Online:

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Synonyms

Adaptation; Alloparenting; Facial cues; Family

Definition

What child traits influence parents’ desire to adopt?

Introduction

Adoption is a complex behavior that can take many forms and offer many functions. There are numerous factors that influence an adoption, including cultural norms, parent’s traits and resources, and the social and legal parameters surrounding adoption. One important potential influence on parents’ decision to adopt is information about the children themselves. In particular, cues of resemblance/kinship, age, and child attributes can all influence the desire to adopt a child. From an evolutionary perspective, each of these traits can influence the costs and potential outcomes of an adoption, making them highly relevant to adoption decisions.

Resemblance/Kinship

Evolutionary theory suggests that parents should invest in related children so long as the cost to themselves (i.e., their own genes) is offset by the benefit to the shared genes in the related...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada

    Anthony A. Volk

Authors
  1. Anthony A. Volk
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Correspondence to Anthony A. Volk .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

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

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL, USA

    Curtis Dunkel

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Volk, A.A. (2016). Adoption Preferences. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2285-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2285-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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