Author:
Minna T. Lyons Liverpool Hope University Liverpool

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Heroic rescuing behaviour is a male-typical trait in humans, and it is possible that life risking acts represent a costly signal, showing that a rescuing male has good underlying genetic quality. Previous research has shown that males with low status occupations are more frequent rescuers than males who have higher socio-economic statuses. This study looked at news archives of local papers in the UK in order to discover what kind of characteristics rescuers possess. It was found that males were highly more likely to rescue than females were, and that a typical rescuer was a low status male rescuing another male. Males with low socio-economic status were more likely to rescue in all the contexts (fire, drowning, violence and traffic accidents). Socio-economic status and heroism are discussed in relation to the evolutionary theory. It is suggested that heroism could be a condition dependent life history strategy and could be related to steep future discounting.

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Journal of Cultural and Evolutionary Psychology
Language English
Size  
Year of
Foundation
2003
Publication
Programme
changed title
Volumes
per Year
 
Issues
per Year
 
Founder Akadémiai Kiadó
Founder's
Address
H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Publisher Akadémiai Kiadó
Publisher's
Address
H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Responsible
Publisher
Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN 1589-5254 (Print)
ISSN 1589-7397 (Online)

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