Tinbergen's "four questions" provides a formal framework for a more complete understanding of prosocial biases in favour of attractive people.
We adopt Tinbergen's (1963) "four questions" approach to strengthen the criticism by Maestripieri et al. of the non-evolutionary accounts of favouritism toward attractive individuals, by showing which levels of explanation are lacking in these accounts. We also use this approach to propose ways in which the evolutionary account may be extended and strengthened.
Department of Psychology,Macquarie University,North Ryde,New South Wales 2109,Australia.ian.stephen@mq.edu.auhttp://humansciences.mq.edu.au/psychology/psychology_staff/psychology_academic_staff/ian_stephen.
Ian D
ID
Stephen
School of Psychology,University of Newcastle,Ourimbah,New South Wales 2258,Australia.darren.burke@newcastle.edu.au.
Darren
D
Burke
School of Psychology,Charles Sturt University,Bathurst,New South Wales 2795,Australia.dsulikowski@csu.edu.au.
Danielle
D
Sulikowski
D015982:Bias; D005075:Biological Evolution; D006801:Humans; D058025:Interdisciplinary Studies; D011593:Psychology, Social