Dead or Alive? Knowledge about a Sibling’s Death Varies by Genetic Relatedness in a Modern Society

Original article:

Dead or Alive? Knowledge about a Sibling’s Death Varies by Genetic Relatedness in a Modern Society

Evolutionary Psychology 7(1): 57-65 Thomas V. Pollet, Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Newcastle University, NE2 4HH, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, T.V.Pollet@rug.nlDaniel Nettle, Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Newcastle University, NE2 4HH, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Abstract

Using a large sample of non-institutionalized individuals from the Netherlands (n = 7610), we examined the influence of relatedness on an individual’s knowledge about whether their sibling is alive or not. Respondents were generally less likely to know whether their sibling was alive if they were not fully related. The effects were stronger for differences between paternal half-siblings and full siblings than for differences between maternal half-siblings and full siblings.

Keywords

kin selection, siblings, human family, death, social cognition

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