Human signals of need: Testing predictions from evolutionary and signaling theory

Michael Robert Gaffney

In times of need or opportunity, humans, like many other cooperative species, use signals in attempt to elicit increased support or better treatment from others. Such signals reveal private information about one’s needs and wants (and their relevance to an individual's fitness prospects), which are often not apparent to potential helpers. With this information, signal receivers are expected to provide support when they benefit from the continued well-being of those helped in ways that outweigh the costs of helping. This collection of research uses evolutionary and signaling theory to investigate what leads to various signals of need, how these signals are responded to, and why responses to signals of need take the forms they do. A theoretical review of human signals of need found that there are often many ways to signal need within societies, and that individuals often use multiple strategies, either at the same time or sequentially. Signals of need were also found to be more common among those with low social and physical power, are associated with anger and conflict, and can result in beneficial, negative, or neutral treatment from others. An experimental vignette study found that participants were more likely to support and believe a female character claiming substantial adversity that could not be easily verified when her signaling involved depression or a suicide attempt, compared to when it involved only verbal requests and crying. These results are consistent with models which suggest that the costs of depression and suicidality function to help victims of adversity elicit support when their true level of need is private information and they have conflicts with social partners. An exploratory field study established the natural history of child signaling in Utila, Honduras. It revealed that crying, temper tantrums, and sadness were common in both sexes and across all ages, with the frequency of child signaling as a whole decreasing with age and neighborhood quality. Consistent with signaling theory, the frequency of signals of need increased with the frequency of conflict between children and caretakers, and children who were sad more frequently were perceived as needier within the household and were more likely to receive investment within the family. Together, this work advances the hypothesis that many signals of need are the result of adaptations that allow those with low social power to bargain for better treatment from others. It also provides broad support for the hypothesis that signaling strategies are sensitive to the degree to which one’s needs are private information and the extent of conflicts of interest between signalers and receivers.

Human signals of need: Testing predictions from evolutionary and signaling theory

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