I came across a post about how others have commented on the Galperin et al. study I write about in the post below this one. It is on the site of Evolutionary Psychology (Google it for the link), by Robert Kurzban, and criticizes several other reviews of the study as angry, venomous and even hysterical:
Erin Gloria Ryan was, it seems, not amused. She wrote about the work in a piece entitled: “Women Are Hard Wired To Feel Bad About Being Sluts, Says Suspect Study.” In typical fashion from my experiences reading Jezebel, the piece opens with some false, hysterical claims, including that substitute for good writing, ALL CAPS to make her point emphatic. She writes: “A new study claims that women are HARD WIRED (sic) regret casual sex whereas men are HARD WIRED to think random sex is great.”
While Galperin et al. do motivate their work with an evolutionary approach, neither the word “hard” nor the word “wired” appear anywhere in the piece. Further, the authors explicitly acknowledge that there are “social factors that might moderate or exacerbate evolved dispositions in each sex to regret certain sexual experiences.” My sense is that this idea is the sort of thing that the author of the piece favors, given what I take to be her favored explanation, which is that “… civilizations place high value on controlling female sexuality and humans are social creatures with an aversion to ostracization.” I’m not quite sure how feeling regret saves someone from ostracism – or ostracization, as Ryan would have it, but in any case, the venom in Ryan’s piece seems to have invited similar tones from the people who commented on her brief remarks, which comments included the usual name-calling, epithets, and use of ALL CAPS for emphasis.Bolds are mine.
Rather than say anything more about that anger or hysteria, let me address the bit in this quote which applies to Ryan's argument:
My sense is that this idea is the sort of thing that the author of the piece favors, given what I take to be her favored explanation, which is that “… civilizations place high value on controlling female sexuality and humans are social creatures with an aversion to ostracization.” I’m not quite sure how feeling regret saves someone from ostracism – or ostracization, as Ryan would have it
Bolds are mine, again.
Here's the answer, from the Galperin et al. study:
The experience of regret is hypothesized to serve several functions. Regret about a recent event can motivate corrective reactions to undo the root cause of the regret (Beike, Markman, & Karadogan, 2009; Roese & Summerville, 2005). For example, regretting a conflict one had with a friend could motivate steps toward mending the relationship.
Regret could also serve to improve future decisions when a similar situation arises again (Beike et al., 2009; Zeelenberg, 1999b). Simply anticipating regret about not using a condom, for instance, is associated with greater anticipated condom use and greater actual future condom use (Richard, De Vries, & van der Pligt, 1998; Richard, van der Pligt, & De Vries, 1996).
If regret could play an evolved sex difference role, it could equally play a role in avoiding future causes for regret when those causes are based on societal sanctions.
Kurzban then disapproves of the comments at Jezebel:
...the venom in Ryan’s piece seems to have invited similar tones from the people who commented on her brief remarks, which comments included the usual name-calling, epithets, and use of ALL CAPS for emphasis. One writer seems to have taken Ryan at her word that the authors of the study used the term “hard wired,” writing:
Besides the fact that this “study” is a bunch of misogynist evolutionary psychology bullshit, I also really hate the phrase “hard wired.”
Other comments strike similar tones, with some inexplicable animated gifs thrown in for good measure, including Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and I think Rita Hayworth.All that is unfortunate. So is the very first comment (about the need not to respond to the Jezebel post as an adult but as one would reply to a hysterical child) currently attached to Kurzban's own post, liked by sixteen, which links to a blog where terms such as "alpha and beta males," "flapping of the vaginas," "pussboys," "manginas" and "cad-chasing sluts" appear.