I want (my) children to sleep in a safe place: Experimental analysis of human sleeping site preferences from an evolutionary point of view

Stich, Jennifer and Spörrle, Matthias (July 2008): I want (my) children to sleep in a safe place: Experimental analysis of human sleeping site preferences from an evolutionary point of view. International Congress of Psychology, Berlin, Germany, 20. - 25. July 2008. International Journal of Psychology. Vol. 43, No. 3/4 p. 119

Abstract

Based on evolutionary assumptions of habitat selection and parental investment, we predicted that adults choose sleeping sites (1) in which children have safer bed positions than the adults themselves and (2) in which own children have safer bed positions than genetically unrelated children. Both hypotheses were confirmed in a questionnaire study (N = 220) with floor plans depicting different sleeping arrangements that were varied according to a 3 (number of children: no vs. one vs. two) x 2 (kinship: own vs. unrelated child) factorial between-subjects design.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Poster)
• Keywords: sleep, sleeping site, children, parental investment, theory of evolution, Schlaf, Schlafplatz, Kinder, elterliche Investition, Evolutionstheorie
• Faculties: Psychology and Education Science > Department Psychology > General Psychology II > Conference proceedings
• Subjects: 100 Philosophy and Psychology > 150 Psychology
• Language: English

References

Arnold, J., Stich, J., & Spörrle, M. (2005). Evolutionäre Schlafpräferenzen im Kontext von Funktionalität und Sicherheit [Evolutionary sleeping site preferences in the context of functionality and safeness] [Abstract]. In K. W. Lange, K.-H. Bäuml, M. W. Greenlee, M. Hammerl & A. Zimmer (Eds.), Experimentelle Psychologie. Beiträge zur 47. Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen (p. 7). Lengerich: Pabst Science Publishers.

Spörrle, M., & Stich, J. (2005). Experimentelle Überprüfung einer evolutionstheoretischen Erklärung von Schlafplatzpräferenzen des Menschen [Experimental testing of an explanation of human sleeping site preferences based on evolutionary theory] [Abstract]. In K. W. Lange, K.-H. Bäuml, M. W. Greenlee, M. Hammerl & A. Zimmer (Eds.), Experimentelle Psychologie. Beiträge zur 47. Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen (p. 195). Lengerich: Pabst Science Publishers.

Stich, J., Spörrle, M., Binser, M. J., & Försterling, F. (2007 August). Experimental analysis of human sleeping site preferences – systematic findings from international samples. Paper presented at the Inter-disciplinary Conference on Human Characteristics, Aarhus, Denmark.