“Least signaling” is a bit too vague to work with. Under your definition, the only criteria seems to be the degree to which we can talk about it. Anything at all that is socially acceptable to talk about can be construed as a signaling activity, so this definition is not very useful compared to say, basing it off of how many people would do it being observed vs. not observed, or which country they would choose to live in in the data you cited.
If it’s pleasant, I can brag about it to show how much leisure time I have / how my life is better than yours. If it’s unpleasant but useful, I can use it to show how good of a work ethic I have that I got it done. If it’s expensive, it shows I’m richer than you. If it’s cheap, it shows I’m thriftier than you. If it’s beautiful, it shows I have better taste than you. If it’s ugly, it shows that I’m enlightened enough to know that it’s not really ugly, or I’m thrifty, or I’m above aesthetics. If it’s a complete waste of time, well, it lends itself to a good story and lets me showcase my sense of humor. If it’s really, really unpleasant and pointless (like a serious disease/injury), I can gain your sympathy, improve my image (who speaks ill of the dying?) and make people remember me better than they otherwise would. If it’s taboo, I probably don’t talk about it, but if I could, oh, you bet it’d be a signal of some kind.
This seems to be right on the brink of the Perfectly General Explanation, if our only criteria is “Can we find a way to signal status/fitness with it?.” The fact that damn near everything we do can be used to signal does not mean that it is actually done for the purpose of signaling, or indeed that signaling affects it in any way.
Moreover, 11% of people are willing to have their car get broken into as long as the people around them get their cars broken into more. Same thing with being sick. Thus, the argument that someone, somewhere, could construe getting AIDS as being mostly positional (e.g. he gets AIDS for signaling purposes) does not mean that getting AIDS can be seen as being even partly positional in the vast majority of cases.
You need some kind of definition for “signaling activity” such that it doesn’t contain every direction and magnitude of pretty much everything we can possibly do. Using the percentages in the data you posted might work. Examining how much behaviour changes in the absence/presence of observation would also work, though it’s harder. But the current discussion does not seem productive; all it does is show that under certain circumstances, if we can’t talk about certain things, we won’t signal with them.
Obviously there is a danger of the Perfectly General Explanation. But sometimes signaling has to be seen in context to figure out what is really being signalled. You’re quite right that opposite actions may be interpreted as signalling the same thing, but that also assumes a unity of recipients.
Often in the street, seeing someone from behind, I’ve been wondering whether it’s a dolt with no taste or a avantgarde with extreme tastes. You often can’t tell till you see their faces or perhaps glasses.
Similarly, the signalling in the rural areas I come from mean other stuff to the locals than to my big city peers (i.e. rube, not alpha male).
This post isn’t about trying to find some sort of definitive Popperian test of the hypothesis that our behavior is often influenced by the fact that it influences how others think of us. That seems so obvious as to not be very interesting to test. I agree that the fact that something can signal doesn’t imply that it is chosen to signal. The question here is about the degree of influence on the details of our behavior, which seems like a clear sensible question even if it doesn’t suggest an easy formula for determining in each situation.
The question here is about the degree of influence on the details of our behavior,
That clears it up substantially, but it does not sound like what you asked originally. It’s clear that hours of sleep could be used to signal status. It’s not at clear (and it seems unlikely) that hours of sleep are influenced by a desire to signal status. “The degree of influence on the details of our behaviour” is a fine criteria; it just doesn’t seem like what you asked for in the original post.
“Least signaling” is a bit too vague to work with. Under your definition, the only criteria seems to be the degree to which we can talk about it. Anything at all that is socially acceptable to talk about can be construed as a signaling activity, so this definition is not very useful compared to say, basing it off of how many people would do it being observed vs. not observed, or which country they would choose to live in in the data you cited.
If it’s pleasant, I can brag about it to show how much leisure time I have / how my life is better than yours. If it’s unpleasant but useful, I can use it to show how good of a work ethic I have that I got it done. If it’s expensive, it shows I’m richer than you. If it’s cheap, it shows I’m thriftier than you. If it’s beautiful, it shows I have better taste than you. If it’s ugly, it shows that I’m enlightened enough to know that it’s not really ugly, or I’m thrifty, or I’m above aesthetics. If it’s a complete waste of time, well, it lends itself to a good story and lets me showcase my sense of humor. If it’s really, really unpleasant and pointless (like a serious disease/injury), I can gain your sympathy, improve my image (who speaks ill of the dying?) and make people remember me better than they otherwise would. If it’s taboo, I probably don’t talk about it, but if I could, oh, you bet it’d be a signal of some kind.
This seems to be right on the brink of the Perfectly General Explanation, if our only criteria is “Can we find a way to signal status/fitness with it?.” The fact that damn near everything we do can be used to signal does not mean that it is actually done for the purpose of signaling, or indeed that signaling affects it in any way.
Moreover, 11% of people are willing to have their car get broken into as long as the people around them get their cars broken into more. Same thing with being sick. Thus, the argument that someone, somewhere, could construe getting AIDS as being mostly positional (e.g. he gets AIDS for signaling purposes) does not mean that getting AIDS can be seen as being even partly positional in the vast majority of cases.
You need some kind of definition for “signaling activity” such that it doesn’t contain every direction and magnitude of pretty much everything we can possibly do. Using the percentages in the data you posted might work. Examining how much behaviour changes in the absence/presence of observation would also work, though it’s harder. But the current discussion does not seem productive; all it does is show that under certain circumstances, if we can’t talk about certain things, we won’t signal with them.
Obviously there is a danger of the Perfectly General Explanation. But sometimes signaling has to be seen in context to figure out what is really being signalled. You’re quite right that opposite actions may be interpreted as signalling the same thing, but that also assumes a unity of recipients.
Often in the street, seeing someone from behind, I’ve been wondering whether it’s a dolt with no taste or a avantgarde with extreme tastes. You often can’t tell till you see their faces or perhaps glasses.
Similarly, the signalling in the rural areas I come from mean other stuff to the locals than to my big city peers (i.e. rube, not alpha male).
People are heroes in their own stories. You can count on them to pretty consistently try and look good to their perceived peers.
This post isn’t about trying to find some sort of definitive Popperian test of the hypothesis that our behavior is often influenced by the fact that it influences how others think of us. That seems so obvious as to not be very interesting to test. I agree that the fact that something can signal doesn’t imply that it is chosen to signal. The question here is about the degree of influence on the details of our behavior, which seems like a clear sensible question even if it doesn’t suggest an easy formula for determining in each situation.
That clears it up substantially, but it does not sound like what you asked originally. It’s clear that hours of sleep could be used to signal status. It’s not at clear (and it seems unlikely) that hours of sleep are influenced by a desire to signal status. “The degree of influence on the details of our behaviour” is a fine criteria; it just doesn’t seem like what you asked for in the original post.