RESEARCH_FILE
Martin Daly
McMaster University
Known for:Evolutionary psychology of family relationships, including a review (with Gretchen Perry) of in-law conflict across species and cultures
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“I'm competing with his mother”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“His being close with his mother does not erase my place with him.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
Open a note and list three recent moments that triggered the thought, then beside each one write only: “What I saw,” “What I assumed,” and “What I actually need.” Keep it private and stop at three.
Key findings
- 2021
With Gretchen Perry, Daly reviewed evidence that affinal kin (in-laws) share zero genetic relatedness with each other yet both have a stake in the same descendants — a structural asymmetry that makes conflicts of interest more likely than among blood relatives. In-Law Relationships in Evolutionary Perspective: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly ↗
- 2021
The review flags the mother-in-law/daughter-in-law dyad as carrying the highest structural conflict potential of any in-law pair across the cultures surveyed — a cross-cultural pattern the authors attribute to competing investment interests, not individual character. In-Law Relationships in Evolutionary Perspective: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly ↗