Thanks for the information.
It would be harder to find out the relative effects of various filters: no children, children don't reproduce, grandchildren don't reproduce, etc.
One of the few instances of pervasive modesty among people is underestimating how good they are at things, and getting irritated at all the other people who don't seem to pass a minimal standard.
As it happens, your comment joins two other recent instances of my failing to notice valuable information at the bottom of a post, so that's a habit I need to change.
Since I didn't realize Baumeister had written a book, I did a few word searches (including in google scholar) and didn't turn anything up. I'd previously raised this as a discussion question, and didn't get any answers suggesting a solid source.
It would be harder to find out the relative effects of various filters: no children, children don't reproduce, grandchildren don't reproduce, etc.
Shouldn't the amount of children that don't reproduce be the same for men and women?
There's an idea I've seen a number of times that 80% of women have had descendants, but only 40% of men. A little research tracked it back to this, but the speech doesn't have a cite and I haven't found a source.
The reproduction rates for men and women (possibly for the whole history of the species) seems like the sort of thing which could be found out, but I'd like more solid information.