Evolution Gender

Question 1

Natural selection

Answer 1

Is the primary force behind evolutionary change
Psychological/physical traits passed down
Traits are selected for because they promote survival
Shaped dimorphism because traits that are useful to either sex have been selected for

Question 2

Hunting hypothesis

Answer 2

Neanderthal dies out because women hunted too - skeleton evidence
Homosapiens survived because they split gender roles
Why we still have split gender roles today

Question 3

Evidence

Answer 3

No firm factual basis
No direct evidence that this was the reason the Neanderthals died out
Other reasons could be climate change and the ice age
Or that their was a battle

Question 4

Reproductive fitness

Answer 4

Is the ability to pass on genes
Achieved by having as many babies as possible
In order to do this one had to survive and win a mate

Question 5

Sexual selection

Answer 5

To win a mate you had to be chosen
In order to be chosen you had to have preferred characteristics
These are selected for when choosing a mate
Inter selection - between sexes (preferences)
Intra - between same sex (competition)
Through evolution and the selection of traits gender roles are influenced

Question 6

Buss

Answer 6

You should look for signs of fertility to increases reproductive success
10,000 pps 37 cultures
Men - hourglass figure
Women - resources or traits that = them
Found these preferences were universal
If you wish to be successful in finding a mate you must process these traits
Therefore evolution shapes gender identity

Less well educated and rural under represented
Sampling method varied - monitoring validity hard

Question 7

ES theory

Answer 7

Women are better empathisers
Men are better systematisers
This has developed through adaptive pressures
Nurturing child = emphatic
Hunting = systematic
These people survived and so their genes were passed on

Question 8

Baron and Cohen

Answer 8

Questionnaire to see if people were systematic or empathetic
17% women = systematic
17% men = empathetic

Small sample
Needed more cross cultural evidence

Question 9

Jealousy

Answer 9

The trait is shaped differently in each gender
Men - sexual betrayal because of the possibility of cuckoldry
Women - emotional because of the shift of resources

Question 10

Perilloux and Buss

Answer 10

Men showed higher arousal when watching scenes of sexual betrayal
Woke higher arousal at emotional betrayal

Question 11

Harris

Answer 11

Men will be aroused at any sexual imagery

Questions the validity of the experiment

Question 12

Alt

Answer 12

Biological explanation provides a reliable and comprehensive research support for its own ideology

Question 13

Ult vs Prox

Answer 13

Men no longer need to be systematic as they don’t need to hunt for food - Supermarkets
Many men look after the children so empathetic traits in males should be shown?

Question 14

Test card

Answer 14

Natural selection 
Hunting hypothesis 
Evidence 
Reproductive fitness 
Sexual selection
Buss 
ES theory 
Baron Cohen 
Jealousy 
Perilloux and Buss
Harris 
Alt 
Unt vs Prox