Evolutionary Explanation Flashcards
Evolutionary explanations
An account of the changes in species over millions of years; characteristics that enhance survival and reproduction are naturally selected.
Male aggression
Seen as coming from a need to gain and defend resources (e.g. mates / territory) and to establish status.
Sexual jealousy
Sexual jealousy is a major motivator of aggressive behaviour in males. This is because (unlike women) men are unsure of whether or not they fathered a child. Potential infidelity results in paternal uncertainty and the risk of cuckoldry.
Any investment in offspring that is not the man’s own is a waste of resources and contributes to the survival of a rival’s genes, leaving the male with fewer resources to invest in his own offspring. Sexual jealousy and aggressive strategies to prevent female partners from ‘straying’ would therefore be naturally selected.
Mate retention strategies
Wilson and Daly identified several mate retention strategies which involve aggression:
- Direct guarding (involves male vigilance over partners behaviour - e.g. checking who they’ve been seeing, using tracking apps etc.)
- Negative inducements (issuing threats of severe consequences for infidelity).
These behaviours are clearly linked to violence. Wilson found that women who reported mate retention strategies in their partners were twice as likely to have suffered physical violence from their partners.
Bullying
Suggests dominance (status) and strength. It allows acquisition / defence of resources / territory. It wards off potential rivals.
These traits are attractive so allow increased access to female mates with reduced threats from competing males. Therefore, such aggression would be naturally selected.
Volk described female bullying as taking place within a relationship as a method to control their partners. They use bullying behaviours to secure their partners fidelity which means they continue to provide resources for their offspring. Such behaviours are also naturally selected.
+ P - Research support to show the link between aggression and sexual jealousy
E - Shackleford et al studied intimate partner violence in 107 married heterosexual couples.
E - They found a strong positive correlation between men’s report of their mate retention behaviours and women’s report of their partner’s physical violence.
L - Therefore, mate retention strategies can be seen as a valid predictor of partner violence and such evidence supports the notion that is adaptive for the male to exhibit sexual jealousy to ensure that he is not at risk of cuckoldry.
+ P - It accounts for gender differences
E - For example, women are not at risk of cuckoldry, they do not need to compete in the same way,
E - They may actually put their offspring at risk by being aggressiv, so are more likely to use non-aggressive means of resolving disputed (‘tend and befriend’).
L - Therefore the evolutionary explanation can explain why males tend to engage in more aggressive acts (in comparison with other explanations which can’t e.g. neural).
- P - Socially sensitive
E - For example, some critics of the evolutionary theory of human aggression feel that the approach justifies violence by men against women as natural and inevitable.
E - This is socially sensitive on a number of levels, it condones aggression by men against women by suggesting that such aggression is adaptive and is used to aid male survival.
L - This theory suggests that males are the most likely perpetrators of aggression, failing to recognise the fact that females can also be aggressive towards males.
