Evolutionary Explanation Flashcards
What does the evolutionary explanation suggest about aggression?
It is used for survival and reproductive success
Aggression helps people to fight for resources, how does this enhance survival?
In male aggression, they appear more attractive to females as they would appear strong so more likely to reproduce and pass on genes because they are seen to be able to protect their offspring
How can too much aggression reduce the chance of survival?
Too much aggression may cause females to fear the male as they will be aggressive to offspring so sensitivity is important too
How can jealously lead to aggression in a relationship?
It can lead to aggression as you have the fear of losing the affections of your partner to another. If a partner has a sexual relationship with another then this means that for a mean his genes are not being passed on and for a female he will invest his resources into another female and child so the female is less likely to survive. This can explain homicide in relationships
Who conducted the first study onto the evolutionary explanation of aggression and what did they do and find?
Sadalla et al. Suggests that women are attracted to dominant behaviour from men as it can increase their chance of reproduction. This dominant behaviour may have enhanced attractiveness but not how much they were actually liked which shows that mate preference d is based on survival rather than happiness
Who conducted the second study onto the evolutionary explanation and what did they do and find?
Daly and Wilson. Homicide rates are much higher when a mans wife or partner is about to leave hi . It seems that fear and jealously involved in losing a partner can have aggressive consequences. This supports the idea that mate exclusivity is important to men
Who conducted the third study onto the evolutionary explanation and what did they do and find?
Canary et al. Couples with relationships conflicts commonly reported that the anger and aggression was contributed by jealously showing that jealously is possibly due to questionable infidelity
What are two limitations of the evolutionary explanation?
- cultural difference in homicide rates
- difficult to test as questionnaires
How does the evolutionary explanation relate to issues and debates?
- nature as aggression is innate
- deterministic as no control over aggression
- reductionist as ignores other theories
- culture bias as shouldn’t assume that aggression is cross cultural
