Evolutionary Explanation of Aggression Flashcards
What does the evolutionary explanation of Aggression suggest
Aggression is a adaptive behaviour that has been naturally selected because it increases survival and reproductive success of individuals
What is the adaptive function of aggression
to gain resources, status and mates
What is cuckoldry
Having to raise another man’s offspring
Why would men be against cuckoldry
It is a waste of resources (time and money etc) investing into a rivals child and it also helps a rivals genes to be carried on and prevail
What was the advantage in the evolutionary past of avoiding cuckoldry + what developed as a result
+ example of anti cuckoldry behaviourar in men
The men were more reproductivley successful
- psychological mechanisms therefore evolved to increase anticuckoldry behaviours in men
For example sexual jealousy is stringer in men
AO1
Wilson + Daly (1996) mate retention strategies
(what were they)
Direct Guarding: a man’s vigilance over a partner’s behaviour (e.g. checking who they’ve been seeing)
Negative Inducements: e.g. threats of consequences for infidelity (i’ll kill myself if you leave me)
AO1
What were the 6 adaptions of aggression identified by Buss
1: Self Defence
2: Creating a eputation to ward off future aggression
3: To achieve status - more allies, fewer enemies
4: Acquire and keep resources
5: Deny own resources of children to rivals (anti-cuckoldry)
6: To prevent other males from sharing the prime females
AO1/AO3
What did Pinker (1997) say about the acquistion of resources
+ Counter Point
Aggression evolved in men to compete for women
-> This may have been the main reason for aggression as there weren’t other resources such as money or property worth fighting for
C/P: HOWEVER: this doesn’t explain why women can be aggressive.
Sexual competition as an explanation
What is Male-to-male competition
MAles often competed for access to females, and those who were more aggressive had a greater chance of success.
- Aggression is seen as a way to gain and maintain higher social status, which increases mating opportunities.
What is sexual jealousy
Aggression may stem from sexual jealousy which arises from concerns about infidelity and paternal uncertainty.
- Males are more likely to use aggression to prevent cuckoldry.
AO1/AO3
Buss (1992) - differences in male and female sexual jealousy
+ what this reflects
Found that men are more oncerned about sexual infidelity, whilst women were more concerned about emotional infidelity.
- This difference reflects the evolutionary pressure on men to ensure paternity certainty
What does the evolutionary explanation say about protecting offspring leading to aggression
Aggression can also arise from paternal investment, where parents act aggressivley to protect offspring from threats.
AO3; Strength
Why is protecting offspring a good explanation for female aggression
It explains that female aggression may arise from the maternal insinct to protect offspring or secure resources necessary for their survival whilst men tend to be aggressive to gain status or mates.
- This would be one of the first evolutionary explanatins of aggression to consider female aggression, therefore it ammends some of the beta bias found within this explanation
C/P: This doesn’t explain why some female who are childless act aggressi
What is infanticide
where stepchildren are killed so a step parent doesn’t have to invest resources into an offspring that doesn’t have their genes
What is uxoricide
Where men kill their female partners for being unfaithful or leaving them (links to sexual jealousy)
AO1/AO3
Buss and Shackleford (1997): mate retention strategies
found that men who were more fearful of their partners infidelity were more likely to use mate retention tactics (incl. violence)
- This could be considered an evolutionary response to prevent loosing reproduction opportunities.
How is group aggression/warfare explained?
Group aggression/warfare were also adaptive behaviours used to acquire resources, however this may be on a larger scale, such as land.
1: Defending the group - individuals in early societies had to work together to defend their group/resources -> This would aid in maintaining social status
2: Coalitional Aggression - groups of males forming alliances to engage in aggression against other groups. - This could secure valuable resources, territory and woman, thus enhancinf reproductive success of coalition members.
AO3
Wilson et al (1995) mate retention strategies linked to physical violence
found women who reported mate retention strategies in partners were twice as likely to experience physical violence.
73% of these women rquired medical attention + 53% feared for their lives.
AO3; Support
Wilson + Daly (1988) - sexual jealousy and domestic homicide
demonstrated how sexual jealousy can manifest as aggressive behaviours -> a large amount of domestic homicides commited by men were as a result of sexual jealousy + suspicion of infidelity
This supports the EEoA as it shows male aggression is triggered over the aqcuisiton of female resources + reproductive potential
AO3: Supporting
Explains gender differences
+ support from SLT research
Gender differences could be due to adaptive strategies. (Campbell (1999)) argues physical aggression isn’t adaptive for a female with offspring
- This would put a mother and her offspring at risk, so a more adaptive strategy is to use verbal aggression to retain a resource providing partner
- This is also supported by SLT research through Bandura (1972) who found that girls were more likely to replicate verbal aggression towards the bobo doll.
This would demonstrate the adaptive differences in male and female aggression and why differences have evolved.
AO3: Support
Modern Day bullying
Olweus (1978): modern day forms of aggression include bullies who take lunch money, books, jackets etc. - This would support that aggression stems from an evolutionary perspective + the desire to gain more resources.
- It also makes the bully appear ‘tough’ which from a mate retention stanpoint may be more attractive to a female as they seem as though they would be protected.
- Therefore viewing bullying as an adaptive behaviour may explain why it occurs and also provides the possibility to provide real world solutions.
AO3: Weakness
Cross Cultural Differences
+ counterpoint
From an evolutionary standpoint, aggressive behaviors would be universal as they are unconscious behaviours that we have grown with, therefore we wouldn’t see differences cross culturally.
- This therefore is contradicted by community differences in aggression, such as the Amish who are non violent and the Rednecks, all who live in the same country.
- This means that to an extent there has to be sme sort of enviornmental, external force that influences aggression.
- This therefore displays that the evolutionary explanation of aggression has limitations and isn’t a holistic explanation.
C/P: However, there can be patterns in aggression observed throughout communties which could be viewed to have occured through natural selection. - This may be explained by combining the evolutionary explanation with the evolutionary one, as those who are less aggresive may have been forced to create their own communities, in which less aggressive behaviours were bred and therefore evolved.
AO3: Limitation
Lack of direct evidence
We can’t directly observe the evolutionary processes that supposedly led to the development of aggression and we rely on inferences from modern behaviour or archaeological evidence.
- Due to this, the explanation lacks reliability as we can’t provide any empirical experimental evidence that estabishes a cause and effect relationship.
AO3: Limitation
Biological Determinism
This explanation implies that aggression is inevitable due to our biological heritage which undermines the idea that we have free will. This also would suggest we have no control to exersice over our aggressive behaviours which anecdotelly is known to be false.
AO3: limitation
Reductionism (nature vs nurture)
The EEoA oversimplifies human aggression by ignoring the role of social, cultural and environmental factors. It may not account for all instances of aggression, especially in modern society such as terrorism or sporradic hate crimes. This would otherwise suggest social, cultural and legal values play a role which the EEoA overlooks.
