Evolutionary explanations

Question 1

Higher risk of cuckoldry =

Answer 1

Sexual jealousy over possible/ actual infidelity => aggression

Question 2

Violence towards other men as a deterrent

Answer 2

-Actual or potential violence against other men deters them from attempting to seduce his mate this decreases the chances of being a cuckold

Question 3

Violence towards other men as a deterrent studies Daly Wilson 1988)

Answer 3

• Reviewed the evidence from a study of ‘love triangle’ homicides from western and anthropological samples
• They found that men were much more likely to kill a rival than females in the same situation: of all same sex killings in love triangles, the modal proportion committed by men was 100%
• They also found that male jealously over due to infidelity was in he op 3 motives or murder across a range of studies (different cultures and countries)

Question 4

Violence towards mate as a deterrent

Answer 4

-Violence or threat of, deters females from infidelity. So males become jealous over actual or possible infidelity and they think that by being violent it will decrease the chance of her being unfaithful and subsequently he probability of her having another mans child

Question 5

Evidence on domestic abuse and murder (dobash & dobash)

Answer 5

• Interviewed 109 battered Scottish wives and asked them to identify the main source of conflict
• 44% of women in a battered wives refuge said jealousy due to alleged infidelity explained their husbands behaviour

Question 6

Evidence on domestic abuse and murder (Guttmacher 1955)

Answer 6

• Report of examinations o 31 people who had killed their spouses, using interviews
• 80% of spousal homicides in Baltimore were motivated by jealousy over suspected infidelity, the majority by males

Question 7

Dobash & Dobash are feminist sociologists and Guttmacher did his analysis as a part of his job. How does this enhance the validity of the support of the evolutionary explanation

Answer 7

-These researchers don’t have bias towards the evolutionary theory as they are not evolutionary psychologists.

Question 8

Evaluation of Daly & Wilson

Answer 8

Daly & Wilson cite a range of evidence from anthropological sources supporting that from western, industrialised nations, suggesting hat sexual jealousy as a cause of murder is a universal phenomenon.
When here is evidence from x-cultural studies tis suggests that the behaviour is universal, therefore part of human nature and therefore likely to have evolved.
-They also cited evidence that when a woman kills it is usually in self-defence and as part of an argument over her alleged infidelity.

Question 9

What are the three mate retention tactics

Answer 9

• Intersexual negative inducements e.g. shouting a her for looking at another man
• Direct guarding e.g. monopolizing her time at a party
• Emotional manipulation e.g. trying to make her feel guilty and threatening suicide

Question 10

Evidence that violence is designed to discourage infidelity

Answer 10

• Shackelford (2005): men who committed violence against their partners were also more likely to use other male retention tactics
• This suggests that violence is part of a set of strategies for discouraging infidelity
• When the on-violent strategies do not work, men will escalate their behaviour and become violent

Question 11

Shackelford et al.

Answer 11

-Investigated the associations between male mate retention and violence against women in romantic relationships
Three different types of studies; one of men’s reports of their partners, one of women’s reports of their partners and one of a couples report of each other.

Question 12

Shackelford et al. results

Answer 12

-All here sets of strategies correlated positively with use of violence
-The correlations on average were small to moderate
-The best predictors of violence in study 3 were;
Vigilance = +0.5 (direct guarding)
Monopolisation of time = +0.36
Emotional manipulation = +0.43

Question 13

How does he use of three studies enhance the validity of shacklefords findings?

Answer 13

-Triangulation; similar results from all three types of reports. Good internal validity (getting the same kind of results across all different reports)

Question 14

Description for Infidelity essay

Answer 14

Evolutionists have argued the reproductive challenges faced by our ancestors can explain the aggressive behaviour seen in people today. A male can never be certain he has fathered his wife’s children unless he prevents her from having relationships with other males. This can explain why male sexual jealousy is often cited as a cause of domestic violence and abuse.

Question 15

General evidence on sex differences: Daly & Wilson

Answer 15

• Cross-cultural study; complied same sex murder rates from 35 studies
• From various time periods 14th century0 20th century
• From different types of societies and different geographical locations
• Male on male murders made up 96% of all same sex murders
• This suggests that aggression occurs between males who are competing with each other much more than females

Question 16

General evidence on sex differences: Hyde (1986)

Answer 16

• Meta-analysis
• Effect sizes of differences between males and females
• Physical aggression (0.6)
• Aggressive fantasies (0.84)
• Males are much more aggressive across a range of studies

Question 17

Methodological strengths on aggression sex differences

Answer 17

-Both studies are based on data from a variety of studies, providing triangulation data from both historical and cross-cultural research, using a variety of samples and measures. So there are consistent sex differences in aggression. Aggression has also evolved to become apart of a males general psychology more than that of females