Evolutionary explanations of human aggression Flashcards
What do evolutionary psychologists argue?
Evolutionary psychologists argue that the different reproductive challenges faced by our ancestors led to a number of evolved sex differences including sex differences in jealousy.
Outline the aggressive behaviour in animals.
- Craig = provided the first major attempt at understanding aggression from an evolutionary perspective. He stated that animals only use aggression to rid predators.
- Lorenz = stressed that humans are animals and therefore show similar behavioural patterns to animals. He stated that there are 4 main drivers behind the behaviour of any animal – fear, reproduction, hunger and aggression. He believed aggression could only occur within and not between species and that it is used to ensure the strongest survive.
What is the criticism of Lorenz work?
Lorenz work is outdated and does not represent the methods and opinions that are current in ethology.
Outline the aggressive behaviour in humans.
• Tinbergen = suggests that whilst humans like animals might fight each other, humans are the only species in which aggression is not part of an elaborate system of rituals but in a desire to hurt each other.
Outline why humans have evolved jealousy.
- Daly and Wilson = claimed that men have evolved several different strategies to deter women from committing adultery.
- Men cannot be entirely certain that they are the father of a child. Cuckoldry - the reproductive cost that might be inflicted on a man that is the result of their partner’s infidelity. Man might invest in a child that is not his.
- Buss = suggests that males have a number of strategies that have evolved specifically for the purpose of keeping a mate. These include restricting their partners’ autonomy and negative inducements in a form of violence or threats of violence.
What did Wilson et al. find?
They found support for the link between sexual jealousy, mate retention and violence. In a questionnaire, women who indicated that their partners were jealous and did not like them talking to other men were twice as likely to have experienced violence from their partners (72% of these needing medical attention).
Outline the research by Shackelford et al.
surveyed 461 men and 560 women who were all in committed heterosexual relationships. The men answered questions about their use of mate retention techniques, and the women were asked about their partners’ use of mate retention techniques and how violent their male partners were. There was a positive correlation found between men who used mate retention techniques of direct guarding and negative inducements and their use of violence. Men also tended to use emotional manipulation as a mate retention technique. The women’s results confirmed this as there was also a positive correlation between those that had jealous partners and being the victims of violence.
What did Felson do?
He examined 2000+ murders in the US and found that women were twice as likely to murder out of jealousy as were men.
Outline what is meant by infidelity and its’ imlications.
- Daly = suggests that the detection or suspicion of infidelity is a key predictor of partner violence.
- A consequence of men’s suspicion of their wives sexual infidelity is sexual coercion or partner rape.
- If a woman becomes pregnant with another man’s child, the function of violence directed towards her may be to terminate the pregnancy.
- Daly and Wilson = physical violence may result in unintended uxoricide.
What did Camilleri and Quinsey find?
Found that men convicted of raping their partners were more likely to have experienced cuckoldry risks prior to their offence compare to men convicted of non-sexual partner abuse.
What has Brownridge et al. found?
Found that women who were abused whilst pregnant were more likely to be carrying a child of a man other than her current mate.
What do Buss and Sheckelford claim?
That evolutionary perspective fails to explain why people react in different ways when faced with the same problem (infidelity) i.e. some men murder, others get drunk etc.
Outline the Nicaraguan study.
Nicaraguan study found that in their sample 50% of pregnant women who were physically abused by their partners had suffered from blows directed at their abdomen, specifically designed to increase the probability of aborting the foetus.
