Evolutionary Explanations of Human Aggression

Question 1

Daly + Wilson

Answer 1

Men have evolved several different strategies to deter female partners from committing adultery, in order to deal with threat of parental uncertainty

e.g. Range from vigilance to violence = all fueled by sexual jealousy

Question 2

Cuckoldry + Sexual jealousy

Answer 2

Men can never be certain they are fathers

Always at risk of cuckoldry = reproductive cost inflicted on a man as result of partner’s infidelity

Adaptive functions of sexual jealousy would have been to deter mate from sexual infidelity = minimising risk of cuckoldry

Question 3

Cuckoldry

Answer 3

Man might unwittingly invest his resources in offspring that are not his own

Question 4

Buss

Answer 4

Males have evolved strategies specifically for the purpose of keeping a mate:

Restricting partners autonomy
Negative inducements e.g. violence or threats to prevent her from straying

Question 5

Sexual jealousy

Answer 5

Primary cause of violence against women

Accounted for 17% of murder in UK

Studies of battered women = women cite extreme jealousy in their partners as the key cause of violence on them

Question 6

Sexual jealousy + extreme violence

Answer 6

US: male sexual jealousy claimed to be the single most common motivation for killings in domestic disputes

META of same sex killings involving ‘love-triangles’ found 92% were male-male murders + only 8% were female-female

Question 7

Evolutionary Explanantions of Human Aggression

Answer 7

Jealousy

Infidelity

Question 8

Infidelity

Answer 8

Detection or suspicion of infidelity is a key predictor of partner violence

Survey: Men are more likely to engage in extra-marital affairs

1 in 10 women admitted to being unfaithful to their husbands

Question 9

Sexual coercion

Answer 9

a consequence of men’s perceptions or suspicions of wives sexual infidelity

Female victims of partner rape = more likely to have reported engaging in extra-marital sex

Question 10

Violence towards pregnant partners

Answer 10

If a child of an extra-marital affair is born the non-father risks investing in another males offspring = lowering his reproductive success

Violence is aimed at terminating the pregnancy = eliminating the potential offspring of rival + leaving her free to bear offspring for him

Question 11

Uxorocide

Answer 11

Men guard against partner’s infidelity by conferring benefits or inflicting costs

Some men don’t have resources to provide benefits = some more prone to violence

Question 12

Research support for jealousy

Answer 12

Buss + Shackelford

Men who suspected their wives might be unfaithful over next year exacted greater punishment for a known or suspected infidelity than men who didn’t anticipate future infidelities

Question 13

Shackelford et al

Answer 13

Men answered q’s about use of male retention techniques

Females answered q’s concerning partners use of male retention techniques + degree of violence

Men use of both intersexual negative inducements + direct guarding was +vely correlated with violence scores

Use of emotional manipulation predicted men’s violence against women

Women’s scores showed p’s that used vigilance + emotional manipulation were most likley to use violence against them

Question 14

Problems with surveys

Answer 14

Sensitive issue = answers may not be truthful because of social desirability bias

Might not admit to violence (both M+F)

Question 15

Practical applications of jealousy research

Answer 15

Tactics for mate retention can be an early indicator of violence against partner

Findings from Shackleford’s can be used to alert friends to danger signs = help can be sought before violence

Question 16

Physiological basis for jealousy based aggression

Answer 16

Takahashi et al

Men showed greater activation of hypothalamus + amygdala when imagining scenes of sexual infidelity compared to women

Question 17

Limitation of jealousy research

Answer 17

Doesn’t tell us whether the degree of perceived infidelity is important

Nor whether the perceived locus of responsibility moderates the jealous response (male or partner’s initiation)

Question 18

Research support for infidelity

Answer 18

Men convicted of raping their partners were more likely to have experienced cuckoldry risks prior to offence compared to men convicted of non-sexual partner abuse

Question 19

Support for violence towards pregnant partners

Answer 19

Women abused while pregnant were more likely to be carrying the child of a man other than her current mate

1/2 a sample of pregnant women abused by partners had suffered from blows directed at their abdomen specifically designed to increase probability of aborting

Question 20

Limitations of evolutionary explanations of partner violence

Answer 20

Cannot account for why different males, when faced with partners infidelity, respond in different ways

Some resort to aggressive mate-retention strategies, others to murder whilst others get drunk

Question 21

Gender bias

Answer 21

Studies focus on male retention strats + violence, when women also use retention strats + violence

Research: women initiate physical assaults on partners as often as men

Question 22

Death of Partner

Answer 22

Death of partner from physical violence may be an unintended outcome of an evolutionary adaptation that was designed for control rather than death