Evolutionary Factors - Aggression Flashcards
What is natural selection?
A process whereby new species arise as a result of gradual changes in genetic make-up over a long period of time
What is reproductive fitness?
A measure of how successful an individual is in passing genes onto the next generation
What gender has more parental investment?
Females
How to men attract females?
Use dominance and resources. Females choose males who will allow them to successfully raise children
What does Lorenz suggest?
Aggression is innate an unavoidable
Who can be confident of maternity?
Females can be confident of their maternity but males can’t be sure of their paternity
Why must males hold onto partners?
To ensure they are able to pass down their genes - no rival access
Why must females hold onto partners?
To ensure offspring survive
What do men lose after female infidelity?
- Loss of reproductive success
- Loss of invested resources
- Paternity uncertainty
What do women loose after male infidelity?
- Loss of partner
- Loss of resources for offspring
What did Weerth and Kalma do?
Self-reports to see if male victims of infidelity are expected to be more aggressive than female victims
What did Weerth and Kalma find?
- Ps expected females to be more aggressive (views held mainly by women)
- Females more likely to declare they would physically and verbally abuse partners
= doesn’t really fit evolution and females should be aggressive to rivals and men should take up retention strategies
What are the issues that link to Weerth and Kalma’s study?
PAS: hypothetical ideas and surveys are not scientific as people may react differently in a real life situation
Social desirability: People say they wouldn’t be aggressive to partners (men)
How are women aggressive surrounding infidelity? (Jealousy)
If they suspect their partner is with someone else they may direct anger and aggression towards the rival
What are mate-retention strategies? (Jealousy)
Men use these to ensure paternity certainty. They are often violent e.g. domestic violence and genital mutilation
What is the SSNR issue surrounding Jealousy?
The fact that wife infidelity is an offence in some countries = can be an excuse for male violence
What did Paul et al do?
Carried out two studies: One were questionnaires used to see how ps would react after infidelity and one was were ps were asked to think about when a partner had been sexually unfaithful
What did Paul et al find?
1st study: anger and blame were focused more on the partner
2nd study: rival received more anger and blame
+ men more inclined to think about aggression towards the rival
How does Paul et al support evolution?
Supports as women were aggressive to rival but doesn’t as men said they were more likely to be
How does PAS relate to Paul et al’s study?
Both self-reports = social desirability
