FE6

Question 1

Describe the sex differences in jealousy predicted by Buss et al., and explain the rationale behind their predictions

Answer 1

• Females are more concerned about resources and emotional investment. Jealousy over emotional cheating versus sex
• Males are more concerned with paternity. More jealous of sexual cheating than emotional.

Question 2

There is debate as to the extent to which evolved psychological mechanisms governing
jealousy are sensitive to environmental variation. Supposing that such flexibility indeed exists, discuss how the predictions made by Buss et al. would be affected by the presence or absence of heritable wealth in a system of patrilineal inheritance (in a patrilineal system, wealth is passed to the next generation through men in the kinship network, i.e., a man’s sons inherit his wealth), providing an ultimate explanation for the pattern that you describe

Answer 2

• If the wealth is passed from father to son, then women would be more concerned with the father not having sex with other women because then he’d have to share that wealth. Then they might be more upset by sexual cheating. Women would guard husbands to enhance her own reproductive success

Question 3

Discuss whether the predictions which you made in (b) would change or remain the same if wealth were inherited matrilineally rather than patrilineally (in a matrilineal system, wealth is passed to the next generation through women in the kinship network, i.e., a man’s sister’s sons inherit his wealth); provide an ultimate explanation for the pattern that you describe

Answer 3

• It would be the opposite. Males would be more concerned about women. To ensure that their offspring would be invested in. he would be more upset about emotional and sexual infidelity.

Question 4

In addition to varying with regard to patterns of inheritance, societies also vary with regard to the availability of contraception. Explain why you would, or would not, expect the latter to
affect patterns of male jealousy across societies.

Answer 4

• Males would be more jealous in societies with less availability of contraception in relation to sexual fidelity.
• Less of a chance of conceiving in societies with high availability of contraception. So emotional fidelity might be more important