Gender - Evolutionary Explanations Flashcards
A02 - Kuhn and Stiner
Gender division of labour may explain why Homo sapiens survived whilst Neanderthals did not (as they did not have specific gender roles)
A01
Gender roles are the attitudes, interests and behaviours adopted by members of each sex.
Man as hunter, woman as domestic role.
Appeared as an adaption to challenges faced by ancestral humans in the environment.
Men search for youth and attractiveness, women search for resources
A02 - Buss
Support
Explored what males and females look for in a relationship
10,000 people cross culturally
A02 - Waynforth and Dunbar
Support
Personal advertisements - seeking and advertising.
44% of males sought attractiveness
50% of women offered this
(Social constructs! issues involving honesty and individual perceptions)
A01 - Baron cohen’s empathising-systematising theory
Gender difference may be the result of a selection pressure.
Males who are better at systematising would have better evolutionary advantage
Women better at empathising have advantage
Taylor et al
Ennis
Responses to stress
Females had to protect and created family units, befriending others in times of stress
Whereas males became defensive and ready to attack, returning to systematising
Evidence - sampled students cortisol levels week before and day of exam. Men stress got higher, females decreased.
IDA
Meat sharing hypothesis - Stanford proposes men used their hunting skills to attract women allowing them both to survive. hill and Kaplan support this
Ignores nurture, environment and experience
Research comes from historical records, experiments, observations, questionnaires, comparative studies and cross cultural studies, all with issues.
Deterministic - assumes genes specify exactly how people behave. Although suggestions of predisposition, leaving room for social and cultural factors.
No firm factual basis
