relationships: evolutinary explanations ao3 Flashcards
Research support : female choosiness
P: Female choosiness was illustrated by the study conducted by Clark and Hatfield (1989).
E: They asked male and female student volunteers to approach opposite sex students individually on a university campus, asking the same question: ‘I’ve noticed you around the campus. I find you very attractive. Will you go to bed with me tonight?’
E: They found marked gender differences in the responses: 75% of male students agreed; however, not a single female said ‘yes’.
L: This support evolutionary theory because it suggests that females are choosier than males when it comes to selecting sexual partners and that males have evolved a different strategy to ensure reproductive success.
Research critique - mate
Choice is more
Complex
P: Mate choice may be more complicated than suggested by this approach.
E: Research by Penton-Voak et al. (1999) suggests that females’ mate preferences change across the menstrual cycle.
E: They found that females preferred a partner with strongly expressed masculine features during their fertile period, but showed more preference for a partner with slightly feminised features as a long-term mate. This may be because masculine appearance suggests a healthier immune system, which would be advantageous to pass to offspring, while slightly feminine features suggest kindness and parental cooperation - very desirable traits in a long-term partner!
L: These finding suggest that mate choice may actually be based on a range of factors, rather than simply indicators of genetic fitness.
Research support for anisogamy
P: Partner preference was supported by research conducted byBuss (1989).
E: He conducted surveys in over 33 countries and 10,000 adults and asked questions relating to as and attributes that evolutionary theory predicts should be important for partner preference.
E: He found that women placed greater value on resource related characteristics such as good financial prospects, ambition and industriousness than men did. Whereas males valued reproductive capacity in terms of good looks, chastity and preferred younger mates
L: These findings reflect sex differences in mate strategies due to anisogamy. They support predictions about partner preference derived from sexual selection theory.
Furthermore, the findings can be applied across vastly different cultures, reflecting fundamental human preferences which are not primarily dependent on cultural influences.
Limitation - social and cultural influences
P: One limitation is that social and cultural influences are underestimated.
E: Partner preferences have been influenced by changing social norms and cultural practices. These have occurred too rapidly to be explained in evolutionary terms.
E: the wider availability of contraception and changing roles in the work place mean women’s partner preferences are no longer resource oriented (Bereczkei et al 1997)
L: this suggests that partner preferences today are likely to be due to both evolutionary and cultural influences - a theory which fails to explain both is limited
