Relationships- evolutionary explanations Flashcards
What is natural selection
Ability to survive in a particular environment (survival of the fittest).
What is evolution
The process of genes mutating over time, sometimes giving individuals an advantage when competing for resources like food and mates.
What two main premises is Darwin’s theory of evolution based off
- Survival
- Reproduction
What is sexual selection
An evolutionary explanation for partner preference.
Attributed or behaviours that increase reproductive success are passed on and may become exaggerated over succeeding generations of offspring.
What is anisogamy
Differences between male and female sex cells
What is intER-sexual selection
One sex chooses from a group of prospective mates according to attractiveness.
What is intRA-sexual selection
Members of one sex compete for access to the other sex.
What sex in intER-sexual selection preferred by
Females
Why is IntER-sexual selection preferred by females
Females make a greater investment of time, commitment and other resources before, during and after the birth of their offspring.
Females may be quite fussy, and wisely choose a partner who can offer resources (food, territory and protection).
Why is it important for a female to find a mate with good resources
This will enhance the female’s reproductive success, as any child she bears will have a greater chance of survival due to resource availability (and consequently, passing these genes on).
What is optimum strategy
Select a genetically fit partner who is able and willing to provide resources. This leaves the males competing for the opportunity to mate with the fertile females.
What is the sexy sons hypothesis
Female mates with a male with desirable characteristics, and this ‘sexy’ trait is inherited by her son, increasing the likelihood that successive generations of females will mate with her offspring.
What sex prefers intRA-sexual selection
Males
What does intRA sexual selection involve
Competition between (intra) males to be able to mate with a female.
What happens when a male wins against another male
The winner of the competition reproduces and gets to pass on to his offspring the characteristics that contributed to his victory (e.g., strength, height, facial features).
What is dimorphism
The obvious differences between males and females.
What has intRA-sexual selection given rise to
Dimorphism
What are the 5 male mating strategies
1) Courtship Rituals
2) Size
3) Sperm competition
4) Mate guarding
5) Sneak copulation
What do courtship rituals allow
Genetic potential and resources
What does size mean in relation to male mating strategies
Bigger body sizes demonstrate physical strength and an ability to protect partner and offspring from threats.
What is sperm competition mean men have evolved to do
Men have evolved to have bigger testicles and faster swimming sperm.
What is mate guarding
Keeping a close eye on partners to prevent unfaithfulness.
What is sneak copulation
Being unfaithful
What are the 3 female mating strategies
1) Handicap hypothesis
2) Sexy sons hypothesis
3) Courtship
What is the handicap hypothesis
Some women may pick men with handicaps as it shows an ability to thrive despite adversities. May explain why some women are attracted to men who take drugs and drink a lot.
What is courtship
Dating is an important strategy for females to establish a man’s worth to produce offspring
Evaluation
- Evidence, Buss
P - strength - supporting evidence
E- Buss studied 10,000 adults in 33 different countries and found that men preferred younger, physically attractive females (as signs of good reproductive capacity), whilst females preferred dependable, ambitious and older men with vast resources.
L - Provides validity / credibility to the theory by demonstrating consistent differences between sexes in partner preference.
Evaluation
- Evidence (Clark and Hatfield)
P- Strength - supporting evidenceE- Clark and Hatfield sent male and female psychology student across a university campus to approach other students and say: ‘I have been noticing you around campus. I find you to be very attractive. Would you go to bed with me tonight?’
E- Not one woman said yes but the majority of men did
L- Shows support for evolutionary theory as there are clear sex differences to having casual sex
Evaluation
- Theoretical flaw
P - arguably lacks temporal validity
E- rapidly changing social norms / availability of contraception / woman’s greater role in the workplace so therefore not dependent on men to provide for them
E- Bereczkei et al (1997) argue that this social change has consequences for women’s mate preferences, which may no longer be resource-oriented.
L- therefore… partner preferences today are likely to be the outcome of a combination of evolutionary and cultural influences.
Evaluation
-social sensitivity
P- Establishing different behavioural norms for each sex may lead to societal issues.
E- Prejudices and stigmatisation may result from stating that male and female mating strategies should be different. This would cause an alpha bias, where society and media may judge people for acting differently to what these evolutionary theories state.
E- For example, if women engaged in multiple sexual relationships with younger men, they would be deemed as contravening the evolutionary laws outlined in these theories and would experience persecution and humiliation.
L-Therefore, the theory of partner preferences may be socially sensitive and researchers should be careful when publishing their conclusions.
Evaluation
-poor application
P - Low application due to poor generalisability
Ev - Do not take into account other sexual orientations + relationships where children are not desired
Ex - Only applies to majority of heterosexual relationships reducing usefulness
