Relationships - Evolutionary Explanations Flashcards
Evolutionary explanations of relationships?
Sexual selection
Parental investment
Aspects of sexual selection?
Inter and intra sexual selection
ST and LT mating preferences
Researcher on inter and intra sexual selection?
Darwin
Intra-sexual?
Mate competition between members of the same sex for access to mate with members of the other
Inter-sexual?
Mate choice - members of one sex are chosen due to the preferences of the other, determining areas in which they must compete (e.g. resources)
Research on ST mating?
Buss and Schmitt
Buss and Schmitt?
Men lower their standards in the context of ST mating then show decreased attraction after sex
ST mating?
Men have a greater desire for casual sex (PI theory)
LT mating?
High levels of choosiness in both sexes due to high PI - focus on good genes and good parenting
Research on LT mating?
Buss
Buss?
10,000 people from 37 cultures - Women desire resources while men desire physical attractiveness, youth and fertility - both desires intelligence, kindness and dependability
Strengths of theories of sexual selection?
Supporting research
Universal
Weaknesses of theories of sexual selection?
Alpha-bias
Reductionist
Simplistic
Alpha-bias in theories of sexual selection?
Greiling and Buss
Greiling and Buss?
ST mating can be beneficial to women too, as it has benefits such as mate-switching and diverse offspring
Supportive research for theories of sexual selection?
Clarke and Hatfield
Clarke and Hatfield?
0% of women and 75% of men agreed to have sex with a stranger
Universality of theories of sexual selection?
Buss
Buss (universality)?
Looked at 29 cultures and found that men do choose younger women
Reductionism in theories of sexual selection?
Focuses on how males only want fertility and females only want resources, not the holistic experience (e.g. emotion, social factors, etc.)
Simplicity in theories of sexual selection?
Penton-Voak et al
Penton-Voak et al?
Female mating choice varies across the menstrual cycle - e.g. high conception risk = masculine face
Research on parental investment?
Trivers
Trivers?
PI is any investment by the parent in an individual offspring that increases its chance of survival (and hence reproductive success) at the cost of the parent’s ability to invest in others
Aspects of PI?
Maternal/paternal investment
Sexual/emotional jealousy
Research on post-natal care?
Shostak
Shostak?
Breastfeeding can take up to 4 years in some societies
Research on maternal investment?
Buss and Schmitt
Buss and Schmitt? (PI)
Women prefer quality over quantity as random mating is much more costly, so are much more choosy
Research on paternal investment?
Goetz and Shackleford
Goetz and shackleford?
Indiscriminate mating is much less costly for a man
Research on sexual jealousy?
Miller
Miller?
Risk of cuckoldry means that men are much more aware of sexual infidelity
Strengths of theories of parental investment?
Supporting research
Weaknesses of theories of parental investment?
Reductionist
Fathers do invest
Contradictory evidence
Support for theories of parental investment?
Buss et al
Buss et al?
When asked to imagine scenes of infidelity, males were more distressed by sexual and women by emotional
Reductionism in theories of parental investment?
Rowe
Rowe?
Men’s PI depends on various personal and social conditions
Belsky?
Parental divorce of male correlated with his PI
Research on father’s investing in theories of parental investment?
Dunbar
Dunbar?
In any situation where males can increase the success of childrearing it’ll pay them to do so
Contradictory research for theories of parental investment?
Anderson
Anderson?
Men appeared not to discriminate between step-children and their own (may be ‘sexual strategies’)
