Role of evolution and natural selection to explain aggression Flashcards
What is evolution?
How an organism’s characteristics change through generations.
What is natural selection?
The organisms that are best adapted to their environment have the best chance of reproducing, which means their genes will be passed on to future generations.
How does evolution affect parental investment?
Males look for as many fertile females to have as many children as possible so their genes will be carried on.
Females look for dependable, caring males so that they can be looked after and their child has a greater chance of surviving.
Why has aggression evolved?
To gain territory
To defend against attacks
To inflict a cost on some same-sex rivals
To negotiate status and power hierarchies
To deter rivals from future aggression
To deter mates from infidelity
Strengths of the evolutionary explanation of aggression
Wilson and Daly 1985 - Homicide is more common in poor and unmarried men than in richer, married ones. The poorer, unmarried men need to take more risks and be more aggressive to attract women.
Female aggression is more verbal against other females to maintain status and reduce competition’s attractiveness. Especially by using verbal criticism of their physical attractiveness and their promiscuity. Men only want to raise their children and so promiscuity is unattractive.
Weaknesses of the evolutionary explanation of aggression
Doesn’t explain why we may invest time and resources into raising other people’s children such as through adopting or step families because it doesn’t increase the chance of survival for our own children as resources are shared.
We can’t scientifically test it through experimentation as we can’t go back and see the change in aggression over time and see if they were more successful.
What is jealousy?
Emotional response to anticipated loss of affection and/or status
What is infidelity?
Unfaithfulness of sexual partners
What is sexual infidelity?
Any behaviour involving sexual contact
What is emotional infidelity?
Formation of affectional attachment to another person, van involve flirting or intimate conversations
Why do men express jealousy?
Can’t risk wasting investment on offspring who aren’t theirs so they show more jealous violent aggression towards female fidelity both towards the male competition and long term female mates especially if she is young and reproductively valuable.
Why do women express jealousy?
If a male is unfaithful the female partner risks losing his time, resources, energy, protection and commitment to her children.
Females can always guarantee that their offspring are their own and compete with females for the quality of men, not the availability
Women take fewer risks with violence and use more indirect forms of aggression
