Evolutionary Explanations

Question 1

Sexual Jealousy

Answer 1

• Is a motivator of aggressive behaviour in males which can be given an evolutionary explanation

Question 2

Cuckoldry

Answer 2

• Paternal uncertainty is a result of the threat for the male of cuckoldry – husband of a cheating wife; men do not want to care for kids that aren’t theirs – waste of resources
• Men in our evolutionary past who could avoid cuckoldry were more reproductively successful
• Psychological mechanisms have evolved to increase anti-cuckoldry behaviours in males
• For instance, sexual jealousy is more strongly experienced in males than females – this drive the often aggressive strategies men employ to retain their partners and prevent them from straying

Question 2

Wilson and Daly (1996)

Answer 2

• Identified several MRS which involve aggression and physical violence:
• Direct guarding – Male vigilance over a partner’s behaviour (checking who they’ve been seeing, coming home early, keeping tabs on whereabouts, tracking them, etc)
• Negative indictments – Issuing threats of dire consequences (I’ll kill myself if you leave me)

Question 3

Wilson et al (1995)

Answer 3

• Found that women who reported male retention strategies in their partners were 2x as likely to have suffered physical violence at the hands of their partners – of these women, 73% required medical attention, and 53% said they feared for their lives

Question 4

Shackleford et al (2005)

Answer 4

• Studied intimate partner violence in heterosexual couples
• Men and women in 107 married couples completed different questionnaires – all of the participants had been married less than a year
• The men completed the Mate Retention Inventory, which assessed mate retention behaviours in various categories (such as direct guarding)
• The women completed the Spouse Influence Report, which measured the extent of their partner’s violence
• Found a strong positive correlation between men’s reports of their mate retention behaviours and women’s reports of their partners violence

Question 5

Bullying

Answer 5

• Occurs because of a power imbalance – a more powerful individual uses aggression against a weaker person
• Researchers have traditionally viewed bullying as a maladaptive behaviour as a result of poor social skills for example
• However, the evolutionary explanation may have used bullying as an adaptive strategy to increase their chances of survival by promoting their own health and creating opportunities for reproduction

Question 6

Volk et al (2012)

Answer 6

• Characteristics associated with bullying behaviour are attractive to the opposite sex
• In males, it suggest dominance, acquisition of resources and strength
• It also has the benefit of warding off potential rivals
• Bullying-associated characteristics therefore deliver the ideal combo of access to more females + minimal threat from competing males
• Therefore, such behaviour would be natural selected because males can reproduce more
• Female bullying more often takes place within a relationship and is a method of control

Question 7

Evaluation - Can explain why males and females differ in their uses of aggression

Answer 7

• Lots of research shows that there are gender differences in aggression – such differences could be due to socialisation but some can be explained in terms of adaptive strategies
• Anne Campbell (1999) argues that it is not adaptive for a female with offspring to be physically aggressive because such behaviour would put her own survival at risk and that of her child
• So a more adaptive strategy for females is to use verbal aggression to retain a partner who provides resources – this would explain why women tend to display verbal rather than physical aggression

Question 8

Evaluation - Can be used to reduce bullying

Answer 8

• One approach to reducing bullying is to address a bully’s perceived deficiencies, but bullying is still prevalent
• Ellis et al (2016) suggest an alternative strategy based on the view that bullying is adaptive (bullies stand to gain advantages for themselves) – the ‘meaningful roles’ anti-bullying intervention aims to increase costs of bullying and the rewards of prosocial alternatives by (for example) giving bullies roles and responsibilities in school that provide an alternative source of status
• Viewing bullying as an adaptive behaviour may lead to more effective anti-bullying interventions

Question 9

Evaluation - There are substantial cultural differences in aggression behaviour

Answer 9

• There are some cultures where aggression appears to be almost non-existent
• The !Kung San people of western Botswana were studied by anthropologist Elizabeth Thomas (1958) who called them the ‘Harmless People’
• She found that they have very negative attitudes towards the use of aggression – its discouraged from childhood in both boys and girls and its therefore rare; those who do use it have their status and reputation within the community diminished; cultural and social norms constrain aggressive behaviour in this society
• Therefore, since some cultures do not show aggressiveness, such behaviour may not necessarily be adaptive