relationships Flashcards
(11 cards)
What is anisogamy?
What is the male and female sex cell?
The differences between male and female sex cells (gametes)
Male sperm is small, mobile and produced from puberty to old age, not requiring a lot of energy to produce
Female eggs are relatively large, static and released at intervals, taking a lot more effort to product and only having a finite amount
What is one consequence of anisogamy and why is it important in partner preference?
There is no shortage of male gametes but female gametes are a much rarer resource
It is important because it gives rise to two types of sexual selection.
What is the inter-sexual selection?
Why are women more likely to be more selective with their partners?
Refers to the preferred strategy of females which picks quality over quantity.
Tivers pointed out that a greater investment of time, energy and resources are required from a female to raise a child in comparison to a male which is why a females optimum strategy for a female is to pick a partner that is genetically fit and will provide resources
What is the runaway hypothesis?
Certain characteristics that are seen as attractive are more likely to persist, eg have a son who inherits the trait or have a daughter who will select said characteristic when picking a partner.
What is the sexy sons hypothesis?
Fisher suggests that the genes we see today are those that enhanced reproductive success. A female who mates with a male with this attractive characteristic is likely to have sons who will inherit this “sexy” trait.
Then the sons are likely to be selected by females who will see this trait as attractive, passing the “sexy” trait down generations.
What is the intra-sexual selection?
Why do males compete with other males?
Referred to the preferred strategy of women which picks quantity over quality
So they are able to mate with females. The winners get to reproduce and the characteristics that contributed to their victory are passed to his offspring.
What does dismorphism mean?
Two forms. Men and women end up looking very differently because of intra-sexual selection. For example, in competition between men size matters, larger males have an advantage and are therefore more likely to be reproductively successful
What are the behavioural consequences of intra-sexual selection?
The characteristics that are favoured and passed on are those that allow a male to outcompete his rivals, including deceitfulness, intelligence and aggression. For example, males may benefit from behaving aggressively in order to acquire fertile females and protect them from competing males (male retention strategies) . This leads to the selection of aggressiveness in males.
What is the evidence supporting the specific role of female choosiness in heterosexual partner preferences?
What were the findings of the study?
Why does this support the inter-sexual selection and intra-sexual selection?
Clarke and Hatfield send male and female psychology students across a university campus, approaching students and asking them “I find you to be very attractive. Would you go to bed with me tonight?”
Not a single female student agreed to the request, whereas 75% of the males did, immediately.
Shows that women are choosier than males when it comes to selecting sexual partners and that males have evolved a different strategy to ensuing reproductive success.
Why is the argument that one strategy is adaptive for all males and another is adaptive for all women simplistic?
Because strategies differ according to the length of the relationship.
The sexual strategies theory argue (Buss and Schmitt) that both males and females adopt similar mating strategies when seeking long-term relationships.
This shows that both sexes are very choosy and look for partners who are loving, kind and loyal.
This is a more complex view of how evolutionary pressures influence partner preferences which takes account of the context of reproductive behaviour.
What is the evidence to support the predictions of the sexual selection theory?
What were the findings of the research?
Buss carried out a survey of over 10,000 adults in 33 countries. He asked questions relating to a variety of attributes that evolutionary theory predicts are important in partner preference.
He found that females placed greater value on resource-related characteristics than males did eg good financial prospects. Males valued physical attractiveness and youth more than females did.
Therefore, these findings reflect consistent sex differences in partner preferences and support the predictions from the sexual selection theory
