Sexual Selection And Human Reproducyive Behavior

Question 1

Underlying the premise of sexual selection

Answer 1

-Certain human characteristics are deemed as being more attractive due to conforming an advantage in human reproductive behavior

Question 2

Anisogamy

Answer 2

-The biological difference between the gametes of males and females
-Male sperm are small.mobile and in large quantities so don’t require a great amount of expenditure or energy to produce
-Females eggs are large, static and only produced at certain intervals with a limited number of years, they therefore require a huge expenditure of energy due to pregnancies
-As a result of this, fertile women are a rare ‘resource’ for males, leading to two different types of sexual selection

Question 3

Intra-sexual selection

Answer 3

-Preferred strategy by females, quality over quantity
-Mate choice, occurs between sexes
-Due to high investment and energy in pregnancy, childbirth and child rearing, it’s in the females best interest to be ‘choosy’ and pick the most genetically fit partner who is willing to share resources
-These advantageous characteristics are then passed down to their offspring

Question 4

Sexual dimorphism

Answer 4

-The result of sexual selection, males with advantageous characteristics produce more offspring so the frequency of these genes are then passed on more, leading to distinct, physiological differences between men and women

Question 5

Inter-sexual selection

Answer 5

-Preferred strategy by males, quantity over quality
-Mate competition, occurs within sexes
-Anisogamy dicates the best reproductive strategy is to mate with as many females as possible
-Competition between males over a female, whoever has the most advantageous characteristics wins and is able to reproduce and pass down those genes (leading to dimorphism)
-This could be about size and strength in a physical fight, larger males have an advantage and are therefore more likely to mate

Question 6

Supporting research, anisogamy

Answer 6

-Buss
-Surveyed 10,000 adults from 33 countries on age and other attributes that sexual selection predicts are important for partner preference
-Females places greater value on source related characteristics like finances and ambition
-Males placed greater value on good looks and youth

Question 7

Supporting research, inter-sexual selection

Answer 7

-Clark and Hatfield
-Male and female psychology students asked to approach others on campus and ask, ‘I’ve been noticing you around campus and find you very attractive, will you go to bed with me tonight.’
-No females agreed but 75% of males did

Question 8

Ignores social and cultural influences

Answer 8

-Partners preference has been rapidly influenced by changing culture
-Women are in the workplace so are no longer dependent on men so their preference is no longer resource oriented
-Chang
-Comparison partner preference in China over 25 years and found that some had changed whilst others remained the same

-Limited explanation, fails to account for cultural change