Evolutionary Explanations of Human Aggression (A02)

Evolutionary Explanations of Human Aggression (A02)

1. RWA

   • Shackleford et al study: mate restention and violence against women
   • Used questionnaire to test evolutionary psychology predictions concerning mate retention strategies.
   • 461 men and 560 women in USA.
     • males answered questions on mate retention techniques and acts of violence against partners
     • females answered questions on partners use of mate retention techniques and degree of violence used
   • Found that mate retention strategies positively correlated with violence scores. Results from female ppts confirmed this trend. Direct guarding (restricting partners autonomy) and negative inducements positively correlated with direct violence
   • use of mate retention stratgies is an early warning sing for violence thus help can be offered before violence occurs.

2. Research Support

   • Schackleford et al (RWA) - positive correlation between mte retention strategies and violence. Clear link to sexual jealousy.
   • Buss and Shackleford- found men who suspected their wives might be unfaithful over the next year carried out greater punishments for a known/suspected infidelity than those hwo did not anticipate future infidelity.

3. Physiological Support

   • Takashi supports claim that male sexual jealousy links to aggression
   • Showed neural response to imagined scenes depicting sexual infidelity (partner having sex with someone else) and emotional jealousy (partner falling in love with someone else) was different for men and women.
   • Used brain imaging techniques and discovered that men showed greater activation in the amygdala and hypothalamus (brain areas associated with aggression) when presented with scenes depicting SEXUAL infidelity in their mate.

4. Limitation

   • Research doesn't explain all: Edmund and Sagarin claim our sexual jealousy - aggression relationship understanding is limited.
     • Research does not tell us whether percieved locus of responsibility (eg whether or not partner or male rival iniated infidelity) moderates the jealous response.
     • Research also doesn't tell us whether the degree of infidelity (eg sex or just kissing) is an important factordetermining aggression/jealousy levels

5. Problems with surveys

   • Shackleford et al use surveys thus data collected may not be truthful due to social desirability bias (responding in a way viewed favourably by others) thus undesirable behaviour is under-reported.
   • lowered validity

6. Gender Bias

   • Most infidelity studies focus on men's mate retention strategies and men being violent towards women
   • Women also use mate retention strategies and are also violent towards men. Research suggests that women iniate and carry out physical assaults on thei rpartners as often as men do.
   • Felson- examined 2060 murders in US and found that women were twice as likely to murder out of jealousy as were men