Flashcards
EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATIONS FOR AGGRESSION (Infidelity & Jealousy)
Cards in this deck (7)
- 1THEORY OUTLINE (AO1)Evolutionary psychologists argue that reproductive challenges faced by our ancestors can explain the aggressive behaviour seen in people today. A man can never be certain that he is the father of his wife’s children unless he prevents her having relationships with other men. This can explain why male sexual jealousy is often cited as a cause of domestic violence.Daly & Wilson proposed that men have evolved different strategies to deter their partners from committing adultery, ranging from vigilance to violence. These are the result of male jealousy and paternal uncertainty (being unable to be certain he is the father of her children).
- 2part 2If a man’s partner is unfaithful and has a relationship with another man, he runs the risk of cuckoldry (that he may unwittingly invest resources in rearing children that are not his own). Male sexual jealousy may therefore have evolved to prevent infidelity by women and reduce the risk of cuckoldry.
Buss et al argues that males have developed strategies for mate retention. These include direct guarding (restricting her movements) of the female and negative inducements to prevent her straying (financial control, threat of violence if they are unfaithful). - 3part 3If men can prevent female infidelity by giving their partners positive benefits to stay then they are less likely to be violent, but men who are unable to do so are more likely to become jealous and violent leading to the unintended killing of the woman (uxorocide – wife killing), according to Daly & Wilson. They also proposed that this was the unintended outcome of an evolutionary adaptation that was intended for control rather than death.Sexual jealousy is another possible reason for homicide due to the link between infidelity and cuckoldry with men being the biggest victims and perpetrators of murders.
- 4RESEARCH/EVALUATION (AO2/AO3)Shackleton et al demonstrated the link between mate retention, jealousy and violence. They surveyed 461 men and 560 women who were all in committed heterosexual relationships in the US. The men answered the questions about their use of mate retention techniques, and the women were asked about their partner’s use of mate retention techniques and how violent their male partners were. There was a positive correlation found between men who used mate retention techniques of direct guarding and negative inducements and their use of violence. Men also tended to use emotional manipulation as a mate retention technique. The women’s results confirmed this as there was also a positive correlation between those that had jealous partners and being the victims of violence.
- 5part 2Shackleford et al challenged the unintentional nature of uxorocide outlined by Daly & Wilson. Analysing 13,670 uxorocides, they found that younger women were most at risk which, as the women were in their reproductive prime, presents a problem for them being unintentionally killed. A better explanation (The Evolved Homicide Module Theory) by Duntley & Buss might be that when a woman is unfaithful, not only does the man lose a partner, but another man also gains a partner. By killing his partner the man at least prevents his competitor gaining a reproductive advantage over him which may be considered evolutionary and increase their adaptive fitness.
- 6part 3A limitation of the evolutionary approach is that it fails to properly explain why males tend to react in very different ways when faced with the same problem e.g. a wife cheating. For example, as Buss & Shackleford highlight; when confronted with their wives infidelity men react in very different ways as some may be violent; others may give into her every desire in an attempt to keep her while others may simply avoid the issue by getting drunk or even leaving the relationship entirely.
- 7IDAMost studies of infidelity have focused solely on the males mate retention strategies and men’s violence against women. Women have also been found to engage in aggression and mate retention tactics and also behave violently towards their partners. Support for this comes from research by Archer who suggested that women initiate and carry out physical assaults on their partners as often as men. This demonstrates that there is a great deal of gender bias with such theories that only focus on violence caused by men.
Evolutionary explanations of infidelity and jealousy suggest aggression is down to evolved responses and genes, which is reductionist and oversimplifying human behaviour. Such explanations ignore the role of cognitive factors and are deterministic as they ignore the role of free will and people’s ability for conscious thought which can override such behaviour should they wish. Proving aggression is down to evolution is difficult in itself to do making the theory flawed.
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- AS Level Psychology (Aggression) Flashcards on EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATIONS FOR AGGRESSION (Infidelity & Jealousy), created by Talentless Academic on 11/03/2015.
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