Evolution and Human aggression (1) (JEALOUSY)

Evolution and Human aggression (1) (JEALOUSY)

1. Jealousy

   • 1) Cuckoldry and Sexual Jealousy
     • Refers to the reproductive cost on a man due to the partners infidelity
       • Consequence is a man is investing in a partner when the offspring that isn't his own
         • Adaptive functions of sexual jealousy would deter males and reduce risk of cuckoldry
     • Eval 1: IDA Gender Bias
       • Most studies focus on males + there retention strategies + male violence against women
         • This view is bias due to women also using retention strategies
           • Felston found women were twice as likely to murder due to jealously of men
     • Eval 2: There is research support for the relationship between sexual jealously and violence
       • Shackelford et al found a clear relationship
         • between sexual jealousy and the use of mate retention strategies and violence towards women
   • 2) Mate retention strategies and violence
     • Males have a number of strategies for keeping a mate: 'direct guarding' , 'emotional manipulation' (threatening to kill themselves) , 'violence' or 'threat of'
       • Studies of battered women cite jealously as main cause
     • Eval 1: IDA Real world application...
       • Use of mate retention strategies can be a indicator of future violence
         • Awareness of these strategies by male partner can be used to aware friends and family of violence to follow
   • 3) Sexual jealousy and extreme violence
     • Male sexual jealousy is thought to be the most common motivation for killings in the UK and US
       • Summary of 8 studies same sex killings involving 'love triangles' found 92% were male-male murders
     • Eval 1: There is a physiological basis for jealousy-based aggression
       • Takahashi et al found a neural response to imagined scenes of sexual infidelity and emotional jealousy were different for men and women
         • Men had greater activation in the amygdala and hypothalamus when presented with scenes of there mate cheating
     • Eval 2: Research doesn't tell the whole story
       • Edlund and Sagarin claim:
         • Understanding of the relationship between sexual jealousy and aggression is limited and doesn't tell us if the locus of responsibility (other male or partner started it)