Flashcards
EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATIONS OF GENDER ROLES-DBWT
Flashcards do conjunto (9)
- 1EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATIONS OF GENDER ROLES A01Evolutionary explanations see traditional gender roles forming due to the different selective pressures between males and females providing an adaptive advantage to aid survival and reproduction. Evolutionary explanations see males as the hunters while females are the domestic gatherers.
- 2A01 part 2One explanation proposes these traditional roles formed as females would normally spend their adult life as pregnant, producing milk and providing food through growing vegetation, making clothing and tending to shelter needs. This would aid survival as it would help avoid starvation which is believed to be one possible reason the Neanderthals disappeared. Kuhn et al suggests both male and female Neanderthals hunted while no farming evidence exists. With a high calorie intake diet, when food was scarce or hunting failed this led to their starvation. This division of labour within homo-sapiens therefore gave modern humans an evolutionary advantage. If both sexes hunted this would reduce the group’s reproductive success and this is one reason for differences in gender roles.
- 3A01 part 3Evolutionary explanations for mate choice suggest males look to mate with females who advertise fertility through physical attraction. Females would be looking for similar but with an emphasis on males that advertise resources they can invest into them and potential children. This difference can be explained due to differences in gametes with males having millions of sperm with the potential to impregnate almost limitless females. Females on the other hand need to be more picky in mates due to limited eggs and time to fall pregnant but also the level of investment required from them is greater (9 months pregnant and the caring of the children for many years following). Therefore females will choose males who are likely to advertise and invest resources in them with a low risk of abandonment while males will seek to advertise resources they can bring so they can be selected as mates. In terms of gender role differences men would be seen as the provider to fit into this mate choice while women as the carer of the home and children.
- 4A02/A03 Part 1Dunbar et al conducted a study assessing what males and females seek for in their ideal partners using personal ads. Men placed a greater emphasis on seeking beauty which females advertised more. Women sought men with resources or those that provided greater stability. This fits in with evolutionary explanations as gender roles would then shape around these criteria in mate choice
- 5A02/A03 Part 2A cross-cultural study conducted by Buss et al supports this assumption, too supporting evolutionary explanations for gender specific roles. 37 different cultures were studied which provided high cross-cultural population validity seeking to identify male and female mate selection preferences. Men placed greater importance on physical attraction while women sought status and resources. This showed traits sought between the sexes was universal rather than culturally specific highlighting a possible evolutionary link in gender behaviours.
- 6A02/A03 PART 3However a criticism of this study is questionnaires were used to collect information and the validity of the findings could be biased due to participants giving socially desirable answers or possible language barriers. People may have misunderstood questions due to this or struggled to answer honestly invalidating the case for evolution playing a role in gender specific behaviour. Another issue evolutionary explanations raise is the fact that they raise socially sensitive issues. For example they present males and females as unable to escape from their biologically programmed roles which raises political and social issues. This may concern women in the workplace or even male involvement in childcare.
- 7A02/A03 PART 4Wood and Eagly conducted a cross-cultural study that compared the gender behaviours across different societies. Non-industrial societies saw men as given the role of hunter and provider, killing animals and creating tools. Women were seen to be tasked with looking after the children and preparing food and this supports the evolutionary theory that gender roles have their origins in evolution. Tamres et al also found that in times of stress women were more inclined to seek support and company from others much more than men. This would make sense considering the females would be the primary caregiver for children and would want to protect themselves and their children, supporting evolutionary explanations for differences in gender roles.
- 8A02/A03 Part 5A major criticism of evolutionary explanations is that they are seen as deterministic as they attempt to explain behaviour as directed solely through the biological approach with genes and nature. This assumes men will always take the role of the hunter (provider) while women will take the role of carer. This view is deterministic as it assumes men will always seek younger women and behave as the providers yet does not factor in the role of social and cultural factors. It may well be that genes predispose individuals to lean towards a certain type of behaviour but this is mitigated by social and cultural factors which influence people too. Therefore the assumption that genes alone guide behaviour is deterministic as nurture and environmental elements are not factored into behaviour yet are known to play a significant role.
- 9A02/A03 Part 6Another major criticism of evolutionary explanations is they tend to be speculative with no direct evidence. For example the assumption that Neanderthals disappeared in part due to a failure to divide labour is possible but we have no definitive way of confirming this. Other theories could easily explain their disappearance too such as climate change. Therefore evolutionary theories are generally difficult to prove or disprove and lack credibility due to this. However some evolutionary explanations do have some research support such as linking mate choice to gender roles.
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- AS Level Psychology (Gender) FlashCards sobre EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATIONS OF GENDER ROLES-DBWT, criado por Talentless Academic em 11-03-2015.
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