Evolutionary explanations for aggression

Evolutionary explanations for aggression

1. Aggression is needed for survival, aggression is seen as an adaptive behaviour

   • Aggression is an adaptive process because:
     • It allows an individual to fight for resources
     • It makes a male appear more attractive to females as they appear 'strong' and will heave greater ability to protect offspring.
     • It prevents cuckoldry- males do not want to raise offspring that is not their own
       • Mate retention strategies
         • Wilson and Daly
           • Direct guarding: male vigilance over a partners behaviour, e.g. checking their phone and keeping tabs on their whereabouts
           • Negative inducements: Issues threats of dire consequence against infidelity, e.g. I will kill myself if you leave me
         • Evaluation
           • Wilson et al- found that women who reported MRS in their elations were twice as likely to have suffered physical violence at the hands of their partner. 53% of these women had feared for their lives. 73% had received medical attention
           • Shackleford et al- Issues questionnaires to 107 married couples who had been marries less than a year, the men and women complete different questionnaires. The men complete a Mate Retention Inventory where the women complete a spouse influence report. A strong +ive correlation was found between the men's Retention strategies and the women's report of violence. Men who used retention strategies were more likely to use violence against their partners.
     • Bullying
       • Where a more powerful individual uses aggression against a weaker individual to gain resources and mating opportunities
       • Volk et al argue that the characteristics associated with bullying are attractive to the opposite sex. In males it suggests dominance and acquisition of resources as well as strength, resulting in greater reproductive success. Female bullying occurs in a relationship is and used to control a partner and secure their fidelity.

2. Evaluation

   • Shackleford (2000) analysed 13,670 cases of uxoricide (murder of a partner/wife). Younger women had a greater chance of being killed by their husbands than older women. This supports the evolutionary theory as the theory predicts that younger women are more likely to be found attractive by other men, therefore their husbands are more likely to become jealous and aggressive.
   • Accounts for why males engage in more physically aggressive behaviour than females. Women with offspring are less likely to be aggressive than males as this would put their offspring at risk and thus have adapted to use fore verbal aggression to retain their partner who provide resources and avoid physical confrontation.
   • Real life applications in that we know why people are bullies and thus can use this knowledge to help eradicate bullying. We can channel to need to display prowess by encouraging bullies to engage in sporting activities.
   • This explanation argues that agression is adaptive and evolutionary, implying that it should be universal across different cultures and unaffected by cultural differences. There are, however, cultural differences in aggression. The !Kung San people of Kalahari have very negative attitudes to aggression and therefore aggressive behaviour is very rare. In contrast, the Yanomamo of Venezuela have been described as ‘the fierce people’. . The fact that these two tribes have such different experiences of and attitudes towards aggression suggests that this behaviour is not universal and that its innate nature can be outweighed by non-evolutionary cultural and social factors