Ethological explanations

• Evolutionary explanation suggests that percent day behaviours came about because they were adaptive for our remote human ancestors as it gave them the advantage of surviving and passing on their genes
• Sexual competition - one way aggression can be seen as evolutionary

  • Ancestral males seeking access to females would have had to compete with other males.
  • One way of eliminating this competition is through aggression
  • More aggressive males would be more successful in gaining mates and passing on genes
• Sexual jealousy - another way aggression is seen as evolutionary

  • The need to find and retain a mate is the root of much male aggressive behaviour
  • Early humans - males feared losing their mate to another male which would have devastating consequences of passing on genes
  • Fear created by threats to their status as an exclusive sexual partner
• Female infidelity - females having a sexual relationship with another male - cheating
• Female infidelity needs to be deterred at all costs as it may result in female leaving for a new partner or bearing the child of another man.
• Sexual jealousy is an adaptive response which has led to a number of male retention strategies to enhance reproductive fitness and to avoid males fear of cuckoldry
• Cuckoldry - males raising offspring that is not genetically theirs
• According to evolutionary approach - females are less aggressive because her survival is crucial for survival of her offspring
• Male retention strategies:

  • Direct guarding
  • Spying
  • Vigilance
  • Threats and violence

  These are fuelled by male sexual jealousy
• AO3 - Puts (2010)

  Argued the fact males have 75% more muscle mass than females and also thicker jaw bones.

  This is evidence for the fact that men have evolved as a result of physically fighting each other. Males with strongest bones and muscles more likely to have been able to fight off competition easier and pass on genes
• AO3 - Dobash

  Studies of women who have been beaten by their male partners has shown that in the majority of cases the women causes extreme jealously on the part of their husbands or partners as the key cause of aggression

  Supports sexual jealousy
• AO3 - Daly and Wilson

  Claimed that men have evolved different strategies to deter their partners from acts of cheating. These are known as male retention strategies and are fuelled by sexual jealousy. They found sexual jealousy was the underlying factor in 58 out of 214 cases of murder
• AO3 - practical application

  Particular tactics of male retention used by males can be an early indicator of violence against a female partner. The findings from these studies can potentially be used to alert friends and family members to the danger signs the specific acts that can lead to violence
• AO3 - gender bias

  Evolutionary explanation and many studies focus solely on mens mate retention strategies and mens violence against women. This may be gender biased as it cannot account for female aggression and violence.

  Research suggests women initiate and carry out physical assaults on their partners as often as men do
• AO3 - deterministic view

  Deterministic view as it suggests sexual jealousy is determined by inherited genetic factors which we have no control.
• AO£ - supports nature and nurture

  It is likely that genes predispose males to sexual jealousy but other factors such as the culture in which we live, childhood experiences.

  It is hard to assess the extent to which free will influences violence associated with sexual jealousy and there is the danger in the lack of free will that can be used to justify crimes against women