Evolutionary explanations for aggression

• Evolutionary explanation:

  • aggression is a strategy that has evolved as an adaptive response to problems among humans
  • adaptive functions of aggression in the EEA : gain resources from others, gain status or dominance in a group, intimidating or eliminating male rivals for females and to deter infildelity in long-term mates
  • using aggression helped individuals to survive and reproduce in the past, so aggression is a trait that modern humans have inherited
• Sexual competition

  • men are more aggressive (especially towards other males) because they faced the most competition for mates in the past
  • the main limit of their reproduction was access to fertile males so competing succesfully for mates was important
  • one way of eliminating the competition would have been through aggression
  • those who won would be more successful in acquiring mates and passing their genes to offspring
• Sexual jealousy

  • sexual jealousy is greater in males- an evolved psychological mechanism to prevent their women from cheating on them
  • ensures that the man does not raise another man's child and waste their resources on them (cuckoldry)
  • mate retention strategies:
  • direct guarding - activities that involve monitoring their partner's behaviour, installing tracking apps on their phone
  • negative inducement - threatening to deter the partner from cheating e.g. "I'll kill myself if you leave me"
  • lead to a form of domestic violence which will discourage women from cheating on their mate
• Warfare

  • behaviour assosciated with warfare might have evolved because of adaptive benefits such as obtaining valuable resources, attractive mates etc
  • displays of aggression/bravery are attractive to females and research has found that male warriors in traditional societies tend to have more sexual partners and more children
  • aggression in combat can also increase status for individual warriors leading to peers respecting them more and strengthening bonds with other males in the group
• A03-

  A strength is that there is supporting evidence for sexual jealousy. This comes from Shackelford et al who found that there was a strong positive correlation between mate retention behaviour and the extent of a partner's violence in their relationship. Men who used mate retention strategies were more likely to use physical violence against their partners, which supports the concept of sexual jealousy

  • 107 HETEROSEXUAL MARRIED COUPLES< 1 YEAR
  • questionnaires - mate retention asked in questionnaire and asked about extent of violence in their relationship
• Further support comes from the idea that many tribal societies give higher status to those who have committed murder. Even in industrialised society, such as the USA, the most violent gang members are the ones with the highest status. This suggests that aggression is an important way of gaining status and shows a link between the two
• Cultural differences.

  !Kung San people of the Kalahari have very negative attitudes towards aggression. It is not common in this culture as it is discouraged from childhood. Those who do use it find their reputation diminished. This shows that the link between aggression and reputation is not universal and affects the validity of the explanation.
• A strength to this is that it can account for sex differences in aggression. Females with offspring are motivated to be less agressive as being less aggressive will put her and her child at risk, however a more adapative strategy would be to use verbal aggression as a means of retaining a partner who has resources. This explains why women are more likely than men to use non aggressive methods of resolving disputes. This ability to explain gender differences is a strength.