EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATIONS

• SEXUAL JEALOUSY AND AGGRESSION?

  • males have a higher risk of cuckoldry (invests resources in offspring that are not his own unknowingly)
  • as a result of parental uncertainty
  • therefore males are more likely to display aggressive behaviours motivated by the fear of infidelity to either deter other males or deter their partner from sexual infidelity
• AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOURS RELATED TO SEXUAL JEALOUSY AND AGGRESSION?

  TO DETER OTHER MALES

  • threaten aggressive behaviour or use actual violence
  • which acts as a warning
  • increasing chances of reproduction and survival of genes

  TO DETER PARTNER FROM SEXUAL INFIDELITY (AGGRESSIVE MALE RETENTION STRATEGIES)

  • direct guarding (being intimidatingly vigilant to restrict partner's sexual autonomy)
  • negative inducements (dire consequences for infidelity)
  • intimate partner violence (assault, rape, uxoricide)
• EVALUATION?

  + Shackelford et al

  + Craig et al

  -alpha bias

  -deterministic

  + real world application

  -evolved homicide module theory
• SHACKELFORD ET AL?

  • 107 married couples
  • questionnaire
  • male retention inventory
  • spouse influence report
  • moderate positive correlation (0.42)
  • but social desirability and ethical issues
• CRAIG ET AL?

  • questionnaire
  • children
  • 40 countries
  • observed that bullying was in all countries
  • and that bullying was higher amongst boys than girls
  • however there were cultural variations in the level of bullying
• ALPHA BIAS?

  • women judged more seriously for violent crimes
  • as go against typical, expected behaviour
  • Gavin
  • longer, harsher sentences for mariticide vs uxoricide
• DETERMINISTIC?

  • does not consider role of free will
  • Bandura
  • social learning processes play a role
  • all men predisposed to aggressive behaviour but only exhibit if maltreated (Caspi)
  • (Prinz) differences in aggressive behaviour better explained by different socialisation experiences
  • (Smetana) parents more likely to physically punish boys and explain to girls why actions were wrong, girls learn they are less powerful than boys and adopt social forms of aggression (self-esteem/ social status)
• REAL WORLD APPLICATION?

  • awareness of male retention strategies
  • can allow women to notice these in the early stages
  • can allow men to resolve these problems before they escalate
  • but can increase victim-blaming
  • can lead to production of anti-bullying interventions
  • e.g. sports are a controlled way of demonstrating aggressive behaviour
  • or bullying behaviours can be spotted earlier by teachers
• EVOLVED HOMICIDE MODULE THEORY?

  • uxoricide higher in younger women
  • which is when they are at their most reproductively valuable
  • infidelity causes male double loss
  • male loses partner so their own reproductive fitness but improve another male's reproductive fitness
  • therefore killing a wife is more "beneficial" to survival of genes