Evolutionary Explanation of Aggression

• Evolution is when a species gradually changes, over many generations.
• Small changes can happen to alleles during reproduction, called mutations.
• Being aggressive was an adaptive behavior, meaning that it helped us to survive and reproduce.
• The evolutionary explanation of aggression says that...

  • through the process of natural selection we have evolved to display aggression.
  • in the age of prehistoric man, aggression was an adaptive behaviour that helped us survive and reproduce.
• Advantages of Evolutionary Explanations of Aggression

  • it helped men gain access to resources, like food.
  • it helped men gain dominance over other men.
  • it helped men prevent infidelity.
• According to the evolutionary explanation, cavewomen are likely to select more aggressive cavemen, because they can provide the resources that they need to keep their babies alive.
• Cavewomen worried about keeping their babies alive, so they selected aggressive cavemen who could protect their baby as reproductive partners.

  Cavewomen didn’t face competition for reproductive partners, so women haven’t evolved to be aggressive.
• Support for the evolutionary explanation of aggression

  Buss et al conducted a questionnaire-based study investigating whether men and women are more upset by sexual or emotional infidelity.

  Buss et al found sex differences in the type of jealousy displayed: 51% of men said they’d be more upset by sexual infidelity, compared to just 22% of women.
• What are the limitations of the Buss et al study?

  • 49% of men reported that they’d be more jealous about emotional infidelity.
  • The study was based on a hypothetical scenario, so the responses might have lacked validity.
• According to the evolutionary explanation, sex differences in aggression are caused by genetics and occur because men face more competition for reproductive partners than women do.
• One limitation of the evolutionary explanation of aggression is that it ignores environmental factors that contribute to aggression. For instance, Prinz argued that sex differences in aggression are caused by differences in the social norms that girls and boys are taught by adults.
• A second limitation of the evolutionary explanation of aggression is that it can be accused of alpha gender bias; the explanation overexaggerates the differences in aggression between men and women, stating that men are all aggressive and jealous, whereas women are not aggressive.
• A final limitation of the evolutionary explanation is that it has ethical issues. it is unacceptable for people in this day and age to go around hitting people and stating it is due to there evolution.