Aggression (Evolutionary explanations)

Question 1

What’s paternity uncertainty??

Answer 1

A father being unsure whether a child is his!

Question 2

What can paternity uncertainty??

Answer 2

Cuckoldry = Raising children that aren’t your own

This leads to men wasting their resources on a generation that doesn’t have their genes

Question 3

What do men do to ensure cuckoldry doesn’t occur??

Answer 3

Historically employed aggressive strategies to ensure their partners don’t stray!
These strategies are called mate retention strategies

Question 4

What are mate retention strategies and who developed the idea of them??

Answer 4

Wilson & Daly (1996) -> Aggressive & violent behaviours are used as strategies by males to ensure partners don’t stray

Question 5

Give 2 examples of mate retention strategies!

Answer 5

1. Direct guarding = Keeping tabs on their whereabouts, tracking their phone
2. Negative inducements = Statements like ‘I’ll kill myself if you leave’

Question 6

What are the 2 studies for mate retention strategies?? (AO1)

Answer 6

• Wilson & Daly (1996)
• Wilson et al (1995)

Question 7

What did Wilson et al (1995) state??

Answer 7

Women that reported mate retention strategies in their partners = twice as likely to have suffered physical violence from their partner

Question 8

What’s bullying??

Answer 8

Imbalance of power, where an individual uses aggression deliberately and repeatedly against a weaker person

Question 9

How is bullying evolutionary??

Answer 9

Ancestors uses bullying as an adaptive strategy to increase their chances of survival!

Question 10

What is the AO1 study for bullying??

Answer 10

Volk (2012):
- Characteristics of bullies are attractive to opposite sex (E.g. power)
- Bullying wards off potential mate rivals & gives access to more females

This behaviour is part of natural selection

Question 11

What are the evolutionary advantages of female bullying??

Answer 11

Warding off competition for a male with resources to ensure offspring inherit superior genetic material!

Question 12

What are 4 AO3 points for the evolutionary explanations of aggression??

Answer 12

• Wilson et al (1995)
• Shackelford et al (2005)
• The Kung San culture
• Temporal validity

Question 13

What did Wilson et al (1995) do?? (AO3)

Answer 13

• Self-report study (E.g. “He insists on knowing where you are & who you’re with at all times”)

73% of these women require medical attention at some point during their relationship.
53% said they feared for their lives.

Question 14

What is Shackelford et al (2005)?? (AO3)

Answer 14

107 married heterosexual couples completed questionnaires.
- Men given mate retention inventory, which assessed their mate retention strategies
- Women did a spouse influence report, which measured the amount of violence in the relationship

Pos. correlation with responses. Men using mate retention strategies more likely to be physically violent.

Question 15

What is the ‘Kung San culture’ AO3 point??

Answer 15

Goes against evolutionary explanation. Aggressive behaviour is very rare in their society. Parents don’t use physical punishment & there’s no value placed on aggression!

Question 16

What is the temporal validity of the evolutionary explanations of aggression?? (AO3)

Answer 16

Evolutionary explanations require us to research them for them to be current, which isn’t possible, so we rely on correlations.

Also, bullying is no longer needed for survival, so it is now the result of poor social skills or childhood abuse.