Evolutionary Explanations

Q: Sexual Jealousy

__Buss and Duntly (2006)__ have identified several evolutionary adaptive functions of aggression, including the acquisition of resources and status, and defeating sexual rivals and retaining mates.

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Sexual Jealousy

Buss and Duntly (2006) have identified several evolutionary adaptive functions of aggression, including the acquisition of resources and status, and defeating sexual rivals and retaining mates.

Aggression

Aggression is usually seen as destructive and its consequences often are, however aggression might serve a wider evolutionary purpose.
Evolutionary theory has attempted to explain aggressive behaviours such as sexual jealousy and bullying.
Sexual jealousy has been observed to be a major motivator of aggression, especially in males and is believed to be adaptive.

Cuckoldry

Unlike women, men can never be entirely sure whether or not a child was definitely fathered by them.
This paternity uncertainty leads to the threat of cuckoldry: having to raise offspring that are not his own.

Offspring

Any investment in offspring that do not share the male's genes would be a waste of his resources and would leave him with fewer resources to invest in his future offspring.
This investment would also aid the survival of rival genes.

Male sexual jealousy

Men in our evolutionary past who could avoid cuckoldry were more reproductively successful.
Therefore psychological mechanisms have evolved to increase anti-cuckoldry behaviours in males.

Anti-cuckoldry

One type of anti-cuckoldry behaviour is sexual jealousy, which is more strongly experienced in males than in females.
Sexual jealousy often drives the aggressive strategies that men employ to retain their partners and prevent them from engaging in sexual conduct with other men.
Such strategies were adapted in our evolutionary history.

Sexual Jealousy and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

According to researchers, these mate retention behaviours reliably predict husbands’ use of violence against their wives.

Mate retention strategies

Wilson and Daly (1996) have identified several mate retention strategies which involve aggression and even physical violence, including:
- Direct guarding.
  - Involves male vigilance over a partner’s behaviour e.g. checking who they’ve been seeing, coming home early, keeping tabs on their whereabouts, installing tracking apps on their mobiles, etc.
- Negative inducements.
  - E.g. issuing threats and dire consequences for infidelity.

Wilson et al. (1995)

Such behaviours are linked to violence.
Wilson et al. (1995) found that women who reported mate retention strategies in their partners were twice as likely to have suffered physical violence at the hands of their partners.
Of these women:
- 73% required medical attention.
- 53% said they feared for their lives.

IPV

Mate retention strategies have been linked to intimate partner violence (IPV).
Shackelford et al. (2005) studied intimate partner violence in heterosexual couples.
Men and women in 107 married couples, who had all been married for less than one year, completed different questionnaires.

Shackelford et al. (2005) method

The men completed the mates retention inventory, which assessed mate retention behaviours in various categories, such as direct guarding.
The woman completed the spouse influence report, which measures the extent of their partners violence in their relationship.

Shackelford et al. (2005) results

There was a strong positive correlation between men’s reports of their mate retention behaviours and women’s reports of their partners’ physical violence.
Men who used guarding or negative inducements were more likely to use physical violence against their partners.
According to researchers, these retention behaviours reliably predicted husbands’ use of violence against their wives.

It is also possible to explain the causes of bullying through evolutionary theory. Bullying happens because of a power imbalance. It is when more powerful individuals use aggression deliberately and repeatedly against a weaker person.

Adaptive strategy

Researchers have traditionally viewed bullying as a maladaptive behaviour.
- E.g. the result of poor social skills or childhood abuse.
However, our evolutionary ancestors may have used bullying as an adaptive strategy to increase their chances of survival by promoting their own health and creating opportunities for reproduction.

Volk et al. (2012)

Volk et al. (2012) argue that the characteristics associated with bullying behaviour are attractive to the opposite sex.
In males, it suggests dominance, acquisition of resources, and strength.
It also has the benefit of warning off potential rivals.

Reproductive success

Bullying-associated characteristics, therefore, deliver the ideal combination of access to more females and minimising threat from competing males.
It makes sense that such behaviour would be naturally selected because these males would have greater reproductive success.

Female bullying

Female bullying more often takes place within a relationship and is a method of controlling a partner.
Women use bullying behaviour to secure their partners fidelity, and ensure their partners continue to provide resources for future offspring.
Such behaviours would, again, be naturally selected.