Sexual Selection Research Paper
Discuss the relationship between sexual selection and human reproductive behaviour
AO1 outline of the relationships
AO2/AO3 commentary including IDA
In evolutionary terms natural selection is the process by which certain characteristics and behaviours get passed on in the gene pool because they give the individual a better chance of surviving and reproducing.
Sexual selection is the process within natural selection where by any characteristic or behaviour that increases the reproductive success of an individual are selected and these characteristics may get exaggerated over evolutionary time.
Because of the differences in parental investment between males and females, evolutionary psychologists suggest this has created gender specific …show more content…
This in turn has created competition between males. They have to convince females they would be the best to mate with.
Males will also be concerned with looking for females with qualities that suggest fertility (youth and good health – synonymous with physical attractiveness.
Sexual selection may also lead to differences in mating systems. A female may be best in a monogamous relationship which will ensure the male stays and provides for the family. However for a male a polygamy may be better where he mates with as many females as possible thus ensuring quantity in offspring increasing the likelihood of some of them surviving.
292 words
Cross cultural studies provide good evidence for evolutionary theory because if we see the same behaviour across culture we can deduce that this behaviour may be a result of genes (evolution) rather than socialisation.
Buss, 1989 studied 37 cultures and found that females valued qualities that suggested the financial potential of males – for example ambition and industriousness. On the other hand men valued physical attractiveness and women who were younger than them more than women did. This suggests that they were looking for qualities associated with fertility in line with evolutionary …show more content…
Other studies have supported Buss. For example Waynforth and Dunbar (1995) analysed the content of lonely hearts columns and found that 43% of males sought a youthful mate compared to 25% of females (the younger the female the more fertile). They also found that 44% of males sought a physically attractive partner compared to 22% of females. Finally they found that women “advertise” their physical attractiveness and men advertise their resources.
The advantage of this study is that the people writing the adverts would not have been influenced by any investigator effects, however this is a biased sample as only a small proportion of the populations would seek to find partners in this way.
There is much evidence to suggest that males are more likely to engage in casual sex and engage in polygamous relationships (thus spreading their genes around). For example Clark and Hatfield (1989 and 1990) found that when propositioned by a total stranger 50% of both men and women agreed to go out on a date with the stranger, however none of the females agreed to have sex with a stranger whereas a staggering 75% of males
AO1 outline of the relationships
AO2/AO3 commentary including IDA
In evolutionary terms natural selection is the process by which certain characteristics and behaviours get passed on in the gene pool because they give the individual a better chance of surviving and reproducing.
Sexual selection is the process within natural selection where by any characteristic or behaviour that increases the reproductive success of an individual are selected and these characteristics may get exaggerated over evolutionary time.
Because of the differences in parental investment between males and females, evolutionary psychologists suggest this has created gender specific …show more content…
This in turn has created competition between males. They have to convince females they would be the best to mate with.
Males will also be concerned with looking for females with qualities that suggest fertility (youth and good health – synonymous with physical attractiveness.
Sexual selection may also lead to differences in mating systems. A female may be best in a monogamous relationship which will ensure the male stays and provides for the family. However for a male a polygamy may be better where he mates with as many females as possible thus ensuring quantity in offspring increasing the likelihood of some of them surviving.
292 words
Cross cultural studies provide good evidence for evolutionary theory because if we see the same behaviour across culture we can deduce that this behaviour may be a result of genes (evolution) rather than socialisation.
Buss, 1989 studied 37 cultures and found that females valued qualities that suggested the financial potential of males – for example ambition and industriousness. On the other hand men valued physical attractiveness and women who were younger than them more than women did. This suggests that they were looking for qualities associated with fertility in line with evolutionary …show more content…
Other studies have supported Buss. For example Waynforth and Dunbar (1995) analysed the content of lonely hearts columns and found that 43% of males sought a youthful mate compared to 25% of females (the younger the female the more fertile). They also found that 44% of males sought a physically attractive partner compared to 22% of females. Finally they found that women “advertise” their physical attractiveness and men advertise their resources.
The advantage of this study is that the people writing the adverts would not have been influenced by any investigator effects, however this is a biased sample as only a small proportion of the populations would seek to find partners in this way.
There is much evidence to suggest that males are more likely to engage in casual sex and engage in polygamous relationships (thus spreading their genes around). For example Clark and Hatfield (1989 and 1990) found that when propositioned by a total stranger 50% of both men and women agreed to go out on a date with the stranger, however none of the females agreed to have sex with a stranger whereas a staggering 75% of males