Evaluate Group Displays of Aggression

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Evaluate group displays of aggression (24 marks) Daly and Wilson claim that men have evolved several different strategies to deter their female partners from committing adultery (i.e infidelity). These range from vigilance to violence, but are all fuelled by male jealousy, an adaptation that evolved specifically to deal with the threat of parental uncertainty. Unlike women, men can never be certain that they are the fathers of their children. As a result men are always at a risk of cuckoldry, the reproductive cost that might be inflicted on a man as a result of his partner’s infidelity. The consequence of cuckoldry is that man might invest his resources that are not his own. The adaptive functions of sexual jealousy, therefore, would have been to deter a mate from sexual infidelity, thereby minimising the risk of cuckoldry. Buss (1988) suggests that males have a number of strategies that have evolved specifically for the purpose of keeping a mate. These include ‘direct guarding’ of the female, and ‘negative inducements’ that would prevent her from straying. A modern example of direct guarding is ‘vigilance’ which is coming home unexpectedly to see what the female partner is up too. Wilson et al found that women who agreed with questionnaire items such as ‘he is jealous and doesn’t want you to talk to other men’ were twice as likely to have experienced serous violence from their partners. Men can also guard against their partners infidelity either by conferring benefits or by inflicting costs, including violence. As not all men possess resources that might be used to provide benefits, some men are especially prone to using violence or the threat of violence (Shackleford et al). According to Daly and Wilson, death of a partner from physical violence may be an unintended outcome if an evolutionary adaptation that was designed for control rather than death. Wife
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