TABASSUM RAHMAN
Discuss evolutionary explanations of human aggression, including
infidelity and/or jealousy (8+16)
Evolutionary psychologists argue that the different reproductive challenges faced by our ancestors
led to a number of evolved sex difference, including differences in human aggression for men and
women. Daly and Wilson claim that men have evolved several different strategies to deter their
female partners from committing adultery or infidelity. These range from vigilance to violence, but
all are fuelled by male jealousy, an adaption that evolved specifically to deal with the threat of
paternal uncertainty from cuckoldry.
Jealousy occurs through the fear of losing affection or status and is characterised by resentfulness,
bitterness or envy and can motivate aggressive behaviour. Buss suggests that males have a number
of strategies that have developed through natural selection to ‘keep a mate’; these include direct
guarding and negative inducement.
One study to show support for the evolutionary explanation of human aggression through jealousy is
from Dabash and Dabash who studied ‘battered women’ and found that a majority of them cited
that jealousy was a key cause of violence, thus suggesting strong evidence for the role of jealousy in
human aggression. This is further supported by Cascardi and Vivien who found that participants
attribute jealousy as the most common cause of aggression in relationships. Moreover a study from
Young asked students to describe their likely reactions to a jealousy inducing scenario. It was found
that the men would respond aggressively and become drunk or threaten their rival whereas women
would cry, pretend to not care and try to increase own attractiveness to regain male attention. This
therefore shows gender differences towards their response to jealousy. However there is an age
bias with this study as it was conducted using only students, which means we cannot fully generalise
the findings to other age groups that might react differently to jealousy. Furthermore this study lacks
validity because what the students say how they would react might be different from what they
would actually do because there was no emotional arousal involved in the study, unlike real life. Also
there could be a possible reliability issue as social desirability may have affected the student’s
responses in the study thus showing that findings may not be fully accurate. Another study that
supports the evolutionary role of human aggression is from Daly and Wilson who found that male to
male rivalry involving aggression is found in all young men of all cultures, thus suggesting that
aggressive behaviour in jealousy and infidelity is universal. Since this finding is from a cross cultural
study, it is easier to generalise findings to all other cultures.
Evolutionary psychologists say that infidelity triggers an emotional state in the individual as it is
perceived to be a threat to the relationship. Research from Harris has shown gender differences in
the response to infidelity where women are more stressed from emotional infidelity whereas men
become more jealous from sexual infidelity. A consequence of men’s perception or suspicion of their
mate’s sexual infidelity is ‘sexual coercion’ or ‘partner rape’.
One study to show support for the role of infidelity in the evolutionary explanation of human
aggression is from Camilleri who found that sexual assault of a female by her male partner was
directly linked with the perceived risk of her infidelity; this suggests a strong link between infidelity
Discuss evolutionary explanations of human aggression, including
infidelity and/or jealousy (8+16)
Evolutionary psychologists argue that the different reproductive challenges faced by our ancestors
led to a number of evolved sex difference, including differences in human aggression for men and
women. Daly and Wilson claim that men have evolved several different strategies to deter their
female partners from committing adultery or infidelity. These range from vigilance to violence, but
all are fuelled by male jealousy, an adaption that evolved specifically to deal with the threat of
paternal uncertainty from cuckoldry.
Jealousy occurs through the fear of losing affection or status and is characterised by resentfulness,
bitterness or envy and can motivate aggressive behaviour. Buss suggests that males have a number
of strategies that have developed through natural selection to ‘keep a mate’; these include direct
guarding and negative inducement.
One study to show support for the evolutionary explanation of human aggression through jealousy is
from Dabash and Dabash who studied ‘battered women’ and found that a majority of them cited
that jealousy was a key cause of violence, thus suggesting strong evidence for the role of jealousy in
human aggression. This is further supported by Cascardi and Vivien who found that participants
attribute jealousy as the most common cause of aggression in relationships. Moreover a study from
Young asked students to describe their likely reactions to a jealousy inducing scenario. It was found
that the men would respond aggressively and become drunk or threaten their rival whereas women
would cry, pretend to not care and try to increase own attractiveness to regain male attention. This
therefore shows gender differences towards their response to jealousy. However there is an age
bias with this study as it was conducted using only students, which means we cannot fully generalise
the findings to other age groups that might react differently to jealousy. Furthermore this study lacks
validity because what the students say how they would react might be different from what they
would actually do because there was no emotional arousal involved in the study, unlike real life. Also
there could be a possible reliability issue as social desirability may have affected the student’s
responses in the study thus showing that findings may not be fully accurate. Another study that
supports the evolutionary role of human aggression is from Daly and Wilson who found that male to
male rivalry involving aggression is found in all young men of all cultures, thus suggesting that
aggressive behaviour in jealousy and infidelity is universal. Since this finding is from a cross cultural
study, it is easier to generalise findings to all other cultures.
Evolutionary psychologists say that infidelity triggers an emotional state in the individual as it is
perceived to be a threat to the relationship. Research from Harris has shown gender differences in
the response to infidelity where women are more stressed from emotional infidelity whereas men
become more jealous from sexual infidelity. A consequence of men’s perception or suspicion of their
mate’s sexual infidelity is ‘sexual coercion’ or ‘partner rape’.
One study to show support for the role of infidelity in the evolutionary explanation of human
aggression is from Camilleri who found that sexual assault of a female by her male partner was
directly linked with the perceived risk of her infidelity; this suggests a strong link between infidelity
