“The Other Woman”, an American Comedy film is about Carly Whitten (Cameron Diaz) who
has an affair with Mark King (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). After deciding to suprise him at his
home, she finds out that Mark already has a wife, Kate (Leslie Mann). Kate, who initially
emotionally clings onto Carly, gets mad at her, due to the fact that Mark is still seeing
another woman, who she thinks is Carly. However, after the two women discover that Mark
is seeing a third woman called Amber (Kate Upton), the three women decide to take revenge
on him.
According to the evolutionairy psychology, the theme presented here is Short-Term Mating.
Ancestral men who applied the Short-Term Mating strategy experienced several benefits, for
example reproductive benefits and low parental investment. By applying this strategy, men
faced different adaptive challenges and were forced to develop strategies to solve these
adaptive problems.
One way to do so, is to have the desire of having a variety of sex partners, which is
portrayed in the film by Mark sleeping with three different women at the same time.
Secondly, men who apply the Short-Term Mating strategy dislike the idea of commitment,
this is why the idea of meeting Carly’s father for dinner, results in Mark running away to
avoid getting caught up in a serious relationship.
Lastly, men need to identify the fertility of the woman via her attractiveness and age. This
results in Mark feeling attracted to the younger en more attractive Carly and Amber. [WORD
COUNT: 248]
has an affair with Mark King (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). After deciding to suprise him at his
home, she finds out that Mark already has a wife, Kate (Leslie Mann). Kate, who initially
emotionally clings onto Carly, gets mad at her, due to the fact that Mark is still seeing
another woman, who she thinks is Carly. However, after the two women discover that Mark
is seeing a third woman called Amber (Kate Upton), the three women decide to take revenge
on him.
According to the evolutionairy psychology, the theme presented here is Short-Term Mating.
Ancestral men who applied the Short-Term Mating strategy experienced several benefits, for
example reproductive benefits and low parental investment. By applying this strategy, men
faced different adaptive challenges and were forced to develop strategies to solve these
adaptive problems.
One way to do so, is to have the desire of having a variety of sex partners, which is
portrayed in the film by Mark sleeping with three different women at the same time.
Secondly, men who apply the Short-Term Mating strategy dislike the idea of commitment,
this is why the idea of meeting Carly’s father for dinner, results in Mark running away to
avoid getting caught up in a serious relationship.
Lastly, men need to identify the fertility of the woman via her attractiveness and age. This
results in Mark feeling attracted to the younger en more attractive Carly and Amber. [WORD
COUNT: 248]
