Here's the question: Discuss the evolutionary explanations of aggressive behaviour. (24 marks) The slideshare is the answer. Got almost full marks. A01, A02 AND A03 is separated to make life easier! You're welcome :)

1. Discuss the evolutionary
explanations of aggressive
behaviour. (24 marks)

2. AO1
• P - Cuckoldry is when a man has to financially support a child that
may not be his. This risk may lead to sexual jealousy as financially
providing for this child would reduce the chance of him successfully
reproducing himself with his partner due to the time and effort he’d
invest into raising the child. As a result, the male partner may force
his partner to terminate the pregnancy by aggressive force to
reduce this risk.
• E - Wilson et al (1975) studied women who described their
husbands as jealous. He found that these women were more likely
to be a victim of violence and 72% of them needed medical
attention following male assault.
• E – Jealousy in a man arises when he feels insecure about his
chances of reproducing and as the research shows men may resort
to violence in order to diminish the probability of this threat coming
about.
• L – This suggests that aggression in men is an evolutionary response
that occurs in order to successfully pass on his genes. This reflects
ancestral and animal behaviour whereby males fight for their
chance to mate and appear more resourceful to other females.

3. A02
• There is inconsistent evidence from Shackleford et al (2000) who
found that in a sample of 13,670 uxorocides, younger women are
more at risk. This contradicts evolutionary logic that men should
regard women as ‘prized property’ because when the wife is
younger she is more reproductively valuable and killing her defies
evolutionary logic. This suggests that maybe it’s another factor that
results in sexual jealousy rather than evolutionary responses.
However…
• Duntley and Buss (2005) explained these findings in terms of the
facts that infidelity carries a double loss for a man (esp. when the
female is at a reproductive age) because he loses a partner and
another man gains his partner and increases his own fitness;
uxorocide prevents a competitor from gaining in the reproductive
stakes. This study supports the evolutionary explanation as it
suggests that ultimately, killing of a partner occurs when a man
wants to protect his chances of reproduction.

4. AO3
• The explanation is deterministic as it concludes that
jealousy will definitely lead to aggression towards the
female partner, it clearly ignores the human
characteristic of free-will. This will cause complications
for the legal system when finding people liable for
violence because the evolutionary explanation says we
are not ac countable for our behaviour therefore
should not be held responsible.
• It also does not take into consideration other factors
such as the cognitive thought processes that lead to
aggressive behaviour and it could be an accumulation
of multiple factors rather than solely jealousy.

5. AO1
• P - Mate retention is the act of guarding against mate
poaching and maintaining a partner’s interest. This includes
direct guarding and negative inducements. Direct guarding
is when the male restricts his partner’s sexual autonomy.
Coming home early from work, for example, to check on his
partner is an act of direct guarding. Negative Inducements
are used to prevent a partner from straying.
• E - Shackleford (2005) found men who used mate retention
are more aggressive.
• E - This suggests that mate retention is the main reason for
aggression towards a partner.
• L - Vigilance is an adaptation that has evolved specifically
to deal with the threat of paternal uncertainty and this
indicates that these strategies have occurred as a result of
evolution.

6. AO2
• There is supporting empirical evidence from Daly
and Wilson who claim that men have evolved
mate retention strategies to deter their mate
from leaving because without a mate their
chances of reproduction are reduced. So these
strategies enhance reproductive fitness (surviving
and passing on genes).
• A criticism of the evolutionary theory is that it is
post-hoc, there is never any direct evidence to
support that our behaviour occurs as a result of
evolution.

7. A03
• The explanation is reductionist as it doesn’t take into
account psychodynamic factors that may lead to over
protective behaviour (like checking up on partners)
which could be a result of previous control-related
experiences in an individual’s early childhood.
• Gender bias is also a criticism of this study as Archer
(2000) found equal rates of assault in men and women
and those women also engaged in mate retention. The
evolutionary explanation overstates the effect of
ancestral history on men but doesn’t explain it properly
in terms of women; generalizability is also an issue as a
result because it is limited to men mostly.