Transcript Slide 1

Evolutionary Psychology,
Reproduction and Gender Roles
1975
Edward O. Wilson
Sociobiology: The New Synthesis
Sociobiology
Lots of Controversy
Evolutionary
Psychology
Biologists
Fear of Social Darwinism
Anthropologists
Primatologists
Arguments about human
free will
Psychologists
Ethologists
Arguments about
whether humans have
instinctive (genetically
programmed behavioral
tendencies)
First attempts to apply
the theories to humans
Linguists
Some Types of
Evolutionary Psychology Theory
Kin Selection/Inclusive Fitness Theory
Parental Investment Theory
Altruism Theory
Sociability Theory
Multilevel Evolutionary Theory
Systems Theory
Kin Diagram Basics
male
female
=
marriage
siblings
=
offspring
Kin Selection/Inclusive Fitness
• Individuals will tend to invest in
others in proportion to their degree of
relatedness.
• Degree of relatedness is calculated
using the proportion of genes shared
in common.
Kin Selection/Inclusive Fitness Theory
=
=
1/2
1/2
1/2
=
=
FaSi FaBr
1/2
Father
1/2
Cousins
=
=
Mother
1/2
Brother EGO Sister
=
MoSi MoBr
1/2
1/2
Cousins
Parent-Child ½
Grandparent-Grandchild ¼ (½ x ½)
Aunt/Uncle-Niece/Nephew ¼ (½ x ½)
Cousin-Cousin 1/8 (½ x ½ x ½)
Parental Investment Theory
Relative Contributions of Males and Females to Offspring
Males
1/200,000 of
an egg
A few minutes
None
None
Females
Gamete size and contribution to
embryo
200,000 times
larger
Minimum time investment to
birth of a child
Nine months
Minimum emotional investment
to autonomous healthy child
5 to 7 years
Minimum economic investment to
5 to 7 years
autonomous healthy child
Parental Investment Theory
Male vs. Female Mating Strategies
Males
Females
What characteristics
are most sexy?
Youth, Beauty
It varies. Commitment
to a single female is one How important is
exclusivity and
of many strategies for a
commitment?
male. The male can offer
fidelity to a single female
to help support their
offspring. This is only
one of the male options.
At the other end of the
spectrum is “free
copulation” leaving
females to care for
offspring.
Power, Wealth
Very important. The
female needs help with
the large time,
emotional and
economic investments
she must make to
produce a healthy
adult offspring. She
would like her mate to
stick around and help.
Parental Investment Theory
Hypotheses about The Range of Male Strategies
The Swinger: Males who
attract lots of females who
are willing to have sex with
them are better off not
making a commitment to a
single female. They will hope
that some of the women with
whom they copulate will get
pregnant, and that the
women will find a way to
support/raise the child, either
alone, or with the help of
another male. This way they
have the potential for having
large numbers of children in
whom they will have invested
very little.
The Nerd: Males who do not
attract lots of females who are
willing to have sex with them
can offer commitment as an
inducement for sex. They
promise long term fidelity and
support for the female and her
offspring, allowing the female
to have more children, or to
raise more successful children
because she has the time,
emotional and economic
investments of a male on whom
she can count.
Parental Investment Theory
Hypotheses about Female Strategies
The risk of pregnancy and the investment that follows conception
for women will make them more careful about sexual partners,
and more interested in commitment from partners than will ever
be true for males.
Females will be attracted to
wealthy, powerful males who
can help them support and
raise their children. This will
be especially true in cultures
where males control
resources. They may tolerate
such men having multiple
wives or partners as long as
they and their children are
supported.
Females will be less
exclusively monogamous
when they have access to
economic resources or
earning power
themselves. However,
they will never be as
promiscuous as the most
promiscuous males.
Overview of Theories
Marx
Conflict over resources
Eisenstein
Add patriarchy
Vogel
Add reproduction of mode
of production
Ward
Applies World Systems
theory that adds imposition
of capitalism = gender
stratification
Engels
Civilization = gender
stratification
Sacks
Social labor = social
adulthood
Rosaldo
Maternally-based division of
labor
Weber
Gender stratification
behavior follows ideology
Sanday
-Inner Oriented ( women
sacred) vs Outer Oriented
(women dangerous) societies.
Male dominance associated
with technological complexity,
migration, conflict and
dangerous situations
Ortner
Women are nature, Men are
culture, culture must control
nature
Freud/Kittay
Womb envy
Social Learning Theory
Parental Investment
Male Vs Female contributions