The Evolution of Sexual Conflict
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Questions and Answers

What is the definition of sexual conflict?

  • A conflict between the evolutionary interests of individuals of the two sexes (correct)
  • A dispute over the occurrence and timing of sex
  • A clash between genetic interests of males and females
  • A disagreement between men and women about reproductive strategies

    • What is the main reason for sexual conflict according to the text?

  • Difference in reproductive strategies between men and women
  • Divergence of genetic interests between males and females (correct)
  • Conflict over resource inequality
  • Disagreement over mate selection

    • What is the cardinal feature of human mating, as mentioned in the text?

  • Mutual consent for sex
  • Shared reproductive strategies
  • Joint interest in children
  • Cooperation between the sexes (correct)

    • What are 'evolutionary interests' boiled down to, according to the text?

    <p>Genetic interests</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary reason for cooperation between men and women in human mating?

    <p>Successful reproduction</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does sexual conflict revolve around, based on the text?

    <p>Conflicting evolutionary interests</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to strategic interference theory, conflicts between the sexes arise due to?

    <p>Evolved differences in sexual strategies</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is NOT listed as a major form of sexual conflict?

    <p>Equal desire for sexual variety</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the most poignant form of sexual conflict?

    <p>Mating conflict</p> Signup and view all the answers

    When does strategic interference occur?

    <p>When one person's strategy is blocked by another person</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the negative emotions evolved to solve adaptive problems posed by strategic interference?

    <p>Anger and distress</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does strategic interference theory predict interactions between the sexes will be pervaded by?

    <p>Blocking strategies and violating the desires of someone else</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to error management theory, what does it predict about evolved mind-reading mechanisms?

    <p>They will be biased to produce more of one type of inferential error than another</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the sexual overperception bias in men primarily designed to minimize?

    <p>The costs of missed sexual opportunities</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the commitment skepticism bias in women aim to minimize?

    <p>The costs of being sexually deceived by men who feign commitment</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the potential impact of strong behavioral cues to commitment on women's commitment skepticism bias?

    <p>It can reduce or eliminate the commitment skepticism bias</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to error management theory, what do smoke alarms illustrate about biases in inferential errors?

    <p>They are biased to produce more false positives than false negatives</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does error management theory propose about the cost–benefit consequences of mind-reading inferences?

    <p>Asymmetries in the cost–benefit consequences create selection pressures that produce predictable cognitive biases</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did Brazilian college students perceive more than American college students?

    <p>Sexuality in characters' behavior</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Who perceived more sexual intent in characters' actions across both cultures?

    <p>Men</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Where has the male sexual overperception bias been replicated?

    <p>Norway</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do women use smiling and flirting for, according to the text?

    <p>To elicit special treatment, without sexual interest</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did a supermarket's 'superior customer service' program lead to?

    <p>Sexual harassment charges</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Who is likely to perceive women's sexual interest when they aren't, according to the text?

    <p>Men</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are 'negative' emotions such as anger, jealousy, and distress considered as, according to the evolutionary perspective?

    <p>Evolved solutions to strategic interference problems</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to the text, what is the primary source of sexual conflict between men and women?

    <p>Disagreements about the occurrence and timing of sex</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a common manifestation of sexual conflict, as per the text?

    <p>Men inferring sexual interest from women when it does not exist</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which group was more likely to infer seductive and sexual intentions from a non-flirtatious interaction in a study mentioned in the text?

    <p>Men</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What bias do men exhibit, perceiving women as more interested in them than they actually are, especially those pursuing a short-term mating strategy?

    <p>Sexual misperception bias</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did a cross-cultural test of the sexual over-perception bias show about men, as mentioned in the text?

    <p>Men were prone to this bias, facilitating more frequent attempts to initiate sexual overtures</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does sexual withholding in women primarily aim to achieve, according to the text?

    <p>Preserve the ability to choose men of high-quality who are willing to commit emotionally and invest materially</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does error management theory propose about the biases in inferential errors?

    <p>They reflect functional adaptations rather than actual flaws in the psychological machinery</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a potential consequence of women's sexual withholding, as mentioned in the text?

    <p>Increase the value of sex by rendering it a scarce resource</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does strategic interference theory predict about interactions between men and women?

    <p>They will be pervaded by conflicts due to differing evolutionary interests</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary reason for men's complaints about women's sexual withholding, as per the text?

    <p>Women's sexual withholding interferes with men's short-term mating strategy</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does sexual withholding in women ultimately lead to, based on the text?

    <p>Selective allocation of sex to certain men</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is sexual harassment defined as in the workplace, according to the text?

    <p>Unwanted and unsolicited sexual attention</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did one study find about men who evaluated their future earning potential as high?

    <p>They tended to use more physical coercion than men who perceived their future earning potential as low.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did another study find about sexual coercive tactics and mating success?

    <p>A positive but not significant correlation between sexual coercive tactics and mating success.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Who is more likely to perpetrate sexual harassment, according to the text?

    <p>Men pursuing a short-term mating strategy</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did one hypothesis suggest about the form of rape experienced by married women from their husbands?

    <p>It represents an adaptation to sperm competition.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What age group of women is more likely to experience sexual harassment, based on the text?

    <p>20-35</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did two empirical studies confirm about men who knew or suspected their partners of infidelity?

    <p>They were more likely to use a variety of sexually coercive tactics, including physical force.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does sexual withholding by women interfere with, according to the text?

    <p>Men's strategy for gaining sexual access</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did one study find about partner rapists and their tendency to use sexually coercive tactics?

    <p>Partner rapists tended to score high on psychopathy, supporting the life history strategy theory of individual differences in rape proclivity.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the degree of distress that women experience after sexual advances depend on, according to the text?

    <p>The status of the harasser</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do highly desirable women exploit by withholding sexual access, according to the text?

    <p>Men's perception of their desirability</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did one study find about men who perceive themselves to be equal or higher in mate value than their partner and perceive partner infidelity?

    <p>They resort to sexually coercive tactics.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to the text, what does the non-adaptive by-product theory propose about rape?

    <p>Rape is a non-designed and nonselected-for by-product of other evolved mechanisms</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What percentage of rape victims fall between the ages of 16 and 35, according to the text?

    <p>70%</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did a sample of 156 heterosexual males test regarding the mate deprivation hypothesis?

    <p>The likelihood of using sexually aggressive tactics under sexual deprivation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the text suggest about the presence of a distinctive rape strategy in bonobos and common chimpanzees?

    <p>They lack a distinctive rape strategy</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary characteristic of men characterized by psychopathic personality traits, according to the text?

    <p>Hostility toward women</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the text suggest about the presence of specialized adaptations for rape?

    <p>The evidence is inconclusive</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the average rating of men for sexually aggressive acts by women on a 7-point scale?

    <p>3.8</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary controversy in evolutionary psychology regarding rape?

    <p>Rape is a non-adaptive by-product of other evolved mechanisms</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the strategy men use to minimize their investment for sexual access?

    <p>Sexual exploitation based on observable cues in women</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do women intentionally display as a tactic in pursuing their mating goals?

    <p>Open body posture</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the main difficulty faced by victims of sexual harassment in the workplace?

    <p>Rejection of unwanted advances without jeopardizing their careers</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do perpetrators often fail to realize about their behavior?

    <p>The impact of their behavior on targets</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary focus of the controversy over explanations of rape, according to the text?

    <p>The motivations of men</p> Signup and view all the answers

    From an evolutionary perspective, what is the primary risk for a raped woman?

    <p>Unwanted and untimely pregnancy with a man she has not chosen</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the key factor that interferes with women's mate choice, according to the text?

    <p>Rape</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the life-history strategy associated with a higher tendency to use sexual coercion, as per the text?

    <p>Exploitative life-history strategy</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a significant risk for victims of rape who are already mated?

    <p>Being abandoned by their regular mates</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the common agreement among all theoretical camps about the experience of rape, as mentioned in the text?

    <p>Rape is abhorrent and inflicts heavy costs on the victim</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the fifth study of the Himba of Namibia find about men's distress in response to infidelity?

    <p>Men were more distressed by the sexual aspect of infidelity when both forms of infidelity occurred</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the sixth study of jealous interrogations following the discovery of infidelity find about men and women?

    <p>Men were more interested in the sexual aspect, while women were more concerned about emotional involvement</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the third study replicate in a non-Western sample of native Koreans?

    <p>The original sex differences in response to emotional and sexual infidelity</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the first study involving 1,122 undergraduates at a liberal arts college in the U.S. find?

    <p>A large gender difference in response to emotional and sexual infidelity, supporting the evolutionary model</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the second study using three strategies and U.S. undergraduates provide support for?

    <p>The evolutionary model</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What has the evidence from multiple studies continued to support despite challenges and alternative hypotheses?

    <p>The evolutionary hypothesis of sex differences in jealousy</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the adaptive problem that men face, leading to jealousy and mate retention behaviors?

    <p>Risking their resources and reputation if their partner is unfaithful</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do evolutionary psychologists predict women's jealousy focuses more on?

    <p>Cues to a long-term diversion of a man's commitments</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did a study find about the percentage of women and men who found emotional infidelity more upsetting?

    <p>83% of women and 60% of men</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did physiological laboratory experiments find about men and women's distress related to infidelity?

    <p>Men were more distressed by sexual infidelity, while women were more distressed by emotional infidelity</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do the findings of the study support about the evolutionary prediction regarding jealousy triggers for men and women?

    <p>Men focus more on sexual infidelity triggers, while women focus more on emotional infidelity triggers</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did prior empirical studies find about gender differences in the frequency or magnitude of jealousy experienced by men and women?

    <p>They found no gender differences</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do cognitive load studies reveal about sex differences in jealousy?

    <p>They disappear entirely under high cognitive load</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did a reanalysis of the original cognitive load study reveal about sex differences in jealousy?

    <p>A significant sex difference in jealousy remains even under cognitive constraint</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do the domain-general social-cognitive theories assume about sex-differentiated design features in the underlying psychology of jealousy?

    <p>There are no sex-differentiated design features in the underlying psychology of jealousy</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do the largest study ever conducted on sex differences in jealousy reveal about heterosexual individuals?

    <p>54 percent of men expressed more upset about sexual infidelity, and 65 percent of women expressed greater upset about emotional infidelity</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do the sex differences in jealousy using the forced-choice method suggest about universality?

    <p>They suggest universality across various cultures</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did a cross-cultural test of the sexual over-perception bias show about men?

    <p>They perceive women as more interested in them than they actually are, especially those pursuing a short-term mating strategy</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is one hypothesized defense against rape proposed in the text?

    <p>Women's fear avoidance during ovulation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a common strategy women use to avoid rape according to the text?

    <p>Showing awareness of surroundings</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a crucial factor for fulfilling reproductive potential according to the text?

    <p>Mate retention</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the reported rate of rape for married women compared to single women?

    <p>Lower for married women</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do women who rate themselves high on physical attractiveness tend to do to avoid rape?

    <p>Show heightened preparedness and awareness of surroundings</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do women who are not taking oral contraceptives tend to do more when they are ovulating?

    <p>Avoid risky activities</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Men high in mate value are more likely to perform which type of mate-retention tactics?

    <p>Beneft-bestowing mate-retention tactics</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Men lower in mate value are more likely to use which type of mate-retention tactics?

    <p>Cost-inflicting mate-retention tactics</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The Dark Triad of personality traits includes all of the following traits except:

    <p>Agreeableness</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The figure in the text shows that women married to men high in status striving devote more effort to mate retention than women married to men lower in status striving. What does the figure indicate about the effects of women's status striving on men's mate-retention efforts?

    <p>The effects are smaller and do not reach statistical significance</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the text suggest about men who are taller, indicating higher mate value?

    <p>They perform fewer mate-retention tactics</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary reason for men lower in mate value to use more cost-inflicting mate-retention tactics?

    <p>They lack the resources to bestow benefits</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study by Pietrzak, Laird, Stevens, and Thompson (2002) and other related studies find regarding brain activation during imagery of sexual vs. emotional infidelity?

    <p>Different patterns of brain activation were observed during imagery of sexual vs. emotional infidelity</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study by Harris (2000) reveal about the likelihood of terminating a relationship after sexual vs. emotional infidelity?

    <p>The study found that sexual infidelity was more likely to lead to relationship termination</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study by Buss et al. (1992) and related research find about the physiological distress caused by sexual vs. emotional infidelity?

    <p>The studies found physiological distress to be higher in response to sexual infidelity compared to emotional infidelity</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study by Shackelford, Buss, and Bennett (2002) and related studies confirm regarding the impact of sexual vs. emotional infidelity?

    <p>The studies confirmed that sexual infidelity had a greater impact on individuals compared to emotional infidelity</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study by Schützwohl (2004) and related research find about the difficulty in forgiving sexual vs. emotional infidelity?

    <p>The studies found it more difficult for individuals to forgive sexual infidelity compared to emotional infidelity</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study by Michalski, Shackelford, and Salmon (2007) and related research reveal about information search for cues to sexual vs. emotional infidelity?

    <p>The studies revealed that individuals engaged in more information search for cues to sexual infidelity compared to emotional infidelity</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a tactic women are more likely to use for mate retention?

    <p>Enhancing their appearance</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do women intentionally evoke jealousy for?

    <p>To gain information about their partner's commitment</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What cues are highly desirable to men across cultures?

    <p>Youth and physical attractiveness</p> Signup and view all the answers

    When do men, particularly those low on indicators of mate value, increase mate-retention efforts?

    <p>When their partners are ovulating</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is linked with higher levels of mate-retention tactics performed by women?

    <p>High income and status striving of the husband</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are men more likely to do as mate retention tactics?

    <p>Conceal their mates</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do men show greater memorial recall of, preferentially search for cues to, and show faster decision times to compared to emotional infidelity?

    <p>Cues to physical attractiveness</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are women more likely to forgive a husband for, according to the text?

    <p>Sexual infidelity without emotional involvement</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are men's jealousy and activation in brain regions involved in, according to the text?

    <p>Sexuality and aggression</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a tactic that men are more likely to use for mate retention, as per the text?

    <p>Using resource display</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do men diagnosed as having 'pathological' jealousy still exhibit, according to the text?

    <p>No sex differences in upset over attributes of rivals</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do bisexual men and women show similar levels of upset about, according to the text?

    <p>Sexual infidelity</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What type of mate-retention tactics do men married to younger and more physically attractive women report devoting greater effort to?

    <p>Partner concealment, emotional manipulation, and intrasexual threats</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are women mated to fertile men more likely to use as mate-retention tactics?

    <p>Economic, threatening, and intimidating forms of controlling behavior</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are men's mate-retention tactics linked with?

    <p>Perceptions of their partner’s physical attractiveness</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do women who perceive themselves as more attractive than their partner resist as mate-guarding efforts?

    <p>Public displays of affection</p> Signup and view all the answers

    When do men increase mate-retention efforts?

    <p>When their partners are ovulating</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are women's mate-retention tactics linked with?

    <p>The value of their mates on the dimensions of income and status striving</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What personality trait is associated with the use of manipulative and exploitative mate-retention tactics?

    <p>Honesty-humility</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to Wilson and Daly (1996), why do men use violence and threats in relationships?

    <p>To limit partner's autonomy and prevent infidelity</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the destructive side of mate retention?

    <p>Use of violence against partners</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did Chagnon (1992) describe as an example of violence against a partner among the Yanomamö?

    <p>Physical abuse</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the hypothesis provided by Wilson and Daly (1996) regarding violence in relationships?

    <p>Violence is a strategy to limit partner's autonomy</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What personality traits are associated with the use of aggressive mate-retention tactics?

    <p>Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do men who pursue sexually exploitative strategies focus on?

    <p>Cues to female exploitable victims</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do women tend to be more upset about than men?

    <p>Acts of sexual aggression</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are rapists more likely to show sexual arousal to, according to the text?

    <p>Stories and images depicting rape</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are men high on psychopathy especially prone to?

    <p>Partner rape when they suspect infidelity</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do women have as anti-rape defenses, according to the text?

    <p>Selecting 'special friends' for protection</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is jealousy considered as, from an evolutionary perspective?

    <p>An evolved solution to mate poaching and mate defection</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did Wilson and Daly (1996) propose about violence in spousal relationships?

    <p>Violence is a means of deterrence, enhancing the credibility of threats</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did a study of the Tsimane foragers of lowland Bolivia find about male sexual jealousy and wife abuse?

    <p>Male sexual jealousy is a key predictor of wife abuse, especially if the wife was young</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did empirical findings show about the rates of spousal homicide?

    <p>Higher rates of spousal homicide are found among poor and unemployed men</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the presence of stepchildren in the home increase?

    <p>A woman's risk of physical violence from her partner</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are men lacking resources to provide positive incentives for a mate more prone to?

    <p>Spousal violence</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study of the Tsimane foragers of lowland Bolivia find about male sexual jealousy and wife abuse?

    <p>Male sexual jealousy is a key predictor of wife abuse, especially if the wife was young</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is sexual conflict defined as?

    <p>Conflict arising from genetic differences between males and females</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary focus of evolutionary psychology in relation to resource inequality?

    <p>Identifying the causes of resource inequality</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the main consequence of men striving to control resources at the expense of other men?

    <p>Intrasexual competition and homicides involving men killing other men</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How is sexual conflict explained according to strategic interference theory?

    <p>As a result of one person impeding another person's successful strategy to reach a particular goal</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are negative emotions such as anger, distress, and jealousy considered as, according to the text?

    <p>Evolved solutions to alert individuals to strategic interference</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the most poignant form of sexual conflict?

    <p>Conflicts over sex taking various forms</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study confirm regarding the impact of genetic kin density on domestic violence against women?

    <p>Higher genetic kin density inside and outside Madrid correlates with lower rates of domestic violence against women</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the text suggest about the impact of Dark Triad traits, especially psychopathy, on mate-retention tactics?

    <p>Psychopathy predicts the use of negative cost-inflicting mate-retention tactics</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the text indicate about the relationship between male sexual jealousy and violence against women?

    <p>Male sexual jealousy appears to be a central cause of violence against women within relationships</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the text propose as a factor that reduces women's risk of violence?

    <p>Selecting a mate with reliable economic resources and having close kin</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the text highlight as an area of agreement between feminist scholars and evolutionary psychologists?

    <p>Men's control of resources and use of resources to control women</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What role did the text suggest women's preferences for men with resources play in human evolution?

    <p>A critical role</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the evolutionary perspective suggest about the relationship between male sexual jealousy and violence against women?

    <p>Male sexual jealousy is the primary cause of violence against women within relationships</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What role do women's preferences for men with resources play in human evolution, according to the text?

    <p>Women's preferences for men with resources play a significant role in human evolution</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the area of agreement between feminist scholars and evolutionary psychologists, as per the text?

    <p>The area of agreement is related to men's control of resources and use of resources to control women</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do men prioritize due to women's preferences, according to the text?

    <p>Men prioritize resources and status</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do Dark Triad traits, especially psychopathy, predict in terms of mate-retention tactics, as per the text?

    <p>Dark Triad traits, especially psychopathy, predict use of negative cost-inflicting mate-retention tactics</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the evolutionary perspective suggest about women's risk of violence?

    <p>Women's risk of violence is reduced by selecting a mate with reliable economic resources and having close kin</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    Conflict Between the Sexes: Evolutionary Perspective

    • Strategic interference occurs when one sex violates the desires of the opposite sex, historically reducing reproductive success.
    • "Negative" emotions such as anger, jealousy, and distress are evolved solutions to strategic interference problems.
    • Conflict serves no adaptive purpose and is a by-product of differing sexual strategies between men and women.
    • Men and women aren't united in their interests and are not at war with each other; individuals are primarily in competition with members of their own gender.
    • Disagreements about the occurrence and timing of sex are common sources of conflict between men and women.
    • Men often seek sex with minimal investment, while women often pursue a long-term sexual strategy and seek investment before consenting to sex.
    • Sexual conflict occurs over the timing of sexual intercourse, amount of investment prior to sex, frequency of sex within a relationship, and investment in offspring.
    • Men sometimes infer sexual interest from women when it does not exist, leading to conflict.
    • In a study, men were more likely than women to infer seductive and sexual intentions from a non-flirtatious interaction between a female student and a male professor.
    • Men exhibit a sexual misperception bias, perceiving women as more interested in them than they actually are, especially those pursuing a short-term mating strategy.
    • Men high in self-perceived attractiveness and female-evaluated mate value are especially vulnerable to the sexual over-perception bias.
    • A cross-cultural test of the sexual over-perception bias showed that men were prone to this bias, facilitating more frequent attempts to initiate sexual overtures.

    Sexual Harassment and Sexual Exploitation in the Workplace

    • Women are most upset by sexual aggression from low-status men who have power over them
    • Victims of sexual harassment in the workplace face difficulties in rejecting unwanted advances without jeopardizing their careers
    • Perpetrators often fail to realize the distress their behavior inflicts on targets
    • Men underestimate how upsetting acts of sexual aggression are to women
    • Men's strategies of sexual exploitation are based on identifying observable cues in women indicating ease of sexual exploitation
    • Men find cues like intoxication, recklessness, and open body posture sexually attractive in a potential short-term mate
    • Women can intentionally display cues to sexual exploitability as a tactic in pursuing their mating goals
    • Sexual aggressiveness is a strategy men use to minimize their investment for sexual access
    • Women rate acts of sexual aggression as highly upsetting, with an average rating of 6.5 on a 7-point scale
    • Men see sexually aggressive acts by women as relatively innocuous, with an average rating of 3.02 on the 7-point scale
    • Men underestimate how unacceptable sexual aggression is to women, rating it significantly lower than women do
    • The controversy in evolutionary psychology is whether men have evolved specialized adaptations to rape under certain circumstances or if rape is a non-adaptive by-product of other evolved mechanisms

    Evolutionary Psychology and Sex Differences in Jealousy

    • Evolutionary psychologists have proposed that jealousy and mate retention behaviors have evolved to solve adaptive problems, differing for men and women.
    • Men face the adaptive problem of cuckoldry, risking their resources and reputation if their partner is unfaithful, as seen in Greek culture.
    • Jealousy in men may lead to vigilance, curtailing partner's contact with other men, increased efforts to fulfill partner's desires, and fending off rivals.
    • Men's jealousy heavily focuses on potential sexual contact that jeopardizes paternity of offspring.
    • Women face the adaptive problem of a potential diversion of a man's commitment and resources to another woman and her children.
    • Evolutionary psychologists predict that women's jealousy focuses more on cues to a long-term diversion of a man's commitments, such as emotional involvement with another woman.
    • Prior to studies by evolutionary psychologists, empirical studies found no gender differences in the frequency or magnitude of jealousy experienced by men and women.
    • Evolutionary analysis predicts that men give more weight to cues to sexual infidelity, while women give more weight to cues to long-term diversion of investment.
    • A study found that 83% of women found emotional infidelity more upsetting, while 60% of men experienced sexual infidelity as more distressing.
    • Physiological laboratory experiments found that men were more distressed by sexual infidelity, showing increased heart rates, skin conductance, and frowning, while women tended to show the opposite patterns.
    • The study supports the evolutionary prediction that men and women differ in the weight they give to cues that trigger jealousy, with men focusing more on sexual infidelity and women focusing more on emotional infidelity.
    • These findings provide insight into the conflict between the sexes and the evolutionary roots of jealousy and mate retention behaviors.

    Evolutionary Adaptations to Prevent Rape and Mate Retention

    • Raped women often suffer from psychological effects such as humiliation, anxiety, fear, rage, and depression.
    • Historical records and anthropological ethnographies strongly suggest that rape has occurred across cultures and over time.
    • Various hypothesized defenses against rape have been proposed, including forming alliances with other males, mate selection based on qualities that deter sexual aggression, and the cultivation of female-female coalitions for protection.
    • Women might have evolved specialized fears to avoid situations in which they might be in danger of rape and avoidance of risky activities during ovulation.
    • Research indicates that women who are not taking oral contraceptives tend to avoid risky activities more when they are ovulating than at other times in the cycle.
    • Women who perceive themselves as vulnerable to sexual coercion increase behavioral precautions to avoid rape.
    • Young women experience more fear of rape than older women, who are more likely to fear being robbed or burgled.
    • Virgin women tend to engage in more rape avoidance than nonvirgin women.
    • Married women report lower rates of rape than single women.
    • Four common strategies women use to avoid rape include avoiding strange or dangerous men, avoiding appearing sexually receptive, avoiding being alone, and being prepared and showing awareness of surroundings.
    • Women who rate themselves high on physical attractiveness are significantly more likely to avoid being alone and show heightened preparedness and awareness of their surroundings.
    • Mate retention is crucial for fulfilling reproductive potential, and threats come from mate poachers and a mate's infidelity, leading to the evolution of defenses to fend off mate poachers and deter a mate's sexual infidelity.

    Mate Retention Strategies in Married Couples

    • Men married to younger and more physically attractive women reported devoting greater effort to mate retention, including partner concealment, emotional manipulation, and intrasexual threats.
    • Women mated to fertile men used more economic, threatening, and intimidating forms of controlling behavior, even after controlling for variables like the length of the relationship and the age of the husband.
    • Men's mate-retention tactics are linked with perceptions of their partner’s physical attractiveness, with men married to women they perceived as physically attractive reporting greater resource display and intrasexual threats.
    • Women who perceive themselves as more attractive than their partner resist mate-guarding efforts, avoiding public displays of affection and using covert tactics to erase messages.
    • Physically attractive individuals experience more frequent breakups and have shorter relationships.
    • Men increase mate-retention efforts when their partners are ovulating, and women mated to men low on good genes indicators receive more love and attention from their partners during ovulation.
    • Women's mate-retention tactics are linked with the value of their mates on the dimensions of income and status striving, with those married to men with higher incomes reporting greater vigilance, violence toward partner, and appearance enhancement.
    • Women married to men who devote more effort to status striving reported more emotional manipulation, resource display, and possessive ornamentation.
    • These sex differences in predictors of mate-retention effort persist from the newlywed year to the fourth year of marriage.

    Evolutionary Perspective on Domestic Violence and Resource Control

    • Study confirmed hypothesis: higher genetic kin density inside and outside Madrid correlates with lower rates of domestic violence against women
    • Higher density of kin within Madrid has a stronger effect on reducing spousal abuse
    • Dark Triad traits, especially psychopathy, predict use of negative cost-inflicting mate-retention tactics
    • Women high on Dark Triad traits more likely to commit sexual infidelity and seek revenge on unfaithful partners
    • Male sexual jealousy appears to be a central cause of violence against women within relationships
    • Women's risk of violence reduced by selecting a mate with reliable economic resources and having close kin
    • Women contribute substantially to economic resources in hunter-gatherer societies
    • Men often use resources to control or influence women in the mating domain and relationships
    • Men's control of resources and use of resources to control women are areas of agreement between feminist scholars and evolutionary psychologists
    • Women's preferences for men with resources play a critical role in human evolution
    • Men have inherited psychological mechanisms prioritizing resources and status due to women's preferences
    • Men's strategies of intrasexual competition and women's preferences co-evolved, influencing resource control and domestic violence.

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    Description

    Test your knowledge of the conflict between the sexes from an evolutionary perspective with this quiz. Explore the evolutionary roots of strategic interference, differing sexual strategies between men and women, and the sources of conflict, such as sexual misperception bias.

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