Discuss evolutionary explanations of gender Essay

According to the evolutionary explanations of gender, the reasons behind gender roles and characteristics seen today is due to the passing down of genes through natural selection from our ancestors who were able to successfully survive and reproduce over 500,000 years ago. Natural selection is the process of physical and psychological traits being passed down from one generation to another due to it being advantageous to survival and reproduction. For example humans with a wider hand shape were able to toss spears better when hunting and therefore were able to successfully survive and reproduce resulting in humans today particularly men having larger and wider hands. A stem of natural selection is known as sexual selection. Sexual selection is the process of passing down traits both physical and psychological that are an advantage for attracting mates for reproduction. The evolutionary theory for gender believes that due to sexual selection gender behaviours, such as females being child-rearing and males being workers occur. From these processes, evolutionary psychologists developed the hunting hypothesis. The hunting hypothesis states that the men who were hunters during the evolutionary stages and were successful due to their strength, aggression and spatial skills were able to survive and pass on their genes. The weaker men who were less aggressive and had less spatial skills were unable to survive and reproduce meaning these genes died off thus resulting in men today being more aggressive, strong and having good spatial skills. As woman did not hunt and we more likely to be raising the children and caring for others, they were less aggressive, strong, and had less spatial skills. Instead woman during these days had better communicational skills and according to this theory, it is due to this that woman today are better at communicating than men and are usually also weaker and less aggressive. Another theory supported by evolutionary psychologists as an explanation for gender is known as the parental investment theory devised by Trivers (1972) which states that the differences in the investment in a child and future reproduction are due to evolutionary differences. For example, during the evolutionary ages men were likely to have sex with numerous women in order to successfully pass on their genes. Therefore these characteristics were passed down in natural selection and can be used to explain why men today tend to be far more promiscuous than women. In females, during the evolutionary ages woman searched and preferred men with good resources and genes for themselves and their offspring. Evolutionary psychologists and Trivers believe that this is the reason for woman today being less promiscuous and being more careful when selecting a mate. (AO2): Support for Trivers Parental Investment comes from research carried out by Buss (1989) who sampled 10,000 males and females from 33 different countries and asked what they looked for in a partner for marriage. Buss found that women said they look for ‘good financial reports’ in men and men said they look for ‘physical attractiveness’ and ‘younger females’. This supports Trivers theory as it provides evidence of woman placing an important on resources and men on physical attractiveness and young woman which may be in order for successful reproduction. Buss’s research was highly reliable due to the large sample used and various countries participating. This made the study generalizable to a wide population. Buss also used questionnaires in his study which was a good experimental method as it allowed the possibility of a large sample, however the use of questionnaires exposes the research to social desirability bias as the participants may have answered the questions falsely in order to appear acceptable. This matters because this could mean the results found many not be valid. Although the results provide a strong support for Trivers theory in explaining gender, the results given may not be a valid support, suggesting for research must be carried out in order to fully support Trivers theory of parental investment in explaining gender. Another supporting study comes from research carried out by psychologists in Lancaster University. They repeated the research carried out on Buss on a smaller sample using an online questionnaire with undergraduates and found that women chose wealth as the most important in a mate and men chose attractiveness. This supports the parental investment theory as it shows the evidence of the gender difference in men and women in terms of reproduction and commitment. This study is also highly reliable as the study can be easily repeated and provide the same results. However due to the study being carried on only undergraduates the results cannot be generalised to a wider population of older adults and elderly. This matters because although it provides evidence of the evolutionary approach of gender being seen today, we cannot be sure that the results given in this study was purely down to genetics rather than other factors such as individual differences. This suggests that more research must be carried out focusing on genetics in order to support Trivers theory as an explanation for gender. The evolutionary explanation of gender provides a valid approach to gender behaviours and characteristics which can be clearly seen today and supported in research. However this approach fails to consider other factors in gender such as psychological factors. For example women desiring men with wealth due to economic reasons such as less jobs, rather than the successful rearing of children. Also the evolutionary approach fails to provide an explanation for the promiscuity of women today or the men that do not want to have children. These situations are best explained by social approaches suggesting that a theory considering both genetics and social factors would be best in explaining gender.