David A. Frederick, Tania A. Reynolds, and Maryanne L. Fisher
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199892747
- eISBN:
- 9780199332786
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199892747.003.0015
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology
This chapter introduces the reader to some of the influential perspectives on female mate choice in human evolutionary biology, including parental investment theory. We then present two key theories ...
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This chapter introduces the reader to some of the influential perspectives on female mate choice in human evolutionary biology, including parental investment theory. We then present two key theories in evolutionary psychology that have been applied to understand variations in women’s mating preferences and choices: sexual strategies theory and strategic pluralism theory. Although the importance of female choice has gained widespread acceptance in the biological sciences, the influence that female choice has on mating systems can be limited by many factors, such as control over mating decisions by parents and men’s control over women’s sexuality. Despite these constraints on female choice, women are able to exercise their mate preferences through extramarital affairs and influencing parental attempts to arrange marriages.Less
This chapter introduces the reader to some of the influential perspectives on female mate choice in human evolutionary biology, including parental investment theory. We then present two key theories in evolutionary psychology that have been applied to understand variations in women’s mating preferences and choices: sexual strategies theory and strategic pluralism theory. Although the importance of female choice has gained widespread acceptance in the biological sciences, the influence that female choice has on mating systems can be limited by many factors, such as control over mating decisions by parents and men’s control over women’s sexuality. Despite these constraints on female choice, women are able to exercise their mate preferences through extramarital affairs and influencing parental attempts to arrange marriages.
Lynn A. Fairbanks and Michael T. Mcguire
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300085471
- eISBN:
- 9780300133806
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300085471.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Family Law
This chapter argues that corporal punishment is the result of an essential conflict between parent and offspring, as parents try to balance the competing demands of their lives. It begins with a ...
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This chapter argues that corporal punishment is the result of an essential conflict between parent and offspring, as parents try to balance the competing demands of their lives. It begins with a brief overview of parental-investment theory, which predicts that parent-offspring conflict will occur as a consequence of the parents' attempts to maximize their reproductive success by distributing parental care across all of the offspring they can produce in their lifetime. Conflict of interest between parents and offspring produces attempts by the parents to limit offspring behavior, resistance by the offspring, and escalation to corporal punishment. Parent-offspring conflict theory is then used to explain variation in the form and frequency of punishment by primate mothers according to the age and sex of the offspring, the presence of siblings, and the mother's reproductive opportunities and socioeconomic circumstances.Less
This chapter argues that corporal punishment is the result of an essential conflict between parent and offspring, as parents try to balance the competing demands of their lives. It begins with a brief overview of parental-investment theory, which predicts that parent-offspring conflict will occur as a consequence of the parents' attempts to maximize their reproductive success by distributing parental care across all of the offspring they can produce in their lifetime. Conflict of interest between parents and offspring produces attempts by the parents to limit offspring behavior, resistance by the offspring, and escalation to corporal punishment. Parent-offspring conflict theory is then used to explain variation in the form and frequency of punishment by primate mothers according to the age and sex of the offspring, the presence of siblings, and the mother's reproductive opportunities and socioeconomic circumstances.
