Conflict Between The Sexes

Chap 11

What does this mean to you?

• http://youtube.com/watch?v=dWk0YaTLhek

Battle of the Sexes

What does this mean to you?

Battle of the Sexes

• “This implies that men as a group are united in their interests and women are likewise united in their interests and that the two groups are somehow at war with each other” (p. 313, Buss)

• Not true, society would not work

Strategic Interference Theory

• Defined as, “Occurring when a person employs a particular strategy to achieve a goal and another person blocks or prevents the successful enactment of that strategy of fulfillment of the desire” (p. 312, Buss)

– Timing of sex, fights during a marriage,

• Two main postulates1. Strategic interference occurs whenever one member of one

sex violates the desires of the opposite sex. Evolutionary speaking this would have interfered with the preferred sexual strategy.

2. Negative emotions (anger, rage) seem to serve as solutions to the problem of strategic interference. Alerting people to the problem and allowing them to create solutions.

Strategic Interference Theory

• Two Important Qualifiers1. Conflict per se serves no adaptive

purpose2. Metaphor of “Battle Between the

Sexes” is misleading.

• “The Breakup”– Last weeks assignment

Conflict over Sexual Access

Conflict about the Occurrence and Timing of

Sex• Study by Byers & Lewis, 1998. 47%

reported on or more disagreements about their desired level of sexual intimacy.

• Australian magpie-larks duet. • Women

• Men

Sexual Withholding

• Leading a man on• Serves a purpose for women

1. Helps choose higher quality mate2. Allows woman to be selective3. Increases the value of sex4. Increases value of woman as prospective mate5. Encourages man to think of her as a long-term

prospective• What are the implications of this?

– Does our current language for those who do not sexually withhold have any possible relationship to our evolutionary predispositions?

Inferences about Sexual Intent

• Men are more likely to make sexual inferences from interaction than women– “She wants me…”

• Study by Abbey 1982; Saal, Johnson, & Weber, 1989– Showed both male and female same

situation and had them interpret the interaction and found different interpretations.

Deception about Commitment

• I love you……?• Men use this as a tool to fool women

into thinking that they are more emotionally committed than they really are.

• Do you think women use this strategy?

Deception about Commitment

• Women are more burdened by this trick than men.

• What are potential problems that women face from this tactic?– Teen pregnancy– Culturally bound

• What can women do to avoid this potentially life changing problem?

Deception about CommitmentPossible Evolved Strategies

• Courtship• Extended emotional/friend

relationship, before involving any physical relationship

• Longer she waits, the more knowledge she will gain about her potential mate

• Discuss with friends

Cognitive Biases in Sexual Mind Reading

• A. Error Management Theory• B. Cognitive Biases

1. Sexual over perception bias2. Commitment skepticism

Jealous Conflict• “Sexual jealousy is one

psychological mechanism that has evolved in men to combat the manifold potential costs of being cuckolded” (p. 325, Buss)

• How is this useful?• http://

discoveryhealth.queendom.com/questions/jealousy_men_abridged_1.html

Sex Differences In Jealousy

• Men are more bothered by possibility of physical infidelity, whereas women are more bothered by both physical and emotional.

Sex Differences in the Use of Mate-Retention Tactics

• Men– Violence, resource display– Moulin Rouge

• Women– Enhance appearance, flirting– Emotional involvement plays a key role– Flavor of Love

http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/flavor_of_love_2/series.jhtml

Man Protecting His Mate

• http://youtube.com/watch?v=NXeuDK47Hng

Contexts Influencing the Intensity of Mate-Retention

Tactics• Perceived likelihood of

infidelity

• Reproductive vale of the wife: effects of Age and Physical Attraction

• Income and Status Striving of the Husband– Flavor of Lovehttp://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/flavor_of_love_2/

series_videos.jhtml

Violence toward Partners

• Men use violence to keep partner.• Women lacking resources are more

likely to be abused• Wives that leave husbands are more

likely to be killed• Women are safer when family is closer

and if she chooses a mate who is more likely to have reliable resources

Domestic Violence

• Domestic Violence is $67.5 billion dollars or 15% of the crime cost

• In Douglas County– 911: Averages 1,000 DV Calls A Month– 47 DV Homicides in Omaha since 1997– 6 of those were children

Domestic Violence

• More than just physical. There is also emotional and psychological.

• What is the evolutionary advantage?• Do you think this is truly a good

means to keep a partner?

Domestic Violence• Hi-tech helps fight domestic violence

• Two domestic violence incidents each week prove fatal Police

forces around Britain could soon be issued with a gadget that helps them tackle cases of domestic violence.

• The Domestic Violence Positive Action Kit includes a small plinth-based unit similar to an answering machine and a radio trigger that can worn by victims of abuse.

• Victims can discreetly trigger an alert to police and emergency services if they are attacked.

• Domestic violence is a growing problem in the UK with 830 incidents reported every day. Two attacks every week prove fatal.

• The DVPAK has a range of sensors including a fall detector, movement detector and even a button that can be used if a bogus caller comes to the door.

• http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39172000/jpg/_39172642_domesticviolence203_body.jpg&imgrefurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2997428.stm&h=152&w=203&sz=13&hl=en&start=11&tbnid=egi6Y2KS6_lKAM:&tbnh=79&tbnw=105&prev=/images%3Fq%3DFight%2BMan%2Band%2BWoman%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D

Conflict over Access to Resources

• Men control resources that allow them to control women?

• Do men only control resources?

Sexual Aggression

Individual Differences in Sexual Aggression: The Mate Deprivation

Hypothesis• 1. Two paths to sexual aggression

A. impersonal sex pathB. Hostile masculinity path

• 2. Mate Deprivation Hypothesis

Sexual Aggressiveness

• “Acts of sexual aggression are exemplifies by the man’s demanding or forcing sexual intimacy, failing to get mutual agreement for sex, and touching a woman’s body without her permission” (p. 319, Buss)

• Men don’t seemed to be bothered by women’s sexual aggressiveness.– Jordan?

• Men underestimate how disturbing sexual aggression is to women.

Sexual Harassment

• Main Entry: sexual harassmentFunction: noun: uninvited and unwelcome verbal or physical behavior of a sexual nature especially by a person in authority toward a subordinate (as an employee or student)

• http://youtube.com/watch?v=vm_YewSqOy8

http://webster.com/dictionary/Sexual%20Harassment

Facts About Sexual Harassment

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964• Included but not limited to the following

– The victim as well as the harasser may be a woman or a man. The victim does not have to be of the opposite sex

– The harasser can be the victim’s supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or a non-employee.

– The victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct.

– Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or discharge of the victim.

– The harasser’s conduct must be unwelcome.

• www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/pdf/Imfeeoc.pdf

Sexual Harassment

• Motivations– Short-term sexual encounter– Desire to exercise power– Seek a long lasting romantic

relationships– Do you agree or disagree with these

statements?

Sexual Harassment

• Status affects how offended women are by this act.– Why is this?

•Men have lower thresholds than women.

•Is this due to socialization or evolution.

Do Men Have Evolved Rape Adaptations?

• Do men have evolved specialized adaptations to rape under certain circumstances or is rape a by-product of other evolved mechanisms?

• The General’s Daughter

Rape-as-adaptation theory• Selection has favored males who raped under certain

pretenses

• Six specialized adaptations that might have evolved in the male mind

1. assessment of the vulnerability of potential rape victims2. a context-sensitive “switch” that motivates rape in men

who lack sexual access to consenting partners3. A preference for maximally fertile rape victims, as

contrasted with a preference in marriage contexts for more reproductively valuable but perhaps less immediately fertile partners

4. An increase in sperm counts of rape ejaculates compared with those occurring in consensual sex

5. Sexual arousal in men specifically to the use of force or to signs of female resistance to consensual sex

6. Context-specific marital rape in circumstances in which sperm competition might exist

By-product theory of rape

• Rape is a by-product of other evolved mechanisms, such as the desire for variety, sex with little investment, physical aggression to achieve goals, lack of other partners.

• Your opinion?

Do Women Have Evolved Anti-rape Adaptations?

• Separate issue than male adaptation• Possible adaptations that women have evolved

1. Making friendships with males2. Choose mate based on physical size3. Female-female coalition4. Development of fear to avoid dangerous situations5. Avoid risky situations especially during ovulation, to

avoid conception6. Psychological pain after rape, to avoid another rape

– Do you think you have to have all of these, any?– Do you use any of these strategies?

Women & Rape

• What are the consequences of being raped?

Facts about Rape

• Myths• Rape is a one-time incident, lapse in judgment• Rapists are strangers• Rape is provoked by the victim• Rapes happen to women alone at night. If at home a women will be safe.• Women cannot be raped against their will…rape can be avoided by resistance.• Most rapes involve black men and white women.• Women respect men for overpowering them; they may even enjoy that rape.• Rapists are mentally ill or developmentally challenged and therefore not

responsible

• Facts • Rape is intentional act, and may occur many times, usually a pattern.• 76% intimate partners, 16.8% acquaintances, 14.1% strangers, 8.6% other

relatives• No one provokes rape• Anyone can be raped, any age, either sex and by someone of the same or opposite

sex• 1:4 girls, 1:10 boys• Black women are the most raped group

Rape

• Study by Thornhill & Thornhill, 1992 found that men are aroused by rape

• What do you think this means?• Why do you think rape happens so

often?• What about marital rape?

Social Perception of Rape

• Article by Frese, Moya, Megias

Bibliography • Picture of Gabrielle Union

http://www2.oprah.com/tows/slide/200611/20061110/slide_20061110_284_105.jhtml

• Buss, D. (2004). Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind. Pearson, Boston.

• Jealousy Quiz http://discoveryhealth.queendom.com/questions/jealousy_men_abridged_1.html

• Information on Domestic Violence from Sue Michalski. Training and Education Director. Domestic Violence Coordination Council.

• http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Women+saying+no+to+man

• www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/pdf/Imfeeoc.pdf• Convergent vocal strategies of males and females are consistent

with a cooperative function of duetting in Australian magpie-larks. By: Hall, Michelle L.. Behaviour, Apr2006, Vol. 143 Issue 4, p425-449, 25p, 6 graphs; DOI: 10.1163/156853906776240623; (AN 20197618)

Bibliography • http://youtube.com/watch?v=vm_YewSqOy8• http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/

media/images/39172000/jpg/_39172642_domesticviolence203_body.jpg&imgrefurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2997428.stm&h=152&w=203&sz=13&hl=en&start=11&tbnid=egi6Y2KS6_lKAM:&tbnh=79&tbnw=105&prev=/images%3Fq%3DFight%2BMan%2Band%2BWoman%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D

• http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/flavor_of_love_2/series_videos.jhtml

http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/flavor_of_love_2/series.jhtml• http://youtube.com/watch?v=dWk0YaTLhek• http://youtube.com/watch?v=NXeuDK47Hng• http://images.google.com/images?

hl=en&q=Jealousy&btnG=Search+Images