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124P final
study for Final in Sex, Behavior and Evolution
64
Anthropology
Undergraduate 3
12/09/2010

Additional Anthropology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Rape-Adaptation Hypothesis
Definition
Sexual coercion of males was a specific strategy males used to maximize their fitness which was selected over evolutionary history
Term
Rape-Byproduct Hypothesis
Definition
Sexual coercion is a result/byproduct of males' sex-drive, coercive/aggressive and lack of need for a female to be sexually interested for a male to perform coitus.
Term
evidence of rape as adaptation
Definition
males are sexually stimulated by pornography that depicts sexually coerced females. this must have adaptive significance
Term
evidence of rape being a byproduct
Definition
rape-offspring have less support, rapists and their families lose status and gain injury. thus, rape affects fitness negatively
Term
Feature of environment that increases rape
Definition
harsh environment that includes war. social order not as strong. but such an environment can fluctuate and social order can become stronger again.
Term
How to collect evidence to show rape is in evolutionary disequilibrium?
Definition
study possible benefits of rape by examining hunter-gatherer cultures because they are closest to our anscestors
Term
3 cultural factors that increase chance of rape
Definition
disenfranchisement of women, extreme objectification of women, hypercognizing of male's propietary attitudes towards women
Term
naturalistic fallacy
Definition
the fallacy that because some behavior is natural would make the behavior moral/justified.
Term
Status
Definition
social ranking that orders members of a group into priorities of access to resources and reproductive opportunities
Term
achievement of status through dominance
Definition
intimidation and violence towards other members of the group in order to be feared and respected; proximity of others in group not desired
Term
achievement of status through prestige
Definition
development of skills and abilities that others in the group will wish to emulate; deference/sychophancy as payment for proxmity
Term
costs/benefits of formidable mate
Definition
better protector, better provider via taking more risks; more danger-prone (violence and risk-taking can be harmful too)
Term
relationship between physical formidability and aggressive/risk-taking behavior
Definition
both are related to strategies of that co-evolved to gain dominance over rivals, thus access to reproductive oppurtunites and optimize fitness
Term
why fear of crime predicts choice of formidable males
Definition
crime creates a dangerous environment which impacts overall fitness through injury and loss of resources; to cope with this females would choose better providers/protectors that can handle violent situations better and be more opportunistic in order to gain advantage
Term
can variance of violence in different ancestral societies be explained through mate-choice?
Definition
to some degree--mate choice can drive such phenotypes and exacerbate violent behavior of a culture; ultimately, the level of abundance/ease-of-access of resources would control violence levels because of it affecting differential status
Term
why males with more muscle are chosen as a short-term mate
Definition
genetic benefits; such males have honest signals of fitness; ability to develop with higher androgen levels and ability to consume larger amounts of protiens from hunting; bad for long-term because of violent propensities and lack of care for offspring because dominance behaviors and nurturing behvaiors are mutually exclusive
Term
Good-uncle hypothesis
Definition
because homosexual men dont have children, they invest in sister's offspring to maximize the fitness of their genes which would keep homosexual traits in the gene pool; US populations consist of nuclear families so evidence to demonstrate this hypothesis is difficult
Term
Good-uncle hypothesis
Definition
because homosexual men dont have children, they invest in sister's offspring to maximize the fitness of their genes which would keep homosexual traits in the gene pool; US populations consist of nuclear families so evidence to demonstrate this hypothesis is difficult
Term
Bailey's finding that contradicts Miller's feminizing alleles hypothesis
Definition
Bailey's findings show homosexual males' mating strategies are similar to heterosexual men; Miller's explanation should shift homosexual male's mating behavior to be more "feminized" and more similar to female mating strategies
Term
balanced polymorphism
Definition
heterzygocity of genes are more fit than either form of homozygous genes using the same alleles; even if a trait is fitness reducing, if that trait is composed of homzygous alleles and heterozygous genes using the same alleles is fitness enchancing, those alleles will stay in the gene pool and expression of the homozygous trait will still occur.
Term
possible functions of homosexual behavior using cross-species comparison
Definition
canines use it for dominance and such behavior and ancestral human males use dominance strategies; bonobo females use it as a form of social bonding to increase alloparenting, thus human ancestors could have done this as well
Term
explanation of obligate homosexuality
Definition
because other animals show evidence of function for homosexuality, such behavior should be genetic; obligate homsexuality can be explained by balanced polymorphism where obligate homosexuality is a homozygous expression of these combination of heterosexual and homosexual alleles.
Term
types of information obtained through olfaction
Definition
mate-health, mate-unrelatedness via MHC dissimilarity, mate's body symmetry; health and body-symmetry indicate genetic quality (level of fitness) via ability to fight off pathogens through development and maturity; MHC dissimilarity helps to avoid inbreeding which causes death through expression of deleterious mutations and increasing avoidance of pathogens evolving to mimic MHC
Term
evidence that shows olfaction different between men and women
Definition
women rate olfactory information as most important for mate-choice wherease males dont; women show much more brain activity through MRIs with olfactory information; women report olfactory information in dreams
Term
why women would need more olfactory information for mate choice
Definition
women are higher investing sex; more discriminating for mate-choice; more information has to be gathered and olfactory information contains lots of cues.
Term
why don't all men smell good?
Definition
odors have evolved to be honest signals that most likely couldn't be faked through evolution
Term
incest vs inbreeding
Definition
inbreeding is defined biologically by mating with someone with someone closely genetically related; incest is defined culturally by mating with kin (anyone in close proximity during development)
Term
why Oedipus complex is wrong
Definition
natural desire for boys to mate with their mother is in conflict with biological mechanisms that evolved to avoid inbreeding
Term
why childs ability to discern relatedness should differ from adult male's ability to recognize his own offspring
Definition
kin recognition for children works via proxmity over time; in order to evade the harm of cuckoldry, males need to discover if a child is his soon after birth
Term
Problem of Constancy
Definition
because children need to identify kin, this is a problem because morphological traits change through development of kin; children must rely on olfaction.
Term
father-daughter incest more prevalent. why?
Definition
fathers less discriminating in mate choice; mothers have more propensity cues because of more investment and those cues serve to develop higher sexual aversion.
Term
why rape reduces fitness of female victim
Definition
reproducing with a male that has to resort to rape (less fitness of that child which affects mother's fitness); increased chance of losing mate due aversion to cuckoldry; loss of mate-choice (inability to find the best mate)
Term
evidence that women developed mechanisms to avoid rape
Definition
avoidance of risky behavior at/near ovulation; avoidance of strange men during ovulation
Term
Type I environment / Type II
Definition
Type I: few resources, conflict between parents, high stress, harsh/rejecting family; type II opposite
Term
environmental features that would epigenetically increase risk-taking behaviors
Definition
harsh environment (more predation, less food, lower populations); risk-taking behavior = little to lose, lots to gain
Term
selective pressures that increase male's propietary attitutdes towards women
Definition
male-male competition; high investment into offspring makes cuckoldry very costly
Term
cultural practies that increase male proprietary attitude towards women.
Definition
claustration (women limited to parts of house); infibulation (vagina closed)
Term
why females perpetuate behaviors that keep male control over women
Definition
proximately: cultural pressure to fit in, be seen as part of the norm, fashion/attractiveness; ultimately: increase of fitness by increasing mate-value of related women.
Term
why honor killing would stay resident in culture.
Definition
damages reputation of family, related females lose mate value
Term
2 things males would be deceptive about during courtship
Definition
wealth/income/occupation; past exploits (risk-taking behavior, acts of bravery)
Term
2 things females will be deceptive about during courtship
Definition
age, breast-size
Term
how does deception affect courtship
Definition
lack of trust, more guardedness; affects desire to overinvest in a suitor in terms of attachment/resource-offerings.
Term
what are symptoms of limerance?
Definition
invasive thoughts of partner, desire of that partner over other potential mates, desire for reciprocation of emotional investment
Term
function of limerence
Definition
because of possibility of deception of males, females evolved to be more coy and fickle. and because males evolved to maximize reproductive opportunities, they exhibit much polyony. limerance counteracts this by forcing both people to commit in order to form a bond, mate exclusively and invest in each other in order to invest in offspring together.
Term
history of diamond enagement ring
Definition
diamonds were in surplus, females at the time were dealing with lack of commitment of males to marry. cost of diamond became honest signal of investment
Term
what is reproductive immunosuppression?
Definition
immune system activity lowered during gestation.
Term
evidence that mechaisms evolved to deal with harm of reproducive immunosuppresion
Definition
pregancy sickness (aversion to foods such as meat); aversions to meat during luteal phase of menstrual cycle.
Term
experiment to discern if mechanisms specifically for balancing harm due to reproductive immunosuppresion.
Definition
test women with natural aversion to meat to see if aversion increases during luteal phase as compared to other times in the cycle; measure progesterone levels and how it relates to sickness; if meat aversion doesn't change signifantly, its shows has little to do with reproductive immunosupression.
Term
why paraphilia less common in women than men;
Definition
males have higher testosterone (higher sex drive), males profit more from being sensitive to possible cues of sexual opportunities to maximize fitness
Term
why differential mate-selection criteria could explain more pedophilia in men
Definition
males have less criteria, namely, youth. females are attracted more to older males...
Term
why differential mate-selection criteria could explain more pedophilia in men
Definition
males have less criteria, namely, youth. females are attracted more to older males...
Term
evidence that pedophiles aren't just picking easier targets.
Definition
pedophiles shown to be sexually aroused to pedophilic stimuli to a degree that is evidence of natural sexual preference.
Term
three morphological traits of males from sexual selection.
Definition
larger muscles, large penis, deep voice.
Term
costs of sexual reproduction
Definition
cost of meiosis (loss of 50% of genetic relatedness); cost of recombination (loss of successful genotypes)
Term
benefits of sexual reproduction
Definition
strategy to avoid mueuller's ratchet. (accumulation of random (harmful) mutuations over time)
Term
prevailing climate: parthenogenisis vs sexual reproduction?
Definition
parthenogenisis is a better reproductive strategy because stability of environment means succsessful phenotypes will evolve and outcompete recombination from sexual selelction
Term
how does generational time affect parthenogenisis vs sexual reproduction?
Definition
longer generational time = more changes in environment; sexually reproducing species will do to variance in phenotypes
Term
Buss' study on jealousy
Definition
men have higher sexual jealousy; females have more emotional jealousy
Term
if environment affected mechanisms of jealousy, how would patrilieal vs non-patralineal system differ in jealousy?
Definition
partrilineal system would involve more investment of male to offspring; cuckoldry being bigger risk of fitness; sexual jealousy should be higher.
Term
matrilineal vs patrilineal in regards to jealousy?
Definition
matrilieal: males would be more promiscious, emotional jealousy of women would increase, sexual jealousy of males would decrease in comparison to patrileal.
Term
mestrual synchrony purpose?
Definition
polygomy (co-wives coordinating their highest level of attractiveness to keep male from being confused and knowing when to spend most time mating)
Term
ancestral humans: more menstrual synchrony?
Definition
probably not. because of more of an r-strategy, it would be rare for multiple females in a group to be without a state of gestation
Term
sheds light on menstrual sychrony as adaptation?
Definition
evolution of estrus synchrony; evolutionary disiquilibrium or part of a larger system that is not fully understood.
Term
evidence women prefer MHC dissimilarity?
Definition
odors of shirts
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