This post shall talk about Darwinian ideas of evolution and how evolutionary psychology has programmed us into behaving as we do. The primary topic discussed is sexuality and evolutionary basis of sexual rituals.
If we have to sum up Darwin's ideas in 10 words , they are "Multiply ,vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die." Here strongest refers to the best adapted organism, whether through brains, brawn, camouflage or anything else that facilitates reproduction and survival.
Darwin's views on sexual psychology can be gleaned from this quote, " The female , with the rarest exception, is less eager than the male , She is coy, and may often be seen endeavouring for a long time to escape from the male.The exertion of some choice on the part of the female seems almost as general a law as the eagerness of the male. "
The understanding of this trend is based on the concept of parental investment.Parental investment refers to any investment by a parent in the offspring that increases its chances of survival. Parental investment includes the time and energy consumed in producing a sperm or an egg,achieving fertilization ,gestating or incubating the egg and rearing the offspring. Almost universally there is an imbalance in female and male parental investment. For the male,it is in his evolutionary interest to harbour an aggressive willingness to mate with as many females as possible as he has much less of an investment. For the female, whose investment is much higher, it is in her genetic interest ,to accept the burden of reproduction ,only when the circumstances seem propitious. Since unusually fit males tended to have unusually fit offspring , it is in her interest to be able to pick the fittest male. So natural selection creates a " skilled salesmanship among the males and an equally well-developed sales-resistance and discrimination among females".
What do females want? In species, where the male parental investment is very low,the basic dynamic of courtship is quite simple: the male really wants sex, the female isn't so sure.She inspects the male for his gene-quality unconsciously, and then may want a pre-copulation offering.This nuptial offering,technically constitutes a tiny male parental investment, since it nourishes her and her eggs. For instance, the female hanging fly insists on having a dead insect to eat during sex.If she finishes before the male is finished,she may head off in search of another meal,leaving him high and dry.If she isn't so quick, the male may repossess the leftovers for subsequent dates. Of course , there are instances ,where the post-coital parental investment from the male is his own head. The female preying mantis frequently eats the male partner after he has performed his job, that of fertilizing her eggs,thus providing "extra nourishment" for the family line. The really alpha-males in the preying mantis have legendary instances of fertilizing more than one female before finally being eaten!
But in species where there is high male parental investment, the female is concerned not only with the male's genetic investment , but with what he'll bring to the offspring after it materializes.And that explains, why in all cultures, women place more emphasis than males on a potential mate's financial prospects.
What do men want ? It is misleading to say that males in a high-male-parental-investment species are selective about mates, but in theory they are "selectively" selective. On the one hand,males will have sex with just about anything that moves,given an easy chance, like males in a low-MPI-species.On the other hand, when it comes to finding a female for a long-term joint venture,discretion makes sense,males can undertake only so many ventures in one lifetime,so the genes that the partner brings to the project- genes for robustness,brains,beauty etc.,are worth scrutinizing.
The distinction was nicely elucidated by a study in which both men and women were asked about the minimal level of intelligence they would accept in a person they were "dating".The average response for both male and female, was:average intelligence.They were also asked how smart a person would have to be before they would consent to sexual relations.The women said:"Oh, in that case, markedly above average." The men said "Well, markedly below average".
This shall conclude this post. The next post on this topic shall talk about marriage and related cultural practices from an evolutionary standpoint.
quite thoughtful
ReplyDelete