Volutionary Versus Social Structural Explanations for Sex Differences in Mate Preferences, Jealousy, and Aggression

This paper compares the perspectives of evolutionary psychology and social structural theory on sex differences in jealousy, mate preferences, and aggression. These two theories shed somewhat different lights on the origins of sex differences between men and women. Both theories discuss sex differences in mate preferences, jealousy, and aggression. Explanations from the two theories are compared and contrasted.

Explanations for Sex Differences Evolutionary psychologists have developed a theory to explain the origins of differences between men and women. Evolutionary psychology is the most well-developed theory explaining sex differences (Wood & Eagly, 2002). From the evolutionary perspective, human sex differences reflect the pressure of differing physical and social environments between females and males in primeval times. It is believed that each sex faced different pressures and that the differing reproductive status was the key feature in life at that time. This resulted in sex-specific evolved mechanisms that humans carry with them--these are the causes of sex-differentiated behavior. The two sexes developed different strategies to ensure their survival and reproductive success. This explains why men and women differ psychologically: They tend to occupy different social roles (Eagly & Wood, 1999). Evolutionary psychologists explain sex differences as based on differing parental investment. Because women invest greatly in reproduction of offspring, they have developed traits that help improve the chances that each offspring will survive. Men are less concerned with reproduction and are less choosy about mates (Wood & Eagly, 2002). Evolutionary psychologists view sex-evolved dispositions as psychological tendencies that have been built in genetically. Environmental factors act as cues that interact with evolved predispositions to yield sex-typed responses (Eagly & Wood, 1999). This explains the difference in each sex 's perspective on reproduction.

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