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Explain The Process Of Natural Selection And Sexual Selection In Modern Day Human Behaviour

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Explain The Process Of Natural Selection And Sexual Selection In Modern Day Human Behaviour
Part I

Explain, with examples, how the process of natural selection and sexual selection are thought to have contributed to modern-day human behaviour.

Lifestyle and behaviours of early humans would have been considerably different to that of modern day humans; however this is not an aspect that happened overnight but something that has taken thousands of years to develop. This aim of this essay therefore will be to explain, with examples, how human behaviour has evolved over time through the aspect of natural and sexual selection and how this has contributed to modern-day human behaviour.

Evolution is a “process over time which enables us to adapt to our changing environments”. Charles Darwin was one of the founders of this theory whereby he identified that rather that a species being fixed at creation they gradually evolve from that of their common ancestors (Darwin cited in Clegg 2007) with characteristics and behaviours, that best suit the ever changing environment we live in, being passed down the generations in order to support survival.

The process in which these characteristics are passed down in that of ‘selection’ whereby certain characteristics are either evolved due to them conferring some advantage on the individual or eliminated due to them being disadvantageous within the particular environment (quote). Therefore genes that …show more content…
It has been identified that natural selection is based on selection of behaviours that enable genes to survive and evolve, such as cooking, and sexual selection is based on selection of genes that enable the attraction of mates such as humour. However it is still important to raise the issue of how much genes contribute to behaviours that are seen as being learnt through social interaction and how sexual selection takes into account those individuals who do not reproduce therefore preventing their gene
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