Why Do Men Rape? An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective
01 Mar 2008-Review of General Psychology (Educational Publishing Foundation)-Vol. 12, Iss: 1, pp 86-97
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that men have evolved psychological mechanisms that motivate them to commit rape in specific contexts and discuss evidence consistent with this claim, and argue that a more nuanced view of men's rape behavior is necessary.
Abstract: Rape of women by men has occurred throughout recorded history and across cultures. In this article, we discuss rape from an evolutionary psychological perspective. Evolutionary psychology is a powerful heuristic tool that allows researchers to develop and test novel hypotheses about complex behaviors such as rape. Some researchers have argued that men have evolved psychological mechanisms that motivate them to rape in specific contexts. We discuss evidence consistent with this claim, and argue that a more nuanced view of men’s rape behavior is necessary. We propose that it may be useful to characterize rapists as belonging to one of several types, distinguished by individual differences as well as by the circumstances in which they are predicted to commit rape. We discuss research evidence in support of each rapist type, as well as the need for future research. Finally, we discuss research concerning women’s rape-avoidance psychology and behavior.
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TL;DR: This article introduces the basic theoretical assumptions and hypotheses of the framework, and shows how the models provide a solid scaffold with which to begin to interpret common sex differences in the emotional development literature, and describes how the framework can be used to predict condition-based and situation-based variation in affect and other forms of expressive behaviors.
Abstract: Despite a staggering body of research demonstrating sex differences in expressed emotion, very few theoretical models (evolutionary or non-evolutionary) offer a critical examination of the adaptive nature of such differences. From the perspective of a socio-relational framework, emotive behaviors evolved to promote the attraction and aversion of different types of relationships by advertising the two most parsimonious properties of reciprocity potential, or perceived attractiveness as a prospective social partner. These are the individual's (a) perceived capacity or ability to provide expedient resources, or to inflict immediate harm onto others, and their (b) perceived trustworthiness or probability of actually reciprocating altruism (Vigil 2007). Depending on the unique social demands and relational constraints that each sex evolved, individuals should be sensitive to advertise "capacity" and "trustworthiness" cues through selective displays of dominant versus submissive and masculine versus feminine emotive behaviors, respectively. In this article, I introduce the basic theoretical assumptions and hypotheses of the framework, and show how the models provide a solid scaffold with which to begin to interpret common sex differences in the emotional development literature. I conclude by describing how the framework can be used to predict condition-based and situation-based variation in affect and other forms of expressive behaviors.
170 citations
18 Nov 2015
TL;DR: Overall, extant evidence suggests there is no single mating strategy in humans, and humans evolved a pluralistic mating repertoire that is facultatively responsive to sex, temporal contexts, personal characteristics such as mate value and ovulatory status, and evocative features of culture and local ecology.
Abstract: In this chapter, evidence is reviewed regarding the reproductive strategies—and specialized mating psychologies—fundamental to humans. Cross-species comparisons and ethnological patterns observed across foraging cultures help to clarify our most basic human mating adaptations. Overall, extant evidence suggests there is no single mating strategy in humans. Humans evolved a pluralistic mating repertoire that is facultatively responsive to sex, temporal contexts, personal characteristics such as mate value and ovulatory status, and evocative features of culture and local ecology.
Keywords:
human mating strategies;
reproductive behavior;
facultative adaptations
127 citations
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01 May 2015
123 citations
Cites background from "Why Do Men Rape? An Evolutionary Ps..."
...Returning to our rape example, the hypothesis that rape is not unique to humans has led to investigations of forced copulation in nonhuman species (McKibbin et al., 2008), which would not be appropriate to the investigation of a power hypothesis....
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...in nonhuman species (McKibbin et al., 2008), which would not be appropriate to the investigation...
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Dissertation•
01 Jan 2019
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a survey of the state of the art in the field of bioinformatics: http://www.biomedical-information-engineering.org/
Abstract: .....................................................................................................i Acknowledgements........................................................................................ii
60 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, Simpson et al. describe a method to solve the problem of homonymity in Bee W l d 34, 14) and show that it works well in beekeeping.
Abstract: by M. Simpson in Bee W l d 34, 14).
3,892 citations
"Why Do Men Rape? An Evolutionary Ps..." refers background in this paper
...Sperm competition is the competition that can occur between the sperm of different males to a female’s eggs (Parker, 1970)....
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...The outcome of sperm competition is biased in favor of males who produce greater numbers of sperm (Parker, 1970, 1982; Pound et al., 1982)....
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TL;DR: A theory of sexism formulated as ambivalence toward women and validated by a corresponding measure, the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI), is presented in this paper, which taps two positively correlated components of sexism that nevertheless represent opposite evaluative orientations toward women: sexist antipathy or Hostile Sexism and a subjectively positive (for sexist men ) orientation toward women, Benevolent Sexism (BS).
Abstract: The authors present a theory of sexism formulated as ambivalence toward women and validate a corresponding measure, the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI). The ASI taps 2 positively correlated components of sexism that nevertheless represent opposite evaluative orientations toward women: sexist antipathy or Hostile Sexism (HS) and a subjectively positive ( for sexist men ) orientation toward women, Benevolent Sexism (BS). HS and BS are hypothesized to encompass 3 sources of male ambivalence: Paternalism, Gender Differentiation, and Heterosexuality. Six ASI studies on 2,250 respondents established convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. Overall ASI scores predict ambivalent attitudes toward women, the HS scale correlates with negative attitudes toward and stereotypes about women, and the BS scale (for nonstudent men only) correlates with positive attitudes toward and stereotypes about women. A copy of the ASI is provided, with scoring instructions, as a tool for further explorations of sexist ambivalence.
3,302 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assessed the prevalence of crime and non-crime civilian traumatic events, lifetime posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and PTSD in the past 6 months in a sample of U.S. adult women.
Abstract: Prevalence of crime and noncrime civilian traumatic events, lifetime posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and PTSD in the past 6 months were assessed in a sample of U.S. adult women (N = 4,008). Random digit-dial telephone methods were used to identify study participants. Structured telephone interviews for assessment of specific crime or other traumatic event history and PTSD were conducted by trained female interviewers. Lifetime exposure to any type of traumatic event was 69%, whereas exposure to crimes that included sexual or aggravated assault or homicide of a close relative or friend occurred among 36%. Overall sample prevalence of PTSD was 12.3% lifetime and 4.6% within the past 6 months. The rate of PTSD was significantly higher among crime versus noncrime victims (25.8% vs. 9.4%). History of incidents that included direct threat to life or receipt of injury was a risk factor for PTSD. Findings are compared with data from other epidemiological studies. Results are discussed as they relate to PTSD etiology.
1,577 citations
23 Nov 2015
TL;DR: Adaptationist literary study as discussed by the authors is a branch of literature that is based on evolutionary theory and has emerged only in the past 15 years or so, and its practitioners still constitute a relatively small community on the margins of the academic literary establishment.
Abstract: Evolutionary psychology has penetrated many disciplines, and space limitations unfortunately precluded inclusion of all of them. Asthese words are written , there are rapidly emerging new hybrid disciplines, such as evolutionary In the final analysis, all human behavior-including economic behavior, legal behavior, artistic behavior , and organizational behavior-is a product of evolved psychological mechanisms. I predict that in the not too distant future, all of these diverse and seemingly unrelated fields will be based on a new evolutionary foundation. D ARwINIAN LITERARY STUDY has emerged only in the past 15 years or so, and its practitioners still constitute a relatively small community on the margins of the academic literary establishment. That establishment is oriented to postmodern beliefs and thus repudiates the ideas both of human nature and of objective scientific knowledge. Darwinian literary critics embrace the notion of consilience, affirm the cogency of Darwinian evolutionary theory, and assimilate the findings of Darwinian social science. They would agree with E. O. Wilson (1998) that the world constitutes a unified causal order and that knowledge itself forms an integrated field that encompasses the physical sciences, the social sciences , and the humanities. They affirm that human mental and cultural activity is constrained by the principles that regulate all biological activity, life has evolved through an adaptive process by means of natural selection, and all complex functional structure in living things has been produced by adaptation. They argue that the adapted mind produces literature and that literature reflects the structure and character of the adapted mind. To distinguish this kind of literary study from other schools that are in some way associated with "evolutionary" thinking, I refer to it as adaptationist or Darwinian literary study. Adaptationist literary study makes use of a variety of concepts common in other approaches to literary study-eoncepts such as point of view, realism and symbolism, character/setting/plot, thematic structure, tone, and formal organization. Adaptationist critics locate all of these concepts in relation to a structured account of human nature, and they derive that account from Darwinian social science. The Human Nature and Literary Meaning: A Model section outlines the concept of human nature that is now emerging from Darwinian social science and integrates the standard concepts of literary analysis with that model. ilef8P@, entering-intQ that expQsitiQn; I prQvide SQIHe baekgrQ1:ina ana eOfltext fOI adapta tiol'1ist literary sh:l:dy, outliniflg the Blain histolical HtO\r.ements in liletalY lhem, .over the past 150 …
1,095 citations