Evo theory of attraction ERQ -

Female choosiness

• females choose mates for ability to support children

• males must provide and protect (more risk taking/higher social status)

sexual selection

• how the ‘best’ mate is chosen to produce and protect the most healthy offspring

• key for successful reproduction and passing along strong genes

male choosiness

• males choose for ability to have children (young and healthy)

• female careless sexual beh =risk of impregnated by sub-standard person

Clark & Hatfield aim

• to investigate the difference in choosiness shown by males and females when approached by a stranger offering sex

method of clark & hatfield

• 48 female and 48 male pp

• male and female confederates were instructed to be around uni and ask students of opposite sex one of three questions

• would you go out with me tonight, would you come over to my apartment, would you have sex with me tonight

results of clark & hatfield

• date was 50% acceptance from both men and women

• apartment was 69% yes from men and 0-6% yes from women

• sex was 75% yes from men and 0% from women

conclusion of clark & hatfield

• women appear to have more choosiness with sexual behaviour compared to men, which supports evo theory of attraction and sexual selection

• women could be impregnated by sub-standard human so then left with child and males prefer chastity which contribute to the women being more choosy with their sexual encounters

eval of clark & hatfield

• high ecological validity - real life environment where pp did not know they were taking part in an experiment

• replicability as study was done twice in 1978-1982

• sample limitations as only done on florida uni so western younger demographic

• extraneous variables uncontrolled like how attractive confederates are which could affect results

aim of Ronay et al

• to investigate if men would take greater risk in presence of ‘attractive’ female

method of ronay

• 96 young adult australian male skateboarders with mean age of 21

• 43 placed in male researcher condition, 53 placed in female (attractive) condition

• pp asked to do one easy trick and one difficult trick which they could do 50% of time successful

• pp did trick ten times then again with either male or female researcher watching

• researchers rated skills one either success, crash landing, aborted

results of ronay

• pp took greater risk on difficult tricks when female researcher was watching, meaning they aborted trick fewer times

conclusion of ronay

• men took greater risk in presence of female researcher because they aborted the difficult tricks less while female researcher was watching

link back ronay

• women tend to choose males who are more risk taking because it means they are stronger

• males took more risk when women was watching to appeal more to the ‘attractive’ woman

eval of ronay

• high ecological validity as study was done under naturalistic conditions

• independent samples design means there could be pp variability in difference between two conditions

• tricks in both conditions were standardised for ‘difficulty’ but aborted attempts could not always be correlational with risk taking

evolutionary explanations eval

• based on assumption that beh are inherited, it is difficult to know the extent to which certain beh are genetically inherited

• could underestimate role of cultural influences in shaping beh

• reductionist approach to relationships where assumption is that relationships are for sexual reproduction

• does not explain all love relationships