Sexual Selection and Human Reproductive behaviour

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PYA4 - Evolutionary Explanations of Human Behaviour

Sexual Selection and human reproductive behaviour (mate choice)

Putting it all together: Writing a model answer

Darwins' theory of natural selection suggested that all species were motivated by ensuring their survival. From this idea, came the concept of 'survival' of the fittest, through which only 'adaptive' traits and/or characteristics would be 'naturally selected'. Darwin came to believe that human reproductive behaviour could be explained through a similar process - sexual selection.

Sexual selection represents a 'special' case of natural selection, introduced by Darwin to resolve the problem that some traits/characteristics continue to be naturally selected, despite not offering any advantage in terms of survival. The basic motivation behind sexual selection is that, rather than ensuring our ultimate survival (which is futile as we will surely all die), we are motivated to maximise our chances of reproductive success - in doing this, our DNA will pass on and so indirectly we survive through our offspring. In other words, some behaviours, traits and characteristics continued to be reproduced, even though they made the survival of that species LESS likely.

An example of this might be the peacock's tail, which