Signature Assignment

Running Head: THEORIES OF SEXUALITY AND AGGRESSION

Theories of Sexuality and Aggression

Name: Arlenn Campos

Date: November 20, 2021

Northcentral University

Class: Psy 5504

Instructor: Dr. Katherine Lang

Question 1

Sexual selection theory

This theory says that there are traits that a trait could exhibit and could increase the chances of obtaining a successful mate. This theory sheds light on how males compete for mates in the natural environment. According to this theory, members of the same sex compete for members of another sex. According to this theory, members of the same sex display certain characteristics that would attract members of the opposite gender ( Shuker & Kvarnemo, 2021). Selection theory is based on two principles these being intra-sexual selection and intersexual selection. According to the intra-sexual selection principle, members of the same gender, mostly male, compete to get a successful mate of the opposite gender. According to the intersexual selection principle, members of the same gender, majorly being females, gender the member of the other gender to mate with.

According to the two principles of selection theory, they have an impact on the aggression level. For intra-sexual selection, males are quite aggressive. This is because they are openly competing for mates. However, for intersexual selection, females are not as aggressive, and they are not as openly aggressive when they happen to be aggressive. They seem to keep their calm as there is to select who to accommodate and who to reject.

Gender role theory

Some roles are believed to suit men, and others are believed to suit women. The gender role theory defines the difference between the role played by men and women in society. According to this theory, there is a high difference in behaviour between men and women if there is a high difference between their roles in society. However, if men and women perform close similar roles, their behaviours and identities differ from each other (Biernat & Sesko, 2018).

The main principle of gender le theory is on the distance between men roles and women roles. The distribution of these roles dictates identity and behaviours between men and women in society. The development of this theory has resulted in a lot is aggression. Men are majorly involved in physical and hard work. They tend to be more aggressive. Ladies take soft jobs, and thus physically, they are not as aggressive as men.

Question 2

One of the aggressive behaviour that can be explained by sexual selection behaviour is providence. Men generally tend to be more aggressive than women when it comes to providing for their families. This is even seen when men are luring for a given lady. They tend to be aggressive based on who feels has more capability of providing for a lady. The same happens even in the business environment. Men are likely to take more risker jobs to provide for their wives and children. It comes from within them, and they feel convinced that they need them to work hard and acquire more wealth. Even in wealth obsession, men are more obsessed with acquiring more wealth and amass more wealth than ladies. This is due to their open aggressiveness dictated by sexual selection theory.

There is also a certain level of aggression in a household where they still hold traditional social roles behaviours. In such a homestead setting, a wife and her husband are likely to show a high level of aggression. For instance, men are very likely to be aggressive whenever they have to be related to house chores. A man feels it is the role of a wife to take care of children and cook for the entire family. The same case applies when it comes to ladies and payment of bills. A lady is likely to be aggressive when she is needed to pay bills for the family. They feel that they are not entitled to pay these bills, and thus they turn aggressive to men in the house.

Question 3

Men and women display aggressiveness differently, which is also explained differently by the theory of sexual selection and social roles. Under the theory of sexual selection, males are aggressive to other males than to other females (Eberhard, Rodríguez, Huber, Speck, Miller, Buzatto & Machado, 2018). This is because they are under the psychological of providence and reproductive success. Thus, men feel that they must display a certain level of aggression to another male who tries to outshine them in their reproduction and dominance capacity. To women, they don't feel to be under pressure to prove anything under reproduction success. Therefore, by default, they are not programmed to be aggressive against mal or even other females. Their psychology is to weigh who to settle with from the opposite gender.

In the perspective of social roles theory, aggression is displayed based on different physiological factors. One of these factors is fear to do what is one obliged to do by social standards. Take, for instance, aggression from a man who is rejecting house chores. This man is under psychological factors like fear. He fears what society would say if at all it becomes known he performs house chores. Thus, this fear will prompt a man to be aggressive against his wife because social roles theory has placed a huge distance between the roles performed by a man and the roles performed by a woman.

REFERENCES:

Shuker, D. M., & Kvarnemo, C. (2021). The definition of sexual selection. Behavioral Ecology, 32(5), 781-794.

Biernat, M. O. N. I. C. A., & Sesko, A. K. (2018). Gender stereotypes and stereotyping. Gender, sex, and sexualities: Psychological perspectives, 171-194.

Eberhard, W. G., Rodríguez, R. L., Huber, B. A., Speck, B., Miller, H., Buzatto, B. A., & Machado, G. (2018). Sexual selection and static allometry: the importance of function. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 93(3), 207-250.