ANT211H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Antigen, Reciprocal Altruism, Inclusive Fitness
Document Summary
Girls tended to avoid competition in favour of tactics that diffuse conflict and preserve interpersonal harmony. Some work suggests that competition is more direct and physical among poor and minority women than among the middle-class white counterparts. Monogamy may have been the result of male-female coevolution of reproductive strategies, initiated by female preference for investing males. Monogamy equalises reproductive opportunities among men, it reduces male competition. Serially monogamous men produce more children than men who remain in a single partnership, but the same is not true for women. Low levels of female aggression are explained in terms of an absence of incentive for competition. Difference between the sexes lies in the costs rather than the rewards of within-sex aggression. A careless attitude to one"s own safety and survival has greater consequences on the reproductive success of a female than a male. Hence, selection has favored females who avoid danger because of the higher fitness costs of risking their lives.
