PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Sociosexual Orientation, Evolutionary Psychology, Parental Investment

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Erica Refling

Document Summary

Psychological phenomena arise out of biological processes. Many aspects of human behaviour can be understood in terms of their adaptive functions (cognition and emotion: does not: Deny that environment also plays an important role. Imply that group differences (e. g. sex differences) always trump individual variation within groups. Sex differences: relationship selection and maintenance. Differences in the adaptive value of varying strategies for men and women. Unrestricted sociosexual orientation pursuit of short-term casual sexual relationships. Restricted sociosexual orientation pursuit of long-term committed sexual realtionships. Self-report studies suggest women are more restricted. Field studies produce similar results: evolutionary psychology explanation. Human females incubate young and are thus required to make more substantial investments to care for young. Thus, women are more cautious and choosy regarding romantic partners. Thus, an unrestricted strategy of as many partners as possible is more advantageous for men: partner characteristics. Sex differences in partner characteristics that people look for: