PSY351H5 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Secondary Sex Characteristic, Physical Attractiveness
Document Summary
Today we have discussed the cougar phenomenon defined as women engaging in a sexual relationship with younger males through the lens of evolutionary psychology. We have established that evolutionary psychology is derived from darwin"s theory of natural selection, assuming evolution and adaptation occurs to facilitate survival and reproduction in a changing environment. Darwin"s theory of sexual selection explains that males and females developed sexual dimorphism to provide fertility cues to the opposite sex, leading males to choose younger more-fertile women and females to choose older resource-plentiful men. By definition, the cougar phenomenon contradicts the evolutionary theory as it does not benefit reproduction or the survival of one"s offspring in any direct manner. Team affirmative attempted to justify their points by saying: Our team refuted their points by stating that: physical protection and gene quality are one-sided benefits and does not explain why younger men would adapt to choose an older less fertile woman.
