The Evolutionary Psychology of Human Sexual Behaviour

[blue_cristal]

There is a video that despite aiming lay people and using an accessible language, it provides a basic understanding about the biology and evolutionary psychology of human “nasty” sexual behaviour: rape, sexual predation, cheating, gold-digging, etc

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=As49mSwIWWw&mode=related&search=

 

( Use the Pause button in this video in order to read it at your own pace. It is a bit speedy. )

[DrDNA]

I'm not going to click on it. For all I know it could contain illegal content and you could be that Chris whatever his last name is dude from that TV show "To Catch a Predator".....

[blue_cristal]

DrDNA, by chance, aren't you one of those individuals who are scared of their own shadow ? hehe...

[Paralith]

a decent, very basic run down of the mating behavior of sexually reproducing animals. I disagree a little about the reasons why the males of some species don't use the "rape" alternative mating strategy. Ineptitude may be the reason in some cases, but in many, especially the penguins that the author (videographer? vlogger?) depicted with that paragraph, it's because that strategy simply won't work. Emperor penguins raise their young in a VERY tough environment, and you simply need both parents to commit to caring for the offspring if it is to have a chance to survive, and they need to work together. "Raping" a lot of females won't do you much good if none of the babies survive without your help, and even if you "rape" just one female, if the two of you don't get along, the offspring don't stand a good chance. Forming a single, cooperative bond is the best bet. Many human behavioral ecologists think this is also the reason for human monogamy - human children take a lot of investment to raise successfully, so the male needs to commit to and work with his mate and invest a lot in his child.

[foodchain]

I'm not going to click on it. For all I know it could contain illegal content and you could be that Chris whatever his last name is dude from that TV show "To Catch a Predator".....

 

Its youtube also, I doubt the video could stay alive longer then a few minutes before it was shot down, that’s if it were what you were going on about. I only say this because youtube really gets a lot of use, and you can find the oddest stuff on there with hundreds of views.

[DrDNA]

Uh huh. Yeah, sure Mr Chris whatever your last name is.....

[SkepticLance]

Just a comment on human rape.

 

Most of our recent evolutionary change has occurred over a few hundred thousands of years, in which our ancestors lived tribal, hunter gatherer lifestyles.

 

In that tribal setting, if a male were to rape a female, he stands a pretty good chance of being killed by that female's father/brother/boyfriend/husband or other concerned male. Even if he survives, the rapist may be exiled from the tribe. The paltry 'reward' in evolutionary terms is a very slight chance of progeny that survives. Thus evolution would serve to discourage rape as a reproductive strategy.

 

However, there is a situation where rape may be a useful reproductive strategy. That is where the female being raped is either a member of an enemy tribe, overcome in battle, or a slave taken captive after such a battle. Rape of proper members of one's own tribe is counter-productive. Rape of the 'enemy' would be socially sanctioned and may lead to successful reproduction.

 

In the modern context, we see that in the massive numbers of rapes when one nation is conquered by another. German soldiers raped widely in their WWII conquered territories, as did the allies when they marched into Germany. Japan's 'comfort women' are another example.

[Daphniadance]

Wow, number one I find that guy to be very condescending, pretty obnoxious.

 

Number two he did nothing to prove that their is a genetic link between rapists. If he did merely a social conditioning slide show ok Id take it. But if he cannot come up with supportive evidence that there are common genes among rapists that the rest of the population doesn't have, or that children of rapists are more likely to be rapists, that rape runs in families etcetc. If it is actually natural selection, we are assuming rapists impregnate, we are assuming the survivors bring the children to full term, and that gene is passed on to those offspring. If he were correct that rape is gene linked, it should be in decline due to new forms of contraception like the morning after pill. And the offspring of the rapist would have to be raised away from him, to prove it is not environmental. Additionally psychologists believe there are many reasons for rape, and it is not just about sex. I also believe that rapists and their motives are not equal. He is referring to sorts of violent rape, but its certainly not all the same, esp. when you consider 86% of women know their attacker, and alcohol is very often involved. As far as gold digging is concerned he must prove that it isn't a conscious effort. He brought up an interesting point but it is a far far cry from a study.

 

ALSO! Explain what purpose sexual assualt serves, as it has no means to propagate the species. AND! Explain why rape occurs also outside heterosexual pairings.

[blue_cristal]

I disagree a little about the reasons why the males of some species don't use the "rape" alternative mating strategy. Ineptitude may be the reason in some cases, but in many, especially the penguins that the author (videographer? vlogger?) depicted with that paragraph, it's because that strategy simply won't work.

 

Hi Paralith

 

You misunderstood him a little bit. This is not exactly what he said.

 

He was cautious. He actually said “PROBABLY ( which means that he proposed it just as a hypothesis, not a verified fact ), ONE of the reasons ( which imply that it does not necessarily mean that it is the main reason ) is because males have no physical means to immobilize the females and rape them. They have no arms or hands to grasp the female and they have almost equal body size.”

 

Secondly, “nasty” opportunist sexual behaviour like cheating exist even in the most sexually loyal animals. That means that a degree of opportunism still has an adaptive value.

 

Listen what this scientific article says:

 

“Researchers studying the evolution of monogamy once had a straightforward task: Find those members of the animal kingdom that form lasting pair bonds--and then figure out why fidelity is in each mate's interest. But in recent years that task has grown complex. Genetic studies of organisms from birds to gibbons to rodents have revealed that some of the offspring raised by those seemingly attached parents are in fact fathered by different males. Even among those paragons of pair loyalty, the bluebirds, it turns out that the female slips away for brief liaisons with other males. Yet the two parents continue to work together to raise the young. "The first thing you have to understand is that social monogamy, where you've got a pair bond, is not the same as genetic monogamy," says Stephen Emlen, an evolutionary behavioral ecologist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Indeed, genetic, or sexual, monogamy appears to be the exception rather then the rule among pairs in the animal kingdom.”

 

Read more here:

 

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/281/5385/1982?ijkey=PfyWjTitnJtdU

 

But I agree with you that the strong need for cooperation under harsh survival conditions is the main strategy.

 

"Raping" a lot of females won't do you much good if none of the babies survive without your help, and even if you "rape" just one female, if the two of you don't get along, the offspring don't stand a good chance.

 

I would make a small critique in this comment.

You are forgetting the possibility of the descendents of the rapist opportunist male being raised by committed males ( males who formed a loyal and stable pair ) who then think that all descendants are their own. So the descendants resulting from this opportunist behaviour have a good chance of surviving thanks their “duped” non-biological fathers.

 

But, probably such strategy happens mostly on species where the male has means to grasp and immobilize a female and has bigger strength ( orangutans, chimpanzees, etc ). However, dolphins males ( not having arms and hands ) use a males cooperative strategy to rape a female. The other male (s) obstruct her movement with their bodies.

 

Additionally, even in the most sexually loyal species, females occasionally betray their committed males, as the article above explains.

In humans, about 1 in 10 children are raised by non-biological fathers, which show a significant rate of female cheating behaviour.

 

Most of our recent evolutionary change has occurred over a few hundred thousands of years, in which our ancestors lived tribal, hunter gatherer lifestyles.

 

In that tribal setting, if a male were to rape a female, he stands a pretty good chance of being killed by that female's father/brother/boyfriend/husband or other concerned male. Even if he survives, the rapist may be exiled from the tribe. The paltry 'reward' in evolutionary terms is a very slight chance of progeny that survives. Thus evolution would serve to discourage rape as a reproductive strategy.

 

Yes, I mostly agree with you, SkepticLance.

 

However, I think you missed the possibility of an occasionally rapist male being a strong alpha-male in the tribe and commanding his personal “army” and people too scared to oppose his whim. In some cases, these strong alpha-males had / have even a "harem" of females ( not all of them consensual on this relationship ).

 

Wow, number one I find that guy to be very condescending, pretty obnoxious.

 

Daphniadance, “ ad hominen ” arguments are not rational and nor scientific arguments.

 

(Wikipedia: An ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem (Latin: "argument to the person", "argument against the man") consists of replying to an argument or factual claim by attacking or appealing to an irrelevant characteristic about the person making the argument or claim, rather than by addressing the substance of the argument or producing evidence against the claim.)

 

Number two he did nothing to prove that their is a genetic link between rapists.

 

If there is not a genetic component to rape, how do you explain that

 

a) this sexual behaviour exist in so many species ?

 

b) and, especially, this sexual behaviour exist in our close evolutionary “cousins”, the orangutans and chimpanzees ?

 

(In the orangutans case, rape seems to be even the preferred behaviour in some ages)

 

A scientific article says:

 

"Males are not successful in attracting sexually receptive females until they receive their cheek pads. Between the ages of 10 and 15 the males resort to "forceful copulation" (rape). "

 

http://www.geocities.com/bioeureka/orangutans.htm

 

See also this YouTube video:

 

 

c) this sexual behaviour is significantly frequent in humans despite strong social repression ?

 

d) it is even more frequent in relation to the women of a enemy tribe or country when men of another tribe/country win them in a battle or war ?

 

If he did merely a social conditioning slide show ok Id take it.

But if he cannot come up with supportive evidence that there are common genes among rapists that the rest of the population doesn't have, or that children of rapists are more likely to be rapists, that rape runs in families etcetc.

 

Forget rape.

 

Even open normal consensual sexual behaviour is repressed in some human societies in some degree and in some situations.

 

You are confusing an innate behaviour that manifests less frequently thanks to social repression as being the behaviour of a “minority” when actually most people have it but only few dare to transgress repressive social mechanisms.

 

If it is actually natural selection, we are assuming rapists impregnate, we are assuming the survivors bring the children to full term, and that gene is passed on to those offspring. If he were correct that rape is gene linked, it should be in decline due to new forms of contraception like the morning after pill.

 

You have not the faintest idea on how evolution works. Have you ?

 

It takes thousands or even millions of years for a discrete behaviour to evolve. The pills were invented just some decades ago, how do you expect they would significantly influence human evolution in such short period of time ?

 

And the offspring of the rapist would have to be raised away from him, to prove it is not environmental.

 

How can it be an environmental cause if the social environment strongly represses and punishes rape instead of encouraging this behaviour ?

 

Additionally psychologists believe there are many reasons for rape, and it is not just about sex.

 

First of all, most of psychology is not even science. A lot of claims are based on pure subjective assumptions and even strongly influenced by ideological bias and agendas.

 

Secondly, show me scientific articles of serious scientific psychologists giving evidence that most of human rapes are about “power”.

 

The explanation that it is purely about “power” is the most absurd non-sense ever fabricated. It is unbelievable how so many people bought into it. ( well, in some countries, most people also believe in angels and demons… ).

 

Countless animal species use rape as reproductive strategy and they do not even have any notion of “power” as meant by humans.

 

I also believe that rapists and their motives are not equal. He is referring to sorts of violent rape, but its certainly not all the same, esp. when you consider 86% of women know their attacker, and alcohol is very often involved.

 

This is a vague and highly subjective comment. What are these “different motives” and what is the scientific evidence for them ?

 

As far as gold digging is concerned he must prove that it isn't a conscious effort. He brought up an interesting point but it is a far far cry from a study.

 

Being humans, conscious beings, they frequently add a conscious effort to satisfy un UNCONSCIOUS IMPULSE / URGE ( instinct ). But in this case the conscious effort is subordinated to their instinct and not the other way around. So what ?

 

Secondly, there are a lot of animal species ( probably the majority ) where the females choose the males with better resources. Therefore there is a strong innate origin for "gold-digging".

 

ALSO! Explain what purpose sexual assualt serves, as it has no means to propagate the species.

 

What ???

 

Are you saying that a behaviour that uses sexual intercourse and may end up impregnating a female has no means to propagate the species ? ( actually you should say "propagate the genes" ).

 

This is as “clever” as saying that a food not eaten properly ( with a dish, fork and knife ) is not absorbed by our intestines. LOL..

 

AND! Explain why rape occurs also outside heterosexual pairings.

 

Easy: Any behaviour that cannot have its normal outlet suffers distortions.

 

For example, in prisons, due the lack of women, some men resort to raping other men.

 

Secondly, if a person is homosexual then he/she obviously would rape someone of the same sex.

[Daphniadance]

My comment about his being obnoxious was in terms of some of the things he said in the video which does put off the viewer, and since I was the viewer and put off I mentioned it.

 

In my field I am taught that data has to be collected and analyized, to support a study. There was not a single statistic in there.

 

In terms of natural selection, it can go fast or slow. Genocide is an example of a not so natural but very fast selective pressure. Which could very easily change the gene pool. There are no statistics in that slide that show that the offspring of a rapist, has a higher tendenacy to rape. You are also saying that rape is about procreation to begin with, why then do some rapists wear condoms? Wouldn't they want to ensure that their sperm stood a chance?

 

Sexual Assualt can you not differentiate? By sexual assualt I was referring to sexual acts that do not include penile penetration...

 

The guys who are involved in power rapes have been effeminated by other men and women, and the rape is a means to assert his masculinity to over power another. When a male dog humps another male dog it is to assert his dominance not to impregnate. Just as broom handles are used to sodomize other men.

 

You are also saying that rapists would have to be unsuccessful at other means of propagation. To resort to rape.

 

Also I think humans, dolphins and pigs are the only animals who get pleasure out of sex.

 

Sex with a woman or girl who is passed out or below the age of consent is also considered rape. So yes there is alot of different kinds of rape, unfortunately only a small percentage of women who have been raped or sexually assualted actually come forward and those that do are highly confidential, so it would be pretty difficult to gather accurate data, on them, on the men that rape and whether or not they have children from this encounter.

 

Also, many rapists also experience pre-mature ejaculation and retarded ejaculation or none at all... that can't work very well for spreading the seed.

 

You would have the study the home life and childhood of rapists to prove that they were "normal" had they been molested at a young age, they would be more likely to rape as adults.

 

There are many things people do that have social pressures against, I do not believe that all of those are genetically linked. Society changes over time and does not necessarily have anything to do with genetic evolution.

[Paralith]

Daphniadance - a lot of the things you're mentioning as proof against rape as a means of procreation are artifacts of modern times, and were not in play at the time rape as an alternative mating strategy may have evolved - such as rapists wearing condoms. Condoms have only been at play for what - a hundred years? The mechanisms of behavioral expression are complex, and usually manifest as a tendencies or urges, not well thought out, conscious efforts by the individual organism. A rapist isn't thinking, "Well, gosh, I'm such a weirdo asshole that I can't attract females, so I'm going to go out and rape a few, that way I'll spread my seed!" A rapist would feel emotions and urges to behave sexually violently toward other females, which, back before there were condoms, would have worked just fine.

 

Also, the reason why there weren't a lot of statistics in there (besides the 1 in 10 children raised by non-biological fathers, which the vlogger and blue_cristal seem to like to repeat), is because there haven't been too many - if any, really - studies done on the genetics of human rape. We're still not sure to what degree the tendency to rape is genetic, and if that tendency would vary between individuals. It's also important to remember that when you're talking about human behavior, and indeed the behavior of many socially complex animals, that we can really only speak in averages and trends. What a given individual decides to do over the course of their life will vary considerably with their genes and the specifics of their upbringing. But these theories aren't entirely baseless, and are usually rooted in studies on animal behavior, especially that of great apes and other primates. I suspect the vlogger didn't mention a lot of stats because lots of text AND numbers will scare away lots of lay viewers

[pioneer]

In ancient times, rape was part of the war drama. The winning team could further disrupt the losing culture, with foreign offspring. The losing culture ends up with a generation of half-breed children, which makes it harder for them to recouperate, making it much easier for the winning team to keep the culture off balance.

 

One also needs to consider war/rape from the point of view of procreation. War is hell, with blood and death all around, even inside one's very being. Whether one witnessed death, or had to participate in the death of others, the idea of life having almost expired, may create an imperative to breed. It just so happens the females available are from the enemy. Plants make their seeds, late in the season, just before the plant's death.

 

Rape would spare the lives of many of the enemy females. The males release their war rage/fear of death, through the creation of life, such that many females would be spared to allow them to raise the children. Although the mother was accepted, as a causualty of war, her child would face tough times, being a half-breed without a fixed cultural identity.