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Sexual selection and natural selection essay
The importance of sexual selection
The importance of sexual selection
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On top of natural selection, Charles Darwin also brought to light the idea of sexual selection. Under sexual selection, sex is more important than life itself. There is a powerful urge to pass our genes on to the next generation in many mammals, even humans (1) Many times sexual selection trumps natural selection, where animals possess traits (such as exaggerated plumage or ornaments) that hinder survival but help them win mates against other males. Darwin figured this out and said “perseverance, strength and size of body, weapons of all kinds, musical organs, both vocal and instrumental, bright colors and ornamental appendages, have all been indirectly gained by the one sex or the other, through the exertion of choice, the influence of love …show more content…
and jealousy, and the appreciation of the beautiful in sound, color or form and these powers of mind manifestly depend on the development of the brain.” (2) Bottom line is that certain traits in sexually reproducing species are found attractive and are more likely to help obtain mates, and therefore more likely to help pass on genes. Many examples of other mammals are observed are fairly obvious and easy to explain. It is less obvious in humans, so the question is does sexual selection play a role in human match making? According to Dr, Shaner ( an OB/GYN in Missouri), "human mental abilities may have evolved in a similar way, to attract mates and ensure reproductive success.
Our human skills in language, dance, music, and art may have evolved as fitness markers facilitating success in the evolutionary mating game, and are very much influenced by it. Extreme talent is sexually attractive because it indicates good genes for survival.”(2). Just like with other species, humans have evolved preferences that influence mate choice. Many argue that our mind has been shaped by an uneasy balance of natural and sexual selection- the practical need to acquire our daily bread and the romantic need to find love and produce offspring …show more content…
(2). What specific characteristics do humans have that serve no possible purpose other than attracting mates?
A lot of times the good trait we hear that are “attractive” to possible mates such as an overall healthy look and complexion, (not oozing with sores), enough body fat to develop secondary sex characteristics, or enough muscle to look bulky(3). However, these traits would also pose advantageous in efforts to staying alive as well. So are there actually any characteristics that humans find attractive for no other (survival) reason other than in terms of reproductive advantage? For starters, there's our hair. It's one of the stranger characteristics of the human animal. Long hair can cause a hindrance; it can get tangled, it houses fleas and other parasites, it catches on things, and it gets dirty. But people all over the world still have it. Infants cling to it (but they have other more sturdy things to cling to), it's warm (but contrary to popular belief, most of your body heat is not lost through the top of your head), and humans everywhere use hair as personal decoration (3). It is very hard to find ways that hair actually helps with survival, so it very well might always have been simply a way to catch a potential mate’s
eye. Body odor might be another desirable trait. Certain pheromones are linked to attractiveness in humans, making someone appear more desirable when they are present. Even now, we rely on scent, we just prefer it to be artificially generated (perfumes, body wash etc). One aspect of women that has always been studied and questioned when it comes to sexual selection in humans are breasts (3).The fact that human women compete for male attention stirs commotion in the biology world. It's common for males to bring food, prepare mating areas, do displays, or even fight for female attention in the animal world. Human women, on the other hand, do a little displaying and fighting as well (3). Breasts definitely don't do anything but get in the way when they're not being used, and yet every woman has them (along with fuller thighs, and rounder hips on some women). If they're not there, women will try to get them added surgically. And often, when they're not there, body fat isn't there either. Since body fat is needed to get through a pregnancy, and work equally well to feed children (whether they're big or small) they're prime examples of sexually selected characteristics that might seem arbitrary, but convey an evolutionary advantage (3).
Darwin theorized that nature selects those traits that best allow a species to reproduce and survive.
Darwin has two theories on the key principles of theory of evolution. One is the natural selection, a species that attains characteristics that are adapted to their environments (Darwin, Charles). The other one is survival of the fittest, which is when an individual best adapts to their environment survive to reproduce, and their genes are passed to later generat...
Darwin's General Summary and Conclusions of the Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex In the "General Summary and Conclusions" of The Descent of Man, and
Darwin states that this struggle need not be competitive in nature and also entails a species’ efficiency at producing offspring. Natural selection works not as an active entity that seeks and exterminates species that are not suited for their environment; instead, it retains variations that heighten a species’ ability to dominate in the struggle for existence and discards those that are detrimental or useless to that species. Stephen J. Gould explains the case of r-selection in which a species’ chances of survival are most reliant on its ability to reproduce rapidly and not on its structure being ideally suited for its environment. Gould’s example shows the beneficial results of perceiving natural selection not as something that changes a species in accordance with its environment but as something that preserves characteristics beneficial in the s... ...
Natural and sexual selection are not random processes. If there is no difference between the individuals within the species there would be no selection. Sexual selection is related to mating, it acts on individual’s ability to obtain or successfully copulate with a partner. The idea of sexual selection was introduced by Charles Darwin in 1871; he revealed that there are organisms with traits which are not explained by the concept natural selection, for example the tail of a male peacock. His found two main ways in which sexual selection works, these are intra-sexual competition and inter-sexual selection. Intra sexual competition happens within species, usually between males. They compete against each other to be chosen as a mate by a member of opposite sex. Inter-sexual selection is choosing a mate among the members of opposite sex, usually done by females.
Research indicates that culture has an impact on individuals’ preferential behaviors. These preferential processes are quite often involved in mate selection and mate attraction. One’s personality traits, ethnicity, and physical appearances are just a few of the ways that perceptions of attraction differ across cultures. Not only do these perceptions of attraction vary by culture, but these perceptions also vary by gender and play a huge role on what men and women deem as attractive. Because the concept of attraction is universal, it is understood that all cultures have the concept of attraction (Glazer, 2014). Research in evolutionary psychology indicates that there may be an innate, biological drive that underlies cultural differences in attraction between male and females. This current paper seeks to review literature on culture and gender as a function of an individual’s attraction to individuals of the opposite gender. In an effort to explain the function of both culture and gender in relation to attraction, it will be explained how evolutionary theory underlies heterosexual sexual attraction.
In order to understand the present lifestyles relating to different approaches and tactics applied by humans in mate choice preferences, there is the need to refer to Darwin (1859, 1871) evolutionary perspectives. Darwin (1871) sexual selection is the driving force for males and females reproductive quest for their genes survival. These driving forces have been classified into two categories as intra-sexual and intersexual mate selection.Intersexual selection is male sexual selection process whereby males compete with other males and the females choose the strongest as their ideal partner. Intra-sexual selection occurs when the male species fight among themselves and the strongest gain access to females for
In an opposite view, Dan Eden, in his article “What Makes Us Attractive,” explains the psychological aspects of beauty. Is it natural? Can it mean popularity?
Charles Darwin has five parts to his theory of natural selection, firstly the “Geometric increase” which claims that “all living things reproduce in great numbers”, meaning that species may survive but not all will survive because, the resources used for survival for instance ,food will not be enough for all living things. “The struggle for existence” because there is a limited number of resources and can only sustain some and not all, not all living things will survive, however the question lies in which living being will survive?. “Variation” is the third part of natural selection which claims that within those living things there are variations within them that will determine whic...
Natural selection is driven by reproductive success. If a species can reproduce and its offspring survive than any traits in its genotype that assisted in its survival will be passed on from generation to generation and ensure that the species will live on. Around the time the Theory of Evolution was suggested, society was very religious and very pressed on the Theory of Creation, so the publication of Darwin’s The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection caused a lot of controversy. Darwin gave the world strong evidence that natural selection and evolution played a major role in the development of the species that we see today. Of course natural selection is not the only process driving evolution.
With the studies that Charles Darwin obtained he published his first work, “The Origin of Species.” In this book he explained how for millions of years animals, and plants have evolved to better help their existence. Darwin reasoned that these living things had gradually changed over time to help themselves. The changes that he found seemed to have been during the process of reproduction. The traits which would help them survive became a dominant trait, while the weaker traits became recessive. A good example of what Darwin was trying to explain is shown in giraffes. Long-necked giraffes could reach the food on the trees, while the short-necked giraffes couldn’t. Since long necks helped the giraffes eat, short-necked giraffes died off from hunger. Because of this long-necks became a dominant trait in giraffes. This is what Charles Darwin would later call natural selection.
Many scientists in the past, such as Aristotle and Plato, believed that there were no changes in populations; however, other scientists, such as Darwin and Wallace, arose and argued that species inherit heritable traits from common ancestors and environmental forces drives out certain heritable traits that makes the species better suited to survive or be more “fit” for that environment. Therefore, species do change over a period of time and they were able to support their theory by showing that evolution does occur. There were four basic mechanisms of evolution in their theory: mutation, migration, genetic drift, and natural selection. Natural selection is the gradual process by which heritable traits that makes it more likely for an organism to survive and successfully reproduce increases, whereas there is a decline in those who do have those beneficial heritable traits (Natural Selection). For example, there is a decrease in rain which causes a drought in the finches’ environment. The seeds in the finches’ environment would not be soft enough for the smaller and weaker beak finches to break; therefore, they cannot compete with the larger and stronger beak finches for food. The larger and stronger beak finches has a heritable trait that helps them survive and reproduce better than others for that particular environment which makes them categorized under natural selection (Freeman, 2002).
It may seem obvious to some why people mate, however there are many facets to human mating. Psychology has shown that reasons for mating have gone beyond the scope of love and physical attractiveness. People may search for mates who resemble archetypical images of the opposite-sex parent, mates with characteristics that are either complementary or similar to one's own qualities, or mates with whom to make an exchange of valuable resources (Buss 238). Although these theories play a key role in understanding patterns in human mating preferences, evolutionary psychology and sexual selection theory provide more concrete frameworks for explaining human mating.
Dion, Berscheid & Walster stated, “What is beautiful is also seemingly healthy, wealthy and wise” (1972, p. 638). For centuries, humans have associated many positive aspects of life with physical attractiveness. People who are...
(Buunk, Dijkstra, Fetchenhauer, & Kenrick, 2002). The researchers for this study looked at how the value of different characteristics (Potential income, Education, Attractiveness, self-confidence, dominance and social position), and varied depending on the level of relationship commitment (sexual fantasy, one night stand, being in love, serious relationship, and marriage).In regards to income women desired a mate who had a higher income, while men desired a mate with and income that was equal or similar to theirs. In regards to education women desired a potential mate who had a higher level of education while men desired a mate whose education was similar to theirs. Researchers also found that as relationship commitment decreased the desire for an educated partner decreased. Men were found to desire mates who were more physically attractive than females and the preference for physical attractiveness increased as relationship commitment decreased. In regards to self-confidence males desired mates who were slightly more self-confident than themselves, while females desired mates who were significantly more self-confident than themselves. Regardless of commitment level women desired a mate who was highly intelligent, whereas men’s preferences for an intelligent mate decreased gradually as commitment level decreased. Both males and females reported preferring