Publication year: 2011
Source: Aggression and Violent Behavior, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 21 April 2011
David M., Buss , Joshua D., Duntley
An evolutionary perspective anticipates predictable forms of sexual conflict in human mating relationships. Humans have evolved a psychology of tactical deployment designed to influence a partner’s behavior to be closer to the actor’s own optimum. Tactics are diverse, ranging from benefit-bestowing to cost-inflicting. We discuss adaptive problems toward which cost-inflicting violent tactics are utilized: Mate poachers, sexual infidelity, mate pregnancy by an intrasexual rival, resource infidelity, resource scarcity, mate value discrepancies, stepchildren, relationship termination, and mate reacquisition. Discussion focuses on the context-dependence of intimate partner violence, the costs of perpetrating violent tactics, the underlying psychology of aggressors, the manipulated psychology…
Research highlights: ► Summarizes the research bearing on the hypotheses advances in the ms. about the evolutionary psychology of intimate partner violence.