Inquiry in the Natural World
– Spring 2003
Student Topic Guide # 12:
Sex and Mate Selection
Topic
objectives:
- Be able to explain why
sexual –vs.- asexual reproduction is beneficial to organisms
- Be able to explain the
idea of sexual selection and give examples in the animal
world
- Know the preferences of
men and women in mate selection
- Be able to explain how
Trivers’s theory and paternity uncertainty contribute to parental investment
and sexual preferences
- Know what pheromones are
and what evidence we have to their existence
- Be able to explain, using
examples, human sperm competition and what it says about our evolutionary
past.
Day 2
http://web.sbu.edu/physics/faculty/dimattio/Clare102/physics.dimattio-sp03.htm
Reading
Assignment:Readings from Palmer and Palmer. 2002. Evolutionary Psychology:
The Ultimate Origins of Human Behavior. Chapter 5.
Learning
Exercises:
- Explain the ideas of the
following scientists:
-
Darwin (sexual
selection)
-
Trivers
-
Fisher
-
Singh
-
Bellis &
Baker
- Relay the similarities of
animals and man in preferences of a mate.
- Describe what the Waist to
Hip ratio is and what it tells about the individual.
- Give the two most
important components of males to females, and why this is. Also give the two
most important components of females to males and why this is the
case.
Day 3
http://web.sbu.edu/physics/faculty/dimattio/Clare102/physics.dimattio-sp03.htm
Reading
Assignment:Readings from Palmer and Palmer. 2002. Evolutionary Psychology:
The Ultimate Origins of Human Behavior. Chapter 5.
Learning
Exercises:
- Give four pieces of
evidence that humans have a sixth sense, being able to detect
pheromones.
- Explain sperm competition,
and why it would have evolved
- What are the physiological
and psychological pieces of evidence that point toward our evolutionary past
being filled with adultery.
- Explain why there are
differences in primates as far as the body to testes ratio is
concerned.