Annotated Bibliography: Review of General Psychology

Annotated Bibliography
Name
Institution
Annotated Bibliography
McKibbin, W. F., Shackelford, T. K., Goetz, A. T., & Starratt, V. G. (2008). Why do men rape? An evolutionary psychological perspective. Review of General Psychology, 12(1), 86-97.
In this article, the authors argue that evolutionary psychology is a tool that is effective in studying rape. They state that men have developed psychological mechanisms that enhance possibilities of raping women in specific contexts. The authors hypothesize that rape is a conditional mating tactic evident in all men from various ancestral contexts that have created five types of rapist. The disadvantaged rapists are those men who resort to rape because they lack other ways of securing sexual intercourse because of factors such as poor economic status and unattractiveness. Specialized rapists are aroused by violent sexual stimulation. Opportunistic rapists are those who seek out vulnerability in women such as lack of strong male support in a woman’s life. High-mating-efforts rapists are men with psychopathic trait to always have sexual intercourse. Finally, partner rapists occurs because of the conditions of sperm competition especially when husbands and wives have not had sex for a longer period of time.
The methods that the researchers used in coming up with their argument is studying the hypotheses of sexual coercion as seen in male species where such males are found to be more violent, aggressive, and eager to mate. The authors compared the evolutionary psychology of two male species that have been known to rape their females. The male scorpionflies result to rape when they are not able to fulfil the female conditions to provide food and since they cannot get mates, they rape the females. The researchers also compared the male orangutans and found out that the small orangutans are not attractive to females and so they chase females down and rape them. The authors used this method to determine male behavior when resulting to rape.
To make the augment more effective the authors present evidence about females who have also developed a psychological mechanism as a defense against rapists. The authors believe that women seek out physically and socially dominant males in an effort to evade rapists. This evidence goes to show that weaker males have fewer females to have sexual intercourse with and this pushes them to be rapists. Women often are attractive to, and form alliances with strong males to deter who would be rapists.
The method of using psychological adaptation among males in their interaction with females is used effectively to explain rapist behavior. However, it would be more effective to use evidence from human species rather than animal species to gather evidence because humans have a reasoning capacity compared to animals.
What other factors such as behavioral or genetic lead males to be rapists? Does these psychological adaptions change with time?
Jenkins, W. J. (2010). Can anyone tell me why I’m gay? What research suggests regarding the origins of sexual orientation. North American Journal of Psychology, 12(2).
In this article, Jenkins argues that various factors are connected to the development of homosexual behavior in terms ...