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Outline and evaluate evolutionary explanations for sex differences in parental investment (24marks)

• For this question, 8 marks are on offer for the outline and 16 for the evaluation, so most time and effort should be directed at compiling the evaluation.
• With the outline, take care not to be too general and merely describe evolutionary theory; to gain higher marks, you need to focus specifically on how evolutionary theory explains parental investment.

• For the evaluation, an appropriate strategy would be to assess the degree of research support there is for the explanation. This task is made a little easier with this question, as the focus isn’t just on humans, so non-human animal studies are equally applicable.

• IDA points could refer to the limitations of the explanation in not considering non-biological influences; this would also give you the opportunity to use alternative theoretical aspects as a means of comparison.

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