Synonyms
Definition
A number of adaptations have evolved in women to deal with a tremendous set of physiological and psychological pressures during the 9-month gestational period and labor.
Introduction
Pregnancy lasts approximately 9 months and places many demands on women’s bodies. First, growing a fetus is tremendously costly in terms of energy needs, and it also places physical strains on a woman’s body. Second, pregnancy greatly inhibits locomotion and makes women vulnerable to threats. This entry will address (a) the basics of pregnancy, (b) two hypotheses about the length of gestation, and (c) the psychological implications of pregnancy.
The Basics of Pregnancy
Gestation begins after copulation during a woman’s fertile window when sperm fertilizes the egg. The zygote (fertilized egg) travels down one of the fallopian tubes as it undergoes rapid cell division before implanting into the uterine wall. For the next 10 weeks, during the first...
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References
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Makhanova, A. (2018). Implications for Pregnancy. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_322-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_322-1
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