3. long-term mating stragies Flashcards
parental investment theory
-> asymmetrical cost
males
- infinite + inexpensive sperm
- minimal investment
-> competitive for sexual access
females
- limited + expensive + energy consuming + pregnancy + lactation
- high investment
-> selective about mating
4 highest characteristics
-> cross-cultural study
- dependable
- emotional stability / maturity
- good looks (men especially)
- mutual attraction / love
5 adaptive problems
-> likely for WOMEN
- mate who is ABLE to invest
income / status / older / Intelligence - mate who is WILLING to invest
dependability / stability / commitment cues / kindness
(+) interactions with children - able to PROTECT
physical size / strength / bravery
social dominance / masculinity - who is HEALTHY
healthy looking / attractiveness / symmetry - who is COMPATIBLE
similar values / ages / personality / education
love as an evolved commitment device
psychological adaption to signal relationship commitment
acts of commitment
- marriage talk / desire to have children / fidelity
- channeling resources exclusively to relationship
-> spending time / money
men’s counter-strategies
pretending to have greater status
feigning greater commitment than truly willing to provide
-> GOSSIPING as a mode to detect deceit
preference for good health and physical appearance
otherwise bad from evolutionary perspective
- increased risk of dying
- may transfer communicable diseases
- might infect the children
- risk passing on genes for poor health to children
women’s characteristics as moderators of their mate preferences
- mate value
physical attractiveness and youth -> indicators of desirability to men
women with higher mate value prefer men who are higher in mate value
personal resources
- evidence suggests that the more income women have the more they expect their partner to earn
social information
-> mate copying
attractiveness rating goes up for men surrounded by more women
- use information from other women to see whether a man is attractive or not
from preference to actual mating
women’s preferences revealed by
- response to men’s personal ads
- marriage to men in high occupational status
- marriage to older men
- effects of women’s preference on men’s behaviour
men compete via conspicious consumption
increased risk-taking and ambition in presence of women
3 reasons men pursue long-term mating
- women prefer men who are willing to commit
- increased paternity certainty
- increased odds of offspring survival
TWO adaptive problems
-> likely for men
- mate who has the CAPACITY to bear children
- preferences for qualities that are correlated with reproductive value
- youth / health - mate who is FAITHFUL
- preferences for qualities correlated with
personality / youth / reputation
- men stronger preference for virgins -> except Sweden
cues to female attractiveness
- physical appearance
full lips / clear skin / eyes… - behaviour
bouncy youthful gait / high energy
evolutionary theory of beauty
- standards emerge early in life
- consistent across cultures
- viewing attractive females ‘distracts’ men
activates nucleus accumbens -> reward pathway
mate gurading as an evolved strategy
trade-off between mating effort and parental effort
have less testosterone in committed relationships and children
evolutionary explanations for homosexuality
-> TWO by-product theories
- female fertility hypothesis
- homo genes are passed on if they produce an increased reproductive rate in the relatives of homosexuals - older brother effect
- maternal immunce response system changes with each son
- extreme masculinity is selected against
STRONG EMPIRICAL support for both
