Evolutionaey explantions of partner preference Flashcards
Sexual selection
Characteristics that increase reproductive success are passed on and may become exaggerated over succeeding generations of offspring
Anisogamy
Refers to the differences between male and female sex cells
Males anisogamy
•extremely small
•highly mobile
•created continuously in vast numbers from puberty to old age
•replenish quickly
•don’t require great expenditure of energy to produce
= no shortage of fertile males
Female anisogamy
•relatively large
•static
•produced at intervals for limited number of fertile years
•require high investment of energy
= fertile females are a rare ‘resource’
Intra-sexual selection
Preferred strategy of males
Males compete with other males for a female mate
For example, a physically stronger and larger male will be able to fight off his competitors for access to the female, so he will produce physically stronger sons.
Optimum mating strategy = mate with as many as possible
Inter-sexual selection
Preferred strategy of females
Traits increase ‘attractiveness’ and induce members of the opposite sex to mate with them
Females need to be more careful when choosing a partner
Optimum mating strategy = mate with one genetically fit partner who can provide for you and your offspring
Physical dismorphism
Different sexual selection strategies leads to differences in the physical appearance of males and females
Male physical dismorphism
•Need to compete with other males for access to a fertile male
•Sexual selection favours physically strong and aggressive males
Female physical dimorphism
•No need to physically compete for a mate (physical strength and aggression holds no evolutionary advantage for them)
Research support - Buss
Buss (1994)
Conducted a survey of heterosexual mate selection. Across all 33, including 10,000 countries studied, he found that men preferred good looks, youth and chasity, while women preferred good financial prospects, industriousness and dependability.
Research support - Clark and Hatfield
Male and female psychology students were sent across a university campus. They approached other students individually with this question: ‘’I have been noticing you around campus. I find you very attractive. Would you go to bed with me tonight?’’
Findings
Females said yes: 0%
Males said yes: 75%
Suggests females are choosier than males when it comes to selecting sexual partners.
Hip-waist ratio
Since human females don’t advertise their fertility openly, unlike some animal species (for example, redness and swelling of the genitalia of female baboons), males have evolved to pay attention to other signs in a human females’ appearance that show her ability to produce healthy offspring.
Research support for hip-waist ratio
Singh studied preferred waist-to-hip ratio as a sign of female fertility. Studying the measurements of the waist-to-hip ratio of the winners of the Miss America contest for a decade, she found that men generally found any waist and hip sizes attractive, as long as a ratio between them is approximately 0.7. A female having larger hips and a slim waist achieves this ratio, and men unconsciously interpret this as a sign that the women is fertile but not currently pregnant.
Can’t account for all romantic relationships
A criticism often made about sexual selection theory is that it can’t explain the partner preferences of the LGBTQ+ community. This is mainly because in homosexual relationships partner choice does not result in reproductive success, so there is no evolutionary advantage.
Reductionism
Evolutionary reductionism as they argue that strategies for choosing a mate are the result of genetic inheritance and a striving for reproductive success only.
Determinism
The claim that partner choice is determined by a persons gender and that humans are attracted to people who can provide for offspring.
Alpha bias
It’s plausible to argue that males and females look for similar characteristics are not reported in the research, which tends to look for marked differences.
