Evolutionary explanations for partner preferences Flashcards
What is it meant by natural selection?
The process where inherited characteristics that enhance survival (or fitness) are passed onto the next generation.
What is it meant by adaptation?
The functional products of natural selection or sexual selection in human evolution.
What is it meant by reproductive success?
The degree to which an individual is successful in producing offspring that in turn are able to produce offspring of their own.
What is inter-sexual selection?
what is an mating strategy of inter-sexual selection?
Who is inter-sexual selection most related to?
Women
What is intra-sexual selection?
What mating strategy does intra-selection lead to?
Who does intra-selection lead to?
Men
What is the hip to waist ratio theory?
Research suggests that males will show a preference for a female body shape that signals fertility.
Singh (1993, 2002) studied this in terms of waist-hip ratio (WHR).
Up to a point, males generally find any hip and waist size attractive so long as the ratio of one to the other is about 0.7.
This combination of wider hips and narrower waist is attractive because it is an ‘honest signal’ (hard to fake) that the woman is fertile but not currently pregnant.
What are male mating strategies?
Courtship Rituals – Allows showing off genetic potential and resources.
Size – Bigger body sizes demonstrate physical strength and an ability to protect partner and offspring from threats.
Sperm Competition – Men have evolved to have bigger testicles and faster swimming sperm.
Mate Guarding – Keeping a close eye on partners to prevent unfaithfulness.
Sneak Copulation – Being unfaithful - can be beneficial to both parties?
What are female mating strategies?
Handicap Hypothesis – Some women may pick men with handicaps as it shows an ability to thrive despite adversities. May explain why some women are attracted to men who take drugs and drink a lot.
Sexy Sons Hypothesis – Females select males they deem physically attractive as they are likely to pass this onto their children, increasing the offspring’s chance of reproducing.
Courtship – Dating is an important strategy for females to establish a man’s worth to produce offspring.
What are the positive evaluations?
- There is research evidence to support the claims made by evolutionary theory about sexual selection strategies being different in males compared to females.
For example Clark & Hatfield (1989) showed that females choosiness is a reality of heterosexual relationships. Male & female Psychology students were sent out on a uni campus to approach students with this question ‘I have been noticing you around campus. I find you to be very attractive. Would you go to bed with me tonight ?’ Not single female student agreed to the request but 75% of the males did immediately.
This supports the evolutionary theory because it suggests that females are choosier than males when it comes to selecting sexual partners and that male have evolved different sexual strategies to ensure reproductive success. This therefore adds credibility to the claims of this theory. - A positive of the the evolutionary theory is that there is research evidence to support the concept of anisogamy.
For example Buss (1989) carried out a survey of over 10,000 adults aged 16- 25 in 33 countries which included 37 cultures. He asked questions relating to age and a variety of attributes that evolutionary theory predicts should be important in partner preference. He found that female respondents paces greater value on resource related characteristics such as good financial prospects & ambition than males did. Males valued reproductive capacity in terms of good looks and chastity & preferred younger partners more than females did. This was applied across different cultures reflecting fundamental human preferences that are not culturally different.
This implies that there are sex difference in mate strategies due to anisogamy about partner preferences derived from evolutionary theory adding credibility to the theory which is considered universal to all humans whatever culture they are from.
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What are the negative evaluations?
- However one problem with research carried out into evolutionary explanations is that the methodology used to collect data to support this explanation can be considered flawed.
Research into evolutionary explanations tends to be based on data collected via self reports which are subject to misinterpretation and social desirability bias. This could mean that much of the theory is based on data that may not be reliable. An example of this can be seen in Buss’ research where Pt’s may have felt they should have responded in a certain way due to social desirability about those they found most attractive. Given the time period they may also felt unable openly and honestly discuss same sex partner choices
This suggests that the study may lack internal validity, which then questions the claims made by the evolutionary theory, if the research to support it, is itself flawed - Establishing different behavioural norms for each sex may lead to societal issues.
Prejudices and stigmatisation may result from stating that male and female mating strategies should be different. This would cause an alpha bias, where society and media may judge people for acting differently to what these evolutionary theories state.
For example, if women engaged in multiple sexual relationships with younger men, they would be deemed as contravening the evolutionary laws outlined in these theories and would experience persecution and humiliation.
Therefore, the theory of partner preferences may be socially sensitive and researchers should be careful when publishing their conclusions.
What are the extra evaluations?
- One of the problems of this theory is that it does not account for major social and cultural changes which may affect reproductive behaviour.
Bereczkei et al (1997) argue that social change has consequences for women’s mate preferences due to less female dependency on a male partner for resources to provide for them in modern society so mate choices may no longer be resource- oriented. These changes mean that women in modern Western societies may look for other qualities in a mate but this may not be the case in societies where there is less direct access to resources for females for example, Kasser and Sharma (1999) found in their analysis of 37 cultures that females mostly valued a mate with resources in societies where women’s access to education and workplace was severely limited.
This implies evolutionary explanations are limited, as they only explain human mates’ choice in terms of evolutionary adaptiveness, ignoring other important factors, such as culture and social norms which may be better explanations of partner preferences. - One of the issues with evolutionary theory about partner preference does not consider individual differences in this process.
For example, research by Penton-Voak et al. (1999) suggests that females’ mate preferences change across the menstrual cycle. They found that females preferred a partner with strongly expressed masculine features during their fertile period, but showed more preference for a partner with slightly feminised features as a long-term mate. This may be because masculine appearance suggests a healthier immune system, which would be advantageous to pass to offspring, while slightly feminine features suggest kindness and parental cooperation – very desirable traits in a long-term partner!
This implies that the evolutionary theory may not account for the complicated processes involved in partner preference linked to physiological changes
