HC 3 Flashcards
Gametes male vs female
Mature reproductive cells
• Males = small, mobile, large quantity
• Females = large, stationary, small quantity
Amount of Investment Per Offspring
Females
• Fertilization and gestation occur internally
• Energy-consuming: 9 months
• Lactation
• Once impregnated, cannot become pregnant for at least another 9 months
Males
• Minimal in all respects
Parental Investment theory
- The sex that invests more in offspring (typically, but not always, the female) will be more discriminating or selective about mating
- The sex that invests less in offspring will be more competitive for sexual access to the high-investing sex
- In humans, women tend to be more selective about potential mates
- Evolution would have favored women who were highly selective
In general, women will seek men who display characteristics of value and resources as a potential mate, why?
We would expect men to develop counter-strategies to deceive women:
• Pretending greater status (or potential status)
• Feigning greater commitment than truly willing to provide
Adaptive Problems in Long-Term Mating
• Problem: Selecting a mate who is ‘able’ to invest.
Solution?
– Good financial prospects (Income) – Social status – Older age – Intelligence/Ambition/industriousness – Size, strength, athletic ability
Adaptive Problems in Long-Term Mating
• Problem: Selecting a mate who is ‘willing’ to invest
Solution?
– Dependability and stability
– Love and commitment cues
– Kindness
– Positive interactions with children
Adaptive Problems in Long-Term Mating
• Problem: Selecting a mate who is able to physically
protect her and children
Solution?
– Size (height)
– Strength
– Bravery
– Dominance
Adaptive Problems in Long-Term Mating
• Problem: Selecting a mate who is healthy
Solution?
– Physical attractiveness
– Symmetry
– Healthy
Why preference for Good Health and Physical Appearance
• Selecting an unhealthy mate is bad from an evolutionary perspective, because:
• High risk of becoming debilitated
• Increased risk of dying
• May transfer communicable diseases
• Might infect the children
• A person who chooses an unhealthy mate would risk passing on genes for poor health to children
• Symmetry reflects an individual’s ability to withstand environmental and genetic stressors
>This should be equally important for both males and females (which it is!)
Preference for Athletic Prowess, why?
• Indicators of ability to protect her and children
• Women prefer tall
> Short men undesirable for either short- or long-term mates
> Ads placed by taller men receive more responses.
• Muscular and lean (“V-shaped” torso)
2 Acts of commitment
- Talk of marriage
* Expressing a desire to have children
Behaviors of commitment
• Fidelity
• Channel resources
> Time
> Energy
Kindness, Humor, and Voice:
- Women prefer?
- Men prefer?
- 3 reasons women prefer deep male voices?
• Women prefer men who produce humor • Men prefer women who are receptive to their humor • Female preference for deep male voices 1. Sexual maturity 2. Larger body size 3. Good gene quality
Women’s personal resources
• Successful women?
Successful women place a greater emphasis on resources than less successful women!
Women’s mate value
• Physical attractiveness and youth
> Indicators of desirability to men
• Women with higher mate value prefer men who are higher in mate value
Why a Long-Term Strategy for Men? (3)
- Women prefer men who are willing to commit:
• Men who failed or are unwilling to commit might fail to attract a mate - Increase in odds that he is the father
• Increased paternity certainty - Increase in odds that his offspring survive
Adaptive Problems in Long-Term Mating for Men
• Problem: Selecting a mate who has the capacity to
bear children
Solution?
Preferences for qualities that are correlated with reproductive value
• Youth
• Health
Cues to Attractiveness
• Our ancestors had access to two types of observable evidence of a woman’s reproductive value (2)
(1) features of physical appearance, such as full lips, clear skin, smooth skin, clear eyes, lustrous hair, good muscle tone, and body fat distribution;
and
(2) features of behavior, such as a bouncy youthful gait, an animated facial expression, and a high energy level
the lipstick effect
When women are primed by cues of economic hardship, they actually ramp up their spending on beauty- enhancement products—a phenomenon called “the lipstick effect”
• These beauty-enhancement products are specifically designed to attract men with resources
Evidence in Support of Evolutionary Explanation of Beauty
• Standards of beauty emerge early in life
> Not learned gradually through cultural transmission
• Standards of beauty are consistent across cultures
• Viewing “attractive females” activates nucleus accumbens (reward pathway)
Chasity
Worldwide sex difference.
• Men prefer virgins more than women
• High value: India-Arabian countries
Low value: France-Holland- US Buss (1989) • Scores: • 0 (irrelevant • 3 (indispensable)
Homosexual Orientation: An Evolutionary Puzzle
Evolutionary explanation?
Heterosexual orientation is a prime example of a psychological adaptation— roughly 94 to 98 percent of men and 98 to 99 percent of women have a primary orientation toward heterosexuality
Evolutionary explanations for male homosexuality:
• Adaptation: kin altruism
• Byproduct: genes that increase chance of homosexuality in sons, increase number of children in daughters.
