The relationship between sexual selection and human reproductive behaviour Flashcards
Anisogamy
in that men produce an unlimited amount of sperm whereas women have limited amount of precious eggs.. This means that men tend to be more promiscuous whilst women are more selective as these mating strategies are the best ways of maximising their genes.
Sexual selection
which relates to the evolution of characteristics that help successful sexual reproduction. the two main types:
Intrasexual selection
which relates to the evolution of characteristics that make us able to compete with members of the same sex in order to gain access to the opposite sex. For example, men’s increased strength and height evolved as a result of men having to fight each other to gain access to females.
Intersexual selection
relates to the evolution of characteristics that make us more likely to be chosen by the opposite sex. The two theories are good taste & good genes.
Good taste (sexy sons hypothesis)
suggests that certain characteristics are found attractive because they will lead to increased reproductive success for any offspring produced. For example, male peacocks have an elaborate tail which attracts females who know that their offspring will be more successful in mating as they will also have bigger tails.
Good genes
suggests that characteristics such as facial and body symmetry suggest that the organism is healthier and disease resistant will be viewed as attractive as they show they have good health.
What do both genders look for?
men tend to look for curvaceous women as these qualities will increase the chances of them producing healthy offsping.
women tend to look for characteristics that link to high status to provide them with resources for their offspring.
Evaluation strength: Buss (1989)
who surveyed people in 37 cultures and found women ranked financial resources as twice as important as men on a survey of mate preferences.
Evaluation strength: Singh (1995)
found that women with a hip to waist ratio of 0.7 are deemed as universally most attractive. (supports child bearing hips)
Evaluation strength: facial asymmetry
shows that both men and women prefer pictures with symmetrical faces and symmetrical people have more sexual partners (Cartwright 2000)
Evaluation strength: Clark & Hatfield (1989)
found that when approached by an attractive stranger requesting sex, 75% of men said yes in comparison to 0% women.
Evaluation weakness: sexist theory
It proposes a patriarchal view of relationships where men are the breadwinners whilst women stay at home and look after children.(not reflective of modern society)
