Buss Chapter 4

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Buss Chapter 4
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Why sexual reproduction?

• Genetically diverse offspringhedge against
  changing selection pressures
• Parasite theoryvariation gives a moving target
  to parasites harder for them to fully adapt to
  exploit host

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Parental investment

• Sex that invests more will be choosier sex that
  invests less will be opportunistic
• Modern humans descended from women who chose
  wisely (on average), and men who replicated often

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Ideal male mate

• Good genes
• Able willing to provide resources
• Able willing to protect mate children
• Will be a good parent
• Compatible personality

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Ideal Male Mate
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Not the Ideal Mate
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Economic resources

• Animal examplesbirds, spiders, fish
• Humanswomen historically prefer men with lots of
  assets status men historically have controlled
  most assets and held status positions
• Having single spouse works best for most women,
  as men invest more for own children

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Good financial prospects

• Evidence from questionnaires, personal ads
  women put more importance on potential mates
  financial prospects than men do (including
  cross-cultural studies)

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High social status

• High status males had more resources, power (to
  protect resources and protect mate children)
• Children of high status males have better social
  status prospects/better mating prospects
• Modern times women rate men with professional
  careers highly desirable

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Older men

• Older men have more time to accumulate resources
• Worldwide, average men 3 years older than
  spouse
• The older the man, the larger the age difference
  with the spouse
• Consistent with what would have been true in
  hunter-gatherer culture

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Ambition industriousness

• Such character traits predictive of accumulating
  assets
• Women prefer such men to lazy, non-ambitious men
• Women more likely to leave non-productive men
• These variables more important to women than to
  men

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Dependability stability

• Indicates probability of continued provision of
  resources
• Emotional stabilityconsistent resources less
  dangerous than emotionally labile men, less
  self-centered
• More important factors to women than men

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Athletic ability

• In EEA, strongly correlated with health, good
  genes, protection, hunting skill
• Animal examples gladiator frogs, aerial mating
  displays in birds
• Preference for height, strength, athletic ability
  indicate ability to protect provide pass on
  good genes for healthy kids

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Physical appearance

• Height preferencein personal ads, questionnaires
• Symmetricality good looks females attracted
  to predicts good genes, healthier, more
  offspring
• Animals some physical attractiveness cues are
  expensive high cost indicates health

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Physical appearance

• Masculine appearancee.g., large, square
  jawindicates high testosterone level cost of
  this? Impairs immune systemmust be healthy to
  overcome this cost
• Masculine faces judged more healthy than less
  masculine faces

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Love commitment

• Acts of commitment signal future willingness to
  provide resources
• Examples promises of fidelity, gifts, emotional
  support, committing time, energy, effort toward
  partners needs
• Women value love highly in choosing long-term mate

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Investing in children

• Women attracted to men who show indications they
  will invest in children (e.g., show interest in,
  attraction to interacting with children,
  gentleness, etc.)
• Men dont base their judgment of womans
  attractiveness on this factor

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Context effects

• Structural powerlessness hypothesis? That women
  value assets only because they have less
• Contradicted by evidence well-off women value
  assets/future status of men even higher than do
  other women!!

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Temporal contexts

• Relative importance of factors differs for
  long-term vs. short-term mating
• Menstrual cycle when most fertile, stronger
  preference for men with good genes (good-looking,
  masculine men) otherwise, good providers/high
  commitment more important)
• Women most likely to cheat with studly type when
  most likely to get pregnant

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Temporal factors

• Sweaty T-shirt studies
• Women prefer smell of symmetrical men, but only
  when ovulating

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Females mate value

• Attractive women can be more choosy
• Attractive women show stronger preference for
  better looking men (more symmetrical)
• Personal ads questionnaires attractive women
  have higher standards for males

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Womens preferences

• Personal ads women responded more to men who
  were older and who had higher incomes education
• More attractive women do marry men of higher
  status, compared to less attractive women