Human Sociobiology 2

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Human Sociobiology 2

• MSc ACSB module 2006/07
• SB week 7

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Lonely hearts personal ads

• Thiessen et al, 1993, Ethology Sociobiology,
  14, 209-229
• Words/phrases rated for desirability on 5-point
  scale

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Which ads were high, and which low attractivity?

• Beach, boating, picnics. Young, intelligent,
  professional SM looking for sincere relationship
  with petite SF, non-smoking preferred
• The holidays are near, Im full of cheer. If
  youre a nice lady outside and in, drop a line.
  Things will begin.
• Adventure/travel! Beautiful, well-endowed,
  petite, shapely, sophisticated, intelligent,
  sensual, warm, moral, very feminine lady! Seeks
  handsome, tall, sophisticated, emotionally
  secure, wealthy, kind man to compliment. Recent
  photo a must
• Poetry, chamber music, nature, imagination.
  Brainy, sensuous woman seeks special male friend,
  to create and share profound sweet, simple
  moments. Reply.

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Lonely hearts studies

• Huge literature on what men and women want in a
  sexual partner as shown by offers and wants in
  personal ads
• Women typically ask for resources, offer good
  looks
• Men ask for good looks, offer resources
• Kindness, humour, etc., also important to both
  sexes
• So, why these sex differences?

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Sex differences reflect differences in PI

• Females are obliged to invest heavily in children
• Males can choose to invest in a child or not, so
  females should be attentive to their
• Resources how much can they provide?
• Evidence of disposition to invest
• What impact will this difference have on evolved
  decision-mechanisms?

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Coping with errors

• Haselton Buss 2000 JPSP 78, 81-91, NB Fig 2 is
  wrong in soft version, correct in bound copy of
  the journal in the Psych library
• Psychological mechanisms will be predictably
  biased when the costs of false and false- errors
  are unequal
• Therefore men tend to over-infer sexual intent
  from womens behaviour
• Designed with adaptations to minimise cost of
  missed sexual opportunities so should
  over-estimate a womans sexual interest
• False - error ? loss of an opportunity of
  reproduction
• False error ? waste of a little time

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Error Management Theory (2)

• Women are designed with the reverse bias
  regarding inferences of males commitment
• 3 C-Items such as Men women tend to be afraid
  of long-term commitment such as marriage, Men
  women tend to keep their emotions to themselves
  in order to avoid making a commitment to a woman
  man, etc.
• 8 S-Items such as Smiling at a man woman at a
  party, going to a bar alone, dancing
  provocatively with a woman man he she just
  met at the party
• Womens ratings of mens commitment-avoidance
  were greater than mens ratings of these items
• Mens ratings of womens sexual intent exceed
  womens ratings for these items

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EMT(3)

• Women under-estimated Ms commitment compared
  with Ms same-sex and self-estimates of
  commitment
• Women did not underestimate Ws commitment fell
  between criterion measures
• Men over-estimated Ws sexual intent compared
  with Ws same-sex and self-estimates of this
• Women did not over-estimate Ms sexual intent
  estimate fell between criterion measures
• Men did not over-estimate the sexual intent of
  their sister
• Women estimated their brothers sexual intent
  below that of other men

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A baby makes a man more attractive

• Brase 2006 EHB 27, 145-157 extended La Cerras
  study
• Photos of males interacting with a baby (/-/0),
  with an elderly woman (), doing housework, by a
  sports car, by an SUV
• Rated as date, sexual partner, marital partner,
  friend, neighbour
• M Rated higher if interaction with baby, lower
  for interaction with baby
• Helping old person higher-rated than baby
• Housework baby Sports car lt baby
• F rated higher helping old person, but if with
  sports car same as baby
• So, differences in how F and M evaluate opposite
  sex wrt the contexts in which they are seen

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Signals that attract must be honest

• Honesty is achieved by using costly signals
• Risk-taking as a signal Farthing, 2005, EHB 26,
  171-185
• Risks were heroic, physical or from drugs
• Women preferred a heroic-risk taker over a
  heroic-risk avoider as mate men showed less
  strong an effect
• Men (but not women) selected physical risk-takers
  for same-sex friendship

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Kung-fu has costly tests

• J Diamond (RFTC p. 180) Kung-Fu kerosene
  drinking as a (monthly) test of advanced grade
  kung-fu powers
• JDs informant was grade 8 Kung-Fu could
  single-handedly fight off 8 attackers (and had
  done so)
• Alcohol, tobacco, etc may reveal quality, and so
  may be involved in honest signalling
• Alcohol in Chinese work units, etc.
• JD believes that high ranking Mayans were given
  intoxicating enemas

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What allows faces, voices, etc., to become honest
signals of quality?

• Hormones affect the immune system.
• High testosterone level compromise immune defence
• High quality males can cope (e.g. Duffy Ball,
  2001, PRSB 269, 847-852 on starlings)
• Estrogens may have parallel effects
• Facial growth depends on hormones
• Voices also reflect hormone levels

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Voices act as markers for other things

• Hughes et al (2002) EHB 23, 173-180 Voices of SS
  varying in FA assessed by raters who did not see
  the SS. Symmetrical SS had more attractive
  voices.
• Puts (2005) EHB 26, 388-397
• Lower F0 in male preferred in short term, but not
  long term, mating contexts.
• F0 had greatest impact on ST attractiveness in
  the fertile phase of ovulatory cycle
• So voice pitch, as well as face shape, can carry
  information about a mans quality

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More than 1 female strategy?

• Females appear to play a mixed strategy
• For several cues that determine attractiveness,
  differences between preferences of females who
  score high/ low on sociosexuality
• Also differences in womens preference between
• The period of peak fertility and the
• Rest of menstrual cycle.
• Pill users may be like latter group

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Womens rating of mens displays

• Gangestad et al. (2004) Psychological Science
  15(3), 203-207
• Men videoed in competitive date-choice context
  women see 1 min of video, rate man as for short-
  or long-term relationship
• Social presence composed, athletic, eye contact,
  no self-deprecation, no downward gaze, doesnt
  present self as nice guy
• Direct intra-sexual competitiveness e.g., slags
  off the competitor, asserts superiority, not
  just himself, no laughter, doesnt say he has a
  nice personality
• Composite SocPres-DIC rating peaked at day 11 of
  menstrual cycle, but only for short-term
  relationships

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Pupil sizes and mate choices

• Tombs Silverman (2004) EHB 25, 221-228
• Expanded pupils enhance attractiveness in both
  sexes
• But some women prefer men with large pupils,
  others prefer medium pupils
• Large-pupil preference was linked to womens
  tendency to select bad boys rather than nice
  guys for dates
• Suggests a strategy-differences among women in
  their response to the male attention/attraction
  implied by the largest pupil size

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Pupil size (2)

• Some evidence (Y4 thesis unpublished data) that
  
• In high-fertility part of menstrual cycle large
  pupils are preferred
• In low-fertility part of cycle, medium pupils
  preferred
• On pill, stronger medium preference

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Geoff Miller the mating mind

• Evolution of intelligence through sexual
  selection, not natural selection
• But why intelligence, rather than athleticism/
  another index of quality, for partner choice?
• Why are humour, kindness, and personality so
  important (to both sexes)?
• What forms of intelligence are sexually most
  appealing/ unattractive?
• Logic (Mr Spock)? Empathy? Verbal skills?
  Skill in making things? Creativity?
• Women want to make dads out of cads (but not
  dolts)
• Perhaps ask what is unpromising material as a mate

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Creativity attracts women at mid-cycle

• Haselton Miller, 2006, Human Nature, 17, 50-73
• 2 Artists/2 Businessmen rated as short- /
  long-term partner 2 vignettes for each
  occupation, one man shown as creative but poor,
  one uncreative but rich.
• Fertility increased S-T attractiveness of
  creative but poor artist (r0.41) and businessman
  (r0.29) but not the u/c but rich ones

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Chat-up lines

• Bale et al (2006) PAID 40, 655-664
• 40 vignettes a man tries to open conversation
  with a woman which openings were judged as
  likely to work?
• Humour, flattery, and blue remarks were judged
  unlikely to be successful
• Openings that showed off the mans character,
  culture and wealth were judged more likely to
  succeed

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Some of the ineffective ones

• q33 Humour A man is just about to leave a bar on
  his way to a nearby club. He glances up at a
  woman who is just coming through the door, frowns
  and says 
• M Excuse me, I think you have something in
  your eye. He smiles Nope, it's just a sparkle.
• q26 Compliment A man is walking around a busy bar
  as if looking for something. He spots a woman
  drinking alone at a table, walks up to her
  smiling, and says
• M So there you are! I've been looking all
  over for YOU, the girl of my dreams!
• q14 Sex A club in Ibiza. It's hot, sweaty, and
  people pretty much only go there for one thing. A
  man saunters up to a woman sitting on a stool at
  the bar
• M Well hey there, I may not be Fred
  Flintstone, but I bet I can make your Bed Rock!

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Interim conclusions

• Good agreement among raters in both of 2 studies
• Differences in content were confounded with item
  length but effect can be unpicked statistically
• A few sex differences
• Wealth, Character (generosity, ability to take
  charge, physical fitness) and Culture appeal
• But not stock jokes, compliments, or blue
  remarks
• Why should compilations list the types of lines
  that we found were duds
• ?? used to find sociosexually unrestricted women
  (Simpson Gangestad,1992) who may be sexually
  available