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B.Once you have created your ad:, answer the following questions about it:
1. a) State and explain the specific mating strategy that is being pursued by the advertiser/signaler?
The mating strategy pursued by the signaler is a short-term mating strategy, someone who can keep up
with her fast-paced lifestyle and offer her fun, short-term experiences through monetary or physical
means. My persona matches this mating strategy as it is proven that more attractive women may be
more likely to mate switch, desert, or engage in epcs. Also, as this correlates to the prevalence of hookup
culture, there is behavioral evidence that females are more likely to orgasm with a short term partner,
another benefit of pursuing a short term mateship.
b) To what kind of person (in terms of characteristics and mating strategy) is the ad targeted? Explain
the desired mating strategy of that person.
This ad targets someone with perceived social clout through a party scene or a certain level of fame. In
the region of the ad, this could apply to Los Angeles influencers, low-level celebrities, and athletes. This
mating strategy works for these targeting individuals as these are also people who have busy lifestyles
and share a likeness in having many potential mates. For a beautiful woman, she has many options
because many people are interested in mating with her. Hence, she matches a lifestyle similar to a man
with a higher social status, as a handsome man alone will not have the same potential partners to
compete with her on a short-term mating scale. Additionally, In Little’s et al. 2014 study, it was proven
that men had a greater preference for more feminine female faces for short-term mateships and when
they already had a long term mateship.
c) Describe the features of mate value that the optimal respondent would have, based on the mating
strategy being pursued in the ad.
The features of a mate that she would most likely be interested in include those indicating a more
masculine male, such as strength or a high shoulder-to-hip ratio, as these traits are highly correlated with
female preferences for a short-term mate. Males with a high shoulder-to-hip ratio have sexual
intercourse earlier and are proven to have more sex partners. While women tend to pursue taller men,
strength is a much more prominent predictor of attractiveness than either height or weight, as height is
associated with perceived strength but adds independently to attractiveness as it does not correlate
directly to masculinity. Biologically, more masculine males can provide the genes for more successful
offspring but are not viewed as potential long-term mateships. Women prefer men who will not be
aggressive towards them or their children. This applies to the current mating context as women will
prefer males with more masculine musculature for short-term mateships, especially when they are
ovulating, but will choose a less masculine male otherwise.
d) Bonus points for picking a local market where your persona’s strategy and ad is likely to be
particularly attractive (e.g., STM ad in a region with indicators that there is a higher proportion of
short-term mateships; LTM strategy on a Christian dating site)
