Attraction In Interpersonal Relationships

Who are you sexually and romantically attracted to? Do you know why you’re attracted to them? Throughout this paper I will bust the myth that who you are attracted to is based on your sex.  Before we get in too deep with this paper, let us sort some things out.

Blau states that “social attraction is the force that induces human beings to establish social associations on their own initiative and to expand the scope of their associations once they have been

In his article, The Strategies of Finding a Mate, David M. Buss discusses the act of finding a mate and the characteristics that people are drawn to in a mate. He begins the article with a brief look at the history of mating and the theories that have previously been proposed. In particular he addressed Charles Darwin’s theory of sexual evolution and belief in preferential mate choice. Buss proposes that there are three components to human mating. He states that “human mating is inherently strategic… mating strategies are context-dependent… [and that] men and women have faced different mating problems over the course of human evolution and, as a consequence, have evolved different strategies” (Buss, 1994, p. 241). He uses this theory to propose nine different hypotheses to prove that despite humans being varied and different from each other, all humans look for similar characteristics when trying to find a mate (Buss, 1994).

This essay aims to show a comparison between the differences between both female short-term mating strategies and female long-term mating strategies. It will explore the evolution of psychology that has shown reasons for human mating and how these reasons go above and beyond the general idea of physical attractiveness and love. This essay will identify how mate preferences have evolved and further identify psychological mechanisms that women have used to select their mates over the past. This essay will compare and critically discuss the differences and outline them between female short-term mating strategies and female long-term mating

Riann Anderson and Madison Lash based their presentation of an article titled, Female Guppies with Bigger Brains Pick more Attractive Guys. The article hypothesized that the females with the bigger brains would choose males with the larger fins, more color, and one with the elaborate dances. “In order for you( in reference to the female guppies) you have to have a level of large brain power”, said Lash. The idea of females choosing the more attractive male correlates to the scientific concept of sexual selection, the idea that mates choose particular traits because those will help them in the environment. A great deal of the females with bigger brains wanted the more attractive mates, because essentially the more aesthetically pleasing males

Within the past decade we have witnessed a series of new developments and an enormously growing interest in the understanding of human behaviour, especially when it comes to the basic principles of human mate choice. Mate preference is something which is often considered a very individual choice and appears to be influenced by cultural and economic norms. However, on the basis of numerous research works, it is a today’s acceptation that attractiveness represents a signal resulting from sexual selection. Although we have different preference for facial expression, body shape or height, recent findings suggest that mate preferences are mainly cued on

What makes us attracted to certain people more than others? The science of Psychology explains how people become attracted to one another. Certainly some aspects of beauty are cultural; fashion and trends change over time. Also, society and the media influence us into thinking what traits are attractive. Some reasons for attraction have to do with familiarity and proximity. Biology also plays a role in determining what traits we will possess. Biology and Psychology work hand and hand to help us pick our mates.

"Attraction: 1.n. the power or act of attracting; 2.a desirable or pleasant quality or thing" (Merriam-Webster, 2015).

The researchers in these two studies wanted to test the hypothesis that sexual attraction increases during states of high emotion, such as hate or aggression. The researcher used questionnaires containing pictures from the Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT) in the two studies. The questionnaires were given to forty different males by the same attractive female confederate. The female confederate distributed these questionnaires in two different settings; one was a highly emotional setting and the other was a minimal emotional setting. The two experiments that I will be discussing were designed to test the idea that an attractive female is seen as more attractive by males who encounter her while they experience a strong emotion, fear, than by

How we select and lose our mates has always been a source of fascination and in the article, “The Strategies of Human Mating”, by David Buss surveys college students and more than 10,000 adult males and women from 37 countries to record that in the sexual selection process, humans choose between temporary (casual) and long-term (co-parenting) and use many strategies to draw in and keep a partner. There were 9 hypotheses Buss came up with about explaining different strategies of a long term and short term relationship between men and women. The hypotheses were that short term mating is more important for men than women, men seeking a short-term mate will solve the problem of identifying women who are sexually accessible, men seeing a short-term mate will minimize commitment and investment, men seeking a short-term mate will solve the problem of identifying fertile women, men seeking a long-term mate will solve the problem of identifying reproductively valuable women, men seeking a long-term mate will solve the problem of paternity confidence, women seeking short-term mate will prefer men willing to impart immediate resources, women will be more selective than men in choosing a short-term mate and lastly women seeking a long-term mate will prefer men

Sexual Selection is a powerful evolutionary process, for those unable to attract or gain access to the opposite sex, risk being eliminated from the population (Apostolou). The theory of sexual selection was introduced by Charles Darwin in his book The Descent of Man, in which he explains, that selecting a mate is not a random process, and it is key to evolution, for it depends on which individuals have advantage over the rest of the same specie (Stanford 99). In sexual selection, males compete between one another to gain access to a mate, and females choose particular promising mates that demonstrate trait variability, so that their future offspring will have a higher chance of survival (Stanford 99). Male individuals have to demonstrate power, who can conquer the most, ability to survive and provide protection, among other characteristics that will make him the right mate for a female. And Females, must consider their options, since they want high quality genes for their future children (Angeloni 77). Therefore, as a female, I am seeking for specific characteristics in a mate, such as a lean body build, healthy white teeth, and height—he must be over 5’6. I seek for those traits in a mate to further add trait variability in my future offspring, which will help adapt, live longer, and reproduce in the future.

According to Riela et al (2010), several factors such as gender, culture and ethnicity influence on the experiences of attraction, falling in love and nature of relationships. Ultimately, such factors also determine whether relationships are successful or not and from that context, Scenario Four – Attraction and Relationships, is the case study chosen for this project. However, Scenario Five – Scientist vs. Practitioner Decision Making Gap, was also a favorite alongside Scenario Four. The concept of sexual abuse by a person who is supposed to be the source of security and comfort for the victim makes Scenario Five worth further investigations. More specifically and in relation to the choice of Scenario Four, Ullman (2008) explained how and why child victims of sexual abuse have difficulties in their relationships later in life. It was, however, possible to narrow down to Scenario Four because of its focus on relationships from the psychological

Mate choice involves a variety of behaviors and tasks. Female choice of mates is a key part of traditional sexual selection. Some individuals choose mates based upon things such as size and age(Leonard, 2006). There is evidence that suggests that individual organisms and species may choose their mates depending upon the amount of sperm that is released from the male. Male individuals produce more sperm with other individuals who were previously abandoned(Leonard, 2006). This suggests that some individuals prefer low sperm competition during sexual selection. It has been said that females choose mates on the basis of their mates being compatible with their own genotype. On the contrary, some male individuals don’t choose mates according to age and size. They would rather mate with females who are closer to reproduction(Galipaud et al.,2015). This could be beneficial for male organisms because regardless of the age and size of the individual that they mate with, it is an increased probability that they will have successful offspring. Mate choice may also be dependent upon direct and indirect social information(Kavaliers et al.,

Another evolutionary explanation of gender development is mate choice, which suggests that gender role behaviours are related to reproductive strategies. It is thought that men will look for women who are young whereas women are usually more interested in the resources of a mate. This can be explained from an evolutionary perspective as mating with a physically attractive woman

The first few chapters discuss in depth both the general rules for mate selection and the differences in mate selection and varying preferences for male and female genders. As explained in the intro the author theorizes that the current behavior of humans in relation to mating behavior can be linked to our evolutionary past. He references Charles Darwin 's theory of evolution and his idea of natural selection, which is the the process through which organisms adapt to their environment and in doing so tend to