Benefits Of Mate Selection Preferences

Mate choice is a product of mate preferences form in the environment of evolutionary adaptiveness (EEA). Sexual selection suggests that females prefer males who they can gain benefits from such as gifts. This is shown in male birds who make nests for females in order to mate with them and also in insects who give nuptial gifts.

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).

When discussing female long-term mating strategies, it has been identified that there are certain preferences in which a female desire from a mate (Buss, 2008). Preferences include, a preference for economic resources, a preference for industriousness and ambition, a preference for a good physical appearance and health, and also a preference for dependability and stability. Females prefer someone they can invest in and someone that is willing to invest in them also. And they also desire a mate that can physically protect them and their children and that is both healthy and displays compatibility. There are preconditions as too why these preferences have evolved, such as the idea that resources have been made more defensible and accruable and are more controlled by men, and the idea that men would have to be different between each other in their willingness to somewhat invest their resources in both women and their children. Belsky et al (1991) discovered that some men would rather invest in many women rather than one women and their children as this would mean them

People are now more likely to marry people with similar educational attainment — even after controlling for differences between men and women like the fact that women were once less likely to attend college. Even though the typical husband still makes more than his wife, the marital pay gap among opposite¬sex couples has shrunk significantly in the decades since women started entering the work force en masse. That’s up from 52 percent in 1970. In opposite¬sex marriages in which both spouses work some amount of time, 29 percent of wives earn more than their husbands do, up from 23 percent in

Who likes having a barbecue dinner with your friends and family, having a good time? Who likes to just chill and relax with your friends after school or on the weekends after an exhausting footy game? Both examples are something that all Australians do frequently, as it is part of an aspect of the culture of Australia. This aspect is mateship, something of which involves the creation of strong bonds with people that you can rely on and form during school life. Being a mate is more than just a friend, it is a relationship between people that have shared experiences, mutual respect and unconditional assistance. Usually, mateships are formed by the similar hobbies that you like to do, for example playing for your local sport team or going to social gatherings like the movies to watch that movie you have been looking forward to. However, most mateships are formed during your time at school, as the famous words of Mr Philips states, “the strongest friendships are formed during your time at school”.

“In 1979 the weekly earnings of white females were about sixty-two percent of the white male weekly earnings (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1994).” Major and Konar investigated this issue among students at a college that they sampled. Exactly what was expected was discovered that females in general had lower starting salaries and lower career peak salaries. The explanation that was given was that “Women might differ from men in career paths, job inputs, comparison standards, and job facet importance.” Major and Konar discovered that men usually expect more and are less likely to settle than women.

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

When the adolescents were rating the different characteristics the results were as followed, boys rated attractiveness higher than the girls and social status wasn’t important to either group. In the vignette portion of the research, when the social status and the attractiveness were displayed on pictures, it showed that both groups found attractiveness important. Social status was only important for the boys when the mate was attractive and the girls found social status was important whether attractive or not. Lastly, as stated by Ha (2009) “self-perceived mate value moderated the relationship between attractiveness and dating desire for both boys and girls.” Also stated be Ha (2009) “adolescents who perceived themselves as having high mate value showed more dating desire if the other person was attractive compared to adolescents who perceived themselves as having a lower mate value.”

5. Compare and contrast how filter theory and social exchange theory view dating and mate selection.

The majority of the time the person who is left longing for more than just a casual hookup is the female. Women, by nature, are more likely to become more emotionally attached, especially when it comes to sexual activities. However, most of the time, girls will be willing to play along with the game of hooking up. Perhaps, in hopes, that it will someday lead to something more. But, if and when it doesn’t, they can be left emotionally distraught. Girls will become attached to the person they are with and grow to have a sincere care for them. However, when it comes to picking a mate, boys are not as particular about the girl. A study, Age and gender differences in mate selection criteria for various involvement levels found that “men should be equally as selective as women with respect to long-term mates, but less selective than woman with respect to short-term mates criteria (Kenrick).” Boys are less likely to think about all aspects of girl when planning on hooking up with her, unlike girls. They are not as particular because they are just looking for

This journal describes the growth over the past couple of years in terms of research on sexual selection. It articulates the influence sexual selection play on pre- and post-copulatory selection mechanisms, such as sperm storage/utilization, courtship, mate choice aggressive competition between male species and sexual conflict. In this journal, genetic mechanisms are highlighted to address some of the recently questioned areas of pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection. Although all the genetic mechanisms for sexual selection are not yet known, many of the identified genes show evidence of positive selection. It showed that sexual selection leads to the rapid coevolution of male and female reproductive organs. They identified how new techniques

Biologists believed that facial symmetry should be attractive because it may signal mate quality. Rhodes, Proffit, Grady and Sumich (1998) manipulated the symmetry to figure out the effect on attractiveness. 4 versions of a picture were created. One was perfectly symmetric, the others were a highly symmetric version, normal level of symmetry and a low symmetric version.64 subjects rated these faces. The results clearly stated that perfect symmetry was significantly more attractive and low symmetry faces were unattractive, more over the males found the perfect symmetric faces more appealing as potential life partners, so facial symmetry does play a role in mate selection. In the second experiment the authors compared the attractiveness of faces at three symmetry levels. These were normal, high and perfect. The subjects were shown two versions of the same face at different

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

According to the author the information stems from the most massive study of human mating behaviors ever done. The author cites the information taken from a survey of over 10,000 people of varying ages all over the world to create his theories about men and women 's desires in mates, and why they desire what they do.