Lecture 9: Theories and Models of mate selectio

Human Development 3620 with Selcuk at Cornell University

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By: Toali Cole
Created: 2012-03-31
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What are the 3 theories of mate selection? explain....

¨“Sexual Strategies” Theory

** Whatsex are you?

** ¨“Likes Attract” Hypothesis

** Whatare your self-perceptions?

¨** Adventitious” Model

¤Whatare your options?

What is sexual selection?

¨Evolution of characteristics that givesorganisms reproductive advantage.

explain parental investment theory ( basis of sexual strategies theory)

* Thesex that invests more in offspring is more discriminating about who they matewith.

* Thesex that invests less in offspring should compete more vigorously for access tothe valuable high-investing members of the opposite sex.

Why do females have more parental investment? because of this, what different things do males and female look for in mates?

•To make sperm is not as costly so, lessinvestment in males. Physical attractiveness signals fertility and sexualmaturity, so more important to males; :many partners, fertility criterion

•Females, egg is much more costly. So needto find one partner to invest time and resources into the offspring– moreadvantageous.

¨“Ideally, how many sexual partners overnext 30 years?”

RESULTS?! but what's the problem? does it prove the theory?

* ¨Mean for women=2

¨Mean for men= 64

BUT.. Skewed information (a few outliers–men who want extreme numbers) , so mean is not a reliable measure of centraltendency. So take median, which is 1 for men and women. So this does not reallyprove the theory that men should want more women

Top“12” International Mate Preferences (over 40 cultures around the world) RESULTS? what did they show?

* physical attractiveness was higher for men and resources were higher for women. but neither of these were significant.

* •Seems like the sexes are more similarthan different

¨Three hypothetical pairs

¨Within each, select preferred partner

¤Noteif short-term vs. long-term makes a difference.... Results? problems?

¨Personality vs. status

Warm>wealthy (men & women, ST & LT)

Personality vs. looks

attractive> warm (both sexes, ST)

warm> attractive (both, LT)

Looks vs. status

attractive>wealthy (both, ST and LT)

* but this just takes in to account preferences, which do not always correlate with choices.

what are some other issues with sexual strategies theory?

¨Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness

** Littlevariability in cues signaling men’s resources in band living

** Lowprobability of conception in random copulations

¨¨Stable partnerships

**Decreasedinfant mortality risk

** Offspringmore likely to attract and retain mates

** Moreregular ovulation by women for more years

¨gender similarities > genderdifferences

Sample: 978 heterosexual individuals

¨¨Ratethepotential long-term partner/ rate yourself. in categories of: wealth and status,

family commitment,physical appearance, and sexual fidelity.

predictions for SST? results?

Predictions: that males would rate themselves high on committment and status and say they were looking for phys. appearance and fidelity. Females would be opposite.

RESULTS: males and females had excatly the same preferences/ ratings of themsevles (SEE GRAPH FOR CLARIFICATION!)

what is a problem with SST with respect to resources?

¨Sex difference in value ofstatus/resources

** Evolvedor socially constructed

** the slight preference in females for partners with resources DISAPPEARS in societies where resources are evenly distributed

what additional problems exist with SST regarding attractiveness, mate preferences/ choices, and male hormones?

•Actual mate choice is not always lined upwith preferences

•BOTH Men and women judge faciallyattractive individuals as more desirable

* Association between attractiveness andjudgments/treatment of others

* ¨Decline in male fertility andreproductive capability (with age)

*Decreasesin testosterone following fatherhood

What is the likes- attract Hypothesis?

¨Individuals who strongly possess aparticular trait will make strong demands for the same trait in the oppositesex.

predictions of the "adventitious" model with twin studies? results?

¨Lykken & Tellegen (1993); ¨Ideal preferences vs. actual mate choice

HYP. Spousesof identical twins would be more similar than the spouses of non-identicaltwins or any randomly paired individuals

¤Identicaltwins would find their co-twin’s partner attractive

RESULTS: NONE OF THESE WERE VALIDATED

specific results of twin studies for "adventitious" model?

** Spousesof identical twins were not more similar than spouses of non-identical twins

** Spousesof identical twins were even hardly more similar than those of tworandomly-paired participants

** Identicaltwins were no more likely than chance to find their co-twin’s partnerattractive

** Spousesof identical twins were no more likely than chance to find the co-twinattractive

¨Social network approval is associatedwith ( 4)

* increasedrelationship commitment

* increasedlove

* increasedrelationship satisfaction

* decreasedlikelihood of breakup

conclusions made from twin studies?

* Matechoices of identical twins are no more similar than those of any two randomlypaired adults

* Humanmating is relatively adventitious! (Happening or carried on according to chance rather than design or inherent nature.) (coming from outside)

what is the adventitious component of relationships?

propinquity

¨What are the sources of informationindividuals use to predict initial attraction between two of theiracquaintances?

¤Reciprocity

¤Agreement

¤Similarity

Differences between arranged marriages and chosen ones?

** noless similar to each other in terms of age, educational attainment, and familybackground,

** noless satisfied,

** noless attached,

¨Characteristics important for mate choice(Buunk etal., 2008) RESULTS for parents and participants?

* * Participants

nPersonality

nPhysicalattractiveness

** Parentsof participants

nIngroupstatus (e.g., ethnic background)

nParentalinvestment (e.g., previous marital status)

About this deck

By: Toali Cole
Created: 2012-03-31
Size: 20 flashcards
Views: 8

About StudyBlue

“I have used this website for three exams, and I see a huge difference in my test results.”
Naj