Transcript Week 15 Readings

Week 15 Readings
Karly Peterson, Brendan Martin, & Mark Meneses
Psych 310, Dr. Michael Mills
Buss, David M. "Women's Long-term Mating Strategies."
Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999. 106-38.
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Theoretical background for the evolution of mate preferences
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Preference for economic resources
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Women desire men who command a high position because social status is a universal cue to the control of resources.
Preference for ambition and industriousness
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Evidence from dozens of studies documents that modern U.S women indeed value economic resources in mates
substantially more than men do.
Preference for high social status
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The evolution of the female preference for males offering resources may be the most ancient and pervasive basis for
female choice in the animal kingdom
Preference for good financial prospects
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One act of sexual intercourse, which requires minimal male investment, can produce an obligatory and energy consuming
nine month investment by the woman that forecloses other mating opportunities
U.S. women indicate a desire for men who show the characteristics linked with getting ahead. Though women’s
preference for men who ambition and industry is not limited to the United States or even to Western society.
Preference for dependability and stability
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Among the eighteen characteristics rated in the worldwide study on mate selection, the second and third most highly
valued characteristics, after love, are a dependable character and emotional stability or maturity.
Continued…
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Preference for athletic prowess
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One benefit to women of long-term mating is the physical protection a man can offer. A man’s size,
strength, physical prowess, and athletic ability are cues that signal solutions to the problem of protection
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In the study of temporary and permanent mating, U.S. women judged short men to be undesirable for
either a short-term or a permanent mate. In contrast, women found it very desirable for a potential
marriage partner to be tall, physically strong, and athletic.
Preference for good health and physical appearance
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Several resources of evidence point to the importance of health in women’s mate selection: an expressed
desire for health in long-term mates found in all thirty-seven cultures; an attraction to symmetry, a known
health cue, in male face and bodies; and an attraction to masculine male faces that are simultaneously
judged to be healthy
Preference for similarity
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Successful long-term mating requires sustained cooperative alliances over time.
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Similarity leads to emotional bonding, cooperation, communication, mating
Women and men alike show strong preferences for mates who share their values, political orientations,
worldviews, intellectual level, and to a lesser extent their personality characteristics.
Buss, David M. "Men's Long-term Mating Strategies."
Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999. 139-70.
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Theoretical background for the evolution of men’s mate preferences
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Increased odds of succeeding in attracting a mate
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Increased ability to attract a more desirable mate
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Increased paternity assurance
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Increased survival of his children
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Increased reproductive success of children accrued through paternal investment
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Increased social status
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Added coalitional allies.
Preference for youth
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There are seven potentially powerful adaptive benefits that would have accrued to men willing to make the
commitment of marriage:
Youth is a critical cue because a women’s reproductive value declines steadily as she moves past age twenty. By
the age of forty a woman’s reproductive capacity is low, and by fifty it is essentially zero.
Preference for body fat and the critical waist-to-hip ratio
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The most culturally variable standard of beauty seems to be in the preference for slim vs. plump body build; linked
with the social status that build conveys
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One preference for body shape that may be universal: the preference for a particular ratio between the size of a
woman’s waist and the size of her hips. This is a preference because evidence shows that the WHR is an accurate
indicator of a women’s reproductive status. The WHR is also an accurate indication of long-term health.
Continued…
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Do men have a preference for ovulating women?
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Definitive studies on whether man can detect when women ovulate remain to be conducted.
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The available evidence is sufficient to suggest that there are potentially observable physical changes in a
woman’s skin and body when she ovulates—changes that have been know to be sexually attractive to
men.
Solutions to the problem of paternity uncertainty
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Marriage potentially provided one solution.
Testosterone and men’s mating strategies
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Higher T levels facilitate male pursuit of females, and T levels increase after interacting with an attractive
woman, especially when the woman rated the man’s behavior as designed to impress her.
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Maintaining high levels of T, though, can be costly for men. T can compromise immune functioning, and
because it is linked with mating effort, it may interfere with parenting effort. Essentially lowering the
chances of finding a long-term mate.
Buss, David M. "Conflict Between the Sexes."
Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999. 322-54.
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Strategic Interference Theory
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Conflict over Sexual Access
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Inferences about Sexual Intent
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Deceptions about Commitment
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Cognitive Biases in Sexual Mind Reading
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Two ways to go wrong in reading the minds of others
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Cognitive biases
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Sexual over perception bias: Men possess mind-reading biases designed to minimize the costs of missed sexual opportunities
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Commitment skepticism bias in women: designed to underestimate men’s actual level of romantic commitment to her early in courtship
Sexual Withholding
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Infer psychological state that is not there & fail to infer a psychological state that is there
Manipulate men’s perception of a woman’s value as a mate
Sexual Aggression and Evolved Defenses Against Sexual Aggression
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Sexual Harassment
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Motivated by the possibility that a come-on might lead to a short-term sexual encounter
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Sexual Aggressiveness
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Individual Differences in Sexual Aggression: Mate Deprivation Hypothesis
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Impersonal sex path: Males who place a high emphasis on sexual conquest as a source of status and self esteem
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Hostile masculinity path: An insecure, defensive, hypersensitive, hostile, distrustful orientation especially toward women
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Combination of paths is most predictive of sexual aggression
Continued…
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Jealous conflict
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Sex Differences in Jealousy
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Men and women do not differ in the frequency or the magnitude of jealousy that they experience
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Men become more physiologically distressed by sexual infidelity
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Women show opposite patterns
From Vigilance to Violence: Tactics of Mate Retention
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Sex Differences in the Use of Mate-Retention Tactics
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Men were more likely than women to use several tactics of mate retention
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Conceal a partner (not taking them to parties)
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Resorting to threats and violence, especially rivals
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Resource display (buying jewelry, giving gifts, etc.)
Conflict Over Access to Resources
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Causes of Resource Inequality: Women’s Mate Preferences and Men’s Competitive Tactics
Brizendine, Louann. "Chapter 3: The Mating Brain: Love
and Lust." The Male Brain. New York: Broadway, 2010.
51-66.
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Flirting = “Contact-readiness” cues
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The Mating Senses
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Pitch of voice can cue a male as to whether a woman is a friend or a mate
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Smelling good – potentially a good genetic match
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Kissing: Sour taste = similar genes
Scoring as soon as possible
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Men tend to wait before calling to come off as confident
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Males want to pass on their genes
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Females have more sex with males who bring them resources
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A show of dominance and strength is the best aphrodisiac for women
The Hormone of Monogamy
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Vasopressin receptor gene can be a good determinant of the likelihood in whether or not a male will cheat
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The Male Brain in love
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Longer version of vasopressin receptor gene is linked to increased commitment to one woman for life
The more partners make love, the more addicted their bodies and brains become
Mate Guarding
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Men see attractive women when their with a mate as a distraction they have difficulty not looking at
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Mate poaching occurs when a male tries to lure a female away from another male
Brizendine, Louann. "Chapter 3: Love and Trust." The
Female Brain. New York: Morgan Road, 2006. 57-76.
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Mind-set on Mating
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Our brains push us to mate
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Chemical Attraction
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Women value…
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Same brain state as mania, obsession, amphetamine, ecstasy drugs
The Mated Mind
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Physically attractive (hourglass figure, bright eyes, full lips, etc.) marks of fertility, Age (want women about 2 years younger)
The Brain in Love
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Social status/resources, Height (want men about 4” taller), Age (want men about 3 years older)
Men value…
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Males=chasers, Females=choosers
After the “honeymoon stage” of a relationship  longer-term phase of a relationship driven by additional neurological circuits
The Monogamy Gene
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Gene codes for level of monogamy; linked to amount of vasopressin
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Male monogamy is predetermined and passed down genetically
Breaking Up
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Hurts like physical pain (same brain centers)
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Feels like drug withdrawals