What qualities do women look for in a long-term mate? (4 things)

Discuss evidence that exists for each preference and the evolutionary rationale for each. 

Specifically, explain in evolutionary terms why women care more about each of the qualities than men do.

·         Prefer mates who are good at acquiring economic resources

o   Resources are useful in ensuring young reach adulthood

§  Qualities indicating resourcefulness are financial stability, high social status, and somewhat more advanced age than the female.

o   Evidence shows, cross culturally that women do in fact place a higher value on males who are slightly older, have potential for wealth, and are socially respected.

·         Prefer mates who are willing to commit resources toward the female and the offspring.

o   A wealthy mate who abandons the mother is a catastrophic parental investment, so females seek males who will invest in the family.

§  Qualities indicating likelihood to support the rearing of children are reliability, love, acts of commitment, positive interactions with, and appearing to like children.

o   Evidence shows cross-culturally that women do in fact place a high stated value on dependability, naming it one of their highest preferences

·         Prefer mates able to defend the family.

o   Even wealthy, committed males unable to withstand threats to the family are potentially hazardous to the female and her offspring if trouble should arise.

§  Qualities indicating combative fitness are large body size and athletic ability

o   Evidence shows cross-culturally that women do in fact rate physical prowess highly- twice what men rate it as in women.  Tall men receive much more female attention than do short ones, and very weak looking men are likely to be rejected outright, in spite of any resources he may possess.

·         The evolutionary reason for all these preferences are the female’s greater parental investment.  The female takes on considerably more serious risks and costs to gestate, birth, and raise the offspring of a union than do males.  In light of the greater investment, women should naturally tend to prefer these qualities due to natural selection.

What qualities make women physically attractive? (four things)

Provide an evolutionary explanation for each factor you discuss

·         Men seek women who are fertile, as an infertile mate is evolutionarily useless to a male who wishes to reproduce.

o   Men prefer females with youthful skin.

§  Youthful skin is a telling sign of health, and healthy females are more likely to give birth to healthy young.

o   Men prefer females with clear eyes, full pink lips, and up tilting, firm breasts.

§  In addition to health, these queues indicate estrogen level.  Inappropriate levels of estrogen may be disadvantageous to the offspring.

o   Men prefer females with faces which are not too unusual, and are distinctly feminine.

§  As the average human is very well adapted to the environment of habitation, average faces indicate a high likelihood of offspring as well adapted.  The average female face is what we consider distinctly feminine, and faces falling outside that range are less attractive to males.

o   Men prefer females with a waist-to-hip ratio of 0.7.

§  Such a ratio is the most accurate visible sign of high fertility in females, and is thus one of the most sought after traits in women by men.

What qualities make men physically attractive (4 things - 3 likes, one dislike),

and what do men desire in a long term mate? (One thing, 3 indicators)

Provide an evolutionary explanation for each factor you discuss.  Specifically, when describing what men desire in a long term mate, make sure you explain in evolutionary terms why men care more about each of these qualities than women do.

·         Females prefer males whose features suggest he is strong and dominant, but not overly so, as very aggressive males may pose a danger to her or her offspring.   Females also avoid males who seem weak, unreliable or unhealthy.

o   Women prefer males whose faces are angular, feature prominent brow ridges, deep set eyes and large, square chins – features that indicate high testosterone levels.

o   Females dislike faces which are round or immature, as males possessing such faces may be weak or too young, and thus unable to protect or provide for offspring.

o   Females prefer large chested males with narrow waists, indicators of strength and fitness.

o   Females overwhelmingly prefer males with high body symmetry, as a lack of it indicates disease or genetic disorder.

·        Men cannot ever be completely certain any child is his.  When seeking a long-term mate, a male tends to choose females who he believes are unlikely to cuckold.

o   Women possessing a lack of sexual experience are less likely to seek novel sexual encounters, and are good evolutionary choices for males’ genes.

o   Women who appear loyal are more likely to reject the advances of rival males, and males prefer them.

o   Females who are perceived to be promiscuous are highly avoided by males which seek long-term mates, as they are the most likely to put the male in the catastrophic evolutionary position of not only missing one of a limited number of opportunities to copy his own genes, but to commit resources in mistakenly raising the offspring of a rival.

What is Fisher’s theory of romantic love in humans? 

What is the evidence of this theory? (2 things)

If Fisher’s theory is correct, how can someone who has been dumped by a romantic partner alleviate his or her misery? (3 things)

·         Fisher’s theory of romantic love in humans (FRL) explains the existence of love in humans as the product of dopamine pathways in the brain which tend to increase the likelihood of raising a living child to the age of four.  Children face a very high mortality rate in their earliest years, and adult care increases the likelihood offspring will survive.  At around age four, the odds of a child’s untimely death tend to steeply drop off, and love between the parents gives diminishing returns for the survival of the offspring.  Thus, modules for love lasting not much more or less than four years would be reproductively advantageous.

o   Fisher’s theory is evidenced by biological evidence in hunter-gatherer societies, where females typically cease ovulating for around four years after birth, and children tend to be born four years apart.

o   Near the four-year mark of marriage, divorce rates worldwide spark decisively.

·         The brain modules for love involve dopamine pathways, known to also be key pathways enabling addiction to behaviors and substances.  Losing the affections of a partner while in love is thus highly similar both behaviorally and chemically to addiction withdrawal.  If rejected in love, a person should seek extinction of the addiction.

o   Breaking off contact stops reinforcement of the dopamine pathways.  Contact with the former partner can reinforce these pathways and slow or reverse recovery, and should be most seriously avoided.

o   Readapting the pathways by utilizing them elsewhere (exercise and doing activities which make one happy) speeds recovery.

o   Antidepressants may be useful, but should be ceased at the earliest available opportunity. 

What conflicts exist between men and women when inferring the sexual interest of a potential partner (conflict #1)

and when judging a potential partner’s level of commitment (conflict #3)? 

Provide evolutionary explanations for each of these conflicts using examples if possible. (conflict 1: one thing)   (conflict 3: two things)

·         Because of differing evolutionary strategies, men and women necessarily come into conflict in their interactions.

o   In creating and raising offspring, men have a much lower parental investment than do women.  A man can reproduce a nearly unlimited number of times, with a nearly unlimited number of females.  It is thus in a man’s evolutionary interest to reproduce at every available opportunity. 

§  As such, a man loses little and potentially gains an opportunity to mate by interpreting much of a woman’s behavior as a sexual advance, which he then acts upon.  He also gains little and potentially loses a precious opportunity to mate if he mistakenly interprets a genuine sexual advance as meaningless.  It is thus in a man’s evolutionary best interest to regard much benign behavior as being sexually charged.

·         This explains why men are more likely than women to presume the other is making sexual advances when, in fact, the women are doing no such thing.

o   In creating and raising offspring, women have a much higher parental investment than men do.  Women can reproduce only a limited number of times, and each child conceived requires a great cost of energy and risk to the mother.  It is thus in a woman’s evolutionary interest to be selective, and only mate with suitable males who will provide resources to her and to the offspring.

§  Men, seeking every opportunity to mate, know that women seek this commitment.  Males who do not wish to commit thus have a great incentive to deceive females about their level of commitment, and acquire a mating opportunity they would have missed if they had been truthful.

·         This explains why men are more likely to be untruthful to women about how committed to the relationship they are.

·         This also explains why women are more likely than men to expect increasingly high courtship costs, in order to weed out the liars.