Intersocietal variation in the mate preferences of males and females

Age preferences in mates reflect sex differences in human reproductive strategies

The finding that women are attracted to men older than themselves whereas men are attracted to relatively younger women has been explained by social psychologists in terms of economic exchange rooted in traditional sex-role norms. An alternative evolutionary model suggests that males and females follow different reproductive strategies, and predicts a more complex relationship between gender and age preferences. In particular, males' preferences for relatively younger females should be minimal during early mating years, but should become more pronounced as the male gets older. Young females are expected to prefer somewhat older males during their early years and to change less as they age. We briefly review relevant theory and present results of six studies testing this prediction. Study 1 finds support for this gender-differentiated prediction in age preferences expressed in personal advertisements. Study 2 supports the prediction with marriage statistics from two U.S. cities. Study 3 examines the cross-generational robustness of the phenomenon, and finds the same pattern in marriage statistics from 1923. Study 4 replicates Study 1 using matrimonial advertisements from two European countries, and from India. Study 5 finds a consistent pattern in marriages recorded from 1913 through 1939 on a small island in the Philippines. Study 6 reveals the same pattern in singles advertisements placed by financially successful American women and men. We consider the limitations of previous normative and evolutionary explanations of age preferences and discuss the advantages of expanding previous models to include the life history perspective.

Theoretical and empirical aspects of gene-culture coevolution

Cultural transmission can be roughly defined as the transfer of information between individuals by social learning (see below). Genes used to be, and for most species still are, the only means available for the accurate transfer of information across generations. In species where cultural transmission has developed, notably the human, interactions can occur between the two inheritance systems. Gene-culture coevolution refers to the evolutionary phenomena that arise from these interactions. As we shall see, these interactions can take various forms.

Sex without emotional involvement: an evolutionary interpretation of sex differences

Two samples of male (n = 243) and female (n = 298) college students completed sexual surveys, and in-depth, oral interviews were conducted with 28 highly sexually active female college students. Findings supported five predictions derived from evolutionary (parental-investment) theory. Even when females voluntarily engaged in low-investment copulation, coitus typically caused them to feel emotionally vulnerable, and to have thoughts expressing anxiety about partners' willingness to invest. For females, increasing numbers of partners correlated positively with the incidence of these feelings and thoughts; for males, these correlations were negative. Females' attempts to continue regular coitus when they desired more investment than partners were willing to give produced feelings of distress, degradation, and exploitation despite acceptance of liberal sexual morality. Increasing numbers of partners did not mitigate these reactions in females and may exacerbate them. Multiple-partner females developed techniques for dealing with their emotional reactions to low-investment copulation: They frequently tested their partners for signs of ability and willingness to invest (e.g., dominance, prowess, jealousy, nurturance), and they limited or terminated sexual relations when they perceived partners' investment as inadequate. Results were consistent with the view that the emotional-motivational mechanisms that mediate sexual arousal and attraction are sexually dimorphic.

Gender difference in mate preference among law students: divergence and convergence of criteria

We examined six hypotheses derived from evolutionary theory regarding sex differences in mate-selection criteria. The subjects were 160 law students who viewed color photographs of live models that were paired with different status cues such as costume variation and descriptions of income and occupation. A multivariate analysis of variance and regression analyses revealed highly significant sex differences in the following responses: reported willingness to engage in unqualified sexual relations; reported willingness to have sexual relations with stimulus persons as compared with the willingness to engage in higher investment relationships such as dating and marriage; the effects of stimulus persons' status and physical attractiveness in determining thresholds of initial acceptability; and tradeoffs, that is the ability of high physical attractiveness to compensate for low status, and of high status to compensate for low physical attractiveness. Law students also responded to nine statements concerning prospective spouses' relative income, occupational prestige, and physical attractiveness. These responses exhibited sex differences consistent with those found in the experimental manipulation.