Title

The Evolutionary Psychology of Human Mate Choice: How Ecology, Genes, Fertility, and Fashion Influence Mating Strategies

Publication Title

Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality

Publication Date

2006

Document Type

Article

DOI

10.1300/J056v18n02_05

Keywords

Sexual selection, fitness indicators, mate choice, mating preferences, mating strategies, parental investment

Disciplines

Biological Psychology | Psychology | Social Psychology

Abstract

The recent incorporation of sexual selection theories into the rubric evolutionary psychology has produced an important framework from which to examine human mating behavior. Here we review the extant empirical and theoretical work regarding heterosexual human mating preferences and reproductive strategies. Initially, we review contemporary evolutionary psychology's adaptationism, including the incorporation of modern theories of sexual selection, adaptive genetic variation, and mate choice. Next, we examine women's and men's mating preferences, focusing on the adaptive significance of material, genetic and fertility benefits, and their relationship to environmental characteristics. Following this, we consider human mate choice in relation to non-adaptive preferences. This discussion ends with a look at context effects for individual differences in mate-preferences and reproductive strategies.

Publisher

Haworth

Publisher Location

Binghamton, NY


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