Demonstration

Cultural Universals in Mate Selection

Love is a very personal and individual experience, but some psychologists now argue that the roots of love, or at least the factors that influence love, stretch back into the early years of human life. These researchers believe that mate selection is guided by universal cultural patterns, and that these universal attitudes and behaviors (as reflected in your responses to the Ideal Romantic Partner Survey) are the product of millions of years of history. If that's true, what could have produced these universal cultural patterns?

Darwin's Theory

In 1859 Charles Darwin published his famous book On the Origin of the Species, in which he argued that, over millions of years, members of a species developed certain distinctive characteristics that helped them survive in a hostile environment. Through the process known as natural selection, the organisms that had these characteristics were likely to survive and reproduce, passing on the genes for these characteristics to future generations. Those who had different characteristics died, and their genes died with them.

But Darwin noted that many animals developed characteristics such as bright feathers or large antlers that had no obvious survival value. In fact, bright feathers would probably hurt the chances of survival, because they would attract the attention of predators! To explain this puzzle, Darwin outlined a theory of sexual selection in a book published in 1871. He proposed that some characteristics evolved not because they had survival value for that animal, but because they had reproductive benefits: They increased the chances that the animal would attract a mate and that their offspring would survive to reproduce.

Gender Differences in Mate Selection

Darwin's ideas were largely ignored by psychologists for about a century. Then, about twenty years ago a group of researchers, calling themselves evolutionary psychologists, began to apply Darwin's theory of sexual selection to human mating behavior, especially to the two mechanisms believed to guide evolutionary change: preferred characteristics in a mate and competition for a mate. David Buss, a pioneer in this field, initiated a series of cross-cultural studies of mate selection. One of these studies involved interviewing more than ten thousand people from thirty-seven countries around the globe.

The results revealed striking sex differences in mate preferences. Across cultures, men consistently place more value than women do on a potential mate's physical attractiveness and youthfulness. Women consistently place more value than men do on the social status, resources, and ambition of a prospective mate.

Evolutionary Explanations

Evolutionary psychologists claim that these differences evolved in response to the different reproductive challenges faced by men and women. Their explanation is summarized as follows.

For a woman to reproduce, she must endure a long pregnancy and a dangerous childbirth, and then feed and care for the child until it is old enough to survive on its own. Her chances of reproductive success are greatly enhanced by selecting a mate who will stay around after conception, to provide protection, food, and other resources, and to help out with all the work. Over millions of years, women who preferred men with these characteristics had children who survived. Today's women are the descendants of women who were good at evaluating the resources and commitment of potential mates.

On the other hand, a man's ability to reproduce depends on his mate's fertility. His chances of reproductive success are greatly enhanced by selecting a mate who is young and healthy.

Over millions of years, men who preferred young, vigorous mates (with clear skin, bright eyes, and symmetrical faces to indicate good health) had many healthy children, whereas men who became involved with older women or women with contagious diseases were less likely to produce offspring (or their offspring died). Today's men are the descendants of men who were good at visually assessing the health and fertility of potential mates.