Male Long-Term Mating Strategies

The Problems of Paternity

Foundation of Male Mating  Minimum investment  Considerably lower in human men than in women  In ancestral environment, men had relatively little to lose by copulating with a “less fit” partner  Male reproductive variance (e.g., Ismail the Bloodthirsty)

Why Invest At All? (1)  If there is little cost to reckless mating, then why adopt a long-term strategy?

 Benefits to offspring (survival, future reproductive success)  Paternity certainty  Non-committing men would have suffered in mating market

Why Invest At All? (2)    Parental effort  Proportion of total reproductive effort invested in rearing and defense of offspring Mating effort  Proportion of total reproductive effort invested in the acquisition & maintenance of sexual mates Parental and mating effort often conflict

Reproductive Value    While fertility in men may decrease over the lifespan, it does so only slightly Women, however, have a much smaller reproductive window Men should be attuned to signals of a woman’s reproductive value  Number of children a person of a certain age and sex is likely to have in the future

Cues of Youth & Health   Men prefer  Slightly younger women than themselves  Particularly, women in peak reproductive age  Healthy women Tradeoff between fecundity and fertility for long-term investors

Beauty Standards    May be both physical and behavioural People of all ages (including infants) are capable of discriminating beauty standards There is cross-cultural agreement on many standards (though variation as well)

Symmetry and Averageness   Fluctuating asymmetry is a marker of developmental stability  Low FA is seen as attractive  Increases with age  May be associated with psychological characteristics as well Averageness is also preferred in mates

Waist-to-Hip Ratios (1)   Proportion of body fat is a variable beauty standard across cultures At puberty, body fat between boys & girls distribution differs  In girls, fat is distributed around upper thighs, buttocks, and hips  This decreases the waist-to-hip ratio

Waist-to-Hip Ratios (2)     Male range: .85-.95

Female range: .67-.80

WHR is negatively correlated with  Fertility  Health Has been demonstrated cross-culturally, though there is disagreement

Two Objections re: Ovulation  Buss may have mislead you on two points 1. There is no evidence that concealed ovulation was selected for; rather, “advertised” ovulation probably evolved 2. There is no evidence that men can detect women in their ovulatory phase

Paternity Uncertainty    Due to paternity uncertainty, men prefer  Premarital chastity  Sexual fidelity Mother & her family put great emphasis on reassuring father of his paternal status Men care more about the resemblance of offspring than women

Context Effects   Man’s status & prestige  High standards  Greater age discrepancies Pin-ups & Centrefolds  Appear to have an effect of raising standards  Do not appear to elicit misogyny or violence, per se

The Wrap-Up       Minimum investment Male parental investment Parental effort & mating effort Cues of youth & health  Symmetry, averageness, WHR Concealed vs. advertised ovulation Paternity uncertainty

Things to Come  Short-term mating  Costs & benefits  Adaptive problems  Evidence