The Evolutionary Advantage of Commitment
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Questions and Answers

What is the adaptive problem ancestral men faced in identifying a woman’s fertility?

  • Distinguishing between physical attractiveness and fertility (correct)
  • Recognizing a woman's intelligence
  • Assessing a woman's social status
  • Identifying a woman's emotional stability

    • What is the evolutionary theory of men’s evolved standards of female beauty based on?

  • Social status and wealth
  • Physical strength and athleticism
  • Intelligence and creativity
  • Indicators of reproductive health and fertility (correct)

    • What problem do men face due to 'paternity uncertainty'?

  • Uncertainty about a woman's social status
  • Uncertainty about a woman's fertility
  • Uncertainty about a woman's emotional stability
  • Uncertainty about biological fatherhood of offspring (correct)

    • What is one explanation for men's desire for young women?

    <p>Young women are easier to control and less dominant than older women</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Why may men have received more reward for seeking dates with younger women according to the text?

    <p>Because younger women are more likely to reciprocate interest</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a possible explanation for older men preferring women who are in their mid-30s?

    <p>Older men have difficulty attracting dramatically younger women</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do men's preferences for younger mates across cultures indicate?

    <p>Biological factors influencing mate selection</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the eye-tracking study reveal about men's attentional adhesion?

    <p>Adhesion to young female faces</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How do men's age affect their preferences for mates?

    <p>Desire for younger mates as they age</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does reproductive value refer to?

    <p>The expected future reproduction of a person</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are men's long-term mate preferences primarily based on?

    <p>Intelligence, kindness, understanding, and health</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the impact of exposure to Western media on judgments of attractiveness in different cultures?

    <p>It does not affect judgments of attractiveness in different cultures</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a potential reason for men seeking marriage for reproductive success?

    <p>To provide long-term resources and protection</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In what way does marriage potentially benefit a man's children in ancestral environments?

    <p>Increases the odds of a man being the father of his children</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How does human mating differ from chimpanzee mating according to the text?

    <p>Women's ovulation is relatively concealed in humans</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are some observable cues to a woman's reproductive value according to the text?

    <p>Clear skin, smooth skin, clear eyes</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the link between physical attractiveness and health according to the text?

    <p>Physical attractiveness is linked to objective measures of health</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to the text, what are universally regarded as attractive signs of youth and health?

    <p>Clear, smooth skin and absence of sores and lesions</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the neuroimaging study reveal about men's response to attractive female faces?

    <p>Activation of the nucleus accumbens area of the brain</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What percentage of body fat in the lower trunk region is greater for women than for men after puberty?

    <p>40%</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study across 26 cultures reveal about women's perception of men's ideal female body size?

    <p>Women's perception of men's ideal female body size is slimmer than men's actual preference</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is NOT identified as a cue to female attractiveness in the text?

    <p>Tall stature</p> Signup and view all the answers

    According to the text, which of the following is a strong cue to youth and health in women?

    <p>Hair length</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is linked with perceived facial attractiveness and absence of parasites and skin-damaging diseases?

    <p>Unblemished skin</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the range of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) for healthy, reproductively capable women after puberty?

    <p>0.67 to 0.80</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) range for healthy men?

    <p>0.85 to 0.95</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the percentage increase in levels of the ovarian hormone oestradiol (E2) for women with a low WHR and relatively large breasts compared to other body-shape variables?

    <p>26%</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the WHR value at which women are seen as more attractive than those with a WHR of 0.80?

    <p>0.70</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In which regions were the average values of the stated WHRs found to be.70,.75,.71,.76, and.69, as calculated from reported body measurements of waist and hips?

    <p>Europe, Oceania, Asia, North America, and Latin America</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did men blind from birth prefer when assessing female body shape through touch?

    <p>Low WHR mannequin models</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the range of healthy WHR for reproductively capable women?

    <p>0.67 to 0.80</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What hormone is a good predictor of fertility and pregnancy success?

    <p>Oestradiol (E2)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the average WHR that is seen as the most attractive for women?

    <p>0.70</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the range of healthy WHR for men?

    <p>0.85 to 0.95</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study of Venus figurines covering 20,000 years of human history in Europe support?

    <p>A preference for a low WHR</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study of female 'escorts' advertised online find about stated WHRs?

    <p>0.70 in Europe</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What was identified as the two strongest predictors of women’s bodily attractiveness in a study examining multiple attributes?

    <p>Small waist and relatively long legs</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What was found to be a better predictor of attractiveness judgments than WHR?

    <p>Body Mass Index (BMI)</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What physical changes in women during ovulation are mentioned in the text?

    <p>Changes in skin, face, body, voice, and behavior</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did a study find about ovulating women in gentlemen's clubs?

    <p>They received significantly higher tips than non-ovulating women</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do ovulating women selectively increase according to the text?

    <p>Flirting with attractive but not with unattractive men</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study of Venus figurines covering 20,000 years of human history in Europe support?

    <p>The variability in preferences for WHR across different cultures</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study across 26 cultures reveal about women's perception of men's ideal female body size?

    <p>Consistent preference for a specific WHR across all cultures</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the impact of exposure to Western media on judgments of attractiveness in different cultures?

    <p>Varied impact on judgments of attractiveness</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the potential evolutionary purpose of concealed ovulation in female primates?

    <p>To promote long-term committed mating and marriage as a social tradition</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Why did men historically seek assurances of their wife’s sexual fidelity?

    <p>To reap the reproductive benefits of marriage</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the trend in the value of chastity over time?

    <p>Declined over time, coinciding with the availability of birth control</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is one of the best predictors of extramarital sex according to the text?

    <p>Premarital sexual permissiveness</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a more important cue than virginity to paternity certainty from a man’s reproductive perspective?

    <p>A reliable signal of future fidelity</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the U.S. men evaluate as the most highly valued traits in a committed mateship?

    <p>Faithfulness and sexual loyalty</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a potential reason for the cultural variability in the preference of each sex for chastity?

    <p>Variation in the economic independence of women</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a reliable signal of future fidelity from a man's reproductive perspective?

    <p>Premarital sexual permissiveness</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study across 26 cultures reveal about women's perception of men's ideal female body size?

    <p>It varies across cultures</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the stimuli used in the study among the Hadza reveal about men's preferences for women's waist-to-hip ratio (WHR)?

    <p>Men tend to find attractive a WHR that is lower than the local average when stimuli accurately characterize the local cultural range of WHR.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What was the outcome of the study that included profile views of buttocks rather than frontal views among the Hadza?

    <p>The results implied less disparity between American and Hadza preferences for the actual WHR of real women.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the two failed replications of the effect in Peru and among the Hadza reveal about men's preferences for women's WHR?

    <p>The failed replications indicated that WHR assessment is more complex than an 'invariant preference' for a specific WHR such as 0.70.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a potential evolutionary reason for concealed ovulation in female primates?

    <p>To increase the window of female attractiveness and pose a unique paternity problem for males</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a potential reason for men seeking qualities in a mate that could increase the odds of securing paternity?

    <p>To reap the reproductive benefits of marriage</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the global value of chastity by men suggest?

    <p>It is more valued by men than women as an important trait in a long-term mate</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What percentage of cultures in the international study on choosing a mate placed a significantly different value by gender on chastity?

    <p>62 percent</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What percentage of men have a primary orientation toward heterosexuality?

    <p>98%</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is one evolutionary explanation of male homosexuality mentioned in the text?

    <p>Kin selection theory</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did early tests of the kin altruism theory reveal about the likelihood of gay men funneling resources toward kin compared to heterosexual men?

    <p>Gay men and heterosexual men showed no difference in investing in their genetic relatives</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a common modern example of high-status older males' mating behavior?

    <p>Selecting partners much younger than themselves</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do men high in mate value express a stronger preference for, according to the text?

    <p>Facially feminine women</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do men viewing pictures of highly attractive women judge about their actual partners, based on the text?

    <p>They judge their actual partners to be less attractive</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the impact of exposure to potential mates on men's testosterone levels?

    <p>It triggers rapid rises in testosterone levels</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study of skateboarders in the presence of an attractive woman reveal?

    <p>An increase in risk-taking behavior and elevated testosterone levels</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the relationship between men's testosterone levels and commitment to a long-term relationship?

    <p>Men in committed relationships have lower testosterone levels</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study by McIntyre and colleagues reveal about men in relationships who pursue additional matings?

    <p>They have higher testosterone levels</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the impact of high testosterone levels on men's parenting effort?

    <p>It may interfere with parenting effort</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the potential reason for the link between testosterone levels and relationship status?

    <p>T levels drop after forming a committed relationship</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which evolutionary theory of homosexuality has accrued the strongest empirical support?

    <p>Female fertility hypothesis</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study in Samoa find about male homosexuals (fa’afafne) compared to heterosexual men?

    <p>They exhibited greater avuncular tendencies</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the potential evolutionary purpose of homoerotic behavior by young men with older men according to the alliance formation theory?

    <p>To gain allies and boost status</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did Norman Li and colleagues use to determine which mate qualities are 'necessities' and which are 'luxuries'?

    <p>The budget allocation method</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did men allocate a relatively large proportion of their budget to when given a low budget in the study by Li and colleagues?

    <p>Physical attractiveness</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did women allocate a relatively large proportion of their budget to when given a low budget in the study by Li and colleagues?

    <p>Resources</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Why might men choose a long-term mating strategy over a short-term mating strategy from an evolutionary perspective?

    <p>Long-term mating increases the likelihood of reproductive success and ensures the woman's sexual fidelity.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How does the fact of human reproductive biology create two related adaptive problems for men?

    <p>It raises the issue of paternity uncertainty and the need to ensure sexual fidelity in a mate.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Why do many men, compared to women, place a greater value on youth and physical attractiveness in a long-term mate, but cannot fulfill these mating desires?

    <p>Men's preference for youth and physical attractiveness is a result of their desire to maximize reproductive success.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the effect of men's mate preferences on women's competition tactics?

    <p>Women tend to use more appearance enhancement tactics</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the impact of makeup on women's faces according to the text?

    <p>Makeup reduces facial contrast, making women’s faces more feminine</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What tactics do women use to attract mates according to the text?

    <p>Wearing padded clothing and colored contact lenses</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a potential consequence of women feeling threatened by rivals with more feminine faces, larger breasts, and lower WHRs when flirting with their romantic partners?

    <p>They are more likely to spend more on beauty-enhancement products.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a potential link between intense intrasexual competition for mates and eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia?

    <p>Intense competition leads to a higher drive for thinness and dissatisfaction with one's body.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary focus of men's long-term mate-selection decisions according to the text?

    <p>Identifying women of high fertility and addressing paternity uncertainty.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What impact does men's mating budget have on their preferences?

    <p>They spend more on 'luxuries' like kindness, creativity, and liveliness as their mating budget increases.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What did the study find about men's preference for younger women in different cultures?

    <p>Men marrying women 10.6 years younger in 1800s Sweden reflects a global trend of men preferring younger women.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the impact of men marrying younger women on reproductive output?

    <p>Men married to women 6 years younger tend to have greater reproductive output compared to men married to women 6 years older.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    Adaptive Benefits of Commitment and Marriage for Men

    • Ancestral women required reliable signs of male commitment before consenting to sex, motivating men to seek marriage for reproductive success.
    • Men willing to promise long-term resources, protection, and investment are appealing to women, broadening their range of potential partners.
    • Marriage increases the odds of a man being the father of his children and improves their survival in ancestral environments.
    • Fathers in many cultures have a strong influence in arranging beneficial marriages for their children.
    • Marriage increases a man's status, bringing potential benefits such as better resources and additional mates.
    • Married men live longer than single men, especially if married to younger women, potentially due to marriage itself having a causal effect on men's health.
    • There are potentially nine powerful adaptive benefits for men willing to commit to marriage, including increased reproductive success, social status, and lifespan.
    • Ancestral men would benefit from marrying women with the capacity to bear children for reproductive success.
    • Men cannot observe a woman's reproductive value directly, so selection could only fashion preferences in men for observable qualities correlated with reproductive value.
    • Human mating differs from chimpanzee mating, as women's ovulation is relatively concealed, unlike the pronounced signs of estrus in female chimpanzees.
    • Sexual activity among humans occurs throughout a woman's ovulation cycle, unlike the concentrated activity during the estrus phase in chimpanzees.
    • Women's ovulation in humans is not accompanied by pronounced genital swelling or clearly detectable scents, unlike the female chimpanzee's estrus phase.

    Cues to Female Attractiveness

    • Super-white sclera is universally evaluated as attractive and a key cue to health (Provine, Cabrera, & Nave-Blodgett, 2013).
    • Among the Trobriand Islanders, health, strong hair growth, sound teeth, and smooth skin are essential conditions for beauty (Malinowski, 1929).
    • Hair length and quality are strong cues to youth and health, with younger women having longer and higher-rated quality hair (Hinsz, Matz, & Patience, 2001).
    • Clear, unblemished skin signals absence of parasites and skin-damaging diseases, and is linked with perceived facial attractiveness (Sugiyama, 2005).
    • Skin quality is linked with perceived facial attractiveness, with homogeneous skin color distribution receiving higher ratings (Fink & Neave, 2005).
    • Facial femininity, linked to estrogen levels and fertility, is a marker of reproductive value and health (Schaefer et al., 2006).
    • Feminine voices and high-pitched voices are found to be more attractive in women and provide cues to youth (Collins & Missing, 2003; Feinberg et al., 2005).
    • Women who wear high heels are judged to be more feminine and attractive (Morris, White, Morrison, & Fisher, 2013).
    • Facial symmetry is positively correlated with judgments of attractiveness and is a cue to developmental stability (Gangestad & Scheyd, 2005).
    • Facial averageness is linked with attractiveness, with composite faces being judged more attractive than individual faces (Langlois & Roggman, 1990).
    • Leg length, especially long legs relative to torso length, is viewed as maximally attractive in women (Sorokowski & Pawlowski, 2008).
    • Relatively longer legs are viewed as more attractive in women, with legs roughly 5 percent longer than average being maximally attractive (Bertamini & Bennett, 2009).

    Evolutionary Strategies for Paternity Certainty

    • Female primates have concealed ovulation, making it difficult for males to ascertain paternity.
    • Cryptic ovulation expanded the window of female attractiveness, posing a unique paternity problem for men.
    • Marriage potentially provided a solution by increasing paternity certainty through repeated sexual contact.
    • Concealed ovulation may have evolved to facilitate long-term committed mating, promoting marriage as a social tradition.
    • Marriage serves as a public signal of mating, reducing conflict within male coalitions.
    • Men had to seek assurances of their wife’s sexual fidelity to reap the reproductive benefits of marriage.
    • Men sought qualities in a mate that could increase the odds of securing paternity, such as premarital chastity and postmarital fidelity.
    • The value of chastity has declined over time, coinciding with the availability of birth control.
    • Men globally value chastity more than women as an important trait in a long-term mate.
    • There are significant cultural variations in the importance placed on chastity as a desirable trait in a potential mate.
    • Countries like China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Taiwan, and Palestinian Arab areas value chastity highly, while Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, and France do not.
    • The desire for chastity in a long-term mate varies across cultures and is more valued by men than women globally.

    Evolutionary Theories of Homosexuality and Contextual Influences on Men's Mating Behavior

    • A study in Samoa found that male homosexuals (fa’afafne) exhibited greater avuncular tendencies compared to heterosexual men, investing more in nieces and nephews through babysitting, buying toys, and investing in their education.
    • Cross-cultural studies of male androphilia expressed in a transgendered form found elevated levels of kin altruism, suggesting a potential evolutionary explanation for homosexual behavior.
    • The female fertility hypothesis suggests that genes for male homosexuality can evolve if they produce an increased reproductive rate in the female relatives of male homosexuals, potentially compensating for lower rates of reproduction in gay males.
    • Evidence suggests that the maternal female relatives of gay males produce significantly more offspring than those of heterosexual men, supporting the female fertility hypothesis.
    • The alliance formation theory proposes that homoerotic behavior by young men with older men provides a strategy for gaining allies and boosting status, ultimately leading to greater sexual access to women.
    • Empirical difficulties have been encountered by the alliance formation theory, and it does not seem to explain the majority of cultures where homoerotic behavior is not used as a strategy of alliance formation.
    • The kin altruism theory has received mixed empirical support, while the female fertility hypothesis has accrued the strongest empirical support among the three evolutionary theories of homosexuality.
    • Social, ecological, and personal contexts influence men’s mating strategies, and desires may not always correspond with actual mating behavior.
    • Humans likely evolved in small groups, where a particular man would have encountered only a few dozen attractive women, but in modern environments, they are bombarded with thousands of images of attractive models.
    • Men lacking status and resources may have difficulty attracting women, as evidence from historical data suggests that wealthier and high-status men tend to marry younger brides.
    • Kings, emperors, and men of high status historically married younger brides, while men lacking wealth and lower-status counterparts married older brides.
    • The contextual influences on men's mating behavior highlight the discrepancy between modern environments and ancestral environments in which human mating strategies likely evolved.

    Evolutionary Psychology of Mate Preferences

    • As people's mating budgets increase, they spend more on "luxuries" like kindness, creativity, and liveliness, with kindness and intelligence being close to necessities.
    • Low, medium, and high budgets likely parallel individual differences in mate value, with lower mate value individuals focusing on necessary mating traits, and higher mate value individuals being choosier.
    • Men's long-term mate preferences impact their behavior in personal ads, responses to personal ads, actual marriages, vocal patterns, tips in restaurants, money spent on engagement rings, and intrasexual competition.
    • Men respond more to women's personal ads than vice versa, with younger women receiving more responses, and mentioning physical attractiveness generating more responses for women than for men.
    • Actual marriage decisions confirm men's preference for increasingly younger women as they age, with American grooms being 3 years older at first marriage, 5 years at second, and 8 years at third marriage.
    • Men's preference for younger women is a global trend, with men marrying women 10.6 years younger in 1800s Sweden, and average age differences of 3 years in Poland to 5 years in Greece.
    • In polygynous cultures, the age difference between brides and grooms is even larger, with high-status men marrying women two decades younger.
    • Men who marry younger women tend to have greater reproductive output, with a study showing that men married to women 6 years younger had an average of 2.3 children, while those married to women 6 years older had 1.7 children.
    • Physically attractive women, historically, had higher fertility rates, with modern birth control potentially severing the link between female beauty and reproductive output.
    • Men's evolved mate preferences for young and attractive women continue to be activated and acted upon in modern environments, regardless of their current reproductive outcomes.
    • The data presented in the text supports the idea that men's long-term mate preferences heavily influence their mating behavior and decisions.
    • The text provides evidence that men's preference for younger women is a global phenomenon with significant impact on reproductive outcomes.

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    Description

    Test your knowledge of the adaptive benefits of commitment and marriage for men with this insightful quiz. Explore the evolutionary and biological factors that have shaped men's willingness to commit to long-term relationships and the potential advantages it brings in terms of reproductive success, social status, and overall well-being.

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