Musical improvisation skill in a prospective partner is associated with mate value and preferences,consistent with sexual selection and parental investment theory: Implications for the origin of music

Music is a human universal, which suggests a biological adaptation. Several evolutionary explanations have been proposed, covering the entire spectrum of natural, sexual, and group selection. Here we consider the hypothesis that musical behaviour constitutes a reliable or even costly signal of fitness, and thus may have evolved as a human trait through sexual selection. We experimentally tested how musical performance quality (MPQ), in improvisations on the drums, saxophone, and violin, affects mate values and mate preferences perceived by a prospective partner. Swedish student participants (27 of each sex) saw a face of a person of the opposite sex and heard a piece of improvised music being played. The music occurred in three levels of MPQ and the faces in three levels of facial attractiveness (FA). For each parametric combination of MPG and FA, the participants rated four mate value scales (intelligence, health, social status, and parenting skill) and four mate preference scales (date, intercourse, and short- and long term relationship). Consistent with sexual selection theory, mate value ratings were generally increased by MPQ for raters of both sexes. Consistent with more specific hypotheses that follow from combining sexual selection and parental investment theory, women’s but not men’s preference for a long-term, but not short-term, relationship was significantly increased by MPQ, MPQ generally affected women’s ratings more than men’s, FA generally affected men’s ratings more than women’s, and women’s ratings of intelligence were even more influenced by MPQ than by FA.     

Same-Sex Gaze Attraction Influences Mate-Choice Copying in Humans

Mate-choice copying occurs when animals rely on the mating choices of others to inform their own mating decisions. The proximate mechanisms underlying mate-choice copying remain unknown. To address this question, we tracked the gaze of men and women as they viewed a series of photographs in which a potential mate was pictured beside an opposite-sex partner; the participants then indicated their willingness to engage in a long-term relationship with each potential mate. We found that both men and women expressed more interest in engaging in a relationship with a potential mate if that mate was paired with an attractive partner. Men and women''s attention to partners varied with partner attractiveness and this gaze attraction influenced their subsequent mate choices. These results highlight the prevalence of non-independent mate choice in humans and implicate social attention and reward circuitry in these decisions.     

Sex and age differences in preferences and tactics of mate attraction: Analysis of published advertisements

Using the theoretical perspective of evolutionary biology, 13 hypotheses were generated concerning sex and age differences in human mate preferences and tactics of mate attraction. Classified “lonely hearts” advertisements (N = 1,000) from a nationally circulated, fortnightly magazine were content-analyzed. Men, more than women, sought cues to reproductive value (i.e., physical appearance and youth), whereas women, more than men, sought cues revealing an ability to acquire resources (i.e., actual and potential financial security and older men). Women also sought to ascertain a man's willingness to provide resources (in the form of time, emotions, money, and status) in a relationship. Both sexes offered those traits sought by the opposite sex. Men were more promiscuously inclined than women, favoring casual relationships and being more likely to be married, whereas women sought long-term monogamous relationships. These differences support evolutionary predictions based on concepts of sexual selection, parental investment, and reproductive capacities and confirm the use of personal advertisements as a valuable method of research.     

The primacy of trust within romantic relationships: Evidence from conjoint analysis of HEXACO-derived personality profiles

Mate preference research often focuses on traits that indicate a romantic partner's personal worth (e.g., their physical attractiveness, resource potential) rather than their tendency to leverage that worth for mutual vs. zero-sum benefit (i.e., their trustworthiness). No one has assessed the contribution of trustworthiness to perceived mate value relative to other personality dimensions. Here we examined the desirability of a partner's trustworthiness relative to five other personality indicators of mate quality during initial partner selection. Participants (n = 918) ranked multivariate partner profiles constructed from the HEXACO model of personality (i.e., honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience) and provided partner ratings for each trait. Using conjoint analysis, we found that honesty-humility influenced participants' ranking decisions substantially more than each other characteristic (all Cohen's ds > 0.62). This was true for both long- (i.e., committed) and short-term (i.e., purely sexual) partner evaluations, though honesty-humility was relatively more important for long- vs. short-term contexts. There were no sex differences. A different pattern, including sex differences, emerged for partner ratings. Based on these findings, we hypothesize that the challenge of avoiding romantic interpersonal predation may have been a relatively stronger selection pressure during the evolution of human mate preference than has the challenge of identifying other valuable partner traits.     

Are men and women really so different?

Distinct differences in the behaviour and preferences of men and women have conventionally been attributed to Trivers' powerful insights regarding the impact of parental investment on sexual selection and mating systems. This has spawned a huge literature about the evolutionary significance of human sex differences. But are men and women really so different? An elegant new study shows that men and women are strikingly similar in their mate preferences. Have conventional models blinded us to the obvious, and precluded the posing of far more interesting questions?     

Mate preferences and choices for facial and body hair in heterosexual women and homosexual men: influence of sex,population, homogamy,and imprinting-like effect

Recent research has reported that male body and facial hair influence women's mate preferences. However, it is not clear whether such preferences are typical for women or for individuals who prefer males as sexual partners. Here we explored body and facial hair in preferred and actual partners among men and women who prefer men as sexual partners. Including homosexual individuals provides a unique opportunity to investigate whether evolved mating psychologies are specific to the sex of the individual or sex of the partner. Based on an online survey of 1577 participants from Brazil and the Czech Republic, we found that, on average, homosexual men preferred hairier stimuli than heterosexual women, supporting past findings that homosexual men have strong preferences for masculine traits. Preferences for facial and body hair appear to be influenced less by sex of the preferred partner than sex of the individual, pointing to a possible sex-specific mating psychology. Further, Brazilians preferred bigger beards than Czechs, which was positively associated with the self-reported amount of beardedness in Brazil, suggesting that familiarity effects underpin cross-cultural differences in preferences for facial hair. Moreover, homosexual men preferred a self-similar degree of beardedness, and Czech women preferred a similar degree of beardedness as their fathers had during their childhood. However, these effects were not associated with the level of facial hair in their actual partners; in general, mate preferences and actual mate choices for facial and body hair differed. Thus, individual differences in some self-reported characteristics, cultural factors, and aspects of personal experience may modulate differences in preferences for masculine traits.     

Mate selection criteria: A pilot study

Open-ended questions were used to investigate mate selection criteria among male and female medical students (n = 40). Striking sex differences emerged in this sample's preferences concerning spouses' relative earning power and occupational status, partners' physical attractiveness, and the marital division of labor. The results supported the hypotheses: Increasing socioeconomic status (SES) of women does not eliminate and may not even reduce traditional sex differences in mate selection criteria and marital goals. Increasing the SES of women tends to increase their socioeconomic standards for mates, thereby reducing their pool of acceptable partners; increasing men's SES tends to enlarge their pool of available acceptable partners. Based on these interviews and pertinent literature, closed-ended questions were developed and administered to female (n = 212) and male (n = 170) undergraduates. Highly significant sex differences emerged in this sample; these sex differences mirrored those found among the medical students. The methodological implications of these results are discussed.     

On sex differences in sexual imprinting

Several studies have reported sex differences in the relation between early experience and later pair formation. These differences are usually ascribed to sex differences in ‘imprintability’. This interpretation has given rise to various functional explanations. In this article the evidence for both the existence of sex differences in imprintability (i.e. learning of plumage characteristics during juvenile life) and the functional explanations of these differences are critically examined. It is concluded that the existence of sex differences in imprintability has not been proved. Recent studies indicate that sex differences may be the result of a difference in the way both sexes weigh multiple criteria on which mate choice is based. It is suggested that more attention should be given to a causal and ontogenetic analysis of these criteria for an understanding of sex differences in mate choice. The function of sex differences found in imprinting studies seems not to be related to plumage differences between sexes but may be related to sex differences in optimal mate choice.     

Gender differences in mate selection criteria: Sociobiological or socioeconomic explanation?

Past research has demonstrated clear gender differences in reported mate selection criteria. Compared to women, men place more importance on physical attractiveness and women place more importance than men do on the earning capacity of a potential mate. These gender differences have been explained using both sociobiological propositions and differences in the relative economic power of men and women. The present study tested the structural powerlessness hypothesis as an explanation for women's greater emphasis on the earning capacity of a potential spouse. Samples of college students (N = 997) and community members (N = 282) were asked to report expected personal income and to rate the importance of listed characteristics in a potential mate. Consistent with past research, men placed more emphasis on the item Good Looks, whereas women placed more importance on the item Good Financial Prospect. Contrary to the structural powerless model, women's expected income was positively related to ratings of the importance of a potential mate's earning capacity in the college sample and was unrelated to women's ratings of the item Good Financial Prospect in the community sample. Findings are discussed in terms of both evolutionary psychology and gender differences in access to financial resources.     

Conditional expression of women's desires and men's mate guarding across the ovulatory cycle

Thirty-eight normally cycling women provided daily reports of sexual interests and feelings for 35 days. Near ovulation, both pair-bonded and single women reported feeling more physically attractive and having greater interest in attending social gatherings where they might meet men. Pair-bonded women who were near ovulation reported greater extra-pair flirtation and greater mate guarding by their primary partner. As predicted, however, these effects were exhibited primarily by women who perceived their partners to be low on hypothesized good genes indicators (low in sexual attractiveness relative to investment attractiveness). Ovulation-contingent increases in partner mate guarding were also moderated by female physical attractiveness; midcycle increases in mate guarding were experienced primarily by less attractive women, whereas more attractive women experienced relatively high levels of mate guarding throughout their cycle. These findings demonstrate ovulation-contingent shifts in desires and behaviors that are sensitive to varying fitness payoffs, and they provide support for the good genes hypothesis of human female extra-pair mating. The daily assessment method provides an important supplement to existing studies using scheduled laboratory visits as the purpose of the study (examining cycle-related variation) is not known by participants.     

Evolved gender differences in mate preferences: Evidence from personal advertisements

Evolutionary theorists have posited that contemporary men and women may differ in their specific psychological mechanisms having to do with mate selection because different strategies would have benefitted men versus women in our distant ancestral past. From these theorized gender differences in mating strategies, several hypotheses were generated and subsequently tested in the current study using a large sample of personal advertisements (N = 1111). The results were generally supportive of evolutionary predictions: men were more likely than women to offer financial resources and honesty/ sincerity, and to seek attractiveness, appealing body shape, and a photograph in selecting a potential mate; women were more likely than men to offer an appealing body shape and to seek financial resources, qualities likely to lead to resource acquisition, and honesty/sincerity in potential mates. Women were also more likely than men to seek male friendship and/or companionship and to offer greater involvement only after the establishment of such friendship, whereas men more frequently than women made explicit requests for a sexual relationship. In general, men sought potential mates who were younger than themselves, a trend which became more pronounced among older advertisers. Women generally sought mates who were older than themselves, a trend which decreased slightly with the age of the advertiser. Results are discussed with regard to implications for hypothesized gender differences in evolved psychological mechanisms.     

Strategic Sexual Signals: Women's Display versus Avoidance of the Color Red Depends on the Attractiveness of an Anticipated Interaction Partner

The color red has special meaning in mating-relevant contexts. Wearing red can enhance perceptions of women’s attractiveness and desirability as a potential romantic partner. Building on recent findings, the present study examined whether women’s (N = 74) choice to display the color red is influenced by the attractiveness of an expected opposite-sex interaction partner. Results indicated that female participants who expected to interact with an attractive man displayed red (on clothing, accessories, and/or makeup) more often than a baseline consisting of women in a natural environment with no induced expectation. In contrast, when women expected to interact with an unattractive man, they eschewed red, displaying it less often than in the baseline condition. Findings are discussed with respect to evolutionary and cultural perspectives on mate evaluation and selection.     

Results of an explorative empirical study on human mating in Germany: handsome men, not high-status men, succeed in courtship

Recent research on human mating depicts men as searching for physical attractiveness (PA) and women as searching for status. To identify the mechanisms which lead to universal, biologically interpretable structures in social processes, we focused on the proximate causes for inter- and intrasexual differences in human mating preferences, attraction, and tactics. We collected data on 180 young singles (mean age 26.9 years) without a steady relationship. A questionnaire and a video sequence (20-30 seconds) of each subject was taken. Next, each video sequence was rated by approximately 20 individuals of the opposite sex, who also participated in this study. Surprisingly, the answers given by male and female subjects regarding sociosexual behaviour and mating preferences are predominantly congruent. Sex differences among preferences for good looking and high-status partners were small or even insignificant. Lower educated subjects had considerably higher status preferences than higher educated individuals. In both sexes, PA was much more preferred in a potential partner than status. For both sexes, physical appearance was decisive for the subject's dating attractiveness. Male, but not female dating attractiveness also correlates with a kind and charismatic appearance. Furthermore, there was a positive linear relationship between men's PA and their number of sexual partners within the last year. Men with more than four sexual partners were all above-average in PA, while the most attractive women had a medium number of sexual partners. However, in this respect, status had no influence. The results show that sex differences in mating are more complex than hitherto assumed.     

Mate choice trade-offs and women’s preference for physically attractive men

Researchers studying human sexuality have repeatedly concluded that men place more emphasis on the physical attractiveness of potential mates than women do, particularly in long-term sexual relationships. Evolutionary theorists have suggested that this is the case because male mate value (the total value of the characteristics that an individual possesses in terms of the potential contribution to his or her mate’s reproductive success) is better predicted by social status and economic resources, whereas women’s mate value hinges on signals conveyed by their physical appearance. This pattern may imply that women trade off attractiveness for resources in mate choice. Here I test whether a trade-off between resources and attractiveness seems to be occurring in the mate choice decisions of women in the United States. In addition, the possibility that the risk of mate desertion drives women to choose less attractive men as long-term mates is tested. The results were that women rated physically attractive men as more likely to cheat or desert a long-term relationship, whereas men did not consider attractive women to be more likely to cheat. However, women showed no aversion to the idea of forming long-term relationships with attractive men. Evidence for a trade-off between resources and attractiveness was found for women, who traded off attractiveness, but not other traits, for resources. The potential meaning of these findings, as well as how they relate to broader issues in the study of sex differences in the evolution of human mate choice for physical traits, is discussed.     

Willingness to engage in casual sex

Sexually dimorphic mate selection strategies were examined in 200 university students reporting their willingness to engage in casual sexual encounters with hypothetical individuals of the opposite sex. Using a questionnaire format, the possibility of forming a long-term relationship was manipulated, while risk of disease, pregnancy, and detection was eliminated across all conditions. In addition, potential partners varied in level of attractiveness, and in personality and behavioral characteristics. As expected, men reported a greater anticipated willingness to engage in sexual intercourse across all conditions compared with women. The possibility of forming a long-term relationship elevated women’s, but not men’s, willingness for sexual intercourse. While a potential partner’s attractiveness had a significant positive overall effect on responses, reducing their relative attractiveness had a greater negative impact on men’s responses. Reference to the parental qualities of a potential partner significantly increased women’s, but not men’s, anticipated willingness for sexual intercourse. Describing a hypothetical partner as non-aggressive (safe) marginally increased women’s willingness (p<.09) and did not affect men’s responses. The wording of items relevant to this condition may have resulted in the potential partner sounding "wimpy" rather than nonaggressive, and this may have reduced the expected effect of this manipulation. The possibility that women may trade off personality and behavioral characteristics with attractiveness to a greater degree than men when assessing potential mates is considered.     

Universal sex differences in online advertisers age preferences: comparing data from 14 cultures and 2 religious groups

The search for a potential partner has been aided over recent years by the widespread use of online dating sites and this process of relationship formation has conveniently presented an ideal opportunity for researchers to analyze human mating desires and to compare evolutionary and social constructivist based hypotheses. One such aspect of human mating behaviour yet to be thoroughly explored using access to online dating advertisements is the idealized age desired by each sex when considering a possible relationship. This study accessed minimum (youngest age considered) and maximum (oldest age considered) age preferences from 14 separate cultures and two religious groups from both sexes at ages 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 years. The results showed that overall there was a growing disparity between males own age and preferred age of partner as males themselves aged (as indicated by greater effect sizes with advertisers age), with females showing a pattern for preferences around their own age or older. Females did not express an age preference for males younger than male's age preferences for females at any advertiser's age. On only three occasions were there no age differences between the sexes in their desire to initiate a relationship with the opposite sex. The results were clearly concurrent with earlier findings supportive of evolutionary or adaptationist interpretations. Neither a random pattern of age preferences more consistent with an arbitrary norms prediction, nor clear evidence for toy boy proclivities in females or males was found. Future studies utilizing the methodology used in this study to examine other human mating decision making processes are proposed.     

No Sex or Age Difference in Dead-Reckoning Ability among Tsimane Forager-Horticulturalists

Sex differences in reproductive strategy and the sexual division of labor resulted in selection for and maintenance of sexual dimorphism across a wide range of characteristics, including body size, hormonal physiology, behavior, and perhaps spatial abilities. In laboratory tasks among undergraduates there is a general male advantage for navigational and mental-rotation tasks, whereas studies find female advantage for remembering item locations in complex arrays and the locations of plant foods. Adaptive explanations of sex differences in these spatial abilities have focused on patterns of differential mate search and routine participation in distinct subsistence behaviors. The few studies to date of spatial ability in nonindustrial populations practicing subsistence lifestyles, or across a wider age range, find inconsistent results. Here we examine sex- and age-based variation in one kind of spatial ability related to navigation, dead-reckoning, among Tsimane forager horticulturalists living in lowland Bolivia. Seventy-three participants (38 male) aged 6–82 years pointed a handheld global positioning system (GPS) unit toward the two nearest communities and the more distant market town. We find no evidence of sex differences in dead reckoning (p?=?0.47), nor do we find any evidence of age-related decline in dead-reckoning accuracy (p?=?0.28). Participants were significantly more accurate at pointing toward the market town than toward the two nearest villages despite its being significantly farther away than the two nearest communities. Although Tsimane do show sexual dimorphism in foraging tasks, Tsimane women have extensive daily and lifetime travel, and the local environment lacks directional cues that typically enhance male navigation. This study raises the possibility that greater similarity in mobility patterns because of overlapping subsistence strategies and activities may result in convergence of some male and female navigation abilities.     

Gender differences in sexual jealousy: Adaptionist or social learning explanation?

It has often been speculated, and some evidence suggests, that men and women differ in the elicitation of jealousy: Men appear to be more likely than women to become upset over threats to sexual exclusivity; whereas women are more likely than men to react negatively to potential loss of partner time and attention. Both adaptionist and traditional social learning theories have been used to explain these apparent gender differences. In the present article we outline both explanations and review the relevant psychological literature on gender differences in the elicitation of jealousy. We propose that the difference in men's and women's psychological mechanisms for elicitation of jealousy is best characterized (at least in this culture) as a greater sensitivity among men to cues indicative of possible sexual infidelity rather than greater emotional upset in response to the occurence of extradyadic sex on the part of one's mate. We also provide data testing a traditional social learning explanation for the elicitation of jealousy. Results of a survey administered to college students (N = 223) demonstrate the subtle nature of gender differences in the elicitation of jealousy within this culture. Men and women were most likely to differ (in the hypothesized directions) when items pertained to concern over a partner's potential extradyadic sex rather than to reactions to sexual infidelity that is suspected to have already occurred. Although men reported placing more value on sexual activity within dating relationships and women reported placing more value on emotional intimacy, these ratings of relationship rewards did not explain the gender differences in reported jealousy. Results failed to support a traditional social learning explanation of jealousy and are discussed with regard to evolutionary theory and directions for future research.     

Withholding Age as Putative Deception in Mate Search Tactics

Mate choice is a process of negotiation in which individuals make decisions about whether or not to allow a relationship with a prospective mate to develop into a long-term relationship. In some cases, this process begins with opening bids between strangers. Although each individual may have a clearly perceived set of preferred options, frequency-dependent effects and constraints on available search time often mean that individuals have to settle for less than ideal partners. Age is a criterion that males use in judging the mate value of prospective female partners, because it correlates with fertility. In this paper, we analyze personal advertisements to show that women may decline to declare their age in order to appear younger than they really are. This allows them to be more demanding than they would otherwise be able to be. A comparison of trait profiles with those of women of known age suggests that individuals who disguise their ages are likely to be in the age range 35 to 50 years. Three alternative explanations for this can be suggested: such behavior might be an attempt to find a high-quality partner (1) before their reproductive opportunities are foreclosed by menopause, (2) to replace lost paternal investment, or (3) to reduce the burden on the children of caring for aging parents by obtaining companionship and assistance from a new partner.