evolutionary explanations for partner preference

• natural selection


  human behaviour is driven by need to survive and reproduce, genes that give reproductive advantage will increase gene pool
• intersexual selection

  often females due to high investment cost and parental certainty of children, pick highest quality mate from wide selection according to attractive features indicating good genes
• intra sexual selection


  males due to low investment costs and lack of parental certainty, competing between each other for access to large quantity of members of other sex
• intersexual selection


  females choose to prevent wasting invested time and energy on offspring which are of poor genetic quality, females have a gene which makes them find the male characteristic appealing
• intra sexual selection


  males compete against each other to appear to be the best mate and winners get to pass on these genetic characteristics to their off-spring, and so it continues
• sexual dimorphism

  differences in appearance between males and females of same species, such as colour, shape, size and structure
• females look for qualities that would help raise a child to adulthood, resources, money, physical characteristics linked to dominance (tall and healthy), v shaped chest
• males look for qualities of fertility that indicate production of healthy offspring, large breasts, young (facial features), body shape of 0.7 waist to hip ratio, indicates sexual maturity but no pregnant
• anisogamy


  refers to fact that male gametes (sperm) produced in large numbers with little cost, compared to production of female gametes (eggs)