AO3 - Evolutionary Explanations for Partner Preferences

• Research to support the evolutionary explanation for partner preferences was conducted by Buss. He carried out a survey on over 10,000 participants from 33 countries and asked questions relating to a variety of attributes that evolutionary theory predicts are important in partner preferences. He found that males prefer youthful, physically attractive females, whereas females prefer resources such as good finances, ambitious males. These findings reflect sex differences in sexual selection, therefore supporting predictions of partner preferences made by the evolutionary explanation.
• Research to support the evolutionary explanation for partner preferences was conducted by Clarke and Hatfield. They had males and females approach members of the opposite sex and asked the question, “Will you have sex with me?”. He found that 75% of males said yes whereas 0% of females agreed to have sex with the male. Therefore supporting the differences in partner preference and human reproductive behaviour as it demonstrates the idea that females are choosy when it comes to selecting sexual partners and males have evolved a different strategy to ensure reproductive success.
• In addition, the evolutionary explanation for partner preferences lacks temporal validity as it cannot explain modern relationships. For example, it cannot explain homosexuality, individuals who do not want to have children and women who choose to have abortions as the evolutionary explanation assumes all relationships are motivated by a desire to reproduce. Therefore, limiting the evolutionary explanation for partner preference as it cannot solely explain the relationship between sexual selection and human reproductive behaviour as otherwise these individual differences would not exist.