AO1 - Evolutionary Explanations for Partner Preferences

• Sexual selection - the strategies we use to select our mate:

  • Darwin's theory of evolution states that partner preferences is driven by sexual selection which means males and females choose their partners in order to maximise reproductive success
  • Some physical characteristics such as muscular men, show a sign of genetic fitness that increases reproductive success are passed on and may become exaggerated over later generations of offspring
  • For example, females who select muscular men as mates are more likely to have strong offspring and therefore the preference is maintained in the future
• Anisogamy:

  • Inter-sexual selection: Between sexes - Strategies that males use to select females or females use to select males
  • Intra-sexual selection: Within each sex (competition) - E.g. strategies between males to be the one selected by the female
• Anisogamy for males - sperm

  • Vast numbers
  • Small
  • Mobile
  • Not a lot of energy to produce
  • Continuously created
• Anisogamy for females - egg

  • Once a month
  • Large
  • Limited number
  • Lot of energy required to produce - hormonal fluctuation
• Males:

  • What does each sex have/invest in? - Invest less biologically than females as they can remain fertile throughout their lives and cannot be sure of paternity
  • What does this mean about their behaviour? - More likely to be promiscuous and prefer short term mating strategies with multiple females (Quantity > quality)
  • What do they choose from opposite sex? - To ensure offspring have greater chances of survival, they seek a young, attractive, fertile female with wide hips
  • How do they compete? - In competition with other males to access high quality females so may show physical aggression
• Females:

  • What does each sex have/invest in? - Invest more biologically than males as they are only fertile for 30 years on average but can be sure of maternity
  • What does this mean about their behaviour? - More likely to engage in long term mating and tend to be more choosy when looking for a mate (Quality > quantity)
  • What do they choose from opposite sex? - To ensure offspring have greater chances of survival, they are more choosy: seek a strong dominant male who provides resources and are tall (genetic fitness)