Lecture 18 Female Long-Term Mating Preferences Overview

Discussion continues from previous lecture on the importance of resources in mating preferences.
Emphasizes how resources are vital for women's survival and child-rearing capacity.

Women have a heightened need for resources due to:
- Pregnancy, breastfeeding, and child care responsibilities.
Preference for resources is stronger in long-term relationships than in short-term ones.

Definition: Social status refers to an individual's perceived rank within society, which fluctuates across cultures.
Women may prefer men with higher social status because:
- Higher status typically correlates with access to more resources.
- Concept of the "big man" seen across many traditional cultures showing a correlation between status and accumulated wealth.

A study of 186 cultures indicates:
- Men with higher social status have more children and those children fare better overall.
Suggests that higher social status enhances reproductive outcomes in long-term mating contexts.

The 67-item questionnaire and other studies reveal women's preferences across cultures for mates indicating social status:
- Long-term relationships rated career-related items at significantly higher (2.6-2.7 range) compared to short-term relationships (0.4-1.1 range).
- Cross-cultural surveys like the 18-item questionnaire consistently show the importance of social status being more important for women in “most cultures” except Estonia.

Age is related to resource acquisition:
- Older individuals generally have more developed capacities to acquire resources.
- Older men possess advantages in social status, impacting resource availability.
- physical strength peaks around 30 for men i.e hunting helps
Cross-cultural surveys like the 18-item questionnaire consistently show women's preference for slightly older men (around 3 years).
- Availability of suitable partners decreases with age; thus, this preference is moderated by potential mate availability.

Example from the Tiwis in Australia: Men often marry around age 30, indicating they have acquired sufficient resources by then.
Hunting ability is often enhanced by age, adding another layer to why age preferences exist in mate selection. hunting peaks at 30.
Attractiveness correlates with hunting in Amazonian groups.

Selective pressures that make the gap not more than 3 years..

Traits like work ethic, ambition, and industriousness are attractive due to:
- Their correlation with future resource acquisition potential.
- Preference for partners who show traits indicating capability rather than just current resources. being ambitious, hardworking and industriousness are indicators of future wealth.
Evidence indicates women rate these traits as highly important (between 1.9 and 2.5) and men ( 1.1- 1.9) compared to men. in our classes.. women rated 2.3 and men 1.4.

Ambition and industriousness are consistently viewed as important traits by women across cultures, suggesting a well-documented preference for these attributes in long-term mates.

Observations of men in calendars and public imagery often emphasize traits of hard work and industriousness, implying that these traits enhance attractiveness, aligning anecdotal evidence with empirical findings.