Lecture 21 Notes on Women's Long Term Mate Preferences

Good Health and Mate Selection

• Good health is a critical characteristic in a potential mate.

• It forecasts reliability and availability. An unhealthy partner may not provide necessary resources, particularly important historically for females.

• Health impacts physical attributes like size and athleticism, which play a role in protection and fertility.

• Choosing a healthy mate avoids costs related to illness or disability. as if partner is sick, he can transfer the disease and also taking care of someone with substantial health needs can be a lot

  • Illnesses can be transmissible, posing risks, and can require care that may burden the partner.

• In evolutionary contexts, a mate with health issues could risk survival for the partner and offspring. offspring characteristics influenced by the genetic quality and health of both parents, making a healthy mate crucial for ensuring the survival and reproductive success of future generations.

Importance of Health in Mate Preferences

• The 18 questionnaire reveals preferences for health:

• good health Rated importance for both sexes: 2.3 overall, 2.4 for women, 2.1 for men, indicating high value placed on good health in mate selection.

  Signals of Good Health

• Humans assess health without medical records through various signals, similar across species:

• Traits in animals signal health, e.g., peacock feathers, which are vibrant only in healthy males. they also come with costs. for example peacocks feathers can be require energy to maintain and grow , thus serving as honest indicators of fitness. Similarly, humans may look for features such as clear skin or physical fitness that indicate overall health and well-being.

• Potential Indicators of Health in Humans

• Speculation about human traits:

• Head hair may signal health as it tends to thin or fall out with illness.

• Further research needed to understand the adaptation of hair as a health signal.

Symmetry as a Health Indicator

• Facial and body symmetry can signal health and genetic quality.

• Symmetrical individuals likely faced fewer developmental stressors and possess stronger genetics.

• Symmetry correlates with age; younger individuals tend to be more symmetrical.

• Research supports the notion that symmetry communicates health positively:

• Greater symmetry correlates with higher physiological health scores and disease resistance.

• Facial symmetry linked to attractiveness: studies show a positive correlation between facial symmetry and attractiveness ratings.

Effects of Symmetry on Mating Success

• Further studies reveal that men with more symmetrical faces tend to have more sexual partners, establishing a link between attractiveness and mate selection.

Masculinization of Features and Health

• Masculine features (facial hair, jaw prominence, longer face, narrow eyes and wider jaw proportion) develop during puberty under the influence of testosterone.

• More masculine features can signify health status based on the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis; only healthy males can sustain high testosterone effects. testosterone is tough on the body and leads to lower immune response. to maintain a good testosterone level.. show the feautures of high testosterone and still be healthy, means the man must have superior genes.

  Masculinized features correlate with:

• Strength and athletic ability, which can be attractive.

• Short-term mating tendencies, leading to potential complications in long-term mating scenarios. it might work against women.

• Risk of infidelity increase and perceived romantic engagement levels decrease with increased masculinity.

Evidence of Preference for Masculinization

• Quick time study- Studies using software to manipulate images indicate that females generally find slightly more masculine faces more attractive, associating masculinity with health perceived benefits.

• However, findings across studies vary, indicating that masculinity doesn’t always correlate positively with attractiveness. women ended up tweaking the images a bit to make them more masculine.

  • Meta-analysis suggests a small correlation (r = 0.35) between masculinity and attractiveness, highlighting the complexity of these traits. it is complex as we saw earlier, some women may even look at more masculine feautures might show signs of infidelity or desire for short-term mating strategies over long-term commitment, which can influence their overall mate preferences.

  • The trade-offs of masculine traits in mating contexts require more research.

Conclusion

• The interplay of health, physical traits, masculinity, and context effects show how evolutionary pressures shape human mating preferences.

• Ongoing research is essential to understand the nuances of these relationships and their implications for mate selection.