- Title
- An exploration of individual differences in human mating preferences and competitive tactics
- Creator
- Wagstaff, Danielle Leigh
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2017
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Mating strategies are the set of traits, behaviours, preferences, perceptual biases, and cognitions that affect individual navigation of the mating and dating world, the result of tactics were selected for over time because they aided their ancestors in reproduction. The difference in minimal parental investment between the sexes means that men and women have often been under differential selection pressure to evolve particular mating strategies, and so men are more likely than women are to pursue a short-term mating strategy, whereas women are more likely than men are to pursue a long-term strategy. However, both sexes engage in strategic pluralism, whereby both men and women employ multiple mating strategies as a means of maximising individual reproductive success. The principles of assortative mating also demonstrate that individuals often end up mating with people similar to themselves, as opposed to every individual seeking to mate with the highest quality exemplar. Therefore, evolutionary forces have resulted in a range individual variation, which reflects the individual costs and benefits of engaging in a particular mating strategy, and the effort put into either maximising reproductive output, seeking a high quality mate, or both. Thus, mating strategies are complex and multi-faceted. In order to navigate the mating and dating world, we need to be able to make decisions about another individual’s mate quality, by judging particular cues to characteristics that are important in a potential mate. We also signal our own mate quality to others, which can attract mates or ward off potential competitors. The expression and employment of these tactics is highly dependent on a number of factors, such as context, our cognitions about mating, and our own mate quality. This thesis is a body of work examining these individual differences; that is, examination of those signals that individuals might be sending to other people about their mate quality, and their responses to variation in these cues in others. More specifically, the thesis explores: sex differences in attention allocation to the faces and bodies of potential mates; within-sex variation in female mate signalling, via clothing choice and the use of artificial fragrance; as well as the role of facial characteristics in mate choice, by examining how we respond to facial variation in others, and exploring facial variation as a signal of underlying mate quality. In doing so, several important variables that can affect the use of these mating tactics are considered, including socio-sexual orientation, self-rated mate value, circulating gonadal hormones, and relationship status. Overall, men and women employ different mating tactics, reflective of sex-differences in evolved sexual strategies, and these tactics interact in complex ways with other mating related variables, resulting in a broad range of individual differences.
- Subject
- cross-sex; mating; attractiveness; evolutionary psychology
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1335665
- Identifier
- uon:27471
- Rights
- Copyright 2017 Danielle Leigh Wagstaff
- Language
- eng
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 128 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |