Hormones and Human Mating

Abstract

Abstract Hormones are integral to the regulation of mating behavior in most sexually reproducing species and are likely to have similar importance for human mating. This chapter reviews major research themes regarding the role of endocrine variables in the adaptations that implement human mating psychology and behavior, including the roles of hormones in the development of sexual orientation, the regulation of sexual motivation and its trade-offs with competing motivational priorities, the relationship between hormones and attractiveness, and the role of hormones in the regulation of mate preferences. Investigation of the endocrine predictors of specific variables can help to arbitrate between competing theoretical arguments regarding human mating, and the chapter systematically reviews the relevant data on hormone variables within the context of these theoretical debates. As a broad generalization, accumulating evidence in humans supports roles for gonadal hormones in regulating shifts in the allocation of behavioral and somatic effort toward mating versus alternative adaptive problems. In women, evidence supports the ovarian hormones estradiol and progesterone acting as a two-signal endocrine code that indexes temporal fluctuations in fecundity and increases the prioritization of sexual motivation when fecundity is elevated. In men, accumulating evidence supports testosterone as a signal that regulates trade-offs between effort invested in mate-seeking and mate competition versus in survival effort and investment in pair- bonds and paternal care. Similar patterns in many nonhuman species suggest that phylogenetically ancient roles for hormones have been partially conserved in humans and continue to exert important effects on human mating psychology and behavior.