Human Mate Choice Research Articles

The Effect of Sexual Orientation on Preferences for Altruism in Human Mate Choice

The Effect of Sexual Orientation on Preferences for Altruism in Human Mate Choice

Displaying Altruism as a Sexual Signal in Human Mate Choice is an Adaptation – An Interdisciplinary Overview of the Evidence

AbstractNumerous studies in humans have shown that altruism may influence mate choice decisions, highlighting its potential role as a sexual signal. Whether using altruism as a signal is an adaptation, however, remains largely unresolved. In this review, we aim to investigate the adaptive nature of altruism as a sexual signal by constructing a comprehensive nomological network of evidence. Drawing upon interdisciplinary scientific modes of evidence (psychology, medicine, physiology, genetics, phylogenetics, hunter-gatherer studies, cross-cultural studies, and theoretical studies), our analysis reveals an extensive breadth of evidence across the various disciplines supporting the hypothesis that altruism is an adaptive sexual signal. However, only the psychological evidence demonstrates substantial depth. Other fields exhibit a lack of variation in research methods or a minimal amount of studies, limiting the strength of their respective contributions. Despite these limitations, there is still sufficient support for the nomological network. Based on the evidence of the various disciplines, we conclude that there is sufficient support that altruism as a sexual signal is an adaptation. We provide considerations for future research that would expand the scope of the evidentiary depth across the various disciplines, which would strengthen our understanding of the role of sexual selection in human altruism.

Further Support for the Impact of Altruistic Costs in Human Mate Choice

Further Support for the Impact of Altruistic Costs in Human Mate Choice

Couple Simulation: A Novel Approach for Evaluating Models of Human Mate Choice

Choosing a mate is perhaps the most important decision a sexually reproducing organism makes in its lifetime. And yet, psychologists lack a precise description of human mate choice, despite sustained attention from several theoretical perspectives. Here, I argue this limited progress owes to the complexity of mate choice and describe a new modeling approach, called “couple simulation,” designed to compare models of mate choice by challenging them to reproduce real couples within simulated mating markets. I present proof-of-concept simulations that demonstrate couple simulation can identify a population’s true model of mate choice. Furthermore, I apply couple simulation to two samples of real couples and find that the method (a) successfully reconstructs real-world couples, (b) discriminates between models of mate choice, and (c) predicts a wide range of dimensions of relationship quality. Collectively, these results provide evidence that couple simulation offers a framework useful for evaluating theories of human mate choice.

Supplemental Material for Further Support for the Role of Heroism in Human Mate Choice

Supplemental Material for Further Support for the Role of Heroism in Human Mate Choice

Self-reported Health is Related to Body Height and Waist Circumference in Rural Indigenous and Urbanised Latin-American Populations

Body height is a life-history component. It involves important costs for its expression and maintenance, which may originate trade-offs on other costly components such as reproduction or immunity. Although previous evidence has supported the idea that human height could be a sexually selected trait, the explanatory mechanisms that underlie this selection are poorly understood. Despite extensive studies on the association between height and attractiveness, the role of immunity in linking this relation is scarcely studied, particularly in non-Western populations. Here, we tested whether human height is related to health measured by self-perception, and relevant nutritional and health anthropometric indicators in three Latin-American populations that widely differ in socioeconomic and ecological conditions: two urbanised populations from Bogota (Colombia) and Mexico City (Mexico), and one isolated indigenous population (Me’Phaa, Mexico). Results showed that self-reported health is best predicted by an interaction between height and waist circumference: the presumed benefits of being taller are waist-dependent, and affect taller people more than shorter individuals. If health and genetic quality cues play an important role in human mate-choice, and height and waist interact to signal health, its evolutionary consequences, including cognitive and behavioural effects, should be addressed in future research.

Variation in Human Mate Choice: Simultaneously Investigating Heritability, Parental Influence, Sexual Imprinting, and Assortative Mating

Human mate choice is central to individuals' lives and to the evolution of the species, but the basis of variation in mate choice is not well understood. Here we looked at a large community-based sample of twins and their partners and parents ([Formula: see text] individuals) to test for genetic and family environmental influences on mate choice, while controlling for and not controlling for the effects of assortative mating. Key traits were analyzed, including height, body mass index, age, education, income, personality, social attitudes, and religiosity. This revealed near-zero genetic influences on male and female mate choice over all traits and no significant genetic influences on mate choice for any specific trait. A significant family environmental influence was found for the age and income of females' mate choices, possibly reflecting parental influence over mating decisions. We also tested for evidence of sexual imprinting, where individuals acquire mate-choice criteria during development by using their opposite-sex parent as the template of a desirable mate; there was no such effect for any trait. The main discernible pattern of mate choice was assortative mating; we found that partner similarity was due to initial choice rather than convergence and also at least in part to phenotypic matching.

Preference for Facial Self-Resemblance and Attractiveness in Human Mate Choice

Empirical studies present considerably consistent data about human mate choice, from which we may infer that it tends to be homogamous for various traits. However, different experiments on facial resemblance led to contradictory results. To obtain additional data about the preference for self-resembling potential mates, male and female composite faces were modified in a manner to resemble subjects. Volunteers were asked to choose a potential partner from three images in different situations: self-resembling faces, non-resembling faces (both with the same degree of other-rated attractiveness), and images which were rated by others as more attractive than the self-resembling faces. Women did not show any preference for similarity; they preferred the most attractive male and female faces. In contrast, men preferred the most attractive images of the opposite sex to self-resembling faces and the self-resembling to non-resembling faces. The self-resemblance of same-sex faces was preferred by neither men nor women. Our results support the hypothesis that both facial similarity (i.e., cues of shared genes) and observer-independent features of attractiveness (i.e., honest signals of genetic quality) play an important role in males' mate choice. The lack of choice for self-resemblance on the female side in this particular study might reflect their more complex decision-making rules that are probably based on other cues beside visual stimuli.

HLA and Human Mate Choice. Tests on Japanese Couples.

House mice are apparently more likely to mate with individuals dissimilar to themselves at MHC (major histocompatibility complex) loci than with similar individuals. Such negative assortative mating is thought to be mediated by olfaction. Recently, it has been suggested that huma mate choice may be affected by HLA (human leukocyte antigen; MHC in humans), based on the finding that women prefer the odor of men dissimilar to themselves at HLA loci to that of HLA-similar men. If these odor preferences are indeed an important criterion of mate choice in humans, actual marriages may show negative assortment with respect to HLA. In this paper, we compared the observed similarity between spouses at HLA loci with the expected similarity under random mating, for about 150 couples from 6 prefectures in the Tohoku region of Japan, and for about 300 couples from 16 prefectures all over Japan. For statistical tests, we used empirical distributions of goodness-of-fit statistics, X2 and G, obtained by Monte Carlo methods, because these statistics may not follow the chi-square distribution. Tests for each sample as a whole and for each prefecture rule out strong disassortative mating at the HLA-A and HLA-C loci.

Dichotomous Male Reproductive Strategies in a Polygynous Human Society: Mating versus Parental Effort

Apres avoir presente les principales theories sur la reproduction masculine dans le cadre des societes traditionnelles polygeniques et sur les implications de l'investissement parental dans les strategies d'accouplement, les AA. exposent les resultats d'une etude statistique relative a la fertilite masculine parmi les pionniers Mormons de l'Etat de l'Utah (Etats-Unis) au cours du XIX e siecle. L'objectif est de montrer quelles sont les relations entre l'etat de sante des hommes, leur choix matrimonial, la repartition des ressources et les strategies de reproduction chez les hommes.