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Relationships (Sexual Selection (Intra-Sexual Selection (Preferred…
Relationships
Sexual Selection
Intra-Sexual Selection
- Preferred strategy of males.
- Quantity over quality.
- Males compete to be able to mate with a female. Often times, the larger males win. Women do not compete with each other. This difference between males and females is called 'dimorphism'.
Behavioural and Psychological Consequences
- To protect females from competing males, men may behave aggressively or think in certain ways.
- The competition for fertile mates leads to males often having a preference for youthful partners and being sensitive to indicators of youth (facial features) or fertility (body shape).
Mate Guarding
- Males will stay in close contact with their mates for fear of being cuckolded.
- Buss (1993) - Males fear sexual unfaithfulness and females fear emotional unfaithfulness.
Sneak Copulation
- Males will mate with another female besides their partner to increase chances of reproductive success.
- Females benefit from this as multiple partners increases the genetic diversity of offspring which increases survival chances.
- Females may choose to be with a resource-rich male but mate with another genetically fit male although there is the risk of abandonment.
Inter-Sexual Selection
- Preferred strategy of females.
- Quality over quantity because ova are rarer are require more energy to produce.
- Females will select and genetically fit partner that will provide resources.
Trivers (1972)
- Females make a greater investment of time, commitment and other resources before, during and after the birth of offspring than males so are choosier.
- So the consequences of choosing the wrong mating partner are more serious for females.
Fisher (1930) - Sexy Sons Hypothesis
- Females will select males with attractive or desirable features so that these features will be passed onto their offspring.
- This would increase their reproductive fitness.
Zahavi (1975) - Handicap Hypothesis
- Females will select a male with a handicap as this shows their superior genetic quality to live despite disadvantages.
- Suggests why women may find men that drink or do drugs attractive.
Evaluation
Strengths
- Buss (1989) - Females valued resource-related characteristics in mates while males valued reproductive capacity in terms of good looks, chastity and youth.The survey was conducted in 33 countries so reflects preferences across cultures that are due to anisogomy.
- Clark and Hatfield (1989) - Male and female psychology students asked other students on campus if they would sleep with them. No female students said yes but 75% of male students did which supports inter-sexual selection in terms of women being choosier.
- Singh (1993, 2002) - Males generally have a preference for a 0.7 waist to hip ratio as it signals fertility.
Weaknesses
- Bereczkei et al (1997) - Mate preferences have changed due to social and cultural influences. Woman's role in the workplace means they are less dependent on men to provide for them. Their preferences may not be so resource-related.
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Anisogomy
Refers to the differences between male and female gametes.
- Sperm is small, mobile, created continuously in vast numbers and does not require lots of energy to produce.
- Ova are large, static, created in intervals for a limited number of years and require lots of energy to create.
- So fertile females are rare compared to fertile males.
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