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Female Long-term Mate Selection: Resourceful Men, Love, and Good Fathers

Explore how females strategically select long-term mates who are resourceful, loving, and good fathers. Learn about the importance of men's investment, commitment, and qualities desired by women for offspring. Discover insights on mating preferences, power dynamics, and the impact of cultural norms on partner selection.

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Female Long-term Mate Selection: Resourceful Men, Love, and Good Fathers

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  1. Female Long-Term Mating Strategies Sex in the Village

  2. Female Mate Choice • Minimum parental investment • Women invest more minimally in offspring and bear greater cost • Hence, they are choosier regarding their partners • "A man on a date wonders if he'll get lucky. The woman already knows." - Monica Piper

  3. Resourceful Men (1) • For women to evolve preferences for long-term, resourceful mates, men needed to • Acquire, control, & defend resources • Vary in resources & willingness to invest • Be superior at investing in a mate, above and beyond other men

  4. Resourceful Men (2) • In long-term mates, women tend to prefer • Economic resources • Prestige & status • Slightly older men • Ambition • Dependable, stable men

  5. Healthy as a Horse • Athletic, strong • Aggressive, competitive traits • Tall • Runaway sexual selection constrained… by cancer? • Low fluctuating asymmetry • The scent of symmetry

  6. Love & Commitment • Love requires some commitment • This commitment may have been a signal of a man’s willingness • To invest resources • To invest in offspring

  7. Preference for Good Fathers • A man capable of investing in offspring would have been desirable in ancestral environment • Male parental investment varies based on • Mating strategy (e.g., short- vs. long-term) • Paternity uncertainty

  8. Interlude: Similarity • For the most part, we tend to mate with people who are similar • In appearance • In values • In personality traits • This is known as assortative mating

  9. Who Wears the Pants (1)? • Structural powerlessness hypothesis • Women seek mates who have power & resources so that they can gain them by proxy • EP theory • Women seek mates who have power & resources so that there will be greater investment in offspring

  10. Who Wears the Pants (2)? • When women control large share of resources • Still prefer men with high status and resource control • Supports EP • Contradicts structural powerlessness hypothesis

  11. Marriage vs. Fling • Women, as well as men, set high standards when looking for a long-term partner • Physical attractiveness is not as important as character traits • However, in the short term, attractiveness counts a great deal more than otherwise

  12. Interlude: Incest Avoidance (1) • Freud proposed that humans construct norms regarding incest in order to avoid unraveling of family • Incest in humans often has deleterious effects • Recessive lethal alleles

  13. Interlude: Incest Avoidance (2) • Westermarck hypothesis • People are naturally averse to mating with others that they were reared with • “Deviant” behaviour will be codified within cultural norms • Contrary to Freud • Example: Israeli kibbutzim • Of 2,767 marriages, only 13 from same kibbutz

  14. The Wrap-Up • Females tend to be choosier due to greater minimum investment • For long-term partners, women prefer men who are • Resourceful • Healthy • Committed and loving • Good fathers

  15. Things to Come • Long-term male preferences • Minimum investment • Youth cues • Health cues • Concealed ovulation & paternity uncertainty

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