Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Buss 1989; Aims & Context
- Darwin
- Since Darwin there had been
increasing interest in evolutionary
psychology and the
NATURE/NURTURE debate that
creates a historical context for Buss.
- "How much of human mate
preference is due to nature?" and
"How much of this pattern of
preference is common to all
humans in all cultures?"
- The survival of society depends on people choosing suitable partners, who can
produce healthy children who will survive to reproduce, something Buss
wanted to study further.
- Trivers 1972
- Suggested sexual preference is driven by the differing
parental investments males and females make in their
offspring.
- As a human female carries her baby for 9 months, her
investment is much greater than the male's, so a female tends
to be extra choosy when selecting a partner.
- i.e she wants a male partner who is high status and has
lots of resources, to ensure she & her offspring survive.
- Symons
- We chose our mate based on their reproductive value.
- An 18 year old female has the potential to have more children
than a 28 year old.
- Therefore, males should seek young females in
order to conceive greater numbers of offspring,
wheras this is less important for females.
- Men should also seek characteristics
associated with fertility (WILLIAMS)
e.g hourglass figure.
- Aims
- To find out if characteristics we choose
in a mate are different for men &
women
- To find out whether gender specific preferences are the same globally, and due
to evoluition. If they were, this would suggest that people who lacked preferred
characteristics had died out everywhere.
- Buss was interested in doing a cross cultural study,
looking to see whether a culture's religion, socioeconomic
status and location would affect mate preference.