The evolution of human mating: trade-offs and strategic pluralism.
During human evolutionary history, there were "trade-offs" between expending time and energy on child-rearing and mating, so both men and women evolved conditional mating strategies guided by cues signaling the circumstances. Many short-term matings might be successful for some men; others might try to find and keep a single mate, investing their effort in rearing her offspring. Recent evidence suggests that men with features signaling genetic benefits to offspring should be preferred by women as short-term mates, but there are trade-offs between a mate's genetic fitness and his willingness to help in child-rearing. It is these circumstances and the cues that signal them that underlie the variation in short- and long-term mating strategies between and within the sexes.
Gangestad
S W
SW
Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA. sgangest@unm.edu
Simpson
J A
JA
D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology