Mate Selection Theories
To describe men and women's differential preferences in mateselection, I am going to use the following theories: 1) sexual selectiontheory, 2) parental investment theory, and 3) social learning theory, and4) sexual strategies theory. All of these theories have been used toexplain why men and women have differential preferences in mate selections. In the evolutionary approach, biological fitness is defined asreproductive success. Therefore, understanding particular behavioral sexdifferences is of great interest to evolutionists. Reproduction is centralto the evolutionary process and no domain is closer to reproduction thansexuality. Darwin (58) adopted phrase "survival of the fittest" tosummarize the process of natural selection, but this choice wasunfortunate. Survival is certainly critical. Many adaptations of organismsexist because they successfully overcame the forces that impeded survival,such examples are parasites, diseases, food shortages, predators, and Darwin (67) also fashioned the use of term what he believed to be asecond evolutionary process, which he called sexual selection. According to
Women everywhere are concerned with the resources that a man may provide,and with gaining access to these resources. While Darwin'stheory of sexual selection described the processes by which adaptivespecializations for mate selection and intrasexual competition couldemerge, it did not provide much explanation about how mate preference mightemerge. Because of this low cost to males of inseminating a female,males compete intensely for access to females. Because the descendants of this process are morelikely to carry both the preferences and the characteristics preferred, thetwo may co-evolve over time. Specifically, men generally receive more positive reinforcementthan women for seeking and engaging in sexual activity, whereas womengenerally receive more reinforcement for confining their sexual activity tocommitted, love-based relationships. This pattern is evident to all species,including humans. Men and women have evolved a strategic repertoire consisting of bothshort-term and long-term sexual strategies. Furthermore, the responsibility ofgestation, lactation, and care of offspring, females will benefit fromchoosing a mate with high-quality genes. Women are somewhat less distressed bythinking a casual sexual encounter by their mate. Ifmembers of one sex display a consensus about the qualities that are desiredin mates, then those who possess the desired qualities have a preferentialmating advantage. Male, by contrast, areless discriminating. Ifmembers of one sex compete with one another, and the victors of thesecompetitions gain preferential sexual access to mates, then these usefulqualities lead to success in same-sex competitions will be selected and canevolve over time. This can range fromselecting mates with "good genes" on one end to selecting mates who show awillingness to invest in her offspring on the other. For example,Mischel's (68) argued that differences between men and women in theirpreferences are shaped by the patterns of reinforcement and punishment thatmen and women receive for their sexual behavior within a particularsociety. They, therefore, desire for a matecommitted to him exclusively.
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Acceptance Essays
