Buss 1989; Aims & Context

Buss 1989; Aims & Context

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.