Buss 1989; Aims & Context

Darwin
1. Since Darwin there had been increasing interest in evolutionary psychology and the NATURE/NURTURE debate that creates a historical context for Buss.
2. "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?"
3. 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
1. Suggested sexual preference is driven by the differing parental investments males and females make in their offspring.
2. 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.
3. i.e she wants a male partner who is high status and has lots of resources, to ensure she & her offspring survive.
Symons
1. We chose our mate based on their reproductive value.
2. An 18 year old female has the potential to have more children than a 28 year old.
3. Therefore, males should seek young females in order to conceive greater numbers of offspring, wheras this is less important for females.
4. Men should also seek characteristics associated with fertility (WILLIAMS) e.g hourglass figure.
Aims
1. To find out if characteristics we choose in a mate are different for men & women
2. 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.
3. 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.

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Buss 1989; Aims & Context

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