Are People Attracted to Others Who Resemble Their Opposite-Sex Parents? An Examination of Mate Preferences and Parental Ethnicity Among Biracial Individuals

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 856-863
Author(s):  
Marie E. Heffernan ◽  
Jia Y. Chong ◽  
R. Chris Fraley
Keyword(s):  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Opposite Sex

It is generally believed that people tend to be attracted to and pair with others who resemble their opposite-sex parents. Studies 1A ( n = 1,025) and 1B ( n = 3,105) tested this assumption by examining whether biracial adults were more likely to be paired with partners who matched their opposite-sex parent’s ethnicity. Study 2 ( n = 516) examined whether biracial adults were more likely to be attracted to targets whose ethnicity matched that of their opposite-sex parent. Although biracial adults were more likely to pair with and be attracted to others who resembled their parents compared to those who did not, the sex of the parent was largely inconsequential. These findings have implications for models of mate preferences, including the traditional perspectives (which assume that the opposite-sex parent has greater influence on adult mating preferences) and ethological models (which assume that the sex of the parent is irrelevant with regard to influence on mating preferences).

scholarly journals Exposure to visual cues of pathogen contagion changes preferences for masculinity and symmetry in opposite-sex faces

2010 ◽  
Vol 278 (1714) ◽  
pp. 2032-2039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony C. Little ◽  
Lisa M. DeBruine ◽  
Benedict C. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Visual Experience ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Recent Experience ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Gene Markers ◽  
Visual Preferences ◽  
Opposite Sex ◽  
Environmental Pathogens

Evolutionary approaches to human attractiveness have documented several traits that are proposed to be attractive across individuals and cultures, although both cross-individual and cross-cultural variations are also often found. Previous studies show that parasite prevalence and mortality/health are related to cultural variation in preferences for attractive traits. Visual experience of pathogen cues may mediate such variable preferences. Here we showed individuals slideshows of images with cues to low and high pathogen prevalence and measured their visual preferences for face traits. We found that both men and women moderated their preferences for facial masculinity and symmetry according to recent experience of visual cues to environmental pathogens. Change in preferences was seen mainly for opposite-sex faces, with women preferring more masculine and more symmetric male faces and men preferring more feminine and more symmetric female faces after exposure to pathogen cues than when not exposed to such cues. Cues to environmental pathogens had no significant effects on preferences for same-sex faces. These data complement studies of cross-cultural differences in preferences by suggesting a mechanism for variation in mate preferences. Similar visual experience could lead to within-cultural agreement and differing visual experience could lead to cross-cultural variation. Overall, our data demonstrate that preferences can be strategically flexible according to recent visual experience with pathogen cues. Given that cues to pathogens may signal an increase in contagion/mortality risk, it may be adaptive to shift visual preferences in favour of proposed good-gene markers in environments where such cues are more evident.

Love is Not Colorblind: An Investigation of the Racial Hierarchy of Mate Preferences

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mykel Rodriguez ◽  
Gareth Disler ◽  
Zhiying Wang ◽  
Samantha Yim ◽  
Daniel Javidi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Romantic Relationships ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Interracial Relationships ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Mate Preference ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Racial Hierarchy

Not my type is the usual invocation when rejecting potential lovers who don’t align with the racial hierarchy of mating preferences. The largely unchallenged norm of interracial intimacy aversion, particularly how the desire for some racial groups and rejection of others reinforces existing racial inequities, is inconsistent with the blanket notion of greater interracial acceptance. We contend that this acceptance is unequally divided along the same racial hierarchy that exists in the broader public sphere. Our investigation assessed the openness of monoracial and biracial individuals to form interracial romantic relationships. In addition, we partially replicated an interracial mate preference known as the Multiracial Dividend Effect: a pattern whereby monoracial individuals prefer to date multiracial individuals as these interracial relationships may be less likely to carry the perceived disadvantages of interracially dating someone from another monoracial group. Most monoracial groups equally preferred same-race lovers and interracially dating biracials, and they preferred interracially dating someone biracial over any monoracial group. Lastly, biracials were more open to interracially dating any monoracial group than monoracials were to interracially dating each other.

scholarly journals Giving Guys Get the Girls: Men Appear More Desirable to the Opposite Sex When Displaying Costly Donations to the Homeless

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Wendy Iredale ◽  
Keli Jenner ◽  
Mark Van Vugt ◽  
Tammy Dempster
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Positive Parenting ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Mate Quality ◽  
Opposite Sex ◽  
Short And Long Term

One of the evolutionary adaptive benefits of altruism may be that it acts as an honest (reliable) signal of men’s mate quality. In this study, 285 female participants were shown one of three video scenarios in which a male target took £30 out of a cash machine (ATM) and gave either a lot (£30), a little (£1), or nothing to a homeless man. The participants rated the male target on his attractiveness, their short- and long-term mate preferences towards him, and the degree to which they thought he was likely to possess various parenting qualities. The results showed that, regardless of whether the man was described as rich or poor, participants rated him as being more attractive when he donated money, but only when the donation was costly (£30). In addition, altruism was shown to be important in long-term, but not short-term mate choice, and displays of altruism were associated with positive parenting qualities. It is argued that displays of altruism act as a reliable (honest) mate signal for a potential long-term parental partner.

scholarly journals Mating Decisions in the Absence of Physical Attraction

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaitlyn P. White ◽  
Peter K. Jonason ◽  
Laith Al-Shawaf
Keyword(s):  
Physical Attractiveness ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Casual Sex ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Short Supply ◽  
Potential Partner ◽  
Opposite Sex ◽  
Physical Attraction ◽  
Physically Attractive

Abstract Objective Mates high in physical attractiveness are in short supply, which means that not all people are able to find mates who are sufficiently attractive. Threshold models of mate preferences suggest that when physical attractiveness minimums are not reached, other traits possessed by a potential partner may play a lesser role in mate choice. However, few studies have sought to understand mating decisions when those minimums are not met. Methods In this experiment (N = 186), participants rated images of (pre-rated) unattractive opposite-sex others for long-term and short-term relationships after learning dealbreaker or dealmaker information. Results While participants did not find targets highly desirable or physically attractive (as a stimulus check), men were more willing than women to have casual sex, and that men and women reported similar desirability ratings towards long-term partners. Learning dealbreakers was associated with less desire for the targets than dealmakers, but women’s lack of interest was insensitive to mating context, whereas men found the target especially undesirable in the long-term context. Additionally, men were willing to consider a long-term relationship with a physically unattractive partner who possessed dealmakers, but not one who possessed dealbreakers. Conclusions Our discussion focuses on men and women’s mating decisions when potential partners fail to meet minimum thresholds for physical attractiveness. Future research is needed to explore the magnitude of the effect of meeting or failing to meet one’s minimum thresholds for physical attractiveness.

scholarly journals Sex differences in human mate preferences vary across sex ratios

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1955) ◽  
pp. 20211115
Author(s):  
Kathryn V. Walter ◽  
Daniel Conroy-Beam ◽  
David M. Buss ◽  
Kelly Asao ◽  
Agnieszka Sorokowska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Mating Strategies ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Opposite Sex ◽  
Divorce Rates ◽  
Power Of Choice ◽  
Human Mating ◽  
The Relationship

A wide range of literature connects sex ratio and mating behaviours in non-human animals. However, research examining sex ratio and human mating is limited in scope. Prior work has examined the relationship between sex ratio and desire for short-term, uncommitted mating as well as outcomes such as marriage and divorce rates. Less empirical attention has been directed towards the relationship between sex ratio and mate preferences, despite the importance of mate preferences in the human mating literature. To address this gap, we examined sex ratio's relationship to the variation in preferences for attractiveness, resources, kindness, intelligence and health in a long-term mate across 45 countries ( n = 14 487). We predicted that mate preferences would vary according to relative power of choice on the mating market, with increased power derived from having relatively few competitors and numerous potential mates. We found that each sex tended to report more demanding preferences for attractiveness and resources where the opposite sex was abundant, compared to where the opposite sex was scarce. This pattern dovetails with those found for mating strategies in humans and mate preferences across species, highlighting the importance of sex ratio for understanding variation in human mate preferences.

Mate Choice and Mating Preferences

Mate Choice ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gil G. Rosenthal
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Unified Approach ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Basic Framework ◽  
Preference Functions ◽  
Key Questions

This chapter first sets out the book's purpose, which is to present a conceptually unified approach to thinking about what Darwin termed the “taste for the beautiful.” It begins by describing a basic framework for thinking about mate choice and mate preferences. It then provides an outline for how the book attempts to address key questions about how they work, how they evolve, and how they act simultaneously as targets and agents of selection. Topics discussed include the meaning of mate choice; mate choice as distinct from sexual selection; preference and antipathy underlie realized mate choices; preference functions; stages of mate choice; and mate choice as a problem in animal communication.

Women’s Gossip as an Intrasexual Competition Strategy

2019 ◽  
pp. 302-321
Author(s):  
Adam Davis ◽  
Tracy Vaillancourt ◽  
Steven Arnocky ◽  
Robert Doyel
Keyword(s):  
Physical Aggression ◽  
Physical Attractiveness ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Competition Strategy ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Group Cooperation ◽  
Heterosexual Women ◽  
Opposite Sex ◽  
Totality Of Evidence

In the evolutionary sciences, gossip is argued to constitute an adaptation that enabled human beings to disseminate information about and to keep track of others within a vast and expansive social network. Although gossip can effectively encourage in-group cooperation, it can also be used as a low-cost and covert aggressive tactic to compete with others for valued resources. In line with evolutionary logic, the totality of evidence to date demonstrates that women prefer to aggress indirectly against their rivals via tactics such as gossip and social exclusion, in comparison to men who use proportionally more direct forms of aggression (e.g., physical aggression). As such, it has been argued that heterosexual women may use gossip as their primary weapon of choice to derogate same-sex rivals in order to damage their reputation and render them less desirable as mates to the opposite sex. This involves attacking the physical attractiveness and sexual reputation of other women, which correspond to men’s evolved mating preferences. Androcentric theorizing in the evolutionary sciences has stifled a well-rounded understanding of how women use gossip to compete, with whom, and in what situations.

Sexual imprinting on a novel blue ornament in zebra finches

Behaviour ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 143 (8) ◽  
pp. 969-991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Caspers ◽  
Klaudia Witte
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Binary Choice ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Sexual Imprinting ◽  
Choice Tests ◽  
Opposite Sex ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Learned Preference

AbstractSexual imprinting plays an important role for the development of mate preferences in birds. We tested whether male and female zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata sexually imprinted on an evolutionary novel trait, a blue feather on the forehead in parents. Additionally, we tested whether males and females would transfer a learned preference for the blue feather to a preference for blue leg bands, and whether a potential mate with two novel blue traits can amplify its attractiveness. Offspring were raised by parents in four different imprinting groups: (1) both parents unadorned; (2) the mother adorned only; (3) the father adorned only; (4) both parents adorned with the blue feather. After young reached maturity, we tested their mate preference for adorned and unadorned conspecifics of the opposite sex in binary choice tests. Females of the father adorned imprinting group sexually imprinted on the blue feather, and females reared by adorned parents showed a tendency to prefer adorned males. None of the males sexually imprinted on the blue feather. Our study replicates the results of a previous study on sexual imprinting on a red feather in zebra finches. We, therefore, propose a sex difference in the learning process of sexual imprinting. Females sexually imprinted on the blue feather did not transfer the learned preference to males with blue leg bands, and two novel blue traits could not amplify the attractiveness in males and females for the opposite sex. Our study emphasizes the role of sexual imprinting for the cultural evolution in mate preferences in zebra finches.

scholarly journals Effect of egg cannibalism on mating preferences and reproductive fitness of Menochilus sexmaculatus Fabricius (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tripti Yadav ◽  
Omkar ◽  
Geetanjali Mishra
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Fitness ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Copulation Duration ◽  
Mating Pair ◽  
Egg Viability ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Reciprocal Crosses ◽  
Offspring Development ◽  
Egg Cannibalism ◽  
Potential Benefits

AbstractCannibalism has been reported in a large proportion of coccinellids in fields as well as in laboratories but studies involving mate preferences and potential benefits of cannibalism on reproduction in Menochilus sexmaculatus Fabricius (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)have yet not been done. Thus, we assessed the effect of conspecific egg cannibalism on mate preferences and reproductive outputs including offspring development. Higher mate preferences were recorded for non-cannibal mates (fed on A. craccivora) than cannibal ones (fed on conspecific eggs). Mating parameters significantly influenced by cannibalism. Time to commence mating lasted less for homogeneous diet pairs than heterogeneous diet pairs. Longer copulation duration and higher fecundity were recorded when one of the individuals in mating pair or both was a non-cannibal. Egg viability did not differed significantly in all reciprocal crosses. Total developmental durations of offspring were similar for all mating pairs.

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