More than friends
Life History, Fertility, and Short-Term Mating Motivation
Aekyoung Kim et al.
Evolutionary Psychology, September 2018
Abstract:
The current research examines the impact of women’s early-life socioeconomic status (SES; used as a proxy measure of life history strategy), relationship status, and ovulatory cycle phase on their desire for short-term mating. Results revealed that during the periovulatory phase (i.e., the high-fertility phase of the monthly ovulatory cycle), single women from low SES environments expressed an increased desire for short-term mating, whereas the opposite was found for single women from high SES environments. No such pattern was found for partnered women. These results suggest that one’s early-life environment and relationship status may play a key role in how women respond to internal fertility cues, providing important new insights into factors that may moderate ovulatory shifts in mating behavior. Results provide some of the first evidence that one’s developmental history may alter the expression of ovulatory cycle adaptations.
Are People Attracted to Others Who Resemble Their Opposite-Sex Parents? An Examination of Mate Preferences and Parental Ethnicity Among Biracial Individuals
Marie Heffernan, Jia Chong & Chris Fraley
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
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).
Cross-trait assortment for intelligence and physical attractiveness in a long-term mating context
Curtis Dunkel et al.
Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
We investigated cross-trait assortative mating for the traits of physical attractiveness and intelligence using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. It was hypothesized that more physically attractive individuals would have a spouse that was more intelligent, but that this association would be moderated by sex. Specifically, we predicted that more physically attractive women would have more intelligent husbands, but that a man’s physical attractiveness would not predict his wife’s intelligence. The results of correlation and regression analyses were consistent with these predictions, although the effect sizes were small. Additionally, we identified an interaction in which women’s physical attractiveness was more strongly associated with their husbands’ intelligence for more intelligent women than for less intelligent women. We conclude with suggestions for further research addressing cross-trait assortative mating for physical attractiveness and intelligence.
Tandem Androgenic and Psychological Shifts in Male Reproductive Effort Following a Manipulated “Win” or “Loss” in a Sporting Competition
Daniel Longman et al.
Human Nature, September 2018, Pages 283–310
Abstract:
Male-male competition is involved in inter- and intrasexual selection, with both endocrine and psychological factors presumably contributing to reproductive success in human males. We examined relationships among men’s naturally occurring testosterone, their self-perceived mate value (SPMV), self-esteem, sociosexuality, and expected likelihood of approaching attractive women versus situations leading to child involvement. We then monitored changes in these measures in male rowers (N = 38) from Cambridge, UK, following a manipulated “win” or “loss” as a result of an indoor rowing contest. Baseline results revealed that men with heightened testosterone and SPMV values typically had greater inclinations toward engaging in casual sexual relationships and a higher likelihood of approaching attractive women in a hypothetical social situation. As anticipated, both testosterone and SPMV increased following a manipulated “victory” and were associated with heightened sociosexuality, and increased expectations toward approaching attractive women versus individuals who would involve them in interacting with children after the race. SPMV and self-esteem appeared to mediate some of the effects of testosterone on post-race values. These findings are considered in the broader context of individual trade-offs between mating and parental effort and a model of the concurrent and dynamic androgenic and psychological influences contributing to male reproductive effort and success.
Current evolutionary adaptiveness of anxiety: Extreme phenotypes of anxiety predict increased fertility across multiple generations
Nicholas Jacobson & Michael Roche
Journal of Psychiatric Research, November 2018, Pages 82-90
Method: In a three-generational sample (N = 2657) the linear and quadratic relationship between anxiety and the number of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren 15 years later was examined.
Results: The findings suggested that anxiety had a positive quadratic relationship with the number of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren 15 years later. These relationships were not significantly moderated by sex. Moreover, most of the variance between anxiety and the number of great-grandchildren was explained by anxiety's influence on the number of children and grandchildren, as opposed to anxiety having an independent direct impact on the number of great-grandchildren.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that extreme values from the mean anxiety are associated with increased evolutionary fitness within the modern environment.
Falling in Love is Associated with Immune System Gene Regulation
Damian Murray et al.
Psychoneuroendocrinology, February 2019, Pages 120-126
Abstract:
Although falling in love is one of the most important and psychologically potent events in human life, the somatic implications of new romantic love remain poorly understood. Psychological, immunological, and reproductive perspectives offer competing predictions of the specific transcriptional regulatory shifts that might accompany the experience of falling in love. To characterize the impact of romantic love on human genome function, we conducted genome-wide transcriptome profiling of 115 circulating immune cell samples collected from 47 young women over the course of a 2-year longitudinal study. Analyses revealed a selective alteration in immune cell gene regulation characterized by up-regulation of Type I interferon response genes associated with CD1C+/BDCA-1+ dendritic cells (DCs) and CLEC4C+/BDCA-2+ DCs, and a reciprocal down-regulation of α-defensin-related transcripts associated with neutrophil granulocytes. These effects emerged above and beyond the effects of changes in illness, perceived social isolation, and sexual contact. These findings are consistent with a selective up-regulation of innate immune responses to viral infections (e.g., Type I interferons and DC) and with DC facilitation of sexual reproduction, and provide insight into the immunoregulatory correlates of one of the keystone experiences in human life.