Extensions of Sexual Strategies Theory across Peoples, Cultures, and Ecologies

Abstract

Abstract Evolutionary behavioral scientists have amassed considerable evidence that human mating psychology displays adaptive design, varying in functionally predictable ways across sexes, ages, and socioecologies. Much of this evidence comes from studies of preferential choice, focusing on the specific features, types, and quantities of romantic partners women and men most desire. Women’s mate preferences center, in part, on cues to a man’s ability and willingness to provide resources. These preferences are usually stronger among women in harsh environments, and among women who themselves are feminine, attractive, traditional, and heterosexual. Men’s mate preferences center, in part, on cues to youth and fecundity. These preferences are usually stronger among men in cultures that are less safe, less healthy, and possess more pathogens, and are stronger among men who themselves are masculine, wealthy, and possess higher testosterone. Several concerns with cross-cultural comparisons of human mating psychology have presented challenges to evolutionary scientists. Ultimately, cross-cultural tests of hypothesized human mating adaptations provide the most evidentiary value when embedded in detailed theoretical rationale for why the mechanisms should generate predictable patterns at multiple levels—across individuals, across groups, across cultures, and across time.