Mate Preferences and Their Behavioral Manifestations

Evolved mate preferences comprise a central causal process in Darwin's theory of sexual selection. Their powerful influences have been documented in all sexually reproducing species, including in sexual strategies in humans. This article reviews the science of human mate preferences and their m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annual review of psychology 2019-01, Vol.70 (1), p.77-110
Main Authors: Buss, David M, Schmitt, David P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Causality
Competitors
Cues
Cultural change
Deception
Economic inequality
evolutionary psychology
Fertility
Gender differences
human mating
Humans
Life history
mate preferences
Mate selection
Mating
Preferences
Psychology
Regret
Remarriage
Reproductive health
Sex crimes
Sex differences
Sex ratio
Sexual behavior
sexual strategies
Tactics
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Summary:Evolved mate preferences comprise a central causal process in Darwin's theory of sexual selection. Their powerful influences have been documented in all sexually reproducing species, including in sexual strategies in humans. This article reviews the science of human mate preferences and their myriad behavioral manifestations. We discuss sex differences and sex similarities in human sexual psychology, which vary according to short-term and long-term mating contexts. We review context-specific shifts in mating strategy depending on individual, social, and ecological qualities such as mate value, life history strategy, sex ratio, gender economic inequality, and cultural norms. We review the empirical evidence for the impact of mate preferences on actual mating decisions. Mate preferences also dramatically influence tactics of mate attraction, tactics of mate retention, patterns of deception, causes of sexual regret, attraction to cues to sexual exploitability, attraction to cues to fertility, attraction to cues to resources and protection, derogation of competitors, causes of breakups, and patterns of remarriage. We conclude by articulating unresolved issues and offer a future agenda for the science of human mating, including how humans invent novel cultural technologies to better implement ancient sexual strategies and how cultural evolution may be dramatically influencing our evolved mating psychology.
ISSN:0066-4308
1545-2085
DOI:10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-103408