Variable preferences for sexual dimorphism in height as a strategy for increasing the pool of potential partners in humans

Human mate preferences are known to be related to a number of morphological traits. Those relating to female waist-to-hip ratio or body mass index and to male height appear to be distinctive mate-choice criteria and are known to be related to reproductive success. In addition to absolute height, a p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Biological sciences, 2003-04, Vol.270 (1516), p.709-712
Main Author: Pawlowski, Boguslaw
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Assortative Mating
Body Height
Courtship
Female
Female animals
Height
Humans
Male
Male animals
Mating behavior
Men
Middle Aged
Population mean
Preferences
Reproductive success
Sex Characteristics
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual Dimorphism In Stature
Social behavior
Stabilizing Selection
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:Human mate preferences are known to be related to a number of morphological traits. Those relating to female waist-to-hip ratio or body mass index and to male height appear to be distinctive mate-choice criteria and are known to be related to reproductive success. In addition to absolute height, a possibly important mate-choice criterion may be relative height, i.e. the extent of sexual dimorphism in stature (SDS = male height/female height) between oneself and a potential partner. Here, I demonstrate that people adjust their preferences for SDS in relation to their own height in order to increase the potential pool of partners. This causes nonlinearity in assortative mating in relation to height and shows that in relation to intrapopulational SDS both men and women are responsible for stabilizing selection.
ISSN:0962-8452
1471-2954
DOI:10.1098/rspb.2002.2294