Gresham provides outstanding educational talks and videos for the public free of charge. There are over 2, videos available on the Gresham website. Your support will help us to encourage people's love of learning for many years to come. What are men and women looking for in a partner? What accounts for the different 'shopping lists' of men and women? Genetic similarity theory vs the quest for 'hybrid vigour'.
The games and strategies adopted in securing a desired partner within the sexual market-place. Predicting long-term compatibility and relationship success. This lecture is a part of the series, The Psychology of Mating and Dating. Other lectures in this series include: In the brain of the beholder? The principles of beauty and sex appeal Born Gay?
The origins of sexual orientation. According to a well-known T-shirt slogan, 'sex is good for one - but it's even better for two. How do we choose a mate? The principles of beauty and sex appeal described in my previous lecture are important and there are many other traits like intelligence, sense of humour, kindness and good temper that are fairly universally valued. Ideally, we would all like a stunningly beautiful and perfect partner, but that is seldom practical and so prioritisation, compromise and trade-offs are necessary.
Of course, men and women have different shopping lists Davis, Women place a higher value on attributes that favour provision of resources things like wealth, social status, creativity, intelligence and supportiveness kindness, honesty, loyalty, and generosity. Men put a higher premium on youth and sexual desirability. Hence a common trade-off is for an older, socially powerful man to date or marry a younger, more beautiful woman. The reverse trade-off rich older woman with hunky young man is much less common and rather unstable.
The term 'trade-off' implies that an economic market operates in the sphere of human mating. This is indeed the case. It appears that we assess our own mate value and seek a partner who measures up to it, providing equity Li et al, Studies of lonely heart advertisements reveal that women who describe themselves as physically desirable set higher criteria for the sought partner with respect to financial and occupational status.
