Short term mating strategies

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Short term mating strategies
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Male-female differences

• Parental investment theory males have less
  investment, so should be more motivated to engage
  in short term mating males do not have limited
  reproductive rate females should be more
  motivated to gain commitment

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Possible costs of short term mating to male

• Diseases
• Reputation could decrease attractiveness to
  highly desirable females (these females can
  afford to be more choosy)
• Decreased survival/prospering of their children
• Violence from other males (e.g., husbands, other
  male friends of woman)

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Possible costs to male

• Violence from male relatives of woman

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Evidence for evolved short term mating psychology

• Testicle size large size relative to body size
  indicates history of sperm competition, which
  implies women mated with more than one male
  through evolutionary history
• Longer separations related to higher sperm count
  in ejaculations when reunited long separation
  implies more possibility of competition from
  other males

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Evidence for short term mating psychology

• Desire for a variety of partners greater for
  males than females, according to surveys
• Males usually more ready for sex earlier in a
  relationship
• Lowered standards for short term mate (age,
  attractiveness, personality traits, etc.)

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Evidence for short term mating psychology

• Males sometimes feel less attracted to (
  therefore, less committed to) females right after
  sex
• Closing time phenomenon part of beer goggles
  effect actually due to dropping of standards with
  time passage (in bar)
• Sex fantasies men have more fantasies, dreams
  involve multiple partners, strangers unlimited
  sex

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Behavioral evidence

• Extramarital affairs males gt females in most
  cultures (note difficulty in pinning down actual
  rates)
• Prostitution usually females indicates greater
  male desire for casual sex

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Womens short term mating

• Orgasmspurpose? Increases chances of becoming
  pregnant
• Extramarital affairsmore likely to occur around
  time of ovulation
• Women more likely to have orgasm with affair
  partner (and some evidence for more likely
  orgasms with attractive partner)

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Womens short term mating

• Women do engage in extra-marital affairs
  (evidence surveys, DNA evidence, sperm
  competition)

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Benefits for womens short term mating

• Resourcesfood, goods, services, protection,
  status enhancement (rock groupies?!)
• Genetic benefitpregnancy (if partner infertile),
  good genes, different genes (provides genetic
  diversity)
• Mate-switchingtrading up, especially if current
  mate less than adequate or abusive

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Benefits of womens short term mating

• Practice makes perfectimprove her mate
  acquisition skills
• Mate manipulationrevenge on current partner
  attempt to regain commitment from current partner

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Costs to women for short term mating

• Hurting their reputation lowers chance of
  attracting desirable mate
• Higher risk of physical sexual abuse
• Unwanted pregnancy
• Extramarital affair could cost loss of partner
  resources
• Weaker ties among less-related children (i.e.,
  those with different fathers)

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Evidence about womens short term mating

• Short term matinghigher emphasis on males
  physical attractiveness (implies good genes
  sexy son hypotheses)
• More interest in immediate resources in short
  term than long term mating (they go for the
  flashy displays of resources)
• Greater unhappiness with partner among women who
  have extramarital affairs (mate-switching
  hypothesis)

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Compare to modern times?

• How have adaptive challenges changed?
• Has birth control changed the game? Narrowed the
  differences between men and women?

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Context effects

• Individual differenceslargely due to differing
  perceptions of probable benefits of short vs.
  long term mating
• Those women who believe short term mating will
  bring big benefits are those most likely to use
  that strategy

17
Context effects

• Father absence and stepfather presence associated
  with short term strategies for women
• Developmental stage casual sex more common
  among adolescents
• Sex ratiosstrategies and attitudes adapt to
  ratios men have more casual sex if there are
  many women women get more commitment from men if
  there are few women

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Context effects

• Self perception of mate value
• Short term strategy more likely for high
  self-perceived mate value in males, and low
  self-perceived mate value in females