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The evolution of human mating: Trade-offs and strategic pluralism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2019

Steven W. Gangestad  and
Jeffry A. Simpson
Steven W. Gangestad
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 sgangest@unm.edu
Jeffry A. Simpson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843 jas@psyc.tamu.edu.
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Abstract

During human evolutionary history, there were “trade-offs” between expending time and energy on child-rearing and mating, so both men and women evolved conditional mating strategies guided by cues signaling the circumstances. Many short-term matings might be successful for some men; others might try to find and keep a single mate, investing their effort in rearing her offspring. Recent evidence suggests that men with features signaling genetic benefits to offspring should be preferred by women as short-term mates, but there are trade-offs between a mate's genetic fitness and his willingness to help in child-rearing. It is these circumstances and the cues that signal them that underlie the variation in short- and long-term mating strategies between and within the sexes.

Keywords

conditional strategiesevolutionary psychologyfluctuating asymmetrymatingreproductive strategiessexual selection
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , August 2000 , pp. 573 - 587
Copyright
2000 Cambridge University Press

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