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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Synonyms

Food; Male provision; Material extrinsic investments; Shelter and protection; Status and wealth

Definition

Male resource provision plays an important role in parental care and offspring survival; as a consequence it can act as a signal that is important in female mate choice. Male resource provision involves providing material extrinsic investments in the form of food, shelter, and protection and can be signaled through wealth and status.

Introduction

Because human babies require a longer period of parental care compared to other mammals, parental investment by both sexes can have implications for offspring survival (Hill and Hurtado 1996; Nettle 2008). Since males invest in parental care through extrinsic material investments, through resources in the form of food, shelter, and protection, it pays for women to select mates that have the ability to make these provisions (Symons 1979). Males show off (signal) resources through wealth and status because females have marked...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, UK

    Wendy Iredale

Authors
  1. Wendy Iredale
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Correspondence to Wendy Iredale .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland Univ Dept of Psycholgy, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana Weekes-Shackelford

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  3. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

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Iredale, W. (2016). Resources. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_28-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_28-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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