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Ovulation

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Synonyms

Conception; Fertility; Menstrual cycle; Mid-cycle; Ovulate

Definition

In humans, ovulation occurs around mid-menstrual cycle when an oocyte is released from an ovary and sex can result in conception.

Introduction

Several scholars have suggested that human females have evolved to conceal ovulation from males (e.g., Marlowe 2004). However, other scholars contend that cues to ovulation have not been entirely hidden, but rather have only been partially concealed (see Welling and Puts 2014). Although there is evidence in favor of both perspectives, there is considerable recent evidence in favor of the latter hypothesis. This research falls into four related areas of research: (1) cyclic variation in female mate preferences, (2) changes in female sexual motivation, (3) changes in female attractiveness, and (4) male detection of ovulation.

There is supporting evidence for the claim that women have evolved to conceal ovulation, such as inaccurate beliefs surrounding the timing of...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Lisa L. M. Welling

Authors
  1. Lisa L. M. Welling
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Correspondence to Lisa L. M. Welling .

Editor information

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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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Welling, L.L.M. (2016). Ovulation. 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_6-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_6-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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