Synonyms
Definition
Self-evaluations are defined as the subjective judgments individuals make about their personal qualities.
Mate value refers to the desirability of an individual as a long- or short-term sexual partner, relative to intrasexual competitors.
Introduction
Since successfully producing offspring is critical from an evolutionary point of view, men and women should be especially concerned with monitoring their status in intrasexual competition for mates (Buss and Schmitt 1993). Relative desirability as a long- or short-term sexual partner is defined as mate value, and individuals are expected to track this in order to help guide adaptive decision-making in mating contexts. Thus, individual’s self-evaluations should reflect relevant social feedback regarding their mate value. Furthermore, assessments of mate value are also expected to predict self-esteem, since this is defined as a global evaluation of the self.
Social Comparison and...
References
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Buss, D. M. (1988b). From vigilance to violence: Tactics of mate retention in American undergraduates. Ethology & Sociobiology, 9, 291–317.
Buss, D. M., & Schmitt, D. P. (1993). Sexual strategies theory: An evolutionary perspective on human mating. Psychological Review, 100, 204–232.
Castro, F. N., Hattori, W. T., Yamamoto, M. E., & de Araújo Lopes, F. (2014). Social comparisons on self-perception and mate preferences: The self and the others. Psychology, 5, 688–699.
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Bale, C. (2016). Self-Evaluations Track Perceived Mate Value. 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_1454-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1454-1
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