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Female Mate Choice

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

Synonyms

Females’ mating strategies; Women’s sexual preferences

Definition

A complex system of conscious and unconscious mechanisms leading to an expression of a preference toward a certain individual or a certain feature.

Introduction

Sex differences in mate choice arise from differences in minimal investment in children between men and women (minimal parental investment). For men, basic investment is energy spent for sperm production and then fertilization. For women, not only is the energetic expense for ovum much higher than men’s investment in sperm cells, but minimal cost also includes pregnancy and then usually breast-feeding. Due to these primary differences, men and women differ greatly in what they seek in a partner and what choices they make.

Women’s mate choice is not fixed throughout their lifetime and depends on a multitude of conditions. Those conditions can be defined as more “internal” (such as hormones or sexual openness) or “external” (e.g., living conditions, family...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland

    Urszula M. Marcinkowska

Authors
  1. Urszula M. Marcinkowska
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Urszula M. Marcinkowska .

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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Marcinkowska, U.M. (2016). Female Mate Choice. 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_89-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_89-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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