Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science pp 1–11Cite as

Mate Preferences

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

Synonyms

Desires in mating; Mate choice; Mate selection

Definition

Mate preferences are the outputs of psychological mechanisms designed to motivate people to pursue potential mates who possess particular qualities. Preferred features range widely. They include morphological (e.g., face or body shape), behavioral (e.g., kindness or dominance), or social (e.g., status or connections) attributes. Mate preferences can be species typical, sex differentiated, individually variable within sex, culturally variable, and predictably context dependent.

Introduction

Human mate choice is not random. Given the choice between a kind healthy partner and a disease-afflicted cruel partner, most people would prefer the first over the second. These preferences determine who we are attracted to, who we pine for during absences, and who we write books, plays, songs, poems, and films about. They affect who we select as mates; who we live with, support, and receive support from; and, for some, with whom we...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Buss, D. M. (1989). Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 12(01), 1–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buss, D. M., & Schmitt, D. P. (1993). Sexual strategies theory: An evolutionary perspective on human mating. Psychological Review, 100(2), 204.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Conroy-Beam, D., & Buss, D. M. (2016). How are mate preferences linked with actual mate selection? Tests of mate preference integration algorithms using computer simulations and actual mating couples. PLoS One, 11(6), e0156078.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeBruine, L. M., Jones, B. C., Crawford, J. R., Welling, L. L., & Little, A. C. (2010). The health of a nation predicts their mate preferences: Cross-cultural variation in women’s preferences for masculinized male faces. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 277(1692), 2405–2410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easton, J. A., Confer, J. C., Goetz, C. D., & Buss, D. M. (2010). Reproduction expediting: Sexual motivations, fantasies, and the ticking biological clock. Personality and Individual Differences, 49(5), 516–520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gangestad, S. W., & Buss, D. M. (1993). Pathogen prevalence and human mate preferences. Ethology and Sociobiology, 14(2), 89–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gangestad, S. W., & Thornhill, R. (2003). Facial masculinity and fluctuating asymmetry. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24(4), 231–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gildersleeve, K., Haselton, M. G., & Fales, M. R. (2014). Do women’s mate preferences change across the ovulatory cycle? A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 140(5), 1205.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grammer, K., & Thornhill, R. (1994). Human (Homo sapiens) facial attractiveness and sexual selection: the role of symmetry and averageness. Journal of comparative psychology, 108(3), 233.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grillot, R. L., Simmons, Z. L., Lukaszewski, A. W., & Roney, J. R. (2014). Hormonal and morphological predictors of women’s body attractiveness. Evolution and Human Behavior, 35(3), 176–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnstone, R. A. (1994). Female preference for symmetric males as a by-product of selection for mate recognition. Nature, 372(6502), 172–175.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kenrick, D. T., & Keefe, R. C. (1992). Age preferences in mates reflect sex differences in human reproductive strategies. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 15(01), 75–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenrick, D. T., Sadalla, E. K., Groth, G., & Trost, M. R. (1990). Evolution, traits, and the stages of human courtship: Qualifying the parental investment model. Journal of Personality, 58(1), 97–116.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Langlois, J. H., Roggman, L. A., Casey, R. J., Ritter, J. M., Rieser-Danner, L. A., & Jenkins, V. Y. (1987). Infant preferences for attractive faces: Rudiments of a stereotype? Developmental Psychology, 23(3), 363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, N. P., Bailey, J. M., Kenrick, D. T., & Linsenmeier, J. A. (2002). The necessities and luxuries of mate preferences: Testing the tradeoffs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(6), 947.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lipson, S. F., & Ellison, P. T. (1996). Comparison of salivary steroid profiles in naturally occurring conception and non-conception cycles. Human Reproduction, 11(10), 2090–2096.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Little, A. C., Jones, B. C., Penton-Voak, I. S., Burt, D. M., & Perrett, D. I. (2002). Partnership status and the temporal context of relationships influence human female preferences for sexual dimorphism in male face shape. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 269(1496), 1095–1100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Low, B. S. (1991). Reproductive life in nineteenth century Sweden: An evolutionary perspective on demographic phenomena. Ethology and Sociobiology, 12(6), 411–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marlowe, F. W. (2004). Mate preferences among Hadza hunter-gatherers. Human Nature, 15(4), 365–376.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, G. F., & Todd, P. M. (1998). Mate choice turns cognitive. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2(5), 190–198.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Møller, A. P., & Pomiankowski, A. (1993). Fluctuating asymmetry and sexual selection. Genetica, 89(1–3), 267–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roney, J. R. (2009). The role of sex hormones in the initiation of human mating relationships. In The Endocrinology of Social Relationships (pp. 246–269). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, M. J., Fox, J. H., Wilczynski, W., & Rand, A. S. (1990). Sexual selection for sensory exploitation in the frog. Physalaemus Pustulosus, 343(6253), 66–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheib, J. E., Gangestad, S. W., & Thornhill, R. (1999). Facial attractiveness, symmetry and cues of good genes. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 266(1431), 1913–1917.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shine, R., O’connor, D., LeMaster, M. P., & Mason, R. T. (2001). Pick on someone your own size: Ontogenetic shifts in mate choice by male garter snakes result in size-assortative mating. Animal Behaviour, 61(6), 1133–1141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simmons, Z. L., & Roney, J. R. (2009). Androgens and energy allocation: Quasi-experimental evidence for effects of influenza vaccination on men’s testosterone. American Journal of Human Biology, 21(1), 133–135.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M. L., Perrett, D. I., Jones, B. C., Cornwell, R. E., Moore, F. R., Feinberg, D. R., … & Pitman, R. M. (2006). Facial appearance is a cue to oestrogen levels in women. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 273(1583), 135–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Souza, A. L., Conroy-Beam, D., & Buss, D. M. (2016). Mate preferences in Brazil: Evolved desires and cultural evolution over three decades. Personality and Individual Differences, 95, 45–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sugiyama, L. S. (2005). Physical attractiveness in adaptationist perspective. In D. M. Buss (Ed.), The handbook of evolutionary psychology (pp. 292–343). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waynforth, D. (2007). Mate choice copying in humans. Human Nature, 18(3), 264–271.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Whitehouse, A. J., Gilani, S. Z., Shafait, F., Mian, A., Tan, D. W., Maybery, M. T., … & Eastwood, P. (2015). Prenatal testosterone exposure is related to sexually dimorphic facial morphology in adulthood. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 282(1816):20151351

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Daniel Conroy-Beam & David M. Buss

Authors
  1. Daniel Conroy-Beam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. David M. Buss
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Conroy-Beam .

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

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this entry

Cite this entry

Conroy-Beam, D., Buss, D.M. (2016). Mate Preferences. 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_1-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation