Synonyms
Definition
Women’s mating psychology, behavior, and attractiveness shift over their menstrual cycle. Men may have evolved strategies to mitigate any undesirable effects of these shifts on their own fitness.
Introduction
Human female fertility varies over the menstrual cycle. The likelihood that a single act of intercourse will result in conception is greatest in the days preceding ovulation. At this time, women are more attractive and are more driven to enhance their attractiveness. Androphilic women become more interested in men who are not their primary partner, and their preference for physically and behaviorally feminine men decreases. Because men who are women’s primary partners risk desertion or (if their partner engages in short-term sexual relationships with other men) investing in biologically unrelated offspring, they have likely experienced selection pressure to deploy counterstrategies that mitigate the effects of...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Burriss, R. P., & Little, A. C. (2006). Effects of partner conception risk phase on male perception of dominance in faces. Evolution and Human Behavior, 27, 297–305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2006.01.002.
Cerda-Molina, A. L., Hernández-López, L., de la O Rodriguez, C. E., Chavira-Ramirez, R., & Mondragón-Ceballos, R. (2013). Changes in men’s salivary testosterone and cortisol levels, and in sexual desire after smelling female axillary and vulvar scents. Frontiers in Endocrinology, 4, 00159. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2013.00159.
Fales, M. R., Gildersleeve, K. A., & Haselton, M. G. (2014). Exposure to perceived male rivals raises men’s testosterone on fertile relative to nonfertile days of their partner’s ovulatory cycle. Hormones and Behavior, 65, 454–460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2014.04.002.
Gangestad, S. W., Thornhill, R., & Garver, C. E. (2002). Changes in women’s sexual interests and their partners’ mate-retention tactics across the menstrual cycle: Evidence for shifting conflicts of interest. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 269, 975–982. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2001.1952.
Gangestad, S. W., Garver-Apgar, C. E., Cousins, A. J., & Thornhill, R. (2014). Intersexual conflict across women’s ovulatory cycle. Evolution and Human Behavior, 34, 302–308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.02.012.
Haselton, M. G., & Gangestad, S. W. (2006). Conditional expression of women’s desires and men’s mate guarding across the ovulatory cycle. Hormones and Behavior, 49, 509–518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2005.10.006.
Haselton, M. G., & Gildersleeve, K. (2015). Human ovulation cues. Current Opinion in Psychology, 7, 120–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.08.020.
Miller, S. L., & Maner, J. K. (2010). Evolution and relationship maintenance: Fertility cues lead committed men to devalue relationship alternatives. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 1081–1084. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2010.07.004.
Miller, S. L., & Maner, J. K. (2011). Ovulation as a male mating prime: Subtle signs of women’s fertility influence men’s mating cognition and behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 295–308. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020930.
Pillsworth, E. G., & Haselton, M. G. (2006). Male sexual attractiveness predicts differential ovulatory shifts in female extra-pair attraction and male mate retention. Evolution and Human Behavior, 27, 247–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2005.10.002.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Burriss, R.P. (2018). Male Counter Strategies to Cyclic Shifts. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2003-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2003-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
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