Mate choice is a topic of behavior that has received considerable
attention over the past decade or so, and has generated much controversy.
Darwin (1871) described the process of sexual selection, and documented
the typical pattern of sexually selected behavioral traits. Males compete
with one another for access to females, and are aggressively eager to copulate
with any available female. Females, in contrast, are relatively passive
and are very particular about the males they mate with. Darwin went on
to describe many characteristics of males that have presumably evolved
through the action of female choice.
In 1972, R. L. Trivers proposed that the dichotomy between male and female behavior is the result of a fundamental discrepancy between the genders in parental investment, which he defined as any investment of time, energy, or risk that an animal makes to enhance the survival and eventual reproduction of an offspring. He predicted that females, because of their relatively great investment in offspring, should exercise choice among potential mates, and that males, because they invest little in each offspring, should attempt to mate indiscriminately with any female available.
This dichotomy is indistinct in species where males make a considerable investment in offspring. In this situation, males might be expected to choose among potential mates on the basis of reproductive characteristics, among other traits. Both males and females exercise preferences that tend to maximize their reproductive success, but the characteristics that are preferred differ between the genders. For instance, in Mormon crickets, males provide a spermatophore that contains, in addition to sperm, a nutritious bolus of material upon which the female feeds while sperm are being transferred into her reproductive tract. The spermatophore represents a considerable parental investment on the part of the male; it may be up to 27% of his body mass. In this situation, males would be expected to exercise some preference among potential mates. This is in fact the case. Males prefer to mate with females that are larger than the population average. These females are more fecund, so the males' preference increases their fitness. Females prefer males with larger spermatophores, and thus more nutrition, which increases their fitness.
In most human cultures (even the polygynous ones), males make considerable investment of resources in their offspring. They are expected to have behaviors that tend to insure confidence of paternity, but they are also expected to make choices among potential mates. Females who rely in large part on male parental investment to raise their offspring are also expected to be choosy about their mate. However, the characteristics of human males that promote the fitness of females are not the same as the characteristics of human females that promote the fitness of males. We expect gender differences in mate preferences, and might be able to predict in a general way the characteristics that would be important for females and for males. If female fitness is dependent on resources provided by the male, females should prefer males that have higher "resource holding potential", however that is measured in the culture in question. If male fitness depends on the ability of his mate(s) to produce offspring, males should prefer females that have high potential fecundity. Thus the criteria that are important in mate choice should be different for females and males.
Based on these types of arguments, a group of researchers led by David Buss of the University of Michigan devised a "mate preference questionnaire" that has been administered to over 10,000 individuals of 37 different cultures. The results are overwhelming. Males rate good looks, good health, and chastity as the most desirable characteristics in a mate; females rate good financial prospects, favorable social status, and ambition and industriousness as the most important characteristics in a mate. These preferences are culturally universal: they are consistently shared by males and females of many diverse cultures. The preferences of females and males also coincide with our predictions about mate preferences based on fitness.
Our purpose for this lab is to sample the mate preferences of Austin College students. The questionnaire we developed is remarkably similar to the one used by the Buss group; we will administer it to a sample of our fellow humans. We should be careful in this case about pseudoreplication; no individual should respond twice to the questionnaire. We should also be sure to have roughly equal numbers of male and female respondents. Our results will be an average importance ranking for each of our questionnaire items for males and females; we will be able to compare the importance of the characteristics statistically.