Evolutionary considerations of mate choice date back to Darwin (1871), when he proposed a mechanism know as sexual selection. This proposed mechanism can explain characteristics like plumage of peacocks, fight in elephant seals over females mate, longer neck in giraffes to exhibit dominance in females and so on. These characteristics contradict natural selection (survival of fittest). Sexual selection can be divided into two processes, namely intersexual and intrasexual selection (Buss, 1986). Peacock tail which is against natural selection is an example of intersexual selection and competition between elephant seal to access mating opportunities is refer to as intrasexual selection between same sex in different species. Due to shorter supply
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Polygyny is practiced in 50% of the societies and monogamy in 38% of the societies. High status men have many concubines and mistresses but are allowed to have only one wife. Predominant manner of long term mating was arranged marriage, with parents choosing spouses for their children. Majority of the societies, 63% fathers were the only decision makers in arranged marriages. However in 56% of the societies more control was applied over daughters than over sons. In 44% of the cases parents made a decision of their children’s arrange marriage while their child was still an infant. Even with this given data, individual mate choice can still be practised. 19% of the cases considered female choices whereas 38% did not. For male offspring 19% of the cases considered male choice and 6% required their agreement. In addition to these choices, selecting a mate for sexual intercourse or for long-term mating can be exercised by means of extramarital relationships. In selective, 69% of the societies extramarital relationships were observed. If caught cheating women were punished severely in 31% of the cases and were given killing as punishment in 31% of the cases. Whereas if men were caught cheating they were given severe punishment in 9% of the cases, and were given no punishment in 19% of the cases. The easiest way to exercise free choice was divorce but not everyone …show more content…
As a consequence individual genetic material is not only found in offspring’s parents but also in his /her relatives. According to Hamilton rule (1964) an individual can increase the production of his gene by favouring and helping his/her genetic relatives. Based on this rule Bateman introduced the theory of parental investment, which states that due to unequal investment in producing offspring; female investment is more due to longer gestation period while sperms are cheaper than female gametes. As a result males are fundamentally promiscuous and females are fundamentally selective (Bateman, 1948). The major drawback of this study is that data gathered from pre-industrial and non-western societies do not fit this theory; reason could be women inequality in history (Apostolou M. , 2010). As they have little or no choice over selecting mate freely. Apostolou advanced a different model of sexual selection in which parent’s offspring conflict theory is incorporated to understand the pattern of human mating. To test his model Apostolou did extensive research on a sample of 190 societies, which include modern hunting and gathering societies. His research is discussed in the following section of the
Polygyny is practiced in 50% of the societies and monogamy in 38% of the societies. High status men have many concubines and mistresses but are allowed to have only one wife. Predominant manner of long term mating was arranged marriage, with parents choosing spouses for their children. Majority of the societies, 63% fathers were the only decision makers in arranged marriages. However in 56% of the societies more control was applied over daughters than over sons. In 44% of the cases parents made a decision of their children’s arrange marriage while their child was still an infant. Even with this given data, individual mate choice can still be practised. 19% of the cases considered female choices whereas 38% did not. For male offspring 19% of the cases considered male choice and 6% required their agreement. In addition to these choices, selecting a mate for sexual intercourse or for long-term mating can be exercised by means of extramarital relationships. In selective, 69% of the societies extramarital relationships were observed. If caught cheating women were punished severely in 31% of the cases and were given killing as punishment in 31% of the cases. Whereas if men were caught cheating they were given severe punishment in 9% of the cases, and were given no punishment in 19% of the cases. The easiest way to exercise free choice was divorce but not everyone …show more content…
As a consequence individual genetic material is not only found in offspring’s parents but also in his /her relatives. According to Hamilton rule (1964) an individual can increase the production of his gene by favouring and helping his/her genetic relatives. Based on this rule Bateman introduced the theory of parental investment, which states that due to unequal investment in producing offspring; female investment is more due to longer gestation period while sperms are cheaper than female gametes. As a result males are fundamentally promiscuous and females are fundamentally selective (Bateman, 1948). The major drawback of this study is that data gathered from pre-industrial and non-western societies do not fit this theory; reason could be women inequality in history (Apostolou M. , 2010). As they have little or no choice over selecting mate freely. Apostolou advanced a different model of sexual selection in which parent’s offspring conflict theory is incorporated to understand the pattern of human mating. To test his model Apostolou did extensive research on a sample of 190 societies, which include modern hunting and gathering societies. His research is discussed in the following section of the