Buss (1989) Aims And Context

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Context 1

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Sexual selection is one of the processes by which evolution takes place. Any trait that increases the reproductive success of an individual will be selected and become more and more exaggerated over evolutionary time.

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Evolutionary theory

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Parental investment and sexual selection theory In mammals, males make less parental investment because the female carries the baby. This greater investment means that females are more likely to choose a partner who can offer resources (e.g. food, shelter, territory, protection) that will enhance the females reproductive success.

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Prediction 1

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Reproductive value Youthfulness would be an indicator of reproductive value and is signalled by physical characteristics such as smooth skin and full lips.
Males who fail to select females with such characteristics would, on average, leave fewer offspring than males who select females with such characteristics. Reproductive value will be highest the younger the girl because she will have longer to reproduce.

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Prediction 2

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Fertility: Youthfulness is also an indicator of fertility. A female of 23 would have higher fertility but lower reproductive value than a 13 year old. It is less easy to judge male fertility from appearance, since age and fertility are less closely associated in males. This suggests that males more than females will value youth
and physical attractiveness in potential mates.

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Prediction 3

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Paternity probability Preference for chastity in a potential mate ensures paternity probability. Males who preferred chaste females in our EEA presumably enjoyed greater reproductive success. Females have less need for chastity because they can be certain of their own parenthood. However, it is possible that male sexual experience may signal that the male might have to share resources between a number of females and therefore chastity may also be an important signal for females.

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Aim

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Buss aimed to investigate if evolutionary explanations for sex differences in human mate preferences are correct. If they are we would expect to find the same sex differences in cultures with varying ecologies, locations, ethnic compositions, religious orientations and political inclinations. Cross-cultural studies offer an opportunity for testing evolution-based hypotheses because we would expect behaviours that are innate to be the same in all cultures.