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Three sociological perspectives on mate selection
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Behavior Involved in Mate Selection and Attraction
Reproduction in Homo sapiens, as in all animals, is a primary driving force and has been elaborated upon since the beginnings of society. Humans must take part in sexual reproduction to produce offspring, thus initiation behaviors can be studied. Commonly, the male makes advances and the female is the selector, or chooses the mate. For humans, this holds true and behavior is modified to maximize competitive receptability. This phenomenon carries across all cultural boundaries and is deeply rooted in the overall behavior patterns in the people of the culture. People try to refine their natural appearance to maximize mating opportunity. The males attempt to enhance features for success in initiation and females compete for receptability completeness.
Decorations of the face and skin can vary from elongated ear lobes and a pierced nose to eye shadow and lipstick. Elaborate costumes have been witnessed to help in the process of mate selection. Behaviors can stem from submissiveness to aggression in the act of initiation.
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Few studies have been conducted on the courtship behaviors of Beluga whales. Courtship is defined as whales creating a relationship and is seen through many different behaviors. Such behaviors include posturing, when a beluga turns on its side to present the ventral side to the beluga of interest (Dipaola, Akai, & Kraus, 2007). Behaviors are used as a means of close range communication (Pryor, 1990; Tyack, 2000; Wursig, Kieckhefer & Jefferson, 1990). The purpose of courting is to engage in sexual activity with a beluga of choice. Another courtship behavior is rubbing, wherein belugas make contact through body rubs, many of which occur using the pectoral fin; this is sometimes called taking a rub (Samuels et al., 1989 as cited in Glabicky, DuBrava, & Noonan (2010)).
Who chooses the mate in the species Homo sapiens? Does the male chase and the female choose as Darwin observed in other species? Darwin saw that female choosiness leads to sexual selection, where the traits are not related to survival. Two categories of sexual selection persist of intra-male competition and female choice. The intra-male competition is when males evolve to be bigger and
The article, On Human Nature: Sex and the Single Monkey, was published by The Sciences over fifteen years ago. Written by Robert Sapolsky, the article addresses a multitude of mating concepts and theories between female and male organisms, including humans and primates. I would not say that the article is dated from the concept of anatomical and physiological behaviors and reactions because these remain constant. However, a glaring component is missing in this article based on our changing times and socially accepted beliefs. I also find the article too narrow in scope leaving several questions unanswered.
In order to understand the present lifestyles relating to different approaches and tactics applied by humans in mate choice preferences, there is the need to refer to Darwin (1859, 1871) evolutionary perspectives. Darwin (1871) sexual selection is the driving force for males and females reproductive quest for their genes survival. These driving forces have been classified into two categories as intra-sexual and intersexual mate selection.Intersexual selection is male sexual selection process whereby males compete with other males and the females choose the strongest as their ideal partner. Intra-sexual selection occurs when the male species fight among themselves and the strongest gain access to females for
Geary, D. C., Vigil, J., & Byrd-Craven, J. (2004). Evolution of human mate choice. The
As we know every living creature, just like humans, have their own unique way to mate and reproduce. Some of the mating patterns might depend on the environment, other might be determined by their size of the living creature, other might have evolve over time. In the primate world there is no difference and each primate has their own unique mating tactic. When it comes to the chimpanzee species they have three mating patterns, the opportunistic, the possessive,and the consortship patterns. Each mating pattern has its own benefit and its own cost when it is used.
Infanticide is a frequent event among non-human primates, and is a phenomenon that has been interpreted in various different ways (Borries et al., 1999). Although it is a fact adult male primates frequently try to commit infanticide, the question of why they commit it is frequently debated (Borries et al., 1999). One of the most generally accepted theories for infanticide is the sexual selection hypothesis, which claims infanticide is a reproductive strategy to improve one’s fitness, or have more offspring (Borries et al., 1999). As producing more offspring means a higher chance of the father’s genetics passing on to future generations, the presence of other males and the offspring of those males can be a threat to one’s dominance (Borries
Charles Darwin characterized sexual selection as “variance in the number of mates”. The purpose of sexual selection is to perfect the secondary sexual characteristics, which are the morphological differences between the two sexes. On the other hand, the primary sexual characteristics are the differences between the reproductive genital systems of the two sexes. Sexual selection instead of adapting the individual to the environment, like natural selection, it does enhance traits involved in mate acquisition. Sexual conflict, on the other hand, occurs when males and females have different reproductive interests and derive from the urge for sexual reproduction.
Research indicates that culture has an impact on individuals’ preferential behaviors. These preferential processes are quite often involved in mate selection and mate attraction. One’s personality traits, ethnicity, and physical appearances are just a few of the ways that perceptions of attraction differ across cultures. Not only do these perceptions of attraction vary by culture, but these perceptions also vary by gender and play a huge role on what men and women deem as attractive. Because the concept of attraction is universal, it is understood that all cultures have the concept of attraction (Glazer, 2014). Research in evolutionary psychology indicates that there may be an innate, biological drive that underlies cultural differences in attraction between male and females. This current paper seeks to review literature on culture and gender as a function of an individual’s attraction to individuals of the opposite gender. In an effort to explain the function of both culture and gender in relation to attraction, it will be explained how evolutionary theory underlies heterosexual sexual attraction.
Sexual selection theory suggests that participation in risky behavior should be observed mainly in those individuals who have experienced most intense reproductive competition (Wilson & Daly, 1985). We can see an individual is fighting for a living and even for mates. We have studied in our earlier class that females are soft-hearted and emotional whereas males are strong, bold, and hide their emotion. Seeing the basic characteristics of male as an emotional hider can make him competitive. In some traditional society, if males are not being strong enough to show courage and support his family is regarded as a useless fellow. We can see people who are the warrior are both males and females, but males are preferred. In earlier days, females were
According to David Funder, evolutionary psychology attempts to explain behavioral patterns by analyzing how they have many been used for survival and reproduction in past generations. Evolutionary psychology gave special attention to sex differences in mating behaviors, including differences in what men and women find most attractive in each other and the strategies they use to seek and keep mates. In the book The science of Psychology by Laura A. King, stats that psychologists argue, the way we adapt is traceable to problems early humans faced in adapting to their environment. Decisions like aggressiveness, fear, our physical features and body shapes all were had the influence of what our ancestors had to do to survive.
Almost every aspect of psychology comes down to one question: Is it due to nature or nurture? The nature versus nurture debate tackles the question of whether nature, biological factors, or nurture, environmental factors, play a larger role in psychology and behaviors.. Gender is defined as the sociocultural dimension of being biologically male or female and in society we have different views on what is male and what is female as well as expectations for males and females. The expectations that society prescribe for how a male and a female act, think, and feel are called gender roles. The way a person acts, thinks, and feels gives a sense of identification for whether or not one is male or female, which usually, is linked to one's anatomy and physiology. There are five perspectives that aim to attribute differences between the sexes, and they are biological, evolutionary, psychodynamic, behavioral, and cognitive. In this essay we will be discussing the extent to which heredity and the environment influence a person’s sexuality.
One of the recurrently intense debates in contemporary society has to do with the origin of male and female behavioral differences in human children1. It is hard to understand to what degree are gendered behavioral differences innate and biological, and to what extent is the surrounding environment influencing such behaviors. Can we learn anything from our closest living relatives who grow up without being encouraged by the society to behave in a certain way? Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) adults differ in sociability, reflecting the ability to function in a complex social setting that ultimately determines their reproductive success2. How soon do these sociality differences begin to arise? To determine whether these sociality differences are innate or learnt we need to dig into infant social behavior, the age window when they are still independent of social
What makes us different? Where is the line between genders beyond sex organs? What factors play a part in sex-linked behaviors? (In our modern society, the differences between sexes is a lightly touched on subject because evidence of one being less than the other could greatly rupture our disputed ideas of equality between the sexes.)
The mating process always involves the struggle of one sex (often the male) to win the mating with the female. The failure of this process is normally a few or no offspring to sustain the generation of their own species. In contrary, a successful male to