Males choose to mate with as many females as possible to pass on his genes more to have as many offspring as possible, so they too will pass on their gene line.
Men can have as many children as they want while women’s bodies change from reproduction when carrying a child.
Females are more discriminatory in their choice of partner compared to males because they want their child to be successful on getting mates to pass on their genes. Also wants a male who will dedicate resources to her as her body changes for 9 months.
According to the theory the purpose of relationships & attraction is to attract a perfect mate with suitable genes to mate & pass on their genes as many times as possible.
A female might be attracted to males with survival values so males can protect them when they are pregnant & vulnerable. Also to go out and hunt for food or have resources to protect her & the new born.
Male attraction values: need to have resources, physically fit, attractive,
Female attractive values: fertile & reproductively fit, attractive & clean (nice eyes & body)
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| Davis – news adds from women looking for a mate emphasising on physical beauty & high status & wealth. Men seeking physically attractive, younger women – supports study showing women looking for someone who can provide for her while men look for fertile women.
Clark – 75% men agreed to have sex with attractive females when just men while 0% females would agree to have sex with attractive males – shows male genes encouraging them to pass on their genes
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Buss – mate preference varied between sex differences of wester & non-wester cultures – evolutionary approach would suggest culture does not affect preferences as behaviour should be universal
Reductionist – focuses on genes & bio features and doesn’t recognise free will or nurture – evolutionary theory ignores nurture in attraction. Deterministic – genes are the only factor in attraction & only genetic factors influence attraction – it ignored the principles of free will & peoples decisions Mere exposure effect – liking / pull of attraction tends to increase with increased exposure of contact – we tend to be attracted to ppl who we have been frequently exposed to. |