Psychology & Sociology
In mate choice and attraction, the fitness-enhancing benefits provided by potential mates include: direct benefits and indirect benefits. Direct benefits are resources a mate provides that directly improve their partner’s fitness by helping them to survive and successfully reproduce (providing food, territory, parental care, etc.). Indirect benefits are the beneficial genes a mate provides to offspring, indirectly improving their partners fitness by enabling them produce more fit offspring.
There are four key mechanisms of mate choice to consider. Direct phenotypic benefits involve traits that make an individual better at providing direct benefits. Runaway or Fisherian selection occurs when mates prefer a flashy trait that has no other benefit aside from being attention-grabbing. Indicator traits are costly to grow or maintain, but surviving with them indicates excellent genes. Lastly, sensory bias is when animals have a preference for mates with traits similar to an item they evolved an attraction to for non-mating purposes. In humans, attraction patterns include self-disclosure, reciprocal liking, attraction growing in close physical proximity and the mere-exposure effect which involves increased attraction as people spend more time together.
Lesson Outline
<ul> <li>Introduction: Mate choice in animals and attraction in humans</li> <ul> <li>Mate choice influenced by sex that invests more in producing each offspring</li> <li>Direct and indirect benefits of mate choice</li> </ul> <li>Direct benefits</li> <ul> <li>Directly increase partner's fitness (survival and reproduction)</li> <li>Protection, help with offspring, providing food</li> </ul> <li>Indirect benefits</li> <ul> <li>Beneficial genes passed on to offspring</li> <li>Improve offspring's fitness (strength, intelligence, looks)</li> </ul> <li>Mechanisms of mate choice</li> <ul> <li>Direct phenotypic benefits: traits that provide direct benefits</li> <li>Runaway selection (Fisherian selection): flashy traits that attract mates</li> <li>Indicator traits: costly traits that signal good genes</li> <li>Sensory bias: preference for mates with traits similar to non-mating item attraction</li> </ul> <li>Principles of human attraction</li> <ul> <li>Self-disclosure: revealing personal information, increasing attraction</li> <li>Reciprocal liking: increased attraction when knowing the other person likes you</li> <li>Physical proximity: increased attraction when spending time close to one another</li> <li>Mere-exposure effect: attraction increases with familiarity and exposure</li> </ul> </ul>
Don't stop here!
Get access to 51 more Psychology & Sociology lessons & 8 more full MCAT courses with one subscription!
FAQs
Direct benefits are resources a mate provides that directly improve their partner’s fitness by helping them to survive and successfully reproduce. Indirect benefits refer to long-term advantages, mainly concerning the offspring's fitness and quality. Indirect benefits may include good genes, which contribute to offspring survival and reproductive success.
Phenotypic benefits are physical or behavioral traits that enhance an individual's attractiveness to potential mates. In the context of mate choice, these traits may signal an individual's health, genetic quality, or ability to provide resources and care for offspring.
Indicator traits are physical or behavioral characteristics that provide cues about an individual's quality or genetic fitness. These traits play a crucial role in mate choice and attraction, as potential mates use them to judge the fitness quality of prospective partners. Examples of indicator traits include features like big feathered tails in peacocks or large antlers in deer, which may indicate good genes, immune system strength, or overall health.
Sensory bias refers to the phenomenon where an individual's sensory system has innate preferences for certain stimuli, which can influence mate choice and attraction. This bias can lead to the development of exaggerated traits in one sex, as individuals with these traits are preferred by potential mates due to their sensory preferences. Sensory bias can result in the evolution of seemingly arbitrary traits that do not necessarily convey direct or indirect benefits, as long as they appeal to the sensory preferences of potential mates. This concept can help explain the existence of certain elaborate traits and mating displays in the animal kingdom, such as complex songs in birds or colorful patterns in fish.
