Trade-offs, the allocation of reproductive effort, and the evolutionary psychology of human mating

Steven W. Gangestad, Jeffry A. Simpson

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

This response reinforces several major themes in our target article: (a) the importance of sex-specific, within-sex variation in mating tactics; (b) the relevance of optimality thinking to understanding that variation; (c) the significance of special design for reconstructing evolutionary history; (d) the replicated findings that women's mating preferences vary across their menstrual cycle in ways revealing special design; and (e) the importance of applying market phenomena to understand the complex dynamics of mating. We also elaborate on three points: (1) Men who have indicators of genetic fitness may provide more direct benefits when female demand for extra-pair and short-term sex is very low; (2) both men and women track ecological cues to make mating decisions; and (3) more research on female orgasm is needed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)624-644
Number of pages21
JournalBehavioral and Brain Sciences
Volume23
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2000

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