Buss Aims and Context

Current mate preferences are of particular interest to Evolutionary Psychologists as they are thought to demonstrate what types of characteristics were preferred by our ancestors. They also demonstrate the current direction of sexual selection, by indicating who is likely to be selected as a mate. These mate characteristics that are heritable will appear more readily in subsequent generations, whereas individuals lacking preferred characteristics will not be selected to mate and therefore their genes will not be passed on. 

Buss believed that is is important to investigate which characteristics are valued by females and males to investigate the possible arguments for the differences in male and female preferences.

There are three possible arguments that predict particular sex differences in mate preferences:

1) Predictions based on parental investment and sexual selection theory (Trivers.)     According to Trivers, sexual selection is partly driven by different levels of investment males and females make in their offspring. In mammals, males make less investment as the female carries the baby;therefore females are likely to be choosier when selecting a…