Many of us have been taught that choosing a mate is based upon cultural ideals and social cues. Check out this site to see what traits are often identified as eye candy in our culture, http://www.wikihow.com/Find-the-Ideal-Mate (Links to an external site.)
The truth is that mate selection is not just a cultural phenomenon, but rather, biological determined. To understand the biology of beauty, you must always remember to head straight for the genes.
Sexual Selection:
Charles Darwin taught us that mate selection is not a random process. It is determined by a biological mechanism or force of evolution known as sexual selection. Sexual selection is made up of two components, competition (between males for females) and advertising. You can observe Homo sapiens demonstrating such actions at coffee houses, clubs or even in your school quad.
Competition allows a male to court a female and to possibly gain access to her limited number of eggs. If a male possesses physical signs to attract a mate, he increases his likelihood of passing along his genetic material and influencing future generations. Culturally, a man may attract a mate with a shiny new car or a fancy gold watch. From an evolutionary perspective, he may have a pronounced chin, which is a sign of a higher testosterone level.
A female may advertise by wearing tight clothing or extra make-up. But we know that from an evolutionary perspective, to attract a mate she should have symmetrical facial features and a hip to waist ratio of roughly .8.
We do not randomly choose someone as a mate. In fact, studies across cultures indicate that we look for very specific physical features. Males tend to choose females with facial features that represent a youthful, healthy appearance. Females look for males that tend to be taller (that is correct, tall men have sex earlier and tend to have a greater number of offspring than their shorter counterparts) and hunkier (but not big bodybuilders) in order to protect and provide for their mate and children.
But wait… how does this information relate to Kim Kardashian? This television personality has high cheekbones and clear eyes, both strong indicators of youth and vitality. She also has wide hips. This physical characteristic indicates a greater likelihood of successfully bearing young. We are focusing exclusively on an evolutionary perspective. So, if humans choose certain physical traits over and over, in 1,000’s of generations, this will influence future offspring.
• Describe one biological trait that you find to be attractive
• Discuss how this trait differs between humans due to variation (and feel free to address sexual selection)
• How does this physical sign of beauty relate to the passing along of genetic material across multiple generation.
Sample Solution
