Gender Differences in Mate Selection
Post whether or not the rules of attraction change for women as a function of their economic independence. Explain whether or not the rules of attraction are biological imperatives or cultural constructions, or both. Please use social psychology theory to refute claims based on evolutionary theory.
Sample Solution
Gender Differences in Mate Selection
What makes two people pick one another from among the myriad available candidates? Psychological science has long been trying to answer this question, and with considerable success. Two main theories have guided scientific thinking on the subject. First is evolutionary theory, which claims that behavioral tendencies, physical characteristics, and personality features that promote our chances to survive and reproduce become, by that virtue, desirable to us. The evolutionary approach predicts that the biological and anatomical differences between men and women will result in different preferences for partner selection. On the other hand, social role theory, developed by Alice Eagly, argues that social, rather than biological, processes dictate our social choices. According to this argument, the mate selection rules are dedicated by the roles that women and men occupy in society. Thus, people`s preferences in the search for a mate are expected to shift as social roles and norms shift.