Summary of David M. Buss's The Evolution of Desire

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The elements of human mating are extremely confusing. We grow up believing in true love, finding our one and only, and assuming that once we do, we will live happily ever after. But reality rarely coincides with our beliefs.
#2 Sexual selection is the process by which certain characteristics are chosen based on their mating benefits, instead of their survival benefits. It takes two forms: same-sex competition, in which members of the same sex compete with each other, and mate choice, in which individuals choose a mate based on their preferences for particular qualities.
#3 The theory of sexual selection was first developed to explain mating behavior, and it was fiercely resisted by male scientists for over a century because it seemed to grant too much power to females.
#4 I began an international study to see how mates are selected in different cultures, and found that many of the findings did not agree with conventional thinking. They forced a shift from the standard view of men’s and women’s sexual psychology.

Sujets

• Sexualité
• sexualité
• Sexualité
• Evolutionary psychology

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669376231
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on David M. Buss's The Evolution of Desire
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The elements of human mating are extremely confusing. We grow up believing in true love, finding our one and only, and assuming that once we do, we will live happily ever after. But reality rarely coincides with our beliefs.

#2

Sexual selection is the process by which certain characteristics are chosen based on their mating benefits, instead of their survival benefits. It takes two forms: same-sex competition, in which members of the same sex compete with each other, and mate choice, in which individuals choose a mate based on their preferences for particular qualities.

#3

The theory of sexual selection was first developed to explain mating behavior, and it was fiercely resisted by male scientists for over a century because it seemed to grant too much power to females.

#4

I began an international study to see how mates are selected in different cultures, and found that many of the findings did not agree with conventional thinking. They forced a shift from the standard view of men’s and women’s sexual psychology.

#5

Sexual strategies are adapted solutions to mating problems. They are the methods by which humans solve problems and achieve goals. Each sexual strategy is tailored to a specific adaptive problem, such as identifying a desirable mate or besting competitors in attracting a mate.

#6

Our sexual desires have evolved in the same way as many other desires. We show great fondness for substances rich in fat, sugar, protein, and salt, and an aversion to substances that are bitter, sour, pathogenic, or toxic. These food preferences solve a basic problem of survival.

#7

The weaverbird’s preference for male weavers with desirable nests is similar to the preference women have for men who are willing and able to commit to them over the long term.

#8

The mating process among elephant seals is similar to that of humans. The stronger, larger, and more ferocious males are able to secure mates, and they pass on the genes that confer these qualities to their sons.

#9

Competition among men and women is common in the animal world, and it exists among humans as well. The tactics used to compete are often dictated by the preferences of those we are trying to attract.

#10

The problem of maintaining a mate is another important adaptive problem. Mates may continue to be desirable to rivals, who may poach, thereby undoing all the effort devoted to attracting, courting, and committing to the mate.

#11

Jealousy is a highly sensitive instinct that is driven by context and environment. It is not a rigid, invariant instinct that drives robotlike, mechanical action.

#12

Humans have evolved various strategies for selecting and keeping a good mate, and for jettisoning a bad one. Divorce occurs in all known human cultures.

#13

After divorce, men and women go through different changes. Because children from previous unions are usually seen as burdens rather than benefits when it comes to mating, a woman’s ability to attract a desirable mate often suffers more than a man’s.

#14

The strategies that one sex pursues to select, attract, keep, or replace a mate often create a conflict with the other sex. For example, men have a tendency to seek short-term sex, while women have a tendency to refuse anonymous encounters and prefer to know something about the potential mate before sex.

#15

There is a lot of sexual conflict, but it is not inevitable. Understanding our evolved sexual strategies gives us tremendous power to better our own lives by choosing actions and circumstances that activate some strategies and deactivate others.

#16

The persistence of a small percentage of homosexual men and women poses a evolutionary puzzle. It is difficult to explain how a sexual orientation that is partly inherited can continue to persist in the face of continual evolutionary selection against it.

#17

There are many different types of human sexuality, and no single theory can explain them all. We will explore the origins and nature of sexual orientation in more detail in Chapter 3.

#18

Our evolved mating strategies, just like our survival strategies, may be maladaptive in some ways with respect to survival and reproduction. The increase in sexually transmitted infections renders casual sex more dangerous than it was under ancestral conditions.

#19

The mating system in a culture is also important, as it determines which sexual strategies are available to men and women. In polygynous cultures, for example, parents place a lot of pressure on their sons to compete for the status and resources needed to attract women.

#20

The first barrier to understanding the evolutionary psychology of human mating is perceptual. Our cognitive and perceptual mechanisms have been designed by natural selection to perceive and think about events that occur in a relatively limited time span.

#21

The naturalistic fallacy is when we see ourselves through the lens of utopian visions of what we want people to be. The romantic fallacy is when we see ourselves through the lens of our own ideals, as if they were the only ideals worth living by.

#22

Some have argued that evolutionary psychology implies an inequality between the genders, support restrictions on the roles that men and women can adopt, and promote stereotypes about the genders. But evolutionary psychology does not have any political agenda.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The most basic fact of reproductive biology is that sex is defined by the size of the sex cells. Men are defined as the ones with the small sex cells, while women are defined as the ones with the large sex cells.

#2

The initial parental investment of women makes them an extremely valuable resource, but their reproductive resources are limited. Those who have valuable resources do not give them away cheaply or unselectively.

#3

The qualities people prefer in mates are not static. Because characteristics change, mate seekers must gauge the future potential of a prospective partner. The same man may have different values for different women.

#4

Women must select a mate who has the qualities they desire, and they must do so while considering the cues that indicate whether a man possesses those qualities. They must also integrate their knowledge about a prospective mate and give each attribute its appropriate weight in the final decision about whether to choose or reject him.

#5

The evolution of the female preference for males who offer resources may be the most ancient and pervasive basis for female choice in the animal kingdom. Among humans, these conditions are easily met.

#6

Women over human evolutionary history could gain resources for their children through a single spouse rather than several temporary sex partners. Men provided these resources to their wives and children, and this created a preference for men with resources.

#7

The fact that women place a high value on economic resources is demonstrated in many contexts. For example, female college students place a high minimum percentile on a husband’s earning capacity, while male college students place a high minimum percentile on a wife’s earning capacity.

#8

The importance of financial resources was ranked by women more than men, worldwide. This is because ancestral women would have benefited greatly from having a partner who had resources, since they would have had to deal with the burdens of internal fertilization, a nine-month gestation, and lactation.