David M Buss | The University of Texas at Austin (original) (raw)
Books by David M Buss
Papers by David M Buss
Despite interdependent reproductive fates that favor cooperation, males and females exhibit many ... more Despite interdependent reproductive fates that favor cooperation, males and females exhibit many psychological and
behavioral footprints of sexually antagonistic coevolution. These include strategies of deception, sexual exploitation,
and sexual infidelity as well as anti-exploitation defenses such as commitment skepticism and emotions such as
sexual regret and jealousy. Sexual conflict pervades the mating arena prior to sexual consummation, after a mating
relationship has formed, and in the aftermath of a breakup. It also permeates many other social relationships in forms
such as daughter-guarding, conflict in opposite-sex friendships, and workplace sexual harassment. As such, sexual
conflict constitutes not a narrow or occasional flashpoint but rather persistent threads that run through our intensely
group-living species.
Sexual regret was investigated across two disparate cultures: Norway (N = 853), a highly secular ... more Sexual regret was investigated across two disparate cultures: Norway (N = 853), a highly secular and sexually liberal culture, and the United States (N = 466), a more religious and more sexually conservative culture. Sex differences , individual differences in preferred mating strategy, religiosity, and cultural differences in sexual regret were analyzed. Men were significantly less likely to regret having had casual sex than women and were significantly more likely to regret passing up casual sexual opportunities than women. Participants who were more religious regretted having had casual sex more and regretted passing up casual sex less. Sexually unrestricted participants were less likely to regret having had casual sex and were more likely to regret passing up casual sex. Finally, North Americans and Norwegians did not differ significantly in overall amount of sexual regret nor in patterns of sex differences in sexual regret. Discussion focuses the robustness of sex differences across cultures, the importance of explaining individual differences within cultures, and on future directions for cross-cultural research.
The current study sought to answer three key questions about explaining the emotion of regret in ... more The current study sought to answer three key questions about explaining the emotion of regret in the domain of casual sex: Are sex differences in sexual regret robust or attenuated in a highly egalitarian culture? What proximate psychological variables might explain sex differences in sexual regret? And what accounts for within-sex variation in experiences of sexual regret about casual sex. We conducted a study of 263 Norwegian students (ages 19–37) who reported how much they regretted having either engaged in, or passed up, their most recent casual sexual experience. Sex differences in sexual regret are not attenuated in this sexually egalitarian culture. The study revealed sex differences in worries about pregnancy, STIs, and reputation; however, these predictors did not succeed in accounting for the sex differences in regret engaging in casual sex. Sexual gratification and socio-sexual orientation both predicted the sex differences in casual sex regret. In contrast, only socio-sexual orientation attenuated the sex difference in regret passing up casual sex. Predictors of within-sex variation in casual sexual regret included worry about sexual reputation, experienced gratification during the encounter, and socio-sexual orientation. Discussion focuses on implications for the psychological design features of this relatively neglected emotion.
Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures
Leaving one mating relationship and entering another, serial mating, is commonly observed in many... more Leaving one mating relationship and entering another, serial mating, is commonly observed in many cultures. An array of circumstances can prompt a mate switch. These include (1) unanticipated costs inflicted by one's mate, or 'relationship load,' not apparent on the initial mate selection; (2) changes in the mate value of either partner, creating discrepancies where none previously existed; and (3) the arrival of a new and interested potential mate of sufficiently incremental value to offset the costs of a breakup. The mate switching hypothesis suggests that these circumstances created adaptive problems throughout human evolution that forged adaptations to anticipate and appraise opportunities to mate-switch, implement exit strategies, and manage challenges confronted in the aftermath. We review several studies that support various aspects of the mate switching hypothesis: The cultivation of 'back-up mates,' assessing mate-inflicted costs that comprise relationship load, monitoring selfishly -skewed welfare tradeoff ratios in a partner, gauging mate value discrepancies, and anticipating sexual, emotional , and economic infidelities. The mate switching hypothesis provides both a complementary, and in some instances a competing, explanation to the 'good genes' hypothesis for why women have sexual affairs, and parsimoniously explains a host of other mating phenomena that remain inexplicable on alternative accounts.
Journal of personality, 2006
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1989
This paper reports independent studies supporting the proposal that human standards of attractive... more This paper reports independent studies supporting the proposal that human standards of attractiveness reflect the output of psychological adaptations to detect fitness-relevant traits. We tested novel a priori hypotheses based on an adaptive problem uniquely faced by ancestral hominin females: a forward-shifted center of mass during pregnancy. The hominin female spine possesses evolved morphology to deal with this adaptive challenge: wedging in the third-to-last lumbar vertebra. Among ancestral women, vertebral wedging would have minimized the net fitness threats posed by hypolordosis and hyperlordosis, thereby creating selective pressures on men to prefer such women as mates. On this basis, we hypothesized that men possess evolved mate preferences for women with this theoretically optimal angle of lumbar curvature. In Study 1, as hypothesized, men's attraction toward women increased as women's lumbar curvature approached this angle. However, vertebral wedging and buttock mass can both influence lumbar curvature. Study 2 thus employed a forced-choice paradigm in which men selected the most attractive woman among models exhibiting the same lumbar curvature, but for different morphological reasons. Men again tended to prefer women exhibiting cues to a degree of vertebral wedging closer to optimum. This included preferring women whose lumbar curvature specifically reflected vertebral wedging rather than buttock mass. These findings reveal novel, theoretically anchored, and previously undiscov-ered standards of attractiveness.
Previous studies on sex-differentiated mate preferences have focused on univariate analyses. Howe... more Previous studies on sex-differentiated mate preferences have focused on univariate analyses. However, because mate selection is inherently multidimensional, a multivariate analysis more appropriately measures sex differences in mate preferences. We used the Mahalanobis distance (D) and logistic regression to investigate sex differences in mate preferences with data secured from participants residing in 37 cultures (n = 10,153). Sex differences are large in multivariate terms, yielding an overall D = 2.41, corresponding to overlap between the sexes of just 22.8%. Moreover, knowledge of mate preferences alone affords correct classification of sex with 92.2% accuracy. Finally, pattern-wise sex differences are negatively correlated with gender equality across cultures but are nonetheless cross-culturally robust. Discussion focuses on implications in evaluating the importance and magnitude of sex differences in mate preferences.
Evolutionary research continues to discover new features of human mate preferences, but the downs... more Evolutionary research continues to discover new features of human mate preferences, but the downstream consequences of these preferences for mate selection have been insufficiently explored. Some have inferred that stated preferences have few behavioral consequences given seemingly weak effects of preferences in predicting mating outcomes. Here we test this inference with data from simulated mating markets as well as from real-world couples. We generate a series of agent-based models in which preferences either do or do not drive mate selection. We compare these simulations with 3 empirical studies of real-world couples (Study 1, n 214; Study 2, n 259; Study 3, n 294). Preference-driven agent based models produce several effects that emerge in real couples, but not within random simulations. These include low-magnitude correlations between stated preferences and the individual traits of chosen partners; the novel finding that people with high mate value leverage that value into securing partners with more desirable traits; and the finding that couples assort based on overall mate value. Moreover, real-world mate choices correspond strongly with preference-driven simulations, but not to simulations in which mate selection is random with respect to preferences. Finally, we provide evidence that these effects are due to the causal role of stated preferences, and are not better explained by people updating their mate preferences to match chosen mates. These results provide new evidence that stated mate preferences guide actual mate selections under real mating-market constraints.
Prior mate preference research has focused on the content of mate preferences. Yet in real life, ... more Prior mate preference research has focused on the content of mate preferences. Yet in real life, people must select mates among potentials who vary along myriad dimensions. How do people incorporate information on many different mate preferences in order to choose which partner to pursue? Here, in Study 1, we compare seven candidate algorithms for integrating multiple mate preferences in a competitive agent-based model of human mate choice evolution. This model shows that a Euclidean algorithm is the most evolvable solution to the problem of selecting fitness-beneficial mates. Next, across three studies of actual couples (Study 2: n = 214; Study 3: n = 259; Study 4: n = 294) we apply the Euclidean algorithm toward predicting mate preference fulfillment overall and preference fulfillment as a function of mate value. Consistent with the hypothesis that mate preferences are integrated according to a Euclidean algorithm, we find that actual mates lie close in multidimensional preference space to the preferences of their partners. Moreover, this Euclidean preference fulfillment is greater for people who are higher in mate value, highlighting theoretically-predictable individual differences in who gets what they want. These new Euclidean tools have important implications for understanding real-world dynamics of mate selection.
We test a novel evolutionary hypothesis predicting that mate value discrepancies, but not mate pr... more We test a novel evolutionary hypothesis predicting that mate value discrepancies, but not mate preference fulfillment , will regulate relationship satisfaction. Across Study 1 (n = 259) and Study 2 (n = 300), we employed new Euclidean measures able to capture preference fulfillment and compute estimates of mate value discrepancies. Relationship satisfaction was not related to how well mates fulfilled their partner's preferences. Mate value discrepancies, in contrast, interacted to predict relationship satisfaction: relationship satisfaction declined for participants whose mates were less desirable than their alternatives, but only for participants who were higher in mate value than their mates. Additionally, these satisfaction differences mediated a relationship between mate value discrepancies and mate retention behavior. This mediation pathway is unique to satisfaction; the same pathway was not observed through trust, a functionally distinct relationship affective state. Study 3 (n = 301) addressed a methodological limitation of Studies 1 and 2. We replicated the mate value discrepancy interaction to predict relationship satisfaction, but found an effect of ideal preference fulfillment on relationship satisfaction. These results provide evidence that mate preferences have important, functionally specific effects on within-relationship processes through contributing to two independent discrepancy variables: partner–self and partner-potential mate value discrepancies. They also largely contravene the hypothesis that mate preference fulfillment is the key to relationship satisfaction.
Evolutionary Psychological Science, 2015
Despite interdependent reproductive fates that favor cooperation, males and females exhibit many ... more Despite interdependent reproductive fates that favor cooperation, males and females exhibit many psychological and
behavioral footprints of sexually antagonistic coevolution. These include strategies of deception, sexual exploitation,
and sexual infidelity as well as anti-exploitation defenses such as commitment skepticism and emotions such as
sexual regret and jealousy. Sexual conflict pervades the mating arena prior to sexual consummation, after a mating
relationship has formed, and in the aftermath of a breakup. It also permeates many other social relationships in forms
such as daughter-guarding, conflict in opposite-sex friendships, and workplace sexual harassment. As such, sexual
conflict constitutes not a narrow or occasional flashpoint but rather persistent threads that run through our intensely
group-living species.
Sexual regret was investigated across two disparate cultures: Norway (N = 853), a highly secular ... more Sexual regret was investigated across two disparate cultures: Norway (N = 853), a highly secular and sexually liberal culture, and the United States (N = 466), a more religious and more sexually conservative culture. Sex differences , individual differences in preferred mating strategy, religiosity, and cultural differences in sexual regret were analyzed. Men were significantly less likely to regret having had casual sex than women and were significantly more likely to regret passing up casual sexual opportunities than women. Participants who were more religious regretted having had casual sex more and regretted passing up casual sex less. Sexually unrestricted participants were less likely to regret having had casual sex and were more likely to regret passing up casual sex. Finally, North Americans and Norwegians did not differ significantly in overall amount of sexual regret nor in patterns of sex differences in sexual regret. Discussion focuses the robustness of sex differences across cultures, the importance of explaining individual differences within cultures, and on future directions for cross-cultural research.
The current study sought to answer three key questions about explaining the emotion of regret in ... more The current study sought to answer three key questions about explaining the emotion of regret in the domain of casual sex: Are sex differences in sexual regret robust or attenuated in a highly egalitarian culture? What proximate psychological variables might explain sex differences in sexual regret? And what accounts for within-sex variation in experiences of sexual regret about casual sex. We conducted a study of 263 Norwegian students (ages 19–37) who reported how much they regretted having either engaged in, or passed up, their most recent casual sexual experience. Sex differences in sexual regret are not attenuated in this sexually egalitarian culture. The study revealed sex differences in worries about pregnancy, STIs, and reputation; however, these predictors did not succeed in accounting for the sex differences in regret engaging in casual sex. Sexual gratification and socio-sexual orientation both predicted the sex differences in casual sex regret. In contrast, only socio-sexual orientation attenuated the sex difference in regret passing up casual sex. Predictors of within-sex variation in casual sexual regret included worry about sexual reputation, experienced gratification during the encounter, and socio-sexual orientation. Discussion focuses on implications for the psychological design features of this relatively neglected emotion.
Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures
Leaving one mating relationship and entering another, serial mating, is commonly observed in many... more Leaving one mating relationship and entering another, serial mating, is commonly observed in many cultures. An array of circumstances can prompt a mate switch. These include (1) unanticipated costs inflicted by one's mate, or 'relationship load,' not apparent on the initial mate selection; (2) changes in the mate value of either partner, creating discrepancies where none previously existed; and (3) the arrival of a new and interested potential mate of sufficiently incremental value to offset the costs of a breakup. The mate switching hypothesis suggests that these circumstances created adaptive problems throughout human evolution that forged adaptations to anticipate and appraise opportunities to mate-switch, implement exit strategies, and manage challenges confronted in the aftermath. We review several studies that support various aspects of the mate switching hypothesis: The cultivation of 'back-up mates,' assessing mate-inflicted costs that comprise relationship load, monitoring selfishly -skewed welfare tradeoff ratios in a partner, gauging mate value discrepancies, and anticipating sexual, emotional , and economic infidelities. The mate switching hypothesis provides both a complementary, and in some instances a competing, explanation to the 'good genes' hypothesis for why women have sexual affairs, and parsimoniously explains a host of other mating phenomena that remain inexplicable on alternative accounts.
Journal of personality, 2006
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1989
This paper reports independent studies supporting the proposal that human standards of attractive... more This paper reports independent studies supporting the proposal that human standards of attractiveness reflect the output of psychological adaptations to detect fitness-relevant traits. We tested novel a priori hypotheses based on an adaptive problem uniquely faced by ancestral hominin females: a forward-shifted center of mass during pregnancy. The hominin female spine possesses evolved morphology to deal with this adaptive challenge: wedging in the third-to-last lumbar vertebra. Among ancestral women, vertebral wedging would have minimized the net fitness threats posed by hypolordosis and hyperlordosis, thereby creating selective pressures on men to prefer such women as mates. On this basis, we hypothesized that men possess evolved mate preferences for women with this theoretically optimal angle of lumbar curvature. In Study 1, as hypothesized, men's attraction toward women increased as women's lumbar curvature approached this angle. However, vertebral wedging and buttock mass can both influence lumbar curvature. Study 2 thus employed a forced-choice paradigm in which men selected the most attractive woman among models exhibiting the same lumbar curvature, but for different morphological reasons. Men again tended to prefer women exhibiting cues to a degree of vertebral wedging closer to optimum. This included preferring women whose lumbar curvature specifically reflected vertebral wedging rather than buttock mass. These findings reveal novel, theoretically anchored, and previously undiscov-ered standards of attractiveness.
Previous studies on sex-differentiated mate preferences have focused on univariate analyses. Howe... more Previous studies on sex-differentiated mate preferences have focused on univariate analyses. However, because mate selection is inherently multidimensional, a multivariate analysis more appropriately measures sex differences in mate preferences. We used the Mahalanobis distance (D) and logistic regression to investigate sex differences in mate preferences with data secured from participants residing in 37 cultures (n = 10,153). Sex differences are large in multivariate terms, yielding an overall D = 2.41, corresponding to overlap between the sexes of just 22.8%. Moreover, knowledge of mate preferences alone affords correct classification of sex with 92.2% accuracy. Finally, pattern-wise sex differences are negatively correlated with gender equality across cultures but are nonetheless cross-culturally robust. Discussion focuses on implications in evaluating the importance and magnitude of sex differences in mate preferences.
Evolutionary research continues to discover new features of human mate preferences, but the downs... more Evolutionary research continues to discover new features of human mate preferences, but the downstream consequences of these preferences for mate selection have been insufficiently explored. Some have inferred that stated preferences have few behavioral consequences given seemingly weak effects of preferences in predicting mating outcomes. Here we test this inference with data from simulated mating markets as well as from real-world couples. We generate a series of agent-based models in which preferences either do or do not drive mate selection. We compare these simulations with 3 empirical studies of real-world couples (Study 1, n 214; Study 2, n 259; Study 3, n 294). Preference-driven agent based models produce several effects that emerge in real couples, but not within random simulations. These include low-magnitude correlations between stated preferences and the individual traits of chosen partners; the novel finding that people with high mate value leverage that value into securing partners with more desirable traits; and the finding that couples assort based on overall mate value. Moreover, real-world mate choices correspond strongly with preference-driven simulations, but not to simulations in which mate selection is random with respect to preferences. Finally, we provide evidence that these effects are due to the causal role of stated preferences, and are not better explained by people updating their mate preferences to match chosen mates. These results provide new evidence that stated mate preferences guide actual mate selections under real mating-market constraints.
Prior mate preference research has focused on the content of mate preferences. Yet in real life, ... more Prior mate preference research has focused on the content of mate preferences. Yet in real life, people must select mates among potentials who vary along myriad dimensions. How do people incorporate information on many different mate preferences in order to choose which partner to pursue? Here, in Study 1, we compare seven candidate algorithms for integrating multiple mate preferences in a competitive agent-based model of human mate choice evolution. This model shows that a Euclidean algorithm is the most evolvable solution to the problem of selecting fitness-beneficial mates. Next, across three studies of actual couples (Study 2: n = 214; Study 3: n = 259; Study 4: n = 294) we apply the Euclidean algorithm toward predicting mate preference fulfillment overall and preference fulfillment as a function of mate value. Consistent with the hypothesis that mate preferences are integrated according to a Euclidean algorithm, we find that actual mates lie close in multidimensional preference space to the preferences of their partners. Moreover, this Euclidean preference fulfillment is greater for people who are higher in mate value, highlighting theoretically-predictable individual differences in who gets what they want. These new Euclidean tools have important implications for understanding real-world dynamics of mate selection.
We test a novel evolutionary hypothesis predicting that mate value discrepancies, but not mate pr... more We test a novel evolutionary hypothesis predicting that mate value discrepancies, but not mate preference fulfillment , will regulate relationship satisfaction. Across Study 1 (n = 259) and Study 2 (n = 300), we employed new Euclidean measures able to capture preference fulfillment and compute estimates of mate value discrepancies. Relationship satisfaction was not related to how well mates fulfilled their partner's preferences. Mate value discrepancies, in contrast, interacted to predict relationship satisfaction: relationship satisfaction declined for participants whose mates were less desirable than their alternatives, but only for participants who were higher in mate value than their mates. Additionally, these satisfaction differences mediated a relationship between mate value discrepancies and mate retention behavior. This mediation pathway is unique to satisfaction; the same pathway was not observed through trust, a functionally distinct relationship affective state. Study 3 (n = 301) addressed a methodological limitation of Studies 1 and 2. We replicated the mate value discrepancy interaction to predict relationship satisfaction, but found an effect of ideal preference fulfillment on relationship satisfaction. These results provide evidence that mate preferences have important, functionally specific effects on within-relationship processes through contributing to two independent discrepancy variables: partner–self and partner-potential mate value discrepancies. They also largely contravene the hypothesis that mate preference fulfillment is the key to relationship satisfaction.
Evolutionary Psychological Science, 2015
The Canadian Journal …, Jan 1, 2002
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1981