The scientific study of human mating has mushroomed over the past three decades, and this growth in turn has generated a proliferation of evolving literature revealing fresh discoveries about mate attraction, mate choice, mate retention, marital satisfaction, jealousy, infidelity, intimate partner violence, breakups, internet dating, cyberstalking, and sexual coercion. In The Oxford Handbook of Human Mating, editor David M. Buss showcases contributions from "the best and the brightest" scientists in the field, providing up-to-date summaries of theories and empirical evidence of the science of human mating strategies.
Much of the research in the field is guided by sexual selection theory. Over 150 years after Darwin's proposal of sexual selection theory, it has become the most important overarching theoretical framework for the scientific study of the mating strategies of all sexually reproducing species, including humans. A mountain of research centered around Darwin's classic book has documented the many complexities of human mate competition and mate choice; how these processes differ between the sexes; and how they differ as a function of sex ratio, mate value, social contexts, ovulation cycles, personality characteristics, and cultural norms and mating rituals. Thus, the science is now ripe for a collection of work by eminent scholars in the field.
David M. Buss is a leading researcher and pioneer in the study of human mating strategies, and he applies his expertise to the curation of this volume, which includes major sections covering theories of human mating; mate selection and mate attraction; mate competition; sexual conflict in mating; human pair bonding; the endocrinology of mating; and mating in the modern world.
Author(s): David M. Buss
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 858
City: New York
Cover
The Oxford Handbook of Human Mating
Edited by
Copyright
Contents
Part I Theoretical Perspectives
1. Writing Trivers’s 1972 Theory of Parental Investment and Sexual Selection
2. Sexual Selection and the Animal’s Mating Mind
3. The Interface of Sexual Selection, Conflict, and Evolutionary Psychology: Emerging Core Themes
4. Extensions of Sexual Strategies Theory across Peoples, Cultures, and Ecologies
Part II Attraction and Mate Selection
5. The Early Stages of Mate Selection
6. Computational Models of Mate Choice
7. The Logic of Physical Attractiveness: What People Find Attractive, When, and Why
8. Incest Avoidance Adaptations: Evolved Function and Proximate Mechanisms
9. Parental Influence over Mate Choice
10. Beyond Sex: Reproductive Strategies as a Function of Local Sex Ratio Variation
11. Mating Strategies in Sexually Egalitarian Cultures
12. Mating Strategy Variation by Sexual Orientation
Part III Mate Competition
13. Contest Competition for Mates and the Evolution of Human Males
14. An Evolutionary Review of Female Intrasexual Competition
15. Mate Competition between the Sexes: Evidence from Two Non-Western Cultures
Part IV Pair-Bonded Relationship Dynamics
16. Evolving Connections: Attachment and Human Mating Strategies
17. Archaeology of love: A Review of the Ethnographic Exploration of Love around the World
18. Marital and Sexual Satisfaction
19. Sex Differences in Jealousy: The State of the Theory
20. Mate Guarding
Part V Sexual Conflict in Mating
21. Deception in Human Mating
22. Marriage and Monogamy in Cross-Cultural Perspective
23. Sperm Competition
24. Violent Mates
25. The Dark Triad Traits and Mating Psychology
26. Sexual Harassment
27. Sexual Coercion
28. Women’s Avoidance of Sexual Assault
Part VI Mating and Endocrinology
29. Hormones and Human Mating
30. Understanding Women’s Estrus and Extended Sexuality: The Dual Sexuality Framework
31. Ovulatory Cycle Effects and Hormonal Influences on Women’s Mating Psychology
32. The Impact of Hormonal Contraceptives on Women’s Sexual and Mating Psychology
Part VII Mating in the Modern World
33. Mating in the Digital Age
34. Popular Culture and Human Mating: Artifacts of Desire
35. Evolutionary Mismatch and Human Mating: Understanding the Mating Mind in the Modern World
Index
