What evolutionary psychology tells us about mating standards.
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Key points
- Men are often seen as having lower standards for sexual partners.
- This perception is due to sex differences in evolved mating psychology.
- Men and women are just as picky about long-term mates, but men are less picky about short-term ones.
- Knowledge of the different mating styles can be useful for those who are single.
It’s a sentiment that I’ve heard many times before. Sometimes with tongue in cheek, a look of disgust, or a tear in the eye. It’s clearly an overgeneralization and exaggeration, but is there a kernel of truth to this folk psychology? Today on Darwin Does Dating: When do people lower their mate standards?
Correcting the record
First of all, let’s set the record straight: I don’t think men are pigs and will sleep with anything. We know that there’s a full spectrum of pickiness in men, from the highly discriminating to the very relaxed. And this range can be found in women too. Look hard enough, and you’ll find men so picky that they never lose their virginity and women who appear to have no standards at all.
The point is that there’s a lot of noise and variation. Psychological researchers know this all too well. Psychological research is about finding a faint signal among the noise. Any neat black-and-white claims about sex differences, including claims that all members of one sex act the same way, should be met with skepticism. (more…)