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Through Evolution’s Eyes: Extracting Mate Preferences by Linking Visual Attention to Adaptive Design

Archives of Sexual Behavior volume 37, pages 57–63 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Information is crucial to decision-making, including mate choice decisions. Perceptual systems, such as attention, evolved in part to forage for reproductive information; consequently, these systems can be used to reveal mate preferences. Here, I consider the place of visual information in human mate choice and provide a rationale for pressing into service methods drawn from the attention literature for the study of mate choice decisions. Because visual attention is allocated automatically and selectively, it may be used to complement common methods of mate preference assessment, such as self-report questionnaires and measures of genital arousal, while avoiding some of the pitfalls of these methods. Beyond the utility of increasing confidence in extant research findings by employing relatively unobtrusive methods, visual attention paradigms can also allow researchers to explore a variety of questions that are rarely asked, such as those concerned with signal efficiency and tradeoffs in the assessment of mate value.

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Martin Lalumière for his guidance on this project; his attention to detail was invaluable. I thank Joe Camilleri, Martin Daly, Lisa DeBruine, Ben Jones, Michael Seto, Steve Stewart-Williams, Margo Wilson, and an anonymous reviewer for offering many helpful comments on previous versions of this work. I am grateful to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for funding my work.

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge, AB, Canada, T1K 3M4

    Daniel Brian Krupp

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  1. Daniel Brian Krupp
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Correspondence to Daniel Brian Krupp.

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Krupp, D.B. Through Evolution’s Eyes: Extracting Mate Preferences by Linking Visual Attention to Adaptive Design. Arch Sex Behav 37, 57–63 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-007-9273-1

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Keywords

  • Mate choice
  • Visual attention
  • Information
  • Signals
  • Human body