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Assortative mating in humans.
Štěrbová, Zuzana ; Weiss, Petr (advisor) ; Lindová, Jitka (referee) ; Špinka, Marek (referee)
Human mate choice is far from random. Assortative mating can be either positive (homogamy), when people prefer and choose partners with self-similar characteristics, or negative (heterogamy, complementarity), when people prefer self-dissimilar partners. Over one hundred years of research, it has been shown that people generally couple based on the principle of homogamy. This thesis seeks to address the following two goals. First, it critically reviews the current state of knowledge in positive assortative mating (in particular, empirical support, factors affecting homogamy, mechanisms of homogamy, relationship and genetic impact of homogamy, and methodological pitfalls of research). This section includes theoretical papers deal with further mechanisms of assortative mating (homogamy, imprinting-like effect, heterogamy, complementarity). Second, the thesis provides further test of assortative mating in 'ideal partners' (preferences) and actual partners, in the context of sex, sexual orientation (heterosexual and non-heterosexual), and population (Brazil and Czech Republic). Results of these studies show that the principle of homogamy is valid irrespective of sex and population. However, they find a stronger tendency for homogamy in actual partners among heterosexuals than in homosexuals, although...
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Mate preferences and their integration to mate choice
Csajbók, Zsófia ; Havlíček, Jan (advisor) ; Lindová, Jitka (referee) ; David-Barrett, Tamas (referee)
Mate choice decisions have long-term effects on both party's well-being as well as reproductive outcomes. Consequently, evolutionary biology and psychology devoted a large body of research on investigating human mate choice. The evolutionary psychology of human partner selection can be perceived as inter-connected processes, such as mating strategy, mate preferences, and mate choice. This dissertation thesis consists of two larger segments. The first segment is an Introduction to my four original research papers in the second segment. In the Introduction, I discuss heterosexual partner selection in two parts. First, I describe how mating strategies affect mate preferences, what the key mate preference dimensions are - both positive and negative factors of partner evaluations -, how stable they are, and how they change over time within a person. Further, I review the concept of mate value and how mate preference factors are weighing in the overall perception of mate value on the mating market. In the second part, I discuss how partner preferences are integrated into mate choice, also known as the mate choice integration models. The Additive and Threshold models of mate choice, the Euclidean distance model, and Assortative mating will be discussed in detail since they are the most commonly applied...
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Exaggerated male tail length and sexual selection in birds
Záleská, Josefína ; Albrecht, Tomáš (advisor) ; Klvaňová, Alena (referee)
Elongated tail feathers and tail coverts of birds are used as a textbook example of exaggerated secondary sexual characters evolved through sexual selection via female choice. The female tendency to prefer males with the most elaborate ornaments can be explained on the basis of a positive genetic correlation between the preference and the ornament. Alternatively, an elaborated ornament can indicate good quality and heritable viability of the male and therefore, choosing the most ornamented male, the female chooses for "good genes" for her offsprings. Sexual ornaments can impose negative effects on a different aspect of the individual's life. The compensation for these disadvantages should be enhanced reproductive success of the ornamented males. This thesis aims to summarize main findings of the role of elongated tail feathers in sexual selection in birds, concerning their effects on viability and atractivity of males in different mating systems. It provides an illustrating overview of the occurrence of elongated tail feathers in birds, and puts together available evidence of fitness benefits associated with elongated tail feathers in males. Despite a pervasive interest in the signalling function of tail feather ornaments in birds, most research focuses on only a few model taxa, with often...
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Active parental influence on mate choice
Šípková, Kristýna ; Štěrbová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Frynta, Daniel (referee)
The uniqueness of human mate choice is in the fact, that there is not just the individual present but also are its parents or other relatives. Some could call it a group mate choice. The impact parents can have on their offspring mate choice can be either passive (such as inheriting preferences ) or active ( preventing contact etc.). The main thought of this thesis is to critically evaluate works which were previously done on the topic of parental active impact on their offspring mate choice related to sex and culture. However the preferences of parents and their offsprings in mate choice are not very commonly in harmony, which can lead to various conflicts. These conflicts are trying to be avoided by both sides, with manipulative techniques, such as allowing/forbiding acces to information. The possible intensity of the impact parents can have in their offspring mate choice is given by the type of society and culture setting they occure at. In industrial societies the impact is more likely to be indirect, on the other hand in nonindustrial societies direct control of mate choice is still in practice. At last but not least this thesis is putting focus on the question why are parents even interested in their offspring's mate choice.
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Effect of hormonal contraception use during relationship formation on subsequent relationship satisfaction
Fiurašková, Kateřina ; Havlíček, Jan (advisor) ; Pastor, Zlatko (referee)
Results of previous studies testing the influence of oral contraceptives on relationship satisfaction have produced mixed results. These discrepancies might be explained by the "Congruency hypothesis", which predicts that relationship satisfaction is determined by the congruency (or non-congruency) between current use of oral contraceptives and their use during relationship formation. This is because oral contraceptives appear to alter women's mate preferences, so that attraction to their partner may have changed in non-congruent women. Indeed, previous studies have shown that women in a non-congruent state were less sexually satisfied with their partner, even though they were more generally satisfied in the non- sexual aspects of the relationship. The aim of our study was to test the congruency hypothesis on two groups of couples (couples attending the Center of Assisted Reproduction, and a comparison group of pregnant women and their partners; note that in neither group were women currently using oral contraception). Based on previous studies, we expected that women who used oral contraceptives at the time of relationship formation would report lower sexual satisfaction with their partner than women who were non-users during relationship formation. The study involved a total of 660 couples from...
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Relationship between reactivity of immune system and facial attractiveness
Slámová, Žaneta ; Třebická Fialová, Jitka (advisor) ; Pokorný, Šimon (referee)
Previous studies have shown that physical attractiveness is one of important aspects in mate choice. Facial traits perceived as attractive may be linked to potential mate quality, or more precisely to their reproductive potential, health and ability to invest in his mate and offspring. Mating with individuals with more reactive immune system could lead to higher reproductive success and thus it is possible that visual cues facilitating detection of such traits may have evolved. The main aim of the present thesis was to test a possible association between the reactivity of the immune system response to foreign antigens (stimulated by vaccination) and facial attractiveness perceived by opposite sex individuals. Further, we investigated visual changes occurring during immune system activation. We did not find any association between measures of reactivity of immune system and perceived facial attractiveness. However, participants with activated immune system were rated as significantly less attractive and were significantly paler. Overall, our results suggest that people are sensitive to visual cues to current health status but not to overall quality of the individual. Key Words Facial attractiveness, mate choice, sexual selection; heterozygosity; symmetry; immune system, antigen; disease-avoidance,...
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Consistency and paternal influence on human mate choice in heterosexual women
Taskovská, Kristýna ; Štěrbová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Bártová, Klára (referee)
People choose partners based on different characteristics, however it is not clear whether they systematically choose partners with specific characteristics. It is also not clear what modulates partner preferences. One of the factors are parents, however the question is, whether parents influence all types of relationships (e.g. one-night stand, marriage etc.). The main objective was to analyze the consistency of mate choice in physical characteristics in heterosexual women. Another objective was to test paternal influence on the mate choice, and whether this influence differs among partners with whom women have children and partners with whom they don't. Last objective was to test whether the similarity between father and current partner influences the relationship and sexual satisfaction of the respondent. In total 693 heterosexual women, aged 18-45, participated in the research (average age = 30,7; SE = 5,9) and provided physical characteristics (weight, height, attractiveness, masculinity, eye color, hair color, facial masculinity, facial hair, musculature, BMI, relative height, body hair and leg length) of their father, current partner (with whom they had/were expecting children) and long term ex-partners (with whom they had no children), they completed the standardized questionnaire s-EMBU...
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Family constellation and its influence on human sexuality
Pitáková, Hana ; Kuba, Radim (advisor) ; Zikánová, Tereza (referee)
The focus of this thesis is on the influence of sibling constellation on human sexuality. It concentrates especially on the influence of the birth order on sexual strategy, mate choice, sexual orientation and sexual onset of adolescents. It contains a comprehensive overview of the studies that have been carried out in this field, including the general trends and their possible causes. At the same time, it highlights the lack of attention to the insufficiently explored areas that should be exporated in the future. The introductory chapters also provide a brief summary of the findings of sibling constellations and human sexuality.
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Secondary male ornamentation and extra-pair paternity: experimental manipulation in collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis)
Šplíchalová, Petra ; Albrecht, Tomáš (advisor) ; Svobodová, Jana (referee)
Extra-pair paternity, resulting from sexual promiscuity, is frequently detected in socially monogamous passerines. Previous studies on extra-pair paternity in birds have identified several traits correlated with increased fertilization success of males. However, the effect of experimental manipulation of ornament expression on male fertilization success has only seldom been evaluated. The aim of this thesis is to reveal the potential link between the size of a trait suposedly playing a role in female mate choice decision and male fertilization success in collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis), using experimental manipulation of male forehead white patch size. In addition, mating success, mating speed of the manipulated and control individuals and size of a brood (a proxy for female reproductive investments) were evaluated. Results indicate that forehead patch size manipulation did not affect male social pairing success (mating speed), his social mate reproductive investments (brood size) or male extra-pair and within-pair fertilization success. Keywords: extra-pair paternity, sexual selection, reproductive success, collared flycatcher
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Influence of father and brother on mate choice of heterosexual women in personality traits
Zelenková, Klára ; Štěrbová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Šebesta, Pavel (referee)
Mate preferences and choices might be influenced by several factors, including close relatives. According to the imprinting-like effect, people prefer and choose partners similar to those with whom they grew up during childhood. The main aim of our research was to test, whether individuals choose their long-term partners on the basis of similarity (in personality traits) with their parent and/or siblings of the opposite sex (father and/or brother). The final sample of the study consisted of 211 heterosexual women (mean age = 27.34, SD = 5.36) who grew up with their father until at least 12 years of age. Respondents completed a set of questionnaires aimed at personality of their partner, brother, and father (NEO-FFI), the relationship quality with their father/brother during childhood (s-EMBU/QRI), and relationship satisfaction (RAS). Correlation and regression analyses have shown that heterosexual women choose partners similar to their fathers and brothers, especially in neuroticism. However, when compared correlation coefficients, it was found that fathers play a more important role. The retrospectively assessed quality of the relationship between the respondent and her father/brother during childhood did not have any effect on this similarity. Moreover, similarity between father/brother and...
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