Non-Independent Mate Choice in Humans: Deciphering and Utilizing Information in a Social Environment

Abstract

In mate choice, one must gather information to be able to ascertain the value of potential mates. This information can come from directly and independently gathered sources, by talking to each potential mate oneself, or through non-independent sources by monitoring the selections of others in one's local environment. In order for humans to be able to perform the latter, they need an adaptive mate choice mechanism that is able to accurately judge the romantic interest between others in their social environment. This ability to decipher romantic interest is uncovered in a series of studies using ecologically and externally valid stimuli of real mate choice interactions coming from speed-dating sessions. These studies demonstrate not only the presence of this ability in humans, but also the specific informative cues used when making these judgments. Furthermore, additional behavioral experimentation illustrates how humans could utilize this ability to inform their own mate choice decisions. By recognizing romantic interest between others, individuals are able to copy the selections of others, in a process known as mate-choice copying. This phenomenon is first described using a novel methodology, and then its nuances are uncovered regarding how age, attractiveness, other individual differences, and the strength of available information all affect who, when, and how an individual decides to copy the mate choice selections of others. This body of work describes how humans, in ways similar to many other animals living in social groups, utilize information coming from their social environment to adaptively guide their individual mate choice decisions.