1. Love and Marriage

3. Chapter 5: Love and Marriage
Topic 1: Evolution of Attraction
Evolution of Attraction
Chapter 5: Love and Marriage

4. Pair Review: Evolution and Behaviour
What is an evolutionary explanation for one of these behaviours?
Fear
Conformity
Aggression
A basic evolutionary explanation of behaviour means explaining how that behaviour has helped us to survive (and pass on our genes).
Group conflict

5. What do we want in a mate?
WOMEN
MEN

6. TED Talk: “It’s not you, it’s my hormones”
Focus Questions:
What traits do people generally find attractive?
Why is sexual dimorphism attractive?
Find the video here (Watch first 3 minutes – the rest next lesson).

7. Explaining Attraction
Find an attractive face (using the internet, magazines or other sources).
If you have a celebrity crush, this will be easy.
Can you explain why you find this face attractive, from an evolutionary perspective?
Use the textbook to help if needed.
Image credit: Georges Biard (wikicommons)

8. How can evolution explain attraction?
Use the textbook to help you if you need it.
Later in this unit, we’ll look at specific traits that we have evolved to find attractive.
Critical Thinking Extension:
Can you add biological factors (such as genetic mutations) to this explanation?

9. Testosterone and Attraction
Topic 5.1: Evolution of Attraction
Testosterone and Attraction
Chapter 5: Love and Marriage

10. Crossword This covers terms from the whole unit.
If students need help, perhaps put “mutated genes” as the first step in the chart. My explanation is that: evolution begins with mutated genes, if these genes promote a behaviour (or biology) that helps an organism to survive (or procreate) they are more likely to be passed on, so in terms of attraction if a genetic mutation results us in being more likely to be attracted to (and thus procreate with) someone with healthy genes, it’s likely that it will be passed on. This happens over multiple generations and the end result is a wide group of people who are attracted to similar traits.

11. Hot or not?

12. Hot or not?

13. Hot or not?

14. Hot or not?

15. Hot or not?

16. Hot or not?

17. TED Talk: It’s not you, it’s my hormones (cont…)
Watch the full talk (16 mins).
Answer the focus questions in the workbook.
You will share answers after.
Find the video here.

18. TED Talk: Answers to focus questions
When is testosterone highest in females?
Ovulation
When do females find masculine faces most attractive?
What is a prototype face?
A computer-generated face made by combining lots of faces
What is a “masculinized” face?
A face that exaggerates masculine features (e.g. square jaw, prominent brow)
How do researchers find which types of faces females prefer?
Alter faces digitally, ask females to rank them
When a male’s testosterone is high, what type of face is he likely to prefer? (Masculine or Feminine)
Feminine
How does competition influence attraction?
Winning a competition boosts testosterone, which makes men find feminine faces more attractive

19. How can testosterone influence attraction?
Use the textbook to help you if you need it.
Critical Thinking Extension:
Add the evidence from Johnston et al.’s study.

20. Reflect Can you answer these questions
Reflect Can you answer these questions? Why would procreating with a man with high testosterone be advantageous for a woman? How might hormones influence attraction? What might males might find attractive in females?

21. Evolution and Attraction
Topic 1: Evolution of Attraction
Evolution and Attraction
Chapter 5: Love and Marriage

22. Why do ovulating women prefer masculine faces?
Students recap in pairs and write down what they remember in their workbooks (without referring to notes or the textbook – they can do this after they exhaust their own memories).
Two minutes by yourself
Two minutes to pair-share
Class share

23. Why do ovulating women prefer masculine faces?
Ovulation is the time to get pregnant
A masculine face suggests high testosterone
High testosterone means healthy genes, stronger immune system
This will be passed on to the offspring
Thus, females would prefer to procreate with a man with a masculine face so their baby gets heathy genes
Students recap in pairs and write down what they remember in their workbooks (without referring to notes or the textbook – they can do this after they exhaust their own memories).

24. Face Preference Studies
Watch this documentary (30:00-33:40)
If you’re interested, this BBC documentary covers a whole range of factors involved in attraction

25. Attraction Across Cultures: Hypothesize Why…
Males prefer females who are younger.
Females prefer males who are older
Females value “financial prospects” more than males
Males are more concerned with good looks than females
Males are more concerned with chastity than females
These are all results from Buss’s cross-cultural study

26. Attraction Across Cultures: Answers?
Males prefer females who are younger.
Female fertility decreases with age and the risks of having children increase. A male can have a higher chance of successful procreation if his mate is fertile, which is why he may prefer a younger female.

27. Attraction Across Cultures: Answers?
Females prefer males who are older.
Females value “financial prospects” more than males
Because being pregnant and raising children requires a lot of time and effort from the female, she may require a male to provide other resources like food and shelter. Older males have a higher chance of having high status and access to resources (and their fertility doesn’t decrease with age).

28. Attraction Across Cultures: Answers?
Males are more concerned with good looks than females.
Good looks suggest strong genes, so males find this attractive. Females may find other traits attractive, like social status or “financial prospects” as they might rely on a partner more during child rearing. Males can acquire their own resources since they don’t put the same effort into child rearing, so are primarily concerned with healthy offspring with good genes.

29. Attraction Across Cultures: Answers?
Males are more concerned with chastity than females
A female knows for sure that the baby growing inside her belly is hers, so jealousy is less of an issue for males. Males don’t have this same guarantee and so don’t want to invest lots of resources (including time) raising someone else’s offspring. Chastity provides assurance that they are the father.

30. Try to answer this question in one (or two sentences).
How does Buss’s study suggest that evolution can explain attraction?
My answer: Because the male/female preferences were consistent across cultures it means that cultural factors weren’t influential, so it is more likely an underlying biological drive that results in these preferences.
Extension
Take one of the results from Buss’s study and provide a full evolutionary explanation of this result.
Can you hypothesize any alternative explanations for one or more results?

31. Reflect Are you keeping up?
Use this as a chance for students to reflect on their work so far. Are they keeping up with the guiding questions and learning the content. What can they do to make things better?

32. End of Topic 5.1 Next topic: Pheromones and Behaviour