2011/10/31 by Joshua M. Tybur, Steven W. Gangestad · 3 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · Neuroscience · #Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior #Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation #Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
paper · pdf · doi:10.1098/rstb.2011.0136
openalex publication_date 2011/10/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Mate preferences may operate in part to mitigate the threats posed by infectious disease. In this paper, we outline various ways in which preferring healthy mates can offer direct benefits in terms of pathogen avoidance and indirect benefits in terms of heritable immunity to offspring, as well as the costs that may constrain mate preferences for health. We then pay special attention to empirical work on mate preferences in humans given the depth and breadth of research on human mating. We review this literature and comment on the degree to which human mate preferences may reflect preferences for health.