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Prague Sept 2007
(photo R. Noë)
For many years I have been rather sceptical about the need of invoking biological market theory (BMT) alongside sexual selection theory (SST). A first paper that made clear that BMT can at least add something to SST, was the paper by Metz et al (2007) on red bishops (see separate page).
Recently, more and more papers on human mating markets citing BMT were published and I still wondered whether anything was added that wasn't already covered by SST. Reading those papers, I started to realise that BMT indeed highlights the strategic adaptation to the agent's own market value, usually dependent on the local operational sex ratio (OSR) better than traditional sexual selection theory does. BMT treats mating markets as dynamic, changing within and between seasons, while SST tends to deal with the effects of the population- or species-typical OSR over evolutionary time scales.
So, finally I wrote a review: Noë, R. (2017). Local mating markets in humans and non-human animals. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 71(10), 148. In this paper I argue, among other things, that the Operation Sex Ratio (OSR) is the relevant papameter to use when one wants to understand what happens on local mating markets, rather than the Adult Sex Ratio (ASR) that is so heavily promoted lately, notably in a theme issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: ‘Adult sex ratios and reproductive strategies: a critical re-examination of sex differences in human and animal societies’ compiled and edited by Ryan Schacht, Karen L. Kramer, Tamás Székely and Peter M. Kappeler. For an interesting example of local mating markets in humans see the paper by Prall & Scelza (2022) in Science Advances.
As is well-known for humans, power differentials on mating markets can also have consequences for the power differentials between males and females in aspects of life other than those connected to mating and reproduction (see Chen et al 2024 listed below for a nice example). Rebecca Lewis and colleagues (2023) analysed the connection between sex ratios and the balance of power between males and females in a large sample of extant non-human primate species. They found that females are likely to have more power, when there are relatively few receptive females per male and mating opportunities are therefore in high demand (see also Lewis et al 2022).
Human mating markets
This literature is enormous and new papers are published daily, so this is just a small sample (in chronological order with latest on top)
Chen, Y., Ge, E., Zhou, L., Du, J. & Mace, R. (2024). Gender inequality in workloads explained by operational sex ratio. iScience, 110063 . This paper is not strictly about mating markets but about the influence of the Operational Sex Ratio (OSR) on the division of labour in small villages in China. Thanks to a 'quasi-natural' experiment, a shift in the OSR as a result of men leaving the village to live as monks in monasteries, the authors could show that the men remaining in the villages work less hard the more the sex ratio is female-biased.
Alexopoulos, C., Taylor, L. D. & Roberts, L. 2022. Media messages depicting partner abundance increase intention to commit infidelity. Sexuality & Culture (open access)
Prall, S. & Scelza, B. (2022). The effect of mating market dynamics on partner preference and relationship quality among Himba pastoralists. Science Advances, 8(18), eabm5629
Brooks, R. C., Russo-Batterham, D. & Blake, K. R. (2022). Incel activity on social media linked to local mating ecology. Psychological Science, 09567976211036065
Luberti, F. R., Blake, K. R. & Brooks, R. C. (2020). Does the quality of mating competitors affect socio-political attitudes? An experimental test. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology
Taylor, L. D. (2020). Material abundance messages and women’s partner trait preferences: Effects of exposure to advertisements for consumer goods. Evolutionary Psychological Science
Filser, A., Barclay, K., Beckley, A., Uggla, C. & Schnettler, S. (2020). Are skewed sex ratios associated with violent crime? A longitudinal analysis using Swedish register data. Evolution and Human Behavior (open access)
Prall, S. P. & Scelza, B. A. (2020). Resource demands reduce partner discrimination in Himba women. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 2, E45
Maner, J. K. & Ackerman, J. M. (2020). Ecological sex ratios and human mating. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 24(2), 98-100
Luberti, F. R., Blake, K. R. & Brooks, R. C. (2023). Evolutionary ecological insights into the suppression of female sexuality. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 100167
Luberti, F. R., Blake, K. R. & Brooks, R. C. (2020). The effects of the mating market, sex, age, and income on sociopolitical orientation. Human Nature, 31(1), 88-111
Luberti, F. R., Blake, K. R. & Brooks, R. C. (2020). Does the quality of mating competitors affect socio-political attitudes? An experimental test. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology
Olivera-La Rosa, A., Arango-Tobón, O. E. & Ingram, G. P. D. (2019). Swiping right: face perception in the age of Tinder. Heliyon, 5(12), e02949
Blute, M. (2019). Mating markets: A naturally selected sex allocation theory of sexual selection. Biological Theory, 14, 103–111
Schacht, R., Tharp, D. & Smith, K. R. (2016). Marriage markets and male mating effort: Violence and crime are elevated where men are rare. Human Nature, 27(4), 489-500
Schacht, R., & Borgerhoff Mulder, M. (2015). Sex ratio effects on reproductive strategies in humans. Royal Society Open Science, 2(1)
Wincenciak, J., Fincher, C. L., Fisher, C. I., Hahn, A. C., Jones, B. C., & DeBruine, L. M. (2015). Mate choice, mate preference, and biological markets: The relationship between partner choice and health preference is modulated by women’s own attractiveness. Evolution and Human Behavior 36(4), 274-278
Taylor, L. D. (2015). Men’s sexual selectivity, romantic confidence, and gender ratios in the media. The Journal of Men's Studies, 23(1), 107-113
Wlodarski, R., & Dunbar, R. M. (2013). Examining the possible functions of kissing in romantic relationships. Archives of Sexual Behavior 42, 1415–1423
Taylor, L. D. (2013). Male partner selectivity, romantic confidence, and media depictions of partner scarcity. Evolutionary Psychology, 11, 36-49
Laeng, B., Vermeer, O., & Sulutvedt, U. (2013). Is beauty in the face of the beholder? PLoS ONE, 8(7), e68395
Watkins, C. D., Jones, B. C., Little, A. C., DeBruine, L. M., & Feinberg, D. R. (2012). Cues to the sex ratio of the local population influence women’s preferences for facial symmetry. Animal Behaviour, 83(2), 545-553
Stirrat, M., Gumert, M., & Perrett, D. (2011). The effect of attractiveness on food sharing preferences in human mating markets. Evolutionary Psychology, 9, 79-91
Pollet, T. V., & Nettle, D. (2009). Market forces affect patterns of polygyny in Uganda. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(7), 2114-2117
Pollet, T. V., & Nettle, D. (2008). Driving a hard bargain: sex ratio and male marriage success in a historical US population. Biology Letters, 4(1), 31-33
Penke, L., Todd, P., Lenton, A. P., & Fasolo, B. (2007). How self-assessments can guide human mating decisions. In G. Geher & G. F. Miller (Eds.), Mating Intelligence: New insights into intimate relationships, human sexuality, and the mind's reproductive system. (pp. 37-75). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Roberts, S. C., Havlicek, J., Flegr, J., Hruskova, M., Little, A. C., Jones, B. C., . . . Petrie, M. (2004). Female facial attractiveness increases during the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle. Proceedings of the royal Society B-Biological Sciences-Supplement
Pawlowski, B., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (1999). Impact of market value on human mate choice decisions. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, B., 266, 281-285
Non-human mating markets
(see also 'Trading grooming for sex' on the page "grooming in primates")
Fowler, K. J., Potratz, E. J., Malone, M., Halloway, A., Peplinski, J. & Brown, J. S. (2024). Looking at the bid picture: A framework for identifying reverse auctions in ecological systems. Journal of Animal Ecology. I especially liked this paper because it uses the mating behaviour of yellow baboons as the main example of a proposal to add the theory of reverse auctions (also called Dutch auctions!) to the BMT-edifice.
Lewis, R. J., Kirk, E. C. & Gosselin-Ildari, A. D. (2023). Evolutionary patterns of intersexual power. Animals, 13(23). Retrieved from https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/animals/animals-13-03695/article_deploy/animals-13-03695.pdf?version=1701249097 doi:10.3390/ani13233695
Davidian, E., Surbeck, M., Lukas, D., Kappeler, P. M. & Huchard, E. (2022). The eco-evolutionary landscape of power relationships between males and females. Trends in Ecology & Evolution
Lewis, R. J., Bueno, G. L. & Di Fiore, A. (2022). Variation in female leverage: The influence of kinship and market effects on the extent of female power over males in Verreaux’s sifaka. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10
Schembari, S. & Cords, M. (2019). Reluctant males: why blue monkey males reject female sexual advances. Behaviour, 157(1), 33-58
Auge, A.-C., Auld, H. L., Sherratt, T. N. & Godin, J.-G. J. (2016). Do males form social associations based on sexual attractiveness in a fission-fusion fish society? PLoS ONE, 11(3), e0151243
Kaburu, S. K., & Newton-Fisher, N. (2015). Trading or coercion? Variation in male mating strategies between two communities of East African chimpanzees. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 69(6), 1039-1052
Massen, J., Overduin-de Vries, A., de Vos-Rouweler, A., Spruijt, B., Doxiadis, G., & Sterck, E. (2012). Male mating tactics in captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta): the influence of dominance, markets, and relationship quality. International Journal of Primatology, 33(1), 73-92
Koyama, N. F., Caws, C., & Aureli, F. (2012). Supply and demand predict male grooming of swollen females in captive chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes. Animal Behaviour, 84(6), 1419-1425
Dall'Olio, S., Norscia, I., Antonacci, D., & Palagi, E. (2012). Sexual signalling in Propithecus verreauxi: male “chest badge” and female mate choice. PLoS ONE, 7(5), e37332
Patricelli, G. L., Krakauer, A. H., & McElreath, R. (2011). Assets and tactics in a mating market: Economic models of negotiation offer insights into animal courtship dynamics on the lek. Current Zoology, 57, 225 - 236
Barelli, C., Reichard, U. H., & Mundry, R. (2011). Is grooming used as a commodity in wild white-handed gibbons, Hylobates lar? Animal Behaviour, 82(4), 801-809
Clarke, P. M. R., Halliday, J. E. B., Barrett, L., & Henzi, S. P. (2010). Chacma baboon mating markets: competitor suppression mediates the potential for intersexual exchange. Behavioral Ecology, 21(6), 1211-1220
Norscia, I., Antonacci, D., & Palagi, E. (2009). Mating first, mating more: biological market fluctuation in a wild prosimian. PLoS ONE, 4(3), e4679
Fawcett, T. W., & Bleay, C. (2009). Previous experiences shape adaptive mate preferences. Behavioral Ecology, 20(1), 68-78
Metz, M., Klump, G., & Friedl, T. (2007). Temporal changes in demand for and supply of nests in red bishops (Euplectes orix): dynamics of a biological market. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 61(9), 1369-1381
Löttker, P., Huck, M., Zinner, D. P., & Heymann, E. W. (2007). Grooming relationships between breeding females and adult group members in cooperatively breeding moustached tamarins (Saguinus mystax). American Journal of Primatology, 69, 1-14
Gumert, M. D. (2007). Payment for sex in a macaque mating market. Animal Behaviour, 74(6), 1655-1667
last update of this page: 23 MAY 24
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