Psychology 247 Syllabus: Psychology of Human Mating
Winter, 2008
Prof. Jim Roney (roney@psych.ucsb.edu)
Class: Mondays, 9:00 am - 11:30 am, Psych East 3843
Office Hours: Fridays, 9:30-11:30 AM, Psych East 2829
Course Description: This course will focus on new directions in research on human mating psychology as approached from an evolutionary perspective. The class will involve in-depth consideration of primary source articles chosen to be representative of emerging lines of research in this area.
Readings:
Links to pdf files of the readings appear in the online version of this syllabus. The website for accessing this version is: www.psych.ucsb.edu/~roney/ and follow the link to 594 syllabus. Readings should be done prior to the class for which they are assigned.
Assignments and Grading:
Students will alternate leading discussion of specific readings. A brief summary of the readings should be sent to the impending class e-mail list by 5 PM on the day before you are leading discussion. The summary should include: (1) a brief description of the main arguments/findings in the reading, (2) possible criticisms of the arguments or alternative explanations for the findings, and (3) a description of possible research studies that might test or extend the ideas presented in the reading. In addition, a brief paper will be assigned later in the quarter in which students will write a review of a research article related to one or more of the topics discussed in class. Grades will be based on both overall discussion performance (~75%) and on the written paper (~25%). Students who elect to take the class P/NP do not have to write the paper.
Week 1. January 7. Organizational Meeting.
Week 2. January 14. Theoretical Foundations: Sexual Selection.
Andersson, M. (1994). The theory of sexual selection. In Sexual selection (pp. 3-31). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pdf
Trivers, R. L. (1972). Parental investment and sexual selection. In B. Campbell (Ed.), Sexual selection and the descent of man (pp. 136-179). Chicago: Aldine. pdf
Zahavi, A., & Zahavi, A. (1997). Mate selection. In The handicap principle (pp. 25-40). New York: Oxford University Press. pdf
Week 3. January 21. MLK Day, No Class.
Week 4. January 28. Survey Research on Human Mate Preferences
Buss, D. M. (1989). Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 12, 1-49. pdf
Eagly, A. H., & Wood, W. (1999). The origins of sex differences in human behavior: Evolved dispositions versus social roles. American Psychologist, 54, 408-423. pdf
Li, N.P., Bailey, J. M., Kenrick, D. T., & Linsenmeier, J.A.W. (2002). The necessities and luxuries of mate preferences: Testing the tradeoffs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 947-955. pdf
Week 5. February 4.Neuroendocrinology of Mating Psychology
Carter, C. S. (1992). Neuroendocrinology of sexual behavior in the female. In J. B. Becker, S. M. Breedlove, D. Crews (Eds.), Behavioral endocrinology (pp. 72-95). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. pdf
Ferris, C. F., Snowdon, C. T., et al. (2001). Functional imaging of brain activity in conscious monkeys responding to sexually arousing cues. Neuroreport, 12, 2231-2236.pdf
Hamann, S., Herman, R. A., Nolan, C. L., & Wallen, K. (2004). Men and women differ in amygdala response to visual sexual stimuli. Nature Neuroscience, 7, 411-416. pdf
Roney, J. R., Lukaszewski, A. W., & Simmons, Z. L. (2007). Rapid endocrine responses of young men to social interactions with young women. Hormones and Behavior, 52, 326-333. pdf
Sipos, M. L., & Nyby, J. G. (1996). Concurrent androgenic stimulation of the ventral tegmental area and medial preoptic area: synergistic effects on male-typical reproductive behaviors in house mice. Brain Research, 729, 29-44. pdf
Wallen, K. (2001). Sex and context: Hormones and primate sexual motivation. Hormones and Behavior, 40, 339-357. pdf
Week 6. February 11. Female Physical Attractiveness
Ellison, P. T. (1994). Salivary steroids and natural variation in human ovarian function. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 709, 287-298. pdf
Jasienska, G., Ziomkiewicz, A., Ellison, P. T., Lipson, S. F., & Thune, I. (2004). Large breasts and narrow waists indicate high reproductive potential in women. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 271, 1213-1217. pdf
Law-Smith, M. J., et al. (2006). Facial appearance is a cue to oestrogen levels in women. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 273, 135-140. pdf
Lipson, S. F., & Ellison, P. T. (1996). Comparison of salivary steroid profiles in naturally occurring conception and non-conception cycles. Human Reproduction, 11, 2090-2096. pdf
Lassek, W. D., & Gaulin, S. J. C. (2008). Waist-hip ratio and cognitive ability: is gluteofemoral fat a privileged store of neurodevelopmental resources? Evolution and Human Behavior, 29, 26-34. pdf
Singh, D. (1993). Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: Role of waist-to-hip ratio. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 293-307. pdf
Week 7. February 18. President’s Day, No Class
Week 8. February 25. Male Physical Attractiveness/Cycle Phase Effects on Mate Preferences
Folstad, I., & Karter, A. J. (1992). Parasites, bright males, and the immunocompetence handicap. American Naturalist, 139, 603-622. pdf
Gangestad, S. W., Simpson, J. A., Cousins, A., Garver-Apgar, C. E., & Chistensen, P. N. (2004). Women’s preferences for men’s behavioral displays change across the menstrual cycle. Psychological Science, 15, 203-207. pdf
Gangestad, S. W., & Thornhill, R. (1998). Menstrual cycle variation in women’s preferences for the scent of symmetrical men. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 265, 927-933. pdf
Grammer, K., & Thornhill, R. (1994). Human (Homo sapiens) facial attractiveness and sexual selection: The role of symmetry and averageness. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 108, 233-242. pdf
Roney, J. R., & Simmons, Z. L. (2008). Women’s estradiol predicts preference for facial cues of men’s testosterone. Hormones and Behavior, 53, 14-19. pdf
Penton-Voak, I. S., et al. (1999). Menstrual cycle alters face preference. Nature, 399, 741-742. pdf
Perrett, D. I., et al. (1998). Effects of sexual dimorphism on facial attractiveness. Nature, 394, 884-887. pdf
Week 9. March 3. Pheromones/Ovulation Detection.
McClintock, M. K. (1971). Menstrual synchrony and suppression. Nature, 229, 244-245. pdf
Savic, I., Berglund, H., & Lindstrom, P. (2005). Brain response to putative pheromones in homosexual men. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102, 7356-7361. pdf
Singh, D., & Bronstad, P. M. (2001). Female body odour is a potential cue to ovulation. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 268, 797-801. pdf
Wedekind, C., Seebeck, T., Bettens, F., & Paepke, A. J. (1995). MHC-dependent mate preferences in humans. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 260, 245-249. pdf
Wilson, H. C. (1992). A critical review of menstrual synchrony research. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 17, 565-591. pdf
Ziegler, T. E., Schultz-Darken, N. J., Scott, J. J., Snowdon, C. T., & Ferris, C. F. (2005). Neuroendocrine response to female ovulatory odors depends upon social condition in male common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus. Hormones and Behavior, 47, 56-64. pdf
Week 10. March 10. Jealousy/Sperm Competition/Love
Buss, D. M., Larsen, R. J., Westen, D., & Semmelroth, J. (1992). Sex differences in jealousy: Evolution, physiology, and psychology. Psychological Science, 3, 251-255. pdf
DeSteno, D. A., & Salovey, P. (1996). Evolutionary origins of sex differences in jealousy? Questioning the “fitness” of the model. Psychological Science, 7, 367-372. pdf
Buss, D. M., Larsen, R. J., & Westen, D. (1996). Sex differences in jealousy: Not gone, not forgotten, and not explained by alternative hypotheses. Psychological Science, 7, 373-375. pdf
Harris, C. R. (2000). Psychophysiological responses to imagined infidelity: The specific innate modular view of jealousy reconsidered. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 1082-1091. pdf
DeSteno, D., Bartlett, M. Y., Salovey, P., & Braverman, J. (2002). Sex differences in jealousy: Evolutionary mechanism or artifact of measurement? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1103-1116. pdf
Baker, R. R., & Bellis, M. A. (1989). Number of sperm in human ejaculates varies in accordance with sperm competition theory. Animal Behaviour, 37, 867-869. pdf
Frank, R. H. (1988). Love. Passions within reason (pp. 185-211). New York: Norton. pdf