REUTERS – Oct 8 - Researchers said that women whose hormones are chemically controlled are less likely to seek out muscular, rugged men. Whereas ovulating women not on the pill are particularly attracted to men showing dominance and male-male competitiveness and prefer partners who are genetically dissimilar to themselves. The birth control pill could also throw a spanner in the works of the laws of natural attraction as it prevents women giving off monthly fertility signals believed to be subtly alluring to men.
The full article was originally published at Yahoo News, but is no longer available.
Psychologists and other Academics had discovered that men and women have 2 “psychologies”
“the short-term mating strategy psychology” and “the long-term mating strategy psychology”, which is part of the new discovery uncovered by Eastwick and Finkel 2008; also Kurzban and Weeden, 2007; Todd, Penke, Fasolo, and Lenton, 2007 who found that people often report partner preferences that are not compatible with their choices in real life.
That new & fresh paper “Does the contraceptive pill alter mate choice in humans?” written by Drs. Alvergne & Lummaa (2010) suggests women under contraceptive treatment select better partners for long term mating.
The study shows that “Female and [also] male mate choice preferences in humans both vary according to the menstrual cycle. Women prefer more masculine, symmetrical and genetically unrelated men during ovulation compared with other phases of their cycle, and recent evidence suggests that men prefer ovulating women to others. ”
[Although males do not take contraceptive pills, they detect women who ovulate or not, so they change their short-term mating strategy psychology]
That paper is a must read and a big punch to “DNA matching methods, based on the T_shirt Experiment”
Alvergne & Lummaa clearly say:
“Furthermore, whereas normally cycling women express a preference for MHC (major histocompatibility complex) dissimilarity in mates, pill users prefer odours of MHC-similar men, indicating that pill use might eliminate adaptive preferences for genetic dissimilarity.”
…………….
“Recently, Roberts et al. attempted to eliminate these potential confounds by adopting a within-subject design in which women’s mate preferences were assessed before and after they began taking the pill. Women starting the pill showed a significant preference shift towards MHC
similarity compared with three months before the pill was taken, a shift that was not observed in the control group of normally cycling women. This study replicates previous evidence based on between-subject comparisons, and suggests that contraceptive pill use disrupts disassortative mate preferences in women, leading to a preference for individuals who are similar to relatives.”
………………
“If the effect of the pill is strong enough to modify actual mate choice, what are the consequences for marital stability and fitness of offspring? It must be acknowledged
that current evidence suggests such changes in preferences mainly concern short-term partners.
….. commencement or cessation of the pill influences the quality and stability of
pre-existing long-term relationships …..
… all of the studies so far have been conducted on Western monogamous societies using mostly university student samples. …..
Because only short-term but not long-term partner preferences tend to vary with the menstrual cycle [Gangestad, S.W. and Thornill, R. (2008) Human oestrus], we predict different effects of the pill on mating decisions depending on the context and the women’s opportunities.”
Regards.
Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
ardenghifer@gmail.com
Psychologists and other Academics had discovered that men and women have 2 “psychologies”
“the short-term mating strategy psychology” and “the long-term mating strategy psychology”, which is part of the new discovery uncovered by Eastwick and Finkel 2008; also Kurzban and Weeden, 2007; Todd, Penke, Fasolo, and Lenton, 2007 who found that people often report partner preferences that are not compatible with their choices in real life.
That new & fresh paper “Does the contraceptive pill alter mate choice in humans?” written by Drs. Alvergne & Lummaa (2010) suggests women under contraceptive treatment select better partners for long term mating.
The study shows that “Female and [also] male mate choice preferences in humans both vary according to the menstrual cycle. Women prefer more masculine, symmetrical and genetically unrelated men during ovulation compared with other phases of their cycle, and recent evidence suggests that men prefer ovulating women to others. ”
[Although males do not take contraceptive pills, they detect women who ovulate or not, so they change their short-term mating strategy psychology]
That paper is a must read and a big punch to “DNA matching methods, based on the T_shirt Experiment”
Alvergne & Lummaa clearly say:
“Furthermore, whereas normally cycling women express a preference for MHC (major histocompatibility complex) dissimilarity in mates, pill users prefer odours of MHC-similar men, indicating that pill use might eliminate adaptive preferences for genetic dissimilarity.”
…………….
“Recently, Roberts et al. attempted to eliminate these potential confounds by adopting a within-subject design in which women’s mate preferences were assessed before and after they began taking the pill. Women starting the pill showed a significant preference shift towards MHC
similarity compared with three months before the pill was taken, a shift that was not observed in the control group of normally cycling women. This study replicates previous evidence based on between-subject comparisons, and suggests that contraceptive pill use disrupts disassortative mate preferences in women, leading to a preference for individuals who are similar to relatives.”
………………
“If the effect of the pill is strong enough to modify actual mate choice, what are the consequences for marital stability and fitness of offspring? It must be acknowledged
that current evidence suggests such changes in preferences mainly concern short-term partners.
….. commencement or cessation of the pill influences the quality and stability of
pre-existing long-term relationships …..
… all of the studies so far have been conducted on Western monogamous societies using mostly university student samples. …..
Because only short-term but not long-term partner preferences tend to vary with the menstrual cycle [Gangestad, S.W. and Thornill, R. (2008) Human oestrus], we predict different effects of the pill on mating decisions depending on the context and the women’s opportunities.”
Regards.
Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
ardenghifer@gmail.com