Description
Book SynopsisThis volume in the Springer Series in Evolutionary Psychology presents a state of the art view of the topic of sexuality and sexual behavior drawing on theoretical constructs and research of noted individuals in the field.
Trade Review"
Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Sexual Psychology and Behavior is one of the first volumes in this series. It contains 20 informative and thought-provoking chapters on human sexual cognition and behavior. Most of the chapters (17 of 20) are organized into two sections: Male Sexual Adaptations and Female Sexual Adaptations.
The chapters are appreciably diverse, covering topics such as mate preferences (e.g., for facial characteristics and body types), physical manifestations of evolutionarily relevant information (e.g., body shape as an indicator of female fertility), sexual behavior (e.g., forced copulation), mating cognition (e.g., perception of sexual interest), and intrasexual competition (e.g., restricted eating among women). Sensibly, some important themes recur across various chapters, such as ovulatory cycle effects (which appear in chapters on men’s sensitivity to female ovulation, male mate retention, female rape avoidance, female preferences for male characteristics, female disgust sensitivity, to name a few)...In conclusion, the editors of this book did an excellent job soliciting chapters on a variety of topics within human sexual psychology and behavior from an evolutionary perspective. The chapters are generally well written, and most of them present richly detailed literature reviews or helpful introductions to competing theories on a single topic. This book will appeal to researchers and connoisseurs of evolutionary psychology who will benefit from the mix of chapters containing tidy summaries and helpful comparisons of competing theories."
Christina M. Brown,
PsycCRITIQUESAugust 11, 2014, Vol. 59, No. 32, Article 7
Table of ContentsSection 1: Introduction to Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Sexual Psychology and Behavior.- Evaluating Evidence of Mate Preference Adaptations: How Do We Really Know What Homo sapiens sapiens Really Want?.- Section 2: Sexual Adaptations in Men.- Adaptation and sexual offending.- Sexual selection on human voices.- Agreement and individual differences in men’s preferences for women’s facial characteristics.- Male adaptations to female ovulation.- (Mis)reading the signs: Men’s perception of women’s sexual interest.- Bodily Attractiveness as a Window to Women’s Fertility and Reproductive Value.- Social and environmental conditions intensifying male competition for resources, status, and mates lead to increased male mortality.- Male production of humor produced by sexually selected psychological adaptations.- Male adaptations to retain a mate.- Section 3: Sexual Adaptations in Women.- Evolutionary psychology and rape avoidance .- Female orgasm.- Female adaptations to ovulation.-Women’s preferences for male facial features.- Women’s disgust adaptations.- Female Perceptions of Male Body Movements.- Intrasexual Competition and other Theories of Eating Restriction.- Attractiveness and rivalry in women’s same-sex friendships.- Section 4: Conclusions and Future Directions for Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Sexual Psychology and Behavior.- Evolutionary perspectives on homosexual psychology and behavior.- Reflections on the Evolution of Human Sex Differences: Social Selection and the Evolution of Competition among Women.
