Mating choice and Lonely Hearts Columns.

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Mating choice and Lonely Hearts Columns

ABSTRACT

Darwin’s evolutionary theory stated that all species picked partners who possessed certain characteristics which would offer their offspring a better chance of survival ‘ Survival of the fittest’.

   I wanted to see whether both genders offered/requested certain characteristics more or less than the other.

   I visited a website orientated around dating (mate choices) and accumulated data based upon those who had posted their add on the site.

  The independent variable was the gender of the person, where as the dependant variable was the number of terms they used in relation to personal appearance, financial resources and age.

  The results acquired were categorised accordingly in a table, in which I found out that;

  • Women tended to seek stability in the form of financial resources more than men, where as men tended to offer it more than their female counterparts.
  • Males tended to seek those who possessed a high level of physical attractiveness more than females. Where as females tended to offer it more than males.
  • Age was a very complex factor with both cases, as those who were young sought those who were older and vice versa. But those who were middle aged tended to seek those who were of their age group.

   

In present day it’s more of being able to live with someone who can make you happy and give you and your sprouts a good chance in life.

TERMINOLOGY

Lonely-Hearts Column relating to people who are looking for companions or marriage partners

Financial Resources – money/wealth

Personal Appearance – physical attributes

Quota sampling – before the sample is selected the population is divided into appropriate categories from which the sample is selected. Usually with an equal number in each category.

Google – large search engine on the web

BACKGROUND

Charles Darwin's theory of evolution presumes the development of life from non-life and stresses a purely naturalistic "descent with modification". That is, complex creatures evolve from more simplistic ancestors naturally over time. In a nutshell, as random genetic mutations occur within an organism's genetic code, the beneficial mutations are preserved because they aid survival -- a process known as "natural selection." These beneficial mutations are passed on to the next generation.

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My hypotheses were based upon the Darwinian theory of Evolution (although many other people had thought of it before him.

The purpose of this investigation was to test 3 hypotheses, which were orientated around the mate-choices of males and females, which were found in either Lonely Hearts Columns or on the Internet.

There were various factors, which could have a profound effect on my results. The first was that of the location of the information in which I acquired my data from. The second was that of the age group and gender of those who either used ...

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