Chapter 5, How We Pick Our Mates and Sex Partners Summary and Analysis

Chapter 5 begins by examining some primate methods of mate selection; gibbons - monogamous and solitary - are highly selective while chimpanzees - promiscuously polygamous and social - are non-selective. Humans are highly selective across an array of traits. Individuals find others sexual attractive to varying degrees and ideals of beauty vary enormously from culture to culture and even between individuals within the same culture, yet there are clearly ideals of beauty which are clearly established.

Various studies of sexual attractiveness in animals are briefly considered; human studies must rely on subjective interviews or careful examination of secondary effects. One of the most instructive avenues of investigation in human sexual attraction involves performing statistical analysis on observable measurements taken from large groups of mated humans. One...