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Fitting data to theory: The contribution of a comparative perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2005

Steve Stewart-Williams
Steve Stewart-Williams*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, CanadaL8S 4K1
*
[email protected]
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Abstract:

In this commentary, I consider Schmitt's cross-cultural investigation of sociosexuality from a comparative perspective. I argue that such a perspective lends support to an evolutionary explanation of a number of Schmitt's findings, including universal sex differences in sociosexuality and the sensitivity of mating behavior to contextual variables such as sex ratio.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , April 2005 , pp. 294 - 295
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

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References

Notes

1. As Schmitt demonstrates, however, sociocultural variables also influence the size of the difference.

2. Of course, this does not apply to variables such as the proportion of women in parliament.

3. See Alexander (1979) for discussion of the possibility that invariant mating preferences in humans could give rise to either monogamy or polygyny depending on the distribution of resources in a society.