Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T18:42:09.666Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The consequences of heterogamy and homogamy on the similarity between spouses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Ian Tomlinson
Ian Tomlinson
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Humans in many societies are known to mate, or marry, assortatively for a number of characters such as eye colour, height, IQ and place of birth. In this assortment an element of active choice may be involved. It is not known whether this choice is genetic. Two models of human mate choice are examined in which both males and females can express a mating preference. In the first, ‘sexual’ preferences can be expressed for any phenotype not necessarily one's own; in the second, preferences are only expressed for an individual's own phenotype. The results of the examination indicate how much active choice would be needed to account for the observed correlations between human mates, and suggest whether human mating preferences are more likely to be sexual or assorting.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , April 1989 , pp. 193 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Breden, F. & Stoner, G. (1987) Male prcdation risk determines female preference in the Trinidad guppy. Nature, Lond. 329, 831.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cattell, R. B. & Nesselroade, J. R. (1967) Likeness and completeness theories examined by 16 P.F. measures on stably and unstably married couples. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 7, 351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cavalli-Sforza, L. L. & Bodmer, W. F. (1971) The Genetics of Human Populations. Freeman, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Crow, J. F. & Felsenstein, J. (1984) The effect of assortative mating on the genetic composition of a population. Social Biol. 29, 22.Google Scholar
Dawkins, R. (1983) The Extended Phenotype. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Eckland, B. (1972) Evolutionary consequences of differential fertility and assortative mating in man. In: Evolutionary Biology, Vol. 5. Appleton, New York.Google Scholar
Fisher, R. A. (1918) The correlation between relatives on the supposition of Mendelian inheritance. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb. 52, 399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, R. A. (1930) The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection. Clarendon, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freud, S. (1949) On narcissism. In: Collected Papers, Vol. 4. Hogarth Press, London.Google Scholar
Goodman, M. (1964) Expressed self-acceptance and interspousal needs: a basis for mate selection. J. Counseling Psychol. 11, 129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacquard, A. (1970) The Genetic Structure of Populations. Springer, Heidelberg.Google Scholar
Jensen, A. R. (1978) Genetic and behavioural effects of non-random mating. In: Human Variation: Biogenetics of Age, Race and Sex. Edited by Noble, C. E., Osborne, R. T. & Weyle, N.. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Majerus, M. E. N., O'Donald, P. & Weir, J. (1982) Female mating preference is genetic. Nature, Lond. 300, 521.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mascie-Taylor, C. G. N. (1987) Assortative mating in a contemporary British population. Ann. hum. Biol. 14, 59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mascie-Taylor, C. G. N. & Boldsen, J. L. (1988) Assortative mating, differential fertility and abnormal pregnancy outcome. Ann. hum. Biol. 15, 223.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murstein, B. (1980) Mate selection in the 70s. J. Marr: Fam. 42, 777.Google Scholar
O'Donald, P. (1960) Assortative mating in a population in which two allelles are segregating. Heredity, 15, 389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, R. A. & Vandenberg, S. G. (1980) Spouse similarity in Swedish and American couples. Behav. Genet. 10, 59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, D. F. (1977) Human pigmentation: its geographical and racial distribution and its biological significance. J. Soc. Cosm. Chem. 28, 239.Google Scholar
Spuhler, J. N. (1968) Assortative mating with respect to physical characteristics. Eugen. Q. 15, 128.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thelen, T. H. (1984) Minority type human mate preference. Social Biol. 30, 162.Google Scholar
Wright, S. (1921) Assortative mating based on somatic resemblance. Genetics, 6, 144.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed