Sexual Imprint in the Human Partner Choice - Essay Sample

Introduction

According to the numerous researches done, it has been proven that human sexual partners have similar qualities with each other in various attributes; whether social, age, level of education or their economic status (Bereczkei, Gyuris & Weisfeld, 2004). Even though homogamy seems to be influenced by certain ethnic elements that are presumed to make couples to be able to co-exist without there being any conflict, its pervasiveness across multiple ethnicities is given an evolutionary explanation. For instance, the genetic-similarity theory implied that if life forms can establish the hereditary resemblance among strangers, they may show selflessness towards them, with significant growth in overall fitness (Bereczkei, 2004). A total of three studies were conducted to prove this theory; husband-father, husband-wife, and husband-mother-matching.The article is based on a study that tests the genetic similarity theory. The participants were shown photographs of wives and the resemblance between them and four other feasible male spouses, among which one of them was the real husband. They also compared the similarity of the father who adopted her, using a photograph of the father that was taken when the when his daughter was somewhere in between 2 to 8 years of age, to the current photo of the husband. They also made a comparison of the wife's adoptive mother and the wife. They put together a picture of the wife's adoptive father and four possible sons-in-law, and a different group was asked to identify which of the possible sons-in-law resemble the wife's adoptive father. The same procedure was applied to the other two studies.

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In the first study where the husband and wife were matched, the probability of their similarity was exceedingly high. According to Bereczkei, the judges positively matched husbands to wives at a notably higher mean rate than 25% (2004). The second study showed that the resemblance between husband and her adoptive father was even closer than it was between husband-wife. While in the third study, the degree of the husband and the mother matching was significantly lower than the previous two.

The outcome of the study showed that; there was a remarkable similarity discovered between wives and their husbands, the resemblance between fathers and their son-in-law was even higher and the more emotional warmth the father gave to his adopted daughter, the more the similarity between the father and the son-in-law (Bereczkei et al. 2004). The study clearly shows the role that sexual imprinting-like mechanism has to play in human partner selection. The study also implied that the connection to the parent of the opposite sex, and lasting partners would be chosen partially on the foundation of similarity to that parent.

Conclusion

The article explains that people, in general, have a non-negative response to stimuli that they are used to. Parents should influence their children's homogamous partnership, and human beings would allude to countenances with some characteristics of both parents (Bereczkei et al., 2004). Even though the theory has been proved several times, researchers still have no idea as to what the specific bond and learning methods that are accountable for homogamy. Instead, they suggest that a prolonged time of cohabitation may intensify the effects of sexual imprinting even though the theory has not been given support since there was no noteworthy correlation between the age at which the fathers adopted their daughters and the level of resemblance between the two.

Reference

Bereczkei, T., Gyuris, P., & Weisfeld, G. E. (2004). Sexual imprinting in human mate choice. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 271(1544), 1129.