David Buss discussed the common desire of humans in his lecture, “Strategies of Human Mating,” yesterday at 5 p.m. in the ballroom of the Hughes-Trigg Student Center.
Students and visitors flowed in while Buss’ book, “The Evolution of Desire,” projected onto screens in front of the audience. As seats filled up quickly, people began filling in empty spots on the floor to hear Buss speak.
Buss began by speaking on Darwin’s beliefs of evolution, going into different aspects of mating, such as long-term and short-term relationships. According to Buss, Darwin started the theory of evolution by questioning the existence of certain animals. The peacock has beautiful colors that, to Buss, say “fast food” to its predators. Darwin knew there had to be an explanation for such an animal.
As Buss began answering questions such as “What do women want?” audience members sat up in their seats in attention.
Buss discussed the common desires between males and females. He explained that obvious aspects were among these desires: love, good health and kindness. As Buss mentioned, “no woman said she wanted a mean, infested mate.”
According to Buss, the way people look at the opposite sex derives from evolution. For example, the reason a man is more attracted to a woman who looks young and healthy is because this was once how a fertile woman appeared. A woman who was fertile was the primary reason for a man wanting to mate with her.
From this, Buss decided that beauty is not just “skin deep.”
Varying factors such as upbringing, sex ratio and culture are what make a person want a long-term or short-term relationship, or a serial mating relationship over time. Buss explained that when a father is absent in a child’s life, the child may grow to feel unable to maintain relationships.
When there is a ratio with more women than men, there will be more long-term relationships; when there are more men present than women, there will be more short-term relationships. In this way, humans’ desires are altered by their surroundings.
Buss explained that his work has been described as “most controversial” by some, however, he feels differently.
“I don’t think my work at all is controversial,” he said.
When embarking on research of his interests, he tried his best to stay away from the sometimes uncomfortable subject of mating; however, he “saw mating everywhere,” even when studying why people murder.
Buss has been a professor of psychology at the University of Texas since 1996. He has written numerous books with an interest in evolution psychology.
Last night’s lecture was the first of many events that SMU has planned for the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth. This celebration, “Darwin’s Evolving Legacy: Celebrating Ideas that Shape Our World,” will continue into early 2010.
For more information on SMU’s “Darwin’s Evolving Legacy,” visit smu.edu/smunews/darwin.
