Courtship

Abstract: Acknowledgments1Introduction: The Guppy as a Model System32Reproductive Biology and Sexual Behavior293Choosy Females and Competing Males: Mechanisms of Sexual Selection454Male Courtship Behavior805Evolution of Female Choice 1: Direct Selection, Adaptive Plasticity, and Sensory Drive1046Evolution of Female Choice 2: Indirect Selection, Variation, and Correlations1237Summary and Prospects155AppendixExperimental Methods: How to Build a Better Bordello165References177Author Index201Subject Index205Taxonomic Index209

Abstract: Abstract The handicap principle, first proposed by Zahavi about 17 years ago, has in the past several years become widely accepted as a central unifying theory explaining many previously baffling aspects of animal signalling and communication. It is arguably the most important theoretical advance in animal behaviour in recent years. Basically, the theory states that to be effective, signals must be reliable, and to be reliable, they must be costly to the signaller. This fundamental insight is then developed to explain and illuminate much of animal and human behaviour - why the peacock’s tail is so ornate, and why antelope will spend energy stetting or leaping into the air, when they see a predator, instead of running away, but also how humans test each others’ commitment by imposing burdens during courtship. Signals are paid attention to only if the signal itself imposes a handicap on the signaller that would make cheating impossible or unprofitable, This book explores the very wide-ranging implications of the handicap principle, for predator-prey relations, sexual selection, parent-offspring relations, coalitions and alliances, and the persistence of altruism, in animals and also in human societies and intercellular signalling within multicellular organisms.

Abstract: Recent concern with family violence has focused on child abuse and wife battering while other forms have been relatively neglected. A need to recognize and focus on violence that occurs during the dating and courtship period is suggested. Descriptive information on the extent and nature of courtship violence found in a sample of college students is reported. The significance of the figures the "idealized" nature of both popular and professional accounts of the dating and courtship period and the need for further work in this area are discussed. (authors)

Abstract: We proposed that married persons would want their spouses to see them as they saw themselves but that dating persons would want their relationship partners to evaluate them favorably. A survey of 176 married and dating couples tested these predictions. Just as married persons were most intimate with spouses whose evaluations verified their self-views, dating persons were most intimate with partners who evaluated them favorably. For married people with negative self-views, then, intimacy increased as their spouses evaluated them more negatively. Marriage apparently precipitates a shift from a desire for positive evaluations to a desire for self-verifying evaluations.