Scarcity of female mates predicts regional variation in men’s and women’s sociosexual orientation across US states

Previous studies have linked regional variation in willingness to engage in uncommitted sexual relationships (i.e., sociosexual orientation) to many different socio-ecological measures, such as adult sex ratio, life expectancy, and gross domestic product. However, these studies share a number of potentially serious limitations, including reliance on a single dataset of responses aggregated by country and a failure to properly consider intercorrelations among different socio-ecological measures. We address these limitations by (1) collecting a new dataset of 4,453 American men’s and women’s sociosexual orientation scores, (2) using multilevel analyses to avoid aggregation, and (3) deriving orthogonal factors reflecting US state-level differences in the scarcity of female mates, environmental demands, and wealth. Analyses showed that the scarcity of female mates factor, but not the environmental demand or wealth factors, predicted men’s and women’s sociosexual orientation. Participants reported being less willing to engage in uncommitted sexual relationships when female mates were scarce. These results highlight the importance of scarcity of female mates for regional differences in men’s and women’s mating strategies. They also suggest that effects of wealth-related measures and environmental demands reported in previous research may be artifacts of intercorrelations among socio-ecological measures or, alternatively, do not necessarily generalize well to new datasets

No evidence for associations between men's salivary testosterone and responses on the Intrasexual Competitiveness Scale

Objectives: Many previous studies have investigated relationships between men’s competitiveness and testosterone. For example, the extent of changes in men’s testosterone levels following a competitive task predicts the likelihood of them choosing to compete again. Recent work investigating whether individual differences in men’s testosterone levels predict individual differences in their competitiveness have produced mixed results. Methods: In light of the above, we investigated whether men’s (N = 59) scores on the Intrasexual Competitiveness Scale were related to either within-subject changes or between-subject differences in men’s salivary testosterone levels. Results: Men’s responses on the Intrasexual Competitiveness Scale did not appear to track within-subject changes in testosterone. By contrast with one recent study, men’s Intrasexual Competitiveness Scale also did not appear to be related to individual differences in testosterone. Conclusions: Our results present no evidence for associations between men’s testosterone and their responses on the Intrasexual Competitiveness Scale

Telematic Shell for K-2002 Signalbox

Nezbytnou složkou řízení železničního provozu se v současnosti stává jeho optimalizace a plánování. Tato práce se zabývá vytvořením nadstavby nad zabezpečovacím zařízením, která bude shromážďovat údaje ze zařízení a jiných zdrojů, tyto vizualizovat, vyhodnocovat a pomáhat obsluze v rozhodování a plánování jídy vlaků.Optimization and plannig have become an immense part of railway traffic control. This work comprises creation of a telematic shell for a signalbox, that is dedicated to collecting, visualizing and evalutaing data from the whole interlocking system for purpose of traffic flow management support.

Variation in men's mate preferences and mating strategies

The vast majority of research investigating mating strategies and mate preferences focused on variation among and within women. However, there are strong theoretical reasons to expect systematic differences in men’s mating strategies and mat preferences as well. In this thesis I present four empirical chapters investigating variation in men’s mating strategies and face preferences. The first empirical chapter investigates the regional variation in men’s and women’s sociosexual orientation across US states, using improved measures of sociosexuality and multilevel modeling. I show that scarcity of female mates, but not health risks or wealth predict people’s sociosexual orientation. Women and men in states, where female mates were scarce reported being less willing to engage in uncommitted sexual relationships. In my second empirical chapter I present a study investigating the relationship between men’s hormone levels and men’s preferences for healthy color cues in faces. I show that men with the combination of high testosterone and low cortisol show the weakest preferences for yellower and darker skin; a color profile associated with carotenoid coloration. The third chapter tests for within-subject effects of hormones on men’s perceptions of vocal characteristics. I show that within-subject changes in men’s hormone levels were not associated with preferences for sexually dimorphic acoustic properties in women’s or men’s voices. In the final chapter I present a study testing for relationships between men’s facial appearance and their hormone levels and show that men’s rated facial dominance is lowest among men with high cortisol and low testosterone, but that men’s rated facial attractiveness and health are unrelated to their hormone levels. The findings of this thesis demonstrate that there is meaningful systematic variation in men’s mating strategies at a regional level and that men’s face preferences are associated with their trait hormone levels in an adaptive fashion. I also show that previously reported within-subject hormonal modulation of femininity preferences in human faces does not occur for human voices. Lastly the results of my final experimental chapter suggest that adult hormone levels may not be as important for men’s facial appearance as previously thought

Does the interaction between cortisol and testosterone predict men's facial attractiveness?

Although some researchers have suggested that the interaction between cortisol and testosterone predicts ratings of men’s facial attractiveness, evidence for this pattern of results is equivocal. Consequently, the current study tested for a correlation between men’s facial attractiveness and the interaction between their cortisol and testosterone levels. We also tested for corresponding relationships between the interaction between cortisol and testosterone and ratings of men’s facial health and dominance (perceived traits that are correlated with facial attractiveness in men). We found no evidence that ratings of either facial attractiveness or health were correlated with the interaction between cortisol and testosterone. Some analyses suggested that the interaction between cortisol and testosterone levels may predict ratings of men’s facial dominance, however, with testosterone being more closely related to facial dominance ratings among men with higher cortisol. Our results suggest that the relationship between men’s facial attractiveness and the interaction between cortisol and testosterone is not robust

Does Adult Sex Ratio Predict Regional Variation in Facial Dominance Perceptions? Evidence From an Analysis of U.S. States

When the adult sex ratio of the local population is biased toward women, men face greater costs due to increased direct intrasexual competition. In order to mitigate these costs, men may be more attuned to cues of other men’s physical dominance under these conditions. Consequently, we investigated the relationships between the extent to which people (N = 3,586) ascribed high dominance to masculinized versus feminized faces and variation in adult sex ratio across U.S. states. Linear mixed models showed that masculinized faces were perceived as more dominant than feminized faces, particularly for judgments of men’s facial dominance. Dominance perceptions were weakly related to adult sex ratio, and this relationship was not moderated by face sex, participant sex, or their interaction. Thus, our results suggest that dominance perceptions are relatively unaffected by broad geographical differences in adult sex ratios

General sexual desire, but not desire for uncommitted sexual relationships, tracks changes in women's hormonal status

Several recent longitudinal studies have investigated the hormonal correlates of both young adult women's general sexual desire and, more specifically, their desire for uncommitted sexual relationships. Findings across these studies have been mixed, potentially because each study tested only small samples of women (Ns = 43, 33, and 14). Here we report results from a much larger (N = 375) longitudinal study of hormonal correlates of young adult women's general sexual desire and their desire for uncommitted sexual relationships. Our analyses suggest that within-woman changes in general sexual desire are negatively related to progesterone, but are not related to testosterone or cortisol. We observed some positive relationships for estradiol, but these were generally only significant for solitary sexual desire. By contrast with our results for general sexual desire, analyses showed no evidence that changes in women’s desire for uncommitted sexual relationships are related to their hormonal status. Together, these results suggest that changes in hormonal status contribute to changes in women's general sexual desire, but do not influence women's desire for uncommitted sexual relationships

Are physiological and behavioral immune responses negatively correlated? Evidence from hormone-linked differences in men's face preferences

Behaviors that minimize exposure to sources of pathogens can carry opportunity costs. Consequently, how individuals resolve the tradeoff between the benefits and costs of behavioral immune responses should be sensitive to the extent to which they are vulnerable to infectious diseases. However, although it is a strong prediction of this functional flexibility principle, there is little compelling evidence that individuals with stronger physiological immune responses show weaker behavioral immune responses. Here we show that men with the combination of high testosterone and low cortisol levels, a hormonal profile recently found to be associated with particularly strong physiological immune responses, show weaker preferences for color cues associated with carotenoid pigmentation. Since carotenoid cues are thought to index vulnerability to infectious illnesses, our results are consistent with the functional flexibility principle's prediction that individuals with stronger physiological immune responses show weaker behavioral immune responses

Hormonal correlates of pathogen disgust: Testing the Compensatory Prophylaxis Hypothesis

Raised progesterone during the menstrual cycle is associated with suppressed physiological immune responses, reducing the probability that the immune system will compromise the blastocyst's development. The Compensatory Prophylaxis Hypothesis proposes that this progesterone-linked immunosuppression triggers increased disgust responses to pathogen cues, compensating for the reduction in physiological immune responses by minimizing contact with pathogens. Although a popular and influential hypothesis, there is no direct, within-woman evidence for correlated changes in progesterone and pathogen disgust. To address this issue, we used a longitudinal design to test for correlated changes in salivary progesterone and pathogen disgust (measured using the pathogen disgust subscale of the Three Domain Disgust Scale) in a large sample of women (N = 375). Our analyses showed no evidence that pathogen disgust tracked changes in progesterone, estradiol, testosterone, or cortisol. Thus, our results provide no support for the Compensatory Prophylaxis Hypothesis of variation in pathogen disgust

Facial coloration tracks changes in women’s estradiol

Red facial coloration is an important social cue in many primate species, including humans. In such species, the vasodilatory effects ofestradiolmay cause red facial coloration to change systematically during females’ ovarian cycle. Although increased red facial coloration during estrus has been observed in female mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) and rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), evidence linking primate facial color changes directly to changes in measured estradiol is lacking. Addressing this issue, we used alongitudinal designto demonstrate that red facial coloration tracks within-subject changes in women's estradiol, but not within-subject changes in women'sprogesteroneor estradiol-to-progesterone ratio. Moreover, the relationship between estradiol and facial redness was observed in two independent samples of women (N=50 andN=65). Our results suggest that changes in facial coloration may provide cues of women's fertility and present the first evidence for a direct link between estradiol and female facial redness in a primate species