have rendered some humans more adequate at handling the competition for scarce mating partners, and therefore contributed to their preservation. It is these adaptations, Buss argues, that make human mating strategies what they are today. In his book Buss describes the very origins of human mating as well as the common practices utilized today and draw parallels between the two. His claim is that though the human condition has changed overtime, humans still possess the same instincts and traits, which rendered their ancestors successful in producing offspring. As evidence Buss uses a study he conducted which included fifty collaborators from thirty-seven cultures from six continents and five islands. The study surveyed a total of 10,047 people world wide and included people from the ages of fourteen through seventy years old. Buss makes his argument for sexual selection and its effect on human’s mating strategy by describing the evolutionary roots for which humans evolved. Buss strengthens his argument, by describing what it is men and women want from a mate and how each desire has an evolutionary foundation. Next Buss strengthens his argument by describing the phenomenon known as the Coolidge effect. Lastly, Buss substantiates his argument by describing the sexual behavior exhibited by male and female homosexuals. Humans, according to Buss, have developed unconscious patterns that have been adapted overtime to solve specific mating problems. Buss states that “all of us descend from a long and unbroken line of ancestors who competed successfully for desirable mates, attracted mates who were reproductively valuable, retained mates long enough to reproduce, fended off interested rival, and solved the problems that could have impeded reproductive success.” Buss argues that these unconscious patterns have shaped what it is today that we consider human sexual desire. The origins of this desire can be traced to t...
