Courtship and Dating Valuable Time
In a Potential Love Match Women Benefit from a Longer Relationship
Jan 27, 2009
Women who are dating would do well to pay attention to a new research study about male and female behavior in mating. Researchers were able to find that courtships that take longer before mating will be more successful for the female. This is because good males are more willing to be patient during a longer courtship period, but bad males quit if they do not get their way.
Dating Valuable Time of Information Gathering
In dating, the time spent wining and dining and on long drives in the country is a valuable time of information gathering for the women. According to research, good men are more likely to participate in a long courtship.
In the mating game, time counts in making the right choice, according to a new research study. There is a reason that courtship takes an investment of time.
Research on Courtship
A research study by the University College London (UCL), University of Warwick and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) used a mathematical model of the mating game to explain the reason the courtship often takes time. An extended courtship allows the male to signal the female that he is a suitable mate and gives the female time to screen out males who are not suitable.
Females who extend the courtship have a better chance of picking a good mate. Males who are willing to court the female for an extended time are more likely to be good mates and stay to help take care of offspring.
The Journal of Theoretical Biology published the research that used a game theory to analyze male and female behavior in the mating game. The game theory allowed researchers to analysis how males and females behave toward each other strategically.
Researchers considered a male and female in a courtship with unspecific duration. The game ended when either party quits or the female accepts the male as a mate. The model assumed that the male is either a "good" or "bad" mate from the female's point of view. The persistence of the male gives an indication of how willing the male will be to take care of offspring after mating.
Females get a positive payoff if they mate with a good male, but the payoff is negative if they mate with a bad male.
Males, on the other hand, get a positive payoff from mating with any female. The male does get a higher pay off if he is a "good" male than if he is "bad."
Researchers found that good males were more willing to court the female for longer periods of time. Bad males would quit the courtship if it did not progress fast enough.
Females were able to gather valuable information about the males by determining how long they were willing to court them. Females who delay the mating are able to screen out bad males. Because bad males have a greater tendency to quit the courtship game early, as time goes on and the male has not quit it becomes increasingly probable that he is a "good" male.
Researcher Statements
Professor Robert Seymour, UCL Mathematics, stated is a press release, "Human courtship can involve a sequence of dinners, theatre trips and other outings lasting months or even years. One partner - often the male - may pay the greater part of the financial cost, but to both sexes there is a significant cost of time which could be spent on other productive activities."
Seymour went on state that the longer courtship is a way for the female to acquire information about the male. "By delaying mating, the female is able to reduce the chance that she will mate with a bad male. A male's willingness to court for a long time is a signal that he is likely to be a good male."
Seymour continued to say that long courtship is a price paid or increasing the chance that the female will pick a good mate. "This may help to explain the commonly held belief that a woman is best advised not to sleep with a man on a first date."
Dr Peter Sozou, Warwick Medical School and LSE Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, stated in the press release, "From a female's point of view, males are not all equal. A female would like to mate with a good male, but cannot tell a male's type from his appearance alone. The strategic problem the female faces is how to screen out bad males, and this is where long courtship comes into play."
Dr. Sozou went on to say that requiring the male to wait before mating helps to screen out bad males, who are more likely to give up at some random time. If the female agrees to mate too quickly she risks mating with the wrong kind of male. He did note that the risk of mating with a bad male is never completely eliminated, unless the female decides never to mate at all.
In human courtship, women should not let the man rush them into a relationship. Men who leave because the courtship period is taking too long are possibly bad males and are no big loss anyway.
Resources
University College London article "Why you can't hurry love," January 16, 2009, EurekAlert
"Duration of courtship effort as a costly signal' by Robert M. Seymour and Peter D. Sozou is published in the January issue of the Journal of Theoretical Biology.
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