Armchair Theorist

Ever wondered why guys are generally characterized as superficial creatures whose #1 priority when looking for a mate is beauty and good looks?

What about girls, who generally are portrayed as status or money chasers when they are choosing their boyfriends or husbands?

Are these generalizations accurate and fair?

Well… sure! Is anyone really denying that?

OK, fine. So why is that so?

It’s because of evolution, of course!

According to The Logic of Life, which is the latest book by “The Undercover Economist” Tim Harford, it can all be traced back to our ancestral roots.

Tim writes:

In the ancestral environment, it is fair to assume, a baby with two parents looking after it stood a much better chance of reaching adulthood than a baby whose single parent had to do the rearing as well as the hunting and gathering.

And that was essentially where the modern concept of couple pairing and marriage evolved from.

Tim further adds:

Since a woman needed the physical strength to bear and rear the baby, youth and health – for which beauty is a reliable indicator – would top the list of male desires.

And how about for guys?

We can imagine that a father’s role in raising children, primarily, was to provide and protect: perhaps the most able hunters would have been in most demand as long-term partners, or the strongest fighters, or the canniest at making political alliances. All these attributes would have translated into high status. And in modern times, we have a very reliable indicator of high status: wealth.

And so the truth is out. It’s not our fault for being superficial, ladies. It’s all science and evolution’s fault.

So don’t blame us men for gawking at pretty girls and preferring good looks over everything else when we are choosing our mates.

And in return we promise we won’t blame you gals for gawking at investment bankers and chasing eighty-nine year old Texas billionaires when you are choosing your mates.

Deal?