ReviewGenetica2008
Good genes, complementary genes and human mate preferences.
Review in Genetica, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Perceiving intimidation through kinematic cues in men's gait.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Femme/Butch/Androgyne Identity and Preferences for Femininity Across Face, Voice, and Personality Traits in Chinese Lesbian and Bisexual Women.Archives of sexual behavior · 2022Article
- Assortative mate preferences for height across short-term and long-term relationship contexts in a cross-cultural sample.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Article
- Effect of Partnership Status on Preferences for Facial Self-Resemblance.Frontiers in psychology · 2016Article
- What's in a kiss? The effect of romantic kissing on mating desirability.Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behavior · 2014Article
- Menstrual cycle effects on attitudes toward romantic kissing.Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.) · 2013Article
- Selflessness is sexy: reported helping behaviour increases desirability of men and women as long-term sexual partners.BMC evolutionary biology · 2013Article
- Simulating the evolution of the human family: cooperative breeding increases in harsh environments.PloS one · 2013Article
- A sex-specific trade-off between mating preferences for genetic compatibility and body size in a cichlid fish with mutual mate choice.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2012Article
- The effects of inbreeding, genetic dissimilarity and phenotype on male reproductive success in a dioecious plant.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2012Article
- Evolution, appearance, and occupational success.Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behavior · 2012Review
- Opposite-sex siblings decrease attraction, but not prosocial attributions, to self-resembling opposite-sex faces.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2011Article
- Genetic variation in the odorant receptors family 13 and the mhc loci influence mate selection in a multiple sclerosis dataset.BMC genomics · 2010Article
- The Influence of Mating Context on Creativity: Insights from Simulated Dating Scenarios.Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behaviorArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The past decade has witnessed a rapidly growing interest in the biological basis of human mate choice. Here we review recent studies that demonstrate preferences for traits which might reveal genetic quality to prospective mates, with potential but still largely unknown influence on offspring fitness. These include studies assessing visual, olfactory and auditory preferences for potential good-gene indicator traits, such as dominance or bilateral symmetry. Individual differences in these robust preferences mainly arise through within and between individual variation in condition and reproductive status. Another set of studies have revealed preferences for traits indicating complementary genes, focussing on discrimination of dissimilarity at genes in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). As in animal studies, we are only just beginning to understand how preferences for specific traits vary and inter-relate, how consideration of good and compatible genes can lead to substantial variability in individual mate choice decisions and how preferences expressed in one sensory modality may reflect those in another. Humans may be an ideal model species in which to explore these interesting complexities.
Indexed as
Identifiers
18327646What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.