THE AUTHOR OF the most important treatise on the evolution of human sexuality in the twentieth century, Don Symons, guided the evolution of this book through his writings, friendship, and insightful commentary on each chapter. Leda Cosmides and John Tooby were fledgling graduate students at Harvard when I first met them in 1981, but they were already developing a grand framework for evolutionary psychology that profoundly influenced my own thinking about human mating strategies. Martin Daly and Margo Wilson had a seminal influence through their work on the evolution of sex and violence. I had the great fortune to collaborate with Martin, Margo, Leda, and John at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Palo Alto, California, on a special project called Foundations of Evolutionary Psychology. That project formed the basis of this book.
I owe a major debt to my superlative research collaborators: Alois Angleitner, Armen Asherian, Mike Barnes, Mike Botwin, Michael Chen, Lisa Chiodo, Ken Craik, Lisa Dedden, Todd DeKay, Jack Demarest, Bruce Ellis, Mary Gomes, Arlette Greer, Heidi Greiling, Dolly Higgins, Tim Ketelaar, Karen Kleinsmith, Liisa Kyl-Heku, Randy Larsen, Karen Lauterbach, Anne McGuire, David Schmitt, Jennifer Semmelroth, Todd Shackelford, and Drew Westen.
The fifty worldwide collaborators on the international study deserve special thanks: M. Abbott, A. Angleitner, A. Asherian, A. Biaggio, A. Blanco-VillaSeñor, M. Bruchon-Schweitzer, Hai-yuan Ch’u, J. Czapin-ski, B. DeRaad, B. Ekehammar, M. Fioravanti, J. Georgas, P. Gjerde, R. Guttman, F. Hazan, S. Iwawaki, N. Janakiramaiah, F. Khosroshani, S. Kreitler, L. Laehenicht, M. Lee, K. Liik, B. Little, N. Lohamy, S. Makim, S. Mika, M. Moadel-Shahid, G. Moane, M. Montero, A. C. Mundy-Castle, T. Niit, E. Nsenduluka, K. Peltzer, R. Pienkowski, A. Pirtilla-Backman, J. Ponce De Leon, J. Rousseau, M. A. Runco, M. P. Safir, C. Samuels, R. Santioso, R. Serpell, N. Smid, C. Spencer, M. Tadinac, E. N. Todorova, K. Troland, L. Van den Brande, G. Van Heck, L. Van Langenhove, and Kuo-Shu Yang.
Many friends and colleagues read drafts of this book and provided suggestions. Geoffrey Miller offered creative commentary on the entire book for the 1994 edition. John Alcock, Dick Alexander, Laura Betzig, Leda Cosmides, Martin Daly, Bill Durham, Steve Gangestad, Elizabeth Hill, Kim Hill, Doug Jones, Doug Kenrick, Bobbi Low, Neil Malamuth, Kathleen Much, Dan Ozer, Colleen Seifert, Jennifer Semmelroth, Barb Smuts, Valerie Stone, Frank Sulloway, Nancy Thornhill, Randy Thornhill, Peter Todd, John Tooby, Paul Turke, and Margo Wilson provided outstanding help with particular chapters.
My first editor, Susan Arellano, gave encouragement and editorial advice during the early stages. Basic Books executive editor Jo Ann Miller’s keen judgment and editorial aplomb marshaled the book to completion. Every writer should have the great fortune to benefit from the intellectual and editorial powers of Virginia LaPlante, who helped me to transform disorganized scribbles into readable prose and a miscellany of chapters into a coherent book.
A bounty of institutional support has blessed me. Harvard University gave me the time and resources to launch the international study. The University of Michigan offered support from the Psychology Department, thanks to Al Cain and Pat Gurin; from the Evolution and Human Behavior Program, thanks to Dick Alexander, Laura Betzig, Kim Hill, Warren Holmes, Bobbi Low, John Mitani, Randy Nesse, Barb Smuts, Nancy Thornhill, and Richard Wrangham; and from the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Institute for Social Research, thanks to Eugene Burnstein, Nancy Cantor, Phoebe Ellsworth, James Hilton, James Jackson, Neil Malamuth, Hazel Markus, Dick Nisbett, and Bob Zajonc. Grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH-41593 and MH-44206) greatly aided the research. A fellowship from the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, including grants from the Gordon P. Getty Trust and National Science Foundation Grant BNS98-00864, gave me the time and intellectual atmosphere I needed to complete the first draft of this book. The University of Texas at Austin, where I am currently a professor, has continued this wonderful history of institutional support.
For the 2003 edition, Heidi Greiling and I collaborated on a raft of studies on the hidden side of women’s sexuality. Work with Martie Haselton revealed some of the cognitive biases that men and women display in making inferences about each other’s mating minds. Work with April Bleske exposed an intriguing new answer to the question of whether men and women can be “just friends.” Work with David Schmitt provided the first systematic studies of human mate poaching. Work with Todd Shackelford, and also with Kevin Bennett, Bram Buunk, Jae Choe, Mariko Hasegawa, Toshi Hasegawa, Lee Kirkpatrick, and Randy Larsen, explored the defenses against sexual treachery.
Many friends and colleagues, in addition to those already thanked in the acknowledgments to the first edition, helped me in various ways with new material: Rosalind Arden, Mike Bailey, April Bleske, Ruth Buss, Greg Cochran, Josh Duntley, Trish Ellis, Paul Ewald, Steve Gangestad, John Gottschall, Heidi Greiling, Martie Haselton, Kim Hill, Owen Jones, Craig Palmer, David Schmitt, Todd Shackelford, and Randy Thornhill. Steve Pinker and Don Symons deserve special thanks for extraordinary feedback on virtually every aspect of the additional material.
Finally, I owe a heavy thanks to my recent research collaborators and current and former graduate students for some of the discoveries showcased in this revised and updated edition. Special thanks go to Laith Al-Shawaf, Kelly Asao, Mons Bendixen, Kevin Bennett, April Bleske-Rechek, Jaime Cloud, Sean Conlan, Adelia de Miguel, Josh Duntley, Judy Easton, Diana Santos Fleischman, David Frederick, Andrew Galperin, Steve Gangestad, Aaron Goetz, Cari Goetz, Mariko Hasegawa, Toshikazu Hasegawa, Martie Haselton, Patricia Hawley, Sarah Hill, Joonghwan Jeon, Peter Jonason, Farnaz Kaighobadi, Shanmukh Kamble, Leif Kennair, Lee Kirkpatrick, Barry X. Kuhle, Randy Larsen, David Lewis, William McKibben, Cindy Meston, Catherine Moestue, Carin Perilloux, Elizabeth Pillsworth, Steve Pinker, Josh Poore, Ania Raja, Kern Reeve, David Schmitt, Anna Sedlecek, Todd Shackelford, Emily Stone, Bill Tooke, Bill von Hippel, Martin Voracek, Viviana Weekes-Shackelford, Drew Westen, and Joy Wyckoff. Dan Conroy-Beam, now a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, gave sage advice throughout and detailed suggestions on many chapters. My superb new editors at Basic Books, Brian Distelberg, Cynthia Buck, and Melissa Veronesi, helped to improve clarity, transition, and tone throughout. Countless conversations with Cristine Legare deepened my understanding of the psychology of human mating.