In the psychological literature little has been written about Asian-Indians residing in the United States. Still, previous writers have noted that conflicts between parents and offspring in this population frequently revolve around issues of dating and mate selection. In the current study, I investigated the relationship between acculturation and mate selection preferences among Asian-Indians in the United States. The hypothesis was that respondents who spent their childhood in India would demonstrate Eastern mate selection preferences regardless of degree of acculturation, whereas for respondents who spent their childhood in the United States, acculturation would be predictive of mate selection preferences. Results revealed that generation and acculturation were too highly related to consider them as independent constructs. Therefore, the original hypotheses could not be tested. Factor analysis revealed that the mate selection characteristics loaded onto eight factors. Acculturation was inversely related to emphasis on traditional Eastern social status characteristics in a potential mate. Results are discussed with regard to implications for counseling and future research. / Department of Psychological Science

It has been sought to evaluate the population structure and the genetic progress observed in Santa Ines breed sheep, distributed in 51 selection nucleus herds which are part of the ASCCO/USP Genetic Breeding Program. Also the usage of genetic algorithms to find the optimal genetic contribution to the next generation of animals that are part of this nucleus herds with structured pedigree and genetic value for traits of economic relevance estimated by Best Linear Unbiased Predictors (DEP-BLUP). Information about and genetic ancestry and genetic values at 60 days weight from ASCCO/USP Santa Ines Breed Genetic Breeding Program database were used, the analysis were been made by the EVA program, developed by NORDGEN, of open usage. The population data described were the number of animals born, the number of inbred animals, the average inbreeding coefficient, the average rate of coancestry, the effective population size, the expected difference in average progeny breeding value for the trait weight at 60 days (DEP P60) and the level of pedigree completeness. Results suggest a decrease in effective population size, increment in coancestry and high level of pedigree completeness. Also, the results indicate low use of reproduction techniques such as artificial insemination and a suboptimal rate of genetic gain. The mathematical optimization use genetic algorithms contained in the EVA program, where its usefulness was demonstrated to optimize the genetic gain with inbreeding control, in nucleus herds with mid-sized databases. Minimum computer requirements grow exponentially with the number of candidates for selection which can become a serious restriction to their use in large databases. The results were additionally compared to the breeding results from DEP-BLUP selection with a truncation point and to random breeding. The number and distribution of selected males varies according to a penalty attributed to inbreeding in the objective function. The results proved the effectiveness of the method for better genetic gains than random mating and better control over inbreeding compared to selection by DEP-BLUP. / Procurou-se avaliar a estrutura populacional e o progresso genético observado em ovinos da raça Santa Inês, distribuídos em 51 núcleos de seleção que fazem parte do Programa de Melhoramento Genético da Raça Santa Inês ASCCO/USP. Bem como o uso de algoritmos genéticos para encontrar a contribuição genética ótima, para a próxima geração, de animais componentes de núcleos de seleção que tenham pedigree estruturado e valores genéticos para características de importância econômica, estimados através de Preditores Lineares Não Viesados (DEP-BLUP). Foram utilizadas informações de ascendência e valores genéticos para peso aos 60 dias do banco de dados do Programa de Melhoramento Genético da Raça Santa Inês ASCCO/USP, e as análises foram realizadas utilizando o programa EVA, desenvolvido pela NORDGEN, de uso livre. Os dados populacionais descritos foram o número de animais nascidos, o número de animais consanguíneos, o coeficiente de consanguinidade médio, a coancestralidade média, o tamanho efetivo da população, a diferença esperada da progênie média para a característica Peso aos 60 dias (DEP P60) e o grau de completude do pedigree. Os resultados encontrados indicam valores de efetivo populacional decrescente, aumento na coancestralidade e alto índice de completude do pedigree. Apontam ainda para o baixo uso das técnicas de reprodução, a exemplo da inseminação artificial, e uma taxa de ganho genético não otimizada. A otimização matemática utiliza algoritmos genéticos contidos no programa EVA, em que foi constatada a utilidade do uso do programa EVA para otimizar o ganho genético com controle da consanguinidade em núcleos de seleção com banco de dados de tamanho médio. Os requisitos computacionais mínimos crescem exponencialmente em relação à quantidade de candidatos a seleção, podendo se tornar um sério empecilho à sua utilização em banco de dados de maior tamanho. Os valores obtidos também foram comparados com os resultantes de acasalamentos a partir da seleção pelas DEP-BLUP com um ponto de truncamento, bem como com os de acasalamentos ao acaso. O número e a distribuição dos machos selecionados variaram de acordo com a penalidade atribuída à consaguinidade na função objetivo. Os resultados obtidos comprovaram a eficácia do método para obter melhores ganhos genéticos em relação ao acasalamento ao acaso e melhor controle sobre a consanguinidade comparativamente a seleção pelas DEP- BLUP.

This study presents results from a survey of 108 African American women. Survey questions covered attitudes towards marriage, qualities of an ideal spouse, and opinions of African American men in general.

<p>I examine female aggression as a competitive strategy for achieving reproductive success. In Chapter 1 an evolutionary theory of female aggression is presented. In Chapter 2 intrasexual competition for mates is considered by examining longitudinal links between aggression and dating behaviour among male and female adolescents. Results indicated that indirectly aggressive boys and girls were significantly more likely to have a dating partner at 1-year follow-up. Adolescents who reported being victimized by their peers were significantly less likely to have a dating partner at follow-up.</p> <p>In Chapter 3 I examine female mate-guarding behaviour. Results demonstrated that aggression toward peers and partners was greater among heterosexual females who perceived intrasexual competitors as being more attractive than them. These links were mediated by romantic jealousy. Females perceiving themselves as more attractive than peers frequently reported being targets of females’ peer-aggression. The findings of chapters 2 and 3 suggest that females actively compete to attain and retain mates.</p> <p>Chapter 4 examines implications for male victims of female aggression. We found that male victims of female partner violence were lower in testosterone than were non-victimized males. Participants held more negative attitudes toward male versus female victims. Males were less likely to seek-help and were more likely to minimize their perceived victimization. These findings suggest threats to male dominance and greater stigma likely reinforce males’ minimization and concealment of victimization.</p> <p>This dissertation contributes to the field of aggression by empirically demonstrating evolutionary-based motives and functions of female aggression as a strategy for bolstering reproductive fitness.</p> / Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Years of psychotherapy practice at university, state, and military hospitals developed the author's interest in the presentation of love relationship problems. Mood and anxiety disorders, as the most prevalent pathologies, were often co-morbid with or secondary to partner relationship issues. Most vexing for clients was a situation of repeated dysfunctional partner selections in which similar problems arose each time. This incubated the idea of a process, probably outside of awareness, that functioned to perpetuate self-defeating partner selection patterns. The author was introduced to Money's `lovemap' concept during studies and identified readily with its principles and mechanisms. The lovemap is defined as a highly individualised, developed, mental template or cognitive blueprint of the ideal lover. It is assumed that every person has a lovemap, and would be able to describe it if asked the right questions. The concept promised to be a useful vehicle for studying self-defeating partner selection patterns, as `errors' might be coded into the lovemap that are expressed in such a presentation. The author identified the need to ground the lovemap concept in recognised psychological theory in order to motivate for its relevance. Kelly's theory of cognitive constructs provided robust links for lovemap as a sophisticated construction system, and the developmental theories of Freud and Erikson situated lovemap genesis within recognised periods of emerging human capacities to love and relate sexually; the stages of puberty to young adulthood. Lovemaps are assumed to function optimally when love and lust co-operate in pairbonding, or the capacity to couple. Extensive literature reviews cover the research fields of romantic love, human sexuality, and pairbonding, affording hypotheses as to lovemap pathology. A qualitative, Phenomenological research design of case studies with six adult persons, who had experienced radical contradictions of original lovemaps, identified when and how lovemap change took place. Thematic analysis of the attributions for change distilled a number of implications for therapy that would encourage certain indicated change processes. An integrative psychotherapy model recognises the cognitively- and socially constructed nature of lovemaps and proposes intervention components that blend cognitive-behavioural and narrative approaches. This model will be tested extensively with a suitable client population. / Psychology / D. Litt. ET Phil. (Psychology)

Years of psychotherapy practice at university, state, and military hospitals developed the author's interest in the presentation of love relationship problems. Mood and anxiety disorders, as the most prevalent pathologies, were often co-morbid with or secondary to partner relationship issues. Most vexing for clients was a situation of repeated dysfunctional partner selections in which similar problems arose each time. This incubated the idea of a process, probably outside of awareness, that functioned to perpetuate self-defeating partner selection patterns. The author was introduced to Money's `lovemap' concept during studies and identified readily with its principles and mechanisms. The lovemap is defined as a highly individualised, developed, mental template or cognitive blueprint of the ideal lover. It is assumed that every person has a lovemap, and would be able to describe it if asked the right questions. The concept promised to be a useful vehicle for studying self-defeating partner selection patterns, as `errors' might be coded into the lovemap that are expressed in such a presentation. The author identified the need to ground the lovemap concept in recognised psychological theory in order to motivate for its relevance. Kelly's theory of cognitive constructs provided robust links for lovemap as a sophisticated construction system, and the developmental theories of Freud and Erikson situated lovemap genesis within recognised periods of emerging human capacities to love and relate sexually; the stages of puberty to young adulthood. Lovemaps are assumed to function optimally when love and lust co-operate in pairbonding, or the capacity to couple. Extensive literature reviews cover the research fields of romantic love, human sexuality, and pairbonding, affording hypotheses as to lovemap pathology. A qualitative, Phenomenological research design of case studies with six adult persons, who had experienced radical contradictions of original lovemaps, identified when and how lovemap change took place. Thematic analysis of the attributions for change distilled a number of implications for therapy that would encourage certain indicated change processes. An integrative psychotherapy model recognises the cognitively- and socially constructed nature of lovemaps and proposes intervention components that blend cognitive-behavioural and narrative approaches. This model will be tested extensively with a suitable client population. / Psychology / D. Litt. ET Phil. (Psychology)

In economic games the facial attributes of counterparts bias decisions to trust and decisions to enter play. We report research supporting hypotheses that trust and reciprocation decisions in trust games are biased by mechanisms of sexual selection. Hypotheses that trust game behaviour is modulated by inter-sexual competition were supported. 1) Attractive individuals elicit more cooperation. 2) Male participants display trust and reciprocation toward attractive female counterparts in excess of perceived trustworthiness (and this display is modulated by male self-reported physical dominance). 3) Female participants appear to respond to male trust as a signal of sexual interest and are therefore more likely to exploit the trust of attractive males. 4) In explicitly dating contexts females are more likely to prefer attractive males to pay for the meal. These results indicate that participants are biased by mate choice and mating display considerations while playing economic games in the lab. Hypotheses that trust game behaviour is modulated by intra-sexual competition for resources were also somewhat supported. 1) Male participants reporting an ability to win fights with same-sex peers are more exploitative of other males. 2) Cues to current circulating testosterone level in counterpart’s faces are less trusted but elicit more reciprocation. 3) The male sexually dimorphic trait facial width-to-height ratio (a trait which is related to both aggression and dominance) is related to an increased proportion of decisions to exploit others in the trust game while also being used by others as a cue to untrustworthiness. We conclude that trusting and trustworthy behaviour in both sexes is biased by mating market considerations predicted by intra- and inter-sexual selection.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In one of Uganda’s main national newspapers, the New Vision, women and men advertise that they seek ‘white’ partners. Using emergent design, this study set out to explore this yearning for local - ‘white’ relationships. I conducted exploratory and semi-structured interviews with 20 of these women and men. As I started conducting the interviews, it became clear that this was a topic which provoked emotionally charged responses and a great deal of ‘identity work’, with participants identifying with, or disidentifying from, particular groups and categories, notably ‘prostitutes’ and ‘traditional’, ‘cultural’ or ‘modern’ women and men. Engaging critically with post-colonial writings and contemporary feminist research, I argue that my respondents provided important insights into the broader dynamics of gender, sexuality, race and power, as well as processes of identity construction in post-colonial Uganda. I explore the fantasy constructions and stereotypes perpetuating beliefs in ‘white’ superiority and address the various influences upon which respondents draw to bolster constructions of ‘whites’ as superior. These are marked by explicit beliefs in racial hierarchy, as well as ‘modernisation’ and ‘developmental’ discourses which positively associate ‘modernisation’ with ‘Westernisation.’ I discuss respondents’ negative constructions of local, ‘black’ men and women born out of past experiences with local partners. Male respondents expressed frustration with Ugandan women, whom they constructed as ‘money minded’, whom they believe forfeit dignity, for love of money, in their search for modernity. ‘Tradition’ and ‘culture’ were often invoked by men against women, who were seen as failing to live up to presumed cultural standards of femininity. I also explore female respondents’ appeals to ‘tradition’ and ‘culture’ which they feel benefit Ugandan men to the detriment of women and romantic relationships. I show that female respondents draw on discourses of Western ‘modernity’ and human rights, to illustrate the extent of gendered inequalities in Uganda, and find that Western humanism, embodied in the ‘white’ male, is constructed as a solution to their relationship dilemmas. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In New Vision, een van Uganda se vernaamste nasionale nuusblaaie, plaas vroue, sowel as mans, advertensies waarin hulle aandui dat hulle op soek is na ‘wit’ metgeselle. Hierdie etnografiese studie steek voelers uit en probeer vasstel wat die motivering is om in verhoudings met ‘wit’ metgeselle betrokke te raak. Semigestruktuele onderhoude was met respondente (wat advertensies geplaas het) gevoer. Die studie vind dat respondente hul geslags- sowel as rasse-identiteit konstrueer. In sommige gevalle word dit gedoen deur identiteite te konstrueer waarmee hulle hulself nie wil assosieer nie. Deur bogenoemde in diepte te ondersoek, kry ons insig in die wyse waarop, in die kontemporêre Ugandese konteks, identiteitsvorming plaasvind. Ek ondersoek ook respondente se verbeeldingryke konstruksies en stereotipes wat die opvatting wil vestig dat ‘wit’ gelyk aan ‘superieur’ is. Ek spreek dan ook die verskeie beïnvloedingsvelde aan wat respondente gebruik en waarop hulle hul ‘wit is superieur’ opvatting bou. Ek dui aan dat die beïnvloedingsvelde dikwels gekenmerk word deur ‘n eksplisiete geloof in die bestaan van ‘n bepaalde hiërargie van ras. Diskoerse oor modernisering en ontwikkeling waarin ‘modernisering’ en ‘vooruitgang’ sterk geassosieer of gelykgestel word met verwestering is ook aan die orde van die dag. Voorts bespreek ek respondente se negatiewe konstruksie van plaaslike mans en vroue en die feit dat dit dikwels gebore is uit hul vorige (negatiewe) blootstelling aan plaaslike metgeselle. Manlike respondente spreek dikwels hul frustrasie uit met ‘geldgierige’ Ugandese vroue wat, volgens hulle, van hul eertydse waardigheid afstand doen in hul koorsagtige soek na modernisasie. Mans assosieer sterk met eie ‘tradisie’ en ‘kultuur’ en hulle voel dikwels dat vroue nie voldoen aan die mans se selfopgelegde kulturele standaarde van vroulikheid nie. Voorts ondersoek ek die pleidooie van vroue waarin hulle aanvoer dat sekere ‘tradisionele’ en ‘kulturele’ gebruike Ugandese mans onbillik bevoordeel. Ek dui aan dat vroulike respondente gebruik maak van redenasies oor Westerse modernisasie asook menseregte, in hul pogings om die mate van geslagsongelykheid wat in Uganda bestaan, uit te lig. Laastens vind ek dat Ugandese vroue Westerse humanisme (wat verpersoonlik word deur ‘wit’ mans) beskou as die oplossing vir hul verhoudingsprobleme.

The purpose of this research study was to conduct an exploration of the dating preferences of African American women and U.S. men between the ages of 30-74 years old. This research focuses on the dating preferences and desirability of African American women and if they are influential on the high unmarried rates of African American women. A weighted stratified sampling of 2,800 personal advertisements of African American, Asian, Latino and White men and women from Match.com were collected to conduct the research. The five research hypotheses of this study were tested using frequency and percentage distribution, logistic regression and cross-tabulation models. The findings partially support the hypotheses African American women are more likely to prefer a mate with a bachelor's degree or higher and African American women are more likely to prefer a mate of the same race compared to U.S. women of other races. The findings also suggested non-African American men are less likely to have an interest in dating African American women and non-African American men, who are interested in dating African American women, are less likely to prefer women with a bachelor's degree or higher or a more socially desirable body type.

Evidence for reduced reproductive success (RS) of wild spawning hatchery-reared fish invites serious consideration with regard to the detrimental effects on subsequent generations of wild populations. Mate choice was evaluated as a potential mechanism contributing to these observed RS differences using a previous pedigree of wild spawning hatchery-reared and wild origin coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Genetic variance at immune-relevant genes was used as ametric toexaminematechoice. Twoyears (2005 and2006)of threewild spawning mate pair classes were examined: wild x wild (W x W), hatchery x hatchery (H x H), and wild x hatchery (W x H). We tested for: (1) a departure from random expectations with regard to mate pair allelic diversity at immune-relevant markers, (2) a correlation between immune-relevant gene diversity and mate pair RS, and (3) distinguishable differences between mate choice strategies used by hatchery-reared and wild origin coho. Eight immune-relevant gene-linked microsatellite markers were used to evaluate mate choice; four linked to immune-relevant expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and four linked to the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC). We found evidence for non-random mating between 2006 W x H mate pairs at BHMS429,an MHC-linked marker, and at SsalR016TKU,an immune-relevantEST-linked marker, which was identified as a vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein. Non-random mating was also evident between 2005 H x H pairs at SsalR015TKU,an immune-relevantEST-linkedmarker,thoughno putativegene was identified. All other pair classes did not display a significant mate choice signature. We found a significant correlation between mate pair RS and immune gene diversity among 2005 and 2006 W x W mate pairs as well as 2006 W x H mate pairs. Notably, H x H mate pair RS was not correlated to immune gene diversity in either year. Results suggest that mate choice and genetic compatibility may influence fitness of wild spawning coho. / Graduation date: 2013