About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about partner selection, focusing in particular on: (i) the evolutionary explanation for why partner selection is so important to humans, primarily relating to our biological function to reproduce; (ii) the perception of productive fitness that, from an evolutionary perspective, humans seek out in a partner; (iii) intersexual competition, which is the process of making oneself appealing to a potential or existing partner; (iv) intrasexual competition, which is the process of competing for partners with other members of the same sex; (v) the consequences of certain evolutionary behaviours in social contexts, including intrasexual competition behaviours; (vi) the biological differences between the value of each sex cell type influencing the psychology of each sex in their intersexual and intrasexual behaviours; (vii) criticisms of these models, including their inapplicability to same-sex or infertile couples, as well as cross-cultural differences.

About the lecturer

Dr Veronica Lamarche is a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Essex. Dr Lamarche’s research interests are focused on understanding how people regulate trust and dependence in their romantic relationships. Some of Dr Lamarche’s recent publications include 'It Happened to a Friend of Mine: The Influence of Perspective-Taking on the Acknowledgement of Sexual Assault Following Ambiguous Sexual Encounters' (2022) and 'Who will I be when I retire? The role of organizational commitment, group memberships and retirement transition framing on older worker’s anticipated identity change in retirement' (2022).