Social Psychology Commons^™

Bioecological Exchange Theory: Trading Resources For Childcare In Mate Selection, Katherine A. Valentine

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Bioecological exchange theory is proposed, which resolves contradictions between sexual strategies theory and social role theory. People are hypothesized to flexibly shift their mate preferences in response to the percentage of resources they can provide within a couple, but not limitlessly. Men are hypothesized to facultatively shift between 25-100% of provisioning and women from 0-75% of provisioning, as seen in foragers. Both sexes are then hypothesized to trade provisioning for a reciprocal amount of childcare in a partner. Study 1 uses a sample of undergraduate Singaporean women (n = 197) to demonstrate that the more women expect to contribute to …