Question

Average human males are most likely to be attracted to women with a waist to hip ratio of 0.72. Women with this waist to hip ratio are also the most fertile. By being attracted to women with a waist to hip ratio, a male is increasing his chances of having children and thus improve his ____.

1) longevity
2) fitness
3) gene flow
4) allele frequency

Answer 1

Males attracted to women with a waist to hip ratio of 0.72 are likely improving their evolutionary fitness by increasing their chances of successful reproduction with fertile partners.

Step-by-step explanation:

By being attracted to women with a waist to hip ratio of 0.72, a male is increasing his chances of having children and thus improving his fitness. The term 'fitness,' in an evolutionary context, refers to an organism's reproductive success and its ability to pass on its genes to the next generation. Given that women with a waist to hip ratio of 0.72 have been found to be the most fertile, males attracted to these women are more likely to reproduce successfully. This attraction to traits indicating fertility, such as the waist to hip ratio, supports the good genes hypothesis, which posits that males choose mates with certain physical characteristics as they signal genetic health, which can be passed on to offspring, increasing their chances of survival.