Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Natural Selection and Mating Preferences01:06

Natural Selection and Mating Preferences

610
The principle of natural selection posits that organisms better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. This principle is closely intertwined with mating preferences, a key aspect of sexual selection, which evolutionary psychologists believe is driven by instincts to propagate one's genes. Such instincts significantly influence mating behaviors and preferences between genders.
Females, due to their biological roles in conception, pregnancy, and nursing,...
610
Criticisms of the Evolutionary Perspective01:23

Criticisms of the Evolutionary Perspective

390
In a study where individuals posing as strangers offered compliments and proposed casual sex to students, the responses differed significantly based on gender. Not a single woman accepted the proposal, while 70% of the men agreed. This outcome provides a useful scenario to explore through the lens of evolutionary psychology and social learning theory, highlighting the diverse perspectives on human sexual behaviors.
Evolutionary psychology provides one explanation for these findings, suggesting...
390
Mate Choice01:20

Mate Choice

11.9K
Mate choice—the decision about whom to mate with—is a type of natural selection, since animals must reproduce to pass down their genes. Mate choice is also called intersexual selection because the behavior occurs between the sexes.
11.9K
Evolutionary Psychology01:20

Evolutionary Psychology

1.1K
Evolutionary psychology explores the origins of human behavior and mental processes by framing them within the context of natural selection, a theory famously propounded by Charles Darwin. This field asserts that many behaviors common across human societies — ranging from instinctive fear reactions to complex social interactions — arose as evolutionary adaptations. These adaptations enhanced the survival and reproductive success of our ancestors, thereby becoming embedded in the...
1.1K
Types of Selection01:46

Types of Selection

45.5K
Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...
45.5K
Desirable Characteristics in Others01:26

Desirable Characteristics in Others

158
Various factors, including the type of relationship, gender, and duration of the relationship, influence the perception of desirable characteristics in others. While certain traits such as trustworthiness, cooperativeness, agreeableness, and extraversion are universally valued across all relationships, other characteristics are context-dependent and gain prominence based on specific relational dynamics.Universal and Context-Dependent TraitsTrustworthiness and cooperativeness are fundamental...
158

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Elusive encounters: Activity patterns of the threatened Western polecat and niche overlap with co-occurring carnivores.

Behavioural processes·2026
Same author

Short-distance detectability in camera trap surveys: implications for population assessment.

Environmental monitoring and assessment·2026
Same author

Seasonal Dietary Patterns of Tarim Red Deer (<i>Cervus hanglu yarkandensis</i>) Revealed by the <i>trnL</i> Sequencing Approach in the Tarim River Basin (Xinjiang, China).

Ecology and evolution·2025
Same author

Ants' semiochemicals deters Philaenus spumarius (Hemiptera: Aphrophoridae) activity on olive trees.

Journal of economic entomology·2025
Same author

Ants avoid food contaminated with micro- and nanoplastics.

Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987)·2024
Same author

The Great Gobi A Strictly Protected Area: Characterization of Soil Bacterial Communities from Four Oases.

Microorganisms·2024
Same journal

Analysis of strength degradation of coal and rock masses and stability of mined areas under long term immersion environment.

PloS one·2026
Same journal

Biogenic Silver-Selenium nanocomposite with anticancer activity and potent efficacy against vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

PloS one·2026
Same journal

Preparation and physicochemical characterization of a biodegradable chitosan/carboxymethyl cellulose hydrogel synthesized in NaOH/urea medium.

PloS one·2026
Same journal

Action-guilt, survivor-guilt, and depression in combat-related PTSD.

PloS one·2026
Same journal

Explainable machine learning for predicting activities of daily living at discharge in stroke patients: A retrospective study using SHAP interpretability.

PloS one·2026
Same journal

Deep learning based two-way feature depiction model for brain tumor detection.

PloS one·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 24, 2026

Using the FishSim Animation Toolchain to Investigate Fish Behavior: A Case Study on Mate-Choice Copying In Sailfin Mollies
10:50

Using the FishSim Animation Toolchain to Investigate Fish Behavior: A Case Study on Mate-Choice Copying In Sailfin Mollies

Published on: November 8, 2018

11.6K

Generalized structural equations improve sexual-selection analyses.

Sonia Lombardi1,2, Giacomo Santini1, Giovanni Maria Marchetti3

  • 1Department of Biology, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy.

Plos One
|August 16, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Sexual selection drives intense competition for breeding resources. Generalized Structural Equations Models (GSEMs) offer a more reliable method for analyzing male reproductive success in lekking species compared to traditional models.

More Related Videos

Applying an eMASS Customization Program as a Research Tool to Evaluate Consumer Benefits
08:27

Applying an eMASS Customization Program as a Research Tool to Evaluate Consumer Benefits

Published on: September 27, 2019

7.3K
Treatment Model for Young Patients with Psychogenic Erectile Dysfunction and Resultant Infertility
04:22

Treatment Model for Young Patients with Psychogenic Erectile Dysfunction and Resultant Infertility

Published on: May 30, 2025

1.1K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Feb 24, 2026

Using the FishSim Animation Toolchain to Investigate Fish Behavior: A Case Study on Mate-Choice Copying In Sailfin Mollies
10:50

Using the FishSim Animation Toolchain to Investigate Fish Behavior: A Case Study on Mate-Choice Copying In Sailfin Mollies

Published on: November 8, 2018

11.6K
Applying an eMASS Customization Program as a Research Tool to Evaluate Consumer Benefits
08:27

Applying an eMASS Customization Program as a Research Tool to Evaluate Consumer Benefits

Published on: September 27, 2019

7.3K
Treatment Model for Young Patients with Psychogenic Erectile Dysfunction and Resultant Infertility
04:22

Treatment Model for Young Patients with Psychogenic Erectile Dysfunction and Resultant Infertility

Published on: May 30, 2025

1.1K

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Behavioral ecology
  • Statistical modeling

Background:

  • Sexual selection leads to asymmetric male reproductive success, explained by female choice or male dominance.
  • Previous studies show conflicting results, potentially due to methodological limitations in statistical analyses.
  • Lekking systems, like those of fallow deer, offer maximal selective pressure due to concentrated mating arenas.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To critically evaluate statistical methods used in lek studies for analyzing male copulatory success.
  • To introduce and validate Generalized Structural Equations Models (GSEMs) as a superior alternative for lek behavior analysis.
  • To compare the efficacy of Linear Models (LM), Generalized Linear Models (GLM), and GSEMs in predicting male mating success.

Main Methods:

  • Review of statistical methods (LM, GLM) applied to lek mating data.
  • Application of Generalized Structural Equations Models (GSEMs) to a dataset of lekking fallow deer (Dama dama).
  • Comparison of parameter estimates, predictive ability, and handling of complex data structures across different statistical models.

Main Results:

  • Linear Models (LM) demonstrated unreliability, imprecise estimates, and failure to identify key predictors of mating success.
  • Generalized Linear Models (GLM) offered improvements over LM but still faced limitations.
  • GSEMs provided more precise estimates, successfully identified predictors, and accounted for indirect effects and measurement errors through latent variables.

Conclusions:

  • GSEMs are recommended for analyzing lekking behavior due to their ability to handle complex relationships and reduce measurement error.
  • The study highlights the limitations of traditional statistical approaches in evolutionary studies of mating success.
  • Implementing GSEMs can enhance the precision and predictive power of analyses in behavioral ecology.