Mating Intelligence Unleashed: The Role of the Mind in Sex, Dating, and Love

There's intelligence involved in mating? Until recently, evolutionary psychologists have considered human mating behavior to be universal and similar to other animals, painting a picture of human mating as visceral, animalistic, and instinctual. But that's not the whole story. In courtship and display, sexual competition and rivalry, we are guided by Mating Intelligence, or the range of psychological abilities designed for sexual reproduction. Mating Intelligence is at work in our efforts to form, maintain, coordinate, and terminate relationships. It guides us in flirtation, foreplay, copulation, mind-reading, mate search, mate choice, and many other behaviors that may have reproductive payoffs. In Mating Intelligence Unleashed, psychologists Glenn Geher and Scott Barry Kaufman take a fascinating tour of the intersection of mating and intelligence by drawing on cutting-edge research on evolutionary psychology, intelligence, creativity, personality, social psychology, developmental psychology, neuroscience, epigenetics, and more. Along the way, they shed new light on age-old questions, such as: Can humor compensate for less-than-matinee looks? Why do artists have more sexual partners? What role does personality play in the mating domain? What traits influence attraction? How do people choose mates? How do men and women deceive each other? How important are kindness, compassion, and understanding? What about emotional intelligence? Do nice guys really finish last? This book will change the way you think about sex, dating, love, and the human mind.