what does the good genes hypothesis mean

Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior pp 1–3 Cite as

The Good Genes Hypothesis

• Urszula M. Marcinkowska 2  
• Living reference work entry
• First Online: 13 January 2023

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Honest signalling

The good genes hypothesis proposes that the characteristics preferred by females are a signal of males’ ability to pass on genes which will increase the survival and reproductive success of the offspring sired with a male possessing them.

Introduction

The good genes hypothesis (GGH) was formulated by evolutionary biologist W.D. Hamilton and behavioral ecologist M. Zuk ( 1982 ). It proposes that the characteristics preferred by females are a signal of males’ ability to pass on genes (coding that certain characteristic) which will increase the survival and reproductive success of the offspring sired with a male possessing them. In such case, sexual selection would lead to the increase of the proportion of genes (coding the attractive trait) that are beneficial under prevailing conditions. In other words, good genes increase fitness of the offspring. In an evolutionary and ecological understanding individual’s fitness depends on how many copies of own...

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Institute of Public Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Cracow, Poland

Urszula M. Marcinkowska

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Department of Psychology, Oakland University, ROCHESTER, MN, USA

Todd K. Shackelford

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Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

Gavin Vance

Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester Hills, MI, USA

Madeleine K. Meehan

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Marcinkowska, U.M. (2023). The Good Genes Hypothesis. In: Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_1081-1

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_1081-1

Received : 29 August 2022

Accepted : 29 August 2022

Published : 13 January 2023

Publisher Name : Springer, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-031-08956-5

Online ISBN : 978-3-031-08956-5

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