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Adaptive Behavior
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KAMA: A Temperature-Driven Model of Mate Choice Using Dynamic Partner Representations

Robert M. French

L.E.A.D.-CNRS UMR 5022, Université de Bourgogne, 21000 Dijon, France, robert.french{at}u-bourgogne.fr

Elif T. Kus

Cognitive Science Program, Bogaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey

KAMA is a model of mate-choice based on a gradual, stochastic process of building up representations of potential partners through encounters and dating, ultimately leading to marriage. Individuals must attempt to find a suitable mate in a limited amount of time with only partial knowledge of the individuals in the pool of potential candidates. Individuals have multiple-valued character profiles, which describe a number of their characteristics (physical beauty, potential earning power, etc.), as well as preference profiles, that specify their degree of preference for those characteristics in members of the opposite sex. A process of encounters and dating allows individuals to gradually build up accurate representations of potential mates. Individuals each have a "temperature," which is the extent to which they are willing to continue exploring mate-space and which drives individual decision making. The individual-level mechanisms implemented in KAMA produce population-level data that qualitatively matches empirical data. Perhaps most significantly, our results suggest that differences in first-marriage ages and hazard-rate curves for men and women in the West may to a large extent be due to the Western dating practice whereby males ask women out and women then accept or refuse their offer.

Key Words: mate choice • mate selection • sexual selection • computational temperature • mating strategies • emergence • mate-choice modeling • first-marriage age • first-marriage hazard rates • males-ask/females-decide • dating • marriage

Adaptive Behavior, Vol. 16, No. 1, 71-95 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1059712307087598
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