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Self-Esteem Tracks Mate Value

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Synonyms

Romantic desirability; Self-worth

Definition

Self-esteem is an individual’s overall evaluation of their worth. It includes both attitudinal and affective components.

Mate value refers to the desirability of an individual as a long- or short-term sexual partner, relative to intrasexual competitors.

Introduction

Sociometer theory (Leary and Baumeister 2000) proposes that self-esteem is an evolved adaptation which functions to monitor the quality and quantity of individuals’ interpersonal relationships, together with their perceived desirability as a relational partner. Kirkpatrick and Ellis (2004) extended this theory, arguing that since different types of relationships present different adaptive challenges, there may be multiple sociometers, each functioning to monitor individuals’ status and desirability in a specific domain. Given that successfully reproducing is a primary adaptive challenge in humans, it is likely that the sociometer system, and thus self-esteem, should be...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK

    Christopher Bale

Authors
  1. Christopher Bale
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher Bale .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland Univ Dept of Psycholgy, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana Weekes-Shackelford

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  3. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Bale, C. (2016). Self-Esteem Tracks Mate Value. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1453-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1453-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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