Individual Differences in First and Fourth Year College Women’s Short Term Mating Strategy Preferences and Perceptions

Using survey methodology, a cross sectional study was undertaken to ascertain whether first and fourth year college women have different perceptions and behavior associated with short term mating preferences. It was hypothesized that after incurring significant negative or costly experiences associated with hooking up, fourth year women would prefer men who had qualities associated with a desired long term partner as opposed to characteristics associated with short term mating partners. The results were partially consistent with the hypothesis. Reported preferences in a desired partner and perspective on hooking up differ between first and fourth year groups. No difference was found between frequency and willingness to hookup between the two groups. The findings are explained in terms of evolutionary theory, social exchange theory, and sexual script concepts.

Individual differences in first and fourth year college women’s short term mating strategy preferences and perceptions

Using survey methodology, a cross sectional study was undertaken to ascertain whether first and fourth year college women have different perceptions and behavior associated with short term mating preferences. It was hypothesized that after incurring significant negative or costly experiences associated with hooking up, fourth year women would prefer men who had qualities associated with a desired long term partner as opposed to characteristics associated with short term mating partners. The results were partially consistent with the hypothesis. Reported preferences in a desired partner and perspective on hooking up differ between first and fourth year groups. No difference was found between frequency and willingness to hookup between the two groups. The findings are explained in terms of evolutionary theory, social exchange theory, and sexual script concepts.

Commentary on "Timbre as an Elusive Component of Imagery for Music" by Freya Bailes

The study of musical timbre by Bailes (2007) raises important questions concerning the relative ease of imaging complex perceptual attributes such as timbre, compared to more unidimensional attributes. I also raise the issue of individual differences in auditory imagery ability, especially for timbre.

Suitability of real-time quantitative PCR to estimate the relative telomere length in European Hake (Merluccius merluccius Linnaeus, 1758)

Telomere length measurement has been proposed as a promising tool to estimate the age of individuals in natural populations. We used real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) to measure relative telomere length in four tissues (brain, kidney, liver and muscle) of European hake (Merluccius merluccius) in different groups based upon body length an otolith age estimate. We observed a high level of inter-individual differences in the measurements of relative telomere length in hakes of similar age and body length groups. The results of qPCR analysis showed a great variability in all measures and a lack of repeatability and reproducibility with significant statistical differences in the results of the different assays. The paper discusses the technical reasons for the variability in qPCR obtained in this work and by other authors.