Life-history theory predicts that individuals should increase investment in reproduction as their residual reproductive value decreases.
Moreover, young mothers have the greatest residual reproductive value (Williams 1966) and face substantial trade-offs between current and future reproduction (Clutton-Brock 1991; Stearns 1992).
"Men who want a long-term relationship aren't just interested in reproductive value; they're also looking for emotional intimacy".
This would indicate long-term reproductive value; that is, the time a woman has left to reproduce.
In "The Evolution of Desire," the psychologist David M. Buss writes, "Men seek attractive women as mates not simply for their reproductive value, but also as signals of status to same-sex competitors and to other potential mates".
Maine lobstermen claim they employ stricter conservation measures; large lobsters, for example, must be released because they have high reproductive value.
Gory scenes would have had survival value (ie, "am I going to be next?"), while erotic ones would have had reproductive value.
Evolutionary psychology theory holds that men value current fertility (body) more in a short-term mate and reproductive value (face) in the long term.
A young and comely pregnant woman, for example, would have a high reproductive value but zero current fertility potential — she is clearly already taken.
Of course, since an animal's behaviour almost always promotes genetic success by helping the animal survive and reproduce its genes, investigations of behavioral function typically address the survival and reproductive value of the behaviour.
Genetic drift can result in genetic traits being lost from a population or becoming widespread in a population without respect to the survival or reproductive value of the alleles involved.
