The current study represents a preliminary investigation of the extent to which female orgasm functions to promote good mate choices. Based on a survey of heterosexual female college students in committed relationships, how often women experienced orgasm as a result of sexual intercourse was related to their partner's family income, his self-confidence, and how attractive he was. Orgasm intensity was also related to how attracted they were to their partners, how many times they had sex per week, and ratings of sexual satisfaction. Those with partners who their friends rated as more attractive also tended to have more intense orgasms. Orgasm frequency was highly correlated (r = .82) with orgasm intensity, and orgasm intensity was a marginally better predictor of sexual satisfaction than orgasm frequency. Sexual satisfaction was related to how physically attracted women were to their partner and the breadth of his shoulders. Women who began having sexual intercourse at earlier ages had more sex partners, experienced more orgasms, and were more sexually satisfied with their partners. We also identified an ensemble of partner psychological traits (motivation, intelligence, focus, and determination) that predicted how often women initiated sexual intercourse. Their partner's sense of humor not only predicted his self-confidence and family income, but it also predicted women's propensity to initiate sex, how often they had sex, and it enhanced their orgasm frequency in comparison with other partners.

Dealing with environmental stressors is a basic part of life for any organism. Positive psychology focuses largely on the topic of resilience and how people can move past difficult situations and interactions. The evolutionary perspective has much to offer in terms of the topic of resilience. This chapter describes resilience and stress reactions from an evolutionary perspective. Further, this chapter uses the concept of natural selection as a model for how failures are to be expected and how success in any domain for any organism owes largely to a long string of failures. This model is used to help provide evolution-based guidance on the topic of moving forward after setbacks and developing a resilient approach to life.

Positive evolutionary psychology is essentially the use of evolutionary psychological principles and research to help advance the goals associated with positive psychology. Positive psychologists focus on ways that we can advance the lives of individuals and communities by focusing on factors that increase positive outcomes such as life satisfaction and happiness. Evolutionary psychology uses the principles of evolution, based on Darwin’s understanding of life, to help shed light on any and all kinds of psychological phenomena. Positive evolutionary psychology, thus, is the use of Darwin’s big idea to help people and communities experience more positive and fulfilling lives. Across 11 chapters, this book (a) describes the basic ideas of both evolutionary and positive psychology; (b) elaborates on the integration of these two fields as a way to help advance the human condition; (c) discusses several domains of human functioning from the perspective of positive evolutionary psychology; and (d) looks with an eye toward the future of work in this field. Over the past few decades, evolutionary psychologists have begun to crack the code on such phenomena as happiness, gratitude, resilience, community, and love. This book describes these facets of the human experience in terms of both (a) their evolutionary origins and (b) how we might guide people to optimally experience such positive phenomena in their everyday lives.

This book was written as something of a guidebook for both researchers and for people in general. This chapter provides guidance for both audiences. For researchers in the behavioral sciences, guidance is provided to think about how the idea of positive evolutionary psychology might help shape one’s research agenda. Specific examples of novel research hypotheses influenced by this approach are provided. And for people in general, specific suggestions for living life, based on the ideas from this book, are spelled out. Such suggestions pertain to various life domains, including physical health, one’s emotional life, social life, religion, and community. Ultimately, this chapter provides a road map for scholars to conduct more meaningful research and for all humans to take steps to live a richer life.