Sexual Selection for Indicators of Intelligence : the Role of Vocabulary in Human Courtship

Abstract

Numerous lines of research have affirmed the link between verbal ability and intelligence (Weschler, 1958). Therefore, it is highly likely that breadth of vocabulary serves as a phenotypic proxy for intelligence. Previous research in this area has indicated that priming individuals with mating cues results in higher levels of creativity (Griskevicius, Cialdini, & Kenrick, 2006) and increases in the use of low-frequency words (Rosenburg & Tunney, 2008) on writing tasks. However, none of this work has examined the effect of mating cues in spoken verbal communication situations. Thus, the current study is the first of its kind to explore the effect of mating primes on an individual's use of vocabulary in oral communication.