Quantifying the direction and strength of mate preference is essential to improve our understanding of sexual selection. Experimental designs, however, often do not consider how individuals evaluate and compare the available options, which may affect the results significantly. Preferences are often assumed to be absolute, with individuals assigning a fixed, absolute value to a cue or potential partner they encounter. However, individuals may instead also compare the available options, in which case the social context plays an essential role in the preference for each potential partner. Here we investigated the importance of considering the choosers’ evaluation process in mate preference tests. Using a mate preference study on wild great tit, Parus major, heterozygosity, breast stripe size and yellowness as a case study, we tested whether individuals use absolute or comparative mate preferences. We analysed how the perceived average attractiveness and the variation in attractiveness of the group of potential mates affected the measured preference functions. We found that the average attractiveness of the stimulus groups affected the total time individuals spent visiting all stimulus birds, and that the variation in attractiveness within groups affected the measured preference slopes. This indicates that the social context will affect the measured responses to stimulus groups, and that great tits may use both absolute and comparative evaluation. Considering how a study species encounters and evaluates potential mates and how the social environment may affect preferences is essential when choosing an appropriate experimental design to obtain reliable measurements of mate preferences. We therefore strongly advise future studies to consider not only the absolute stimulus trait values, but also the context in which they are presented. The ability to quantify preferences accurately will increase our understanding of mate preferences, mate choice and ultimately sexual selection.

中文翻译：

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衡量配偶偏好：对潜在合作伙伴的绝对和比较评估

量化配偶偏好的方向和强度对于提高我们对性选择的理解至关重要。然而，实验设计通常不考虑个人如何评估和比较可用选项，这可能会显着影响结果。偏好通常被认为是绝对的，个人会为他们遇到的线索或潜在合作伙伴分配一个固定的绝对值。然而，个人也可以比较可用的选项，在这种情况下，社会背景在每个潜在合作伙伴的偏好中起着至关重要的作用。在这里，我们调查了在配偶偏好测试中考虑选择者评估过程的重要性。使用对野生大山雀、Parus major、杂合性、乳房条纹大小和黄色的配偶偏好研究作为案例研究，我们测试了个人是否使用绝对或比较配偶偏好。我们分析了潜在伴侣群体的感知平均吸引力和吸引力的变化如何影响测量的偏好函数。我们发现刺激组的平均吸引力影响了个体访问所有刺激鸟类的总时间，并且组内吸引力的变化影响了测量的偏好斜率。这表明社会环境会影响对刺激组的测量反应，大山雀可能同时使用绝对和比较评估。在选择合适的实验设计以获得可靠的配偶偏好测量时，考虑研究物种如何遇到和评估潜在配偶以及社会环境如何影响偏好至关重要。因此，我们强烈建议未来的研究不仅要考虑绝对刺激特征值，还要考虑它们出现的背景。准确量化偏好的能力将增加我们对择偶偏好、择偶和最终性选择的理解。