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The Predictive Validity of Ideal Partner Preferences in Relationship Formation: What We Know, What We Don't Know, and Why It Matters
Abstract
A great deal of research on interpersonal attraction implicitly assumes that stated ideal partner preferences guide the mate selection, and therefore relationship formation, process. Nevertheless, recent research has yielded contradictory results. Whereas some research has failed to demonstrate that ideal partner preferences influence attraction to actual potential romantic partners, other studies have provided empirical evidence for the predictive validity of ideal partner preferences following interactions with potential romantic partners. A new meta‐analysis on the predictive validity of ideal partner preferences concluded that people may not preferentially pursue potential partners that more closely match their stated preferences. This conclusion has significant implications for several empirical literatures that have relied on self‐reported ideal partner preferences to test hypotheses. We demonstrate, however, that the majority of the research on the predictive validity of ideal partner preferences, and thus research included in this meta‐analysis, focuses on interpersonal attraction or later relationship processes and not on individuals transitioning into actual new relationships. We suggest that research that directly focuses on the transition into actual relationships is needed before firm conclusions can be made regarding the predictive validity of ideal partner preferences in the formation of new relationships.
... Overall, the limited positive evidence from Li et al. (2013) and Valentine et al. (2020) suggests that if a correspondence between stated and revealed preferences does exist, high-powered studies are required to detect such effects. However, with few positive findings among a large body of negative speed-dating studies Eastwick et al., 2013;Eastwick & Finkel, 2008;Sparks et al., 2020;Wu et al., 2018), some researchers have taken these null results to indicate that stated preferences are not informative of revealed preferences (Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Eastwick et al., 2013). ...
... Null effects have even been taken as evidence that stated preferences are invalid or meaningless (e.g. Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Eastwick et al., 2013). In Study 1, we found correspondences between stated and revealed preferences using the level metric and absolute difference analyses, which were likely detected thanks to large sample sizes. ...
... Negative studies, also being greatly underpowered by smaller sample sizes, have often been taken as evidence that stated preferences are invalid or meaningless (e.g. Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Eastwick et al., 2013), while some have explained null results with the hot-to-cold empathy gap (Eastwick & Finkel, 2008) or construal theory (Trope et al., 2007;Trope & Liberman, 2003). It is likely that the primarily null results from past studies could be attributed to Type II errors. ...
There is little evidence in speed-dating studies that stated preferences – what people say they prefer in a partner – are associated with revealed preferences – what people actually find attractive in a partner. In Study 1, a high-powered speed-dating study ( n = 1145) revealed that four out of nine traits provided evidence of a correspondence between stated and revealed preferences. In Study 2, simulations based on the constraints of Study 1’s speed-dating design showed that when attractiveness depends on multiple independent traits, the stated preference for an individual trait can only be, on average, minimally related to the revealed preference for that trait. In Study 3, we investigated methods that simultaneously combine multiple traits when testing the association between stated and revealed preferences (e.g. Euclidean distance, pattern metric). All four omnibus methods indicated an apparent association between stated and revealed preferences in our speed-dating data. However, additional analyses and permutation tests suggest that these significant associations reflect statistical artefacts rather than true correspondences. We conclude that detecting any association between stated and revealed preferences will be difficult under realistic assumptions about the number of traits involved in partner evaluation. In this light, we discuss previous findings and provide suggestions for future studies in this vein.
... The high priority given to finding the right person is also reflected in the literature: A bulk of research has investigated what we seek in an ideal partner (e.g. Buss, 1989;Buss & Barnes, 1986;Walter et al., 2020), operating under the (sometimes implicit) assumption that these preferences will guide mate choices (Campbell & Stanton, 2014). However, Campbell & Stanton (2014) emphasised the lack of studies investigating whether stated ideals indeed matched characteristics of a future partner and called for longitudinal designs with ideals being assessed prior to entering a relationship. ...
... Buss, 1989;Buss & Barnes, 1986;Walter et al., 2020), operating under the (sometimes implicit) assumption that these preferences will guide mate choices (Campbell & Stanton, 2014). However, Campbell & Stanton (2014) emphasised the lack of studies investigating whether stated ideals indeed matched characteristics of a future partner and called for longitudinal designs with ideals being assessed prior to entering a relationship. To our knowledge, only three studies implemented such a design. ...
... In response, Campbell & Stanton (2014) raised the concern that the studies available at that time only covered the initial stages of getting to know each other, but did not follow up on participants into longer relationships. In speed-dating studies, covering exactly these initial stages, physical attractiveness (Driebe et al., 2021;Hofer et al., 2021;Luo & Zhang, 2009;Todd et al., 2007) and characteristics easy to observe like age and height (Kurzban & Weeden, 2005) have been shown to be the main predictors of romantic interest for most participants. ...
The current study addresses the open question whether ideal partner preferences are linked to relationship decisions and relationship outcomes. Using a longitudinal design across 13 years, we investigated whether partner preferences are associated with perceived characteristics of actual partners (i.e. ideal-trait correlation) and whether a closer match between ideals and perceptions of a partner’s traits is associated with better relationship outcomes (i.e. ideal partner preference-matching effects). A community sample of 178 participants (90 women) reported their ideal partner preferences in 2006 (mean age at T2 M = 45.7 years, SD = 7.2). In 2019, they reported their relationship histories since then, providing ratings of 322 relationships. We found a positive association between participants’ initial ideals and partner trait perceptions. This ideal-trait correlation was stronger with current ideals, consistent with the possibility of preference adjustment towards the partner. The match between ideals and perceived partner traits was operationalised using different metrics. A closer match was associated with higher relationship commitment across all metrics, while for relationship quality, the link was not apparent for the corrected pattern metric. Evidence of matching effects for relationship length was mixed and largely absent for break-up initiation. Implications for the ideal partner preference literature are discussed.
... Do they know what they want in a romantic partner, and do they choose their partners accordingly? Although empirical research has investigated what we ideally want from and seek in a romantic partner for decades (e.g., Buss, 1989;Kenrick & Keefe, 1992;Schmitt et al., 2003), the crucial question of whether these ideal preferences actually guide with whom we decide to pursue a romantic relationship in real life has remained largely unanswered so far (Campbell & Stanton, 2014). One reason for this is the lack of designs that assess individuals' ideal partner preferences before entering a relationship and then follow up on them over an extended period of time. ...
... Specifically, studies need to focus on actual relationship formation, that is, they need to track the transition from singlehood into a relationship. Campbell and Stanton (2014) conclude in their re-examination of studies included in the Eastwick et al. (2014) meta-analysis that such studies are still lacking. In fact, we are aware of only one study that allows for a direct test of preferences' predictive validity in the context of actual relationship formation. ...
... As such, they are in line with functional ideas predicting the existence of partner preferences that motivate mating behavior in humans (Symons, 1979) and further, substantiate the idea that the ability to detect these very associations between ideal preferences and partner characteristics rests on the design of the study (see Campbell & Stanton, 2014). The necessary features of such studies seem to be that they are a) prospective and b) capture the transition from singlehood into a new relationship. ...
Although empirical research has investigated what we ideally seek in a romantic partner for decades, the crucial question of whether ideal partner preferences actually guide our mating decisions in real life has remained largely unanswered. One reason for this is the lack of designs that assess individuals’ ideal partner preferences before entering a relationship and then follow up on them over an extended period. In the Göttingen Mate Choice Study (GMCS), a preregistered, large-scale online study, we employed such a naturalistic prospective design. We investigated partner preferences across four preference domains in a large sample of predominantly heterosexual singles (N = 763, aged 18-40 years) and tracked these individuals across a period of five months upon a possible transition into romantic relationships. Attesting to their predictive validity, partner preferences prospectively predicted the characteristics of later partners. This was equally true for both sexes, except for vitality-attractiveness where men’s preferences were more predictive of their later partners’ standing on this dimension than women’s. Self-perceived mate value did not moderate the preference-partner characteristics relations. Preferences proved to be relatively stable across the five months interval, yet were less stable for those who entered a relationship. Subgroup analyses using a newly developed indicator of preference adjustment towards (vs. away from) partner characteristics revealed that participants adjusted their preferences downwards when partners fell short of initial preferences, but showed no consistent adjustment when partners exceeded them. Results and implications are discussed against the background of ongoing controversies in mate choice and romantic relationship research.
... Researchers have also been interested in the predictive utility of trait preferences (Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Eastwick et al., 2014;Fletcher et al., 2014) -what constructs and outcomes can trait preferences predict? Csajbók and Berkics (2017) attempted to use traits to predict self-perceived mate value, an individual's perception of their worth as a potential mate. ...
... Predicting whom people are likely to choose as a longterm romantic partner is arguably the most important prediction one could make with trait preferences data (Campbell & Stanton, 2014). Fletcher et al. (2014) conducted a study to test the predictive utility of trait preferences in live interaction scenarios. ...
Research regarding how people choose their long-term romantic partners is extensive, but the understanding of the psychological processes behind these choices, and predicting who people choose, is elusive. This review attempts to examine potential reasons for this elusive nature by first outlining the current state of the literature and then highlighting issues within the current paradigm. First among these issues is a focus on singular perspectives and little attempt to integrate these perspectives with others. Second, many studies focus on increasingly complex designs to explore the predictive utility of trait preferences, attempts which have had only limited success. Third, novel findings appear to be unintegrated with established findings, leaving the potential combination of these ideas unrealized. Finally, long-term romantic partner selection is a complex psychological phenomenon, but current theory and research methodologies are not sufficiently addressing this complexity. This review concludes with suggestions for future research direction, including a focus on the psychology behind the partner selection process and the potential of qualitative enquiry to reveal novel pathways behind these psychological processes. There is a need for an integrative framework that permits the coexistence of established and novel ideas, and multiple perspectives, from both current and future research paradigms.
... In conjunction, these two methodological limitations mean that the published literature largely omits whatever takes place after an initial interaction and before relationship formation (Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Eastwick et al., 2019b). Critically, this early relationship development period is likely to be more than a few days: Typically, people report retrospectively that they knew their partners as friends or acquaintances-often getting to know them over a period of weeks or months-before the relationship became romantic or sexual (Brinberg et al., 2021;Kaestle & Halpern, 2005;Stinson et al., 2022;Walsh et al., 2014). ...
... But, they should be more willing to deliberate carefully about whether partners are a good match as they consider whether to spend time with one potential partner rather than another before making any official commitments. For these reasons, early relationship development could be when perceiver × target effects like ideal partner preference-matching and similarity-matching come to the fore (Bahns et al., 2017;Campbell & Stanton, 2014). ...
There are massive literatures on initial attraction and established relationships. But few studies capture early relationship development: the interstitial period in which people experience rising and falling romantic interest for partners who could—but often do not—become sexual or dating partners. In this study, 208 single participants reported on 1,065 potential romantic partners across 7,179 data points over 7 months. In stage 1, we used random forests (a type of machine learning) to estimate how well different classes of variables (e.g., individual differences vs. target-specific constructs) predicted participants’ romantic interest in these potential partners. We also tested (and found only modest support for) the perceiver × target moderation account of compatibility: the meta-theoretical perspective that some types of perceivers experience greater romantic interest for some types of targets. In stage 2, we used multilevel modeling to depict predictors retained by the random-forests models; robust (positive) main effects emerged for many variables, including sociosexuality, sex drive, perceptions of the partner’s positive attributes (e.g., attractive and exciting), attachment features (e.g., proximity seeking), and perceived interest. Finally, we found no support for ideal partner preference-matching effects on romantic interest. The discussion highlights the need for new models to explain the origin of romantic compatibility.
... How do people know when they are ready to enter into a committed romantic relationship? Although considerable research has investigated why people become romantically attracted to others (for review, see Feingold, 1990;Orbuch & Sprecher, 2003) and what motivates people to maintain established relationships (for review, see Stanley, Rhoades, & Whitton, 2010;Agnew & VanderDrift, 2018;Tran, Judge, & Kashima, 2019), relatively little research has investigated the process of relationship initiation (see Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Eastwick, Finkel, & Simpson, 2019). Recent research has revealed, however, that feelings of readiness to enter into a committed relationship-i.e., commitment readiness-may play an important role. ...
... As previously discussed, relatively little research has investigated the process of relationship initiation (see Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Eastwick et al., 2019) and research has only begun to examine how people decide to begin a committed romantic relationship (see, for example, Joel & MacDonald, 2021). Relationship receptivity theory (RRT), however, highlights the importance of perceived timing when initiating a committed relationship (Agnew, 2014;Agnew et al., 2019). ...
People often consider how ready they feel for a committed romantic relationship before initiating one. Although research has only begun to identify the antecedents of commitment readiness, several theoretical perspectives suggest that it should be shaped by the perceived frequency of available partners. We conducted five studies (one correlational, four experimental) that tested this idea among single people. A Pilot Study assessed participants' perceptions of available romantic partners and their commitment readiness. In the subsequent four experiments, participants read articles (Studies 1a and 1b) or created dating profiles and were presented with false feedback (Studies 2 and 3) that influenced perceptions of available partners and reported their commitment readiness. Results suggested that people were less ready to commit to a romantic relationship to the extent that they perceived they had many partners available to them. These results further understanding of factors that promote the decision to initiate a committed relationship.
... Ideal standards for a romantic relationship reflect one's hopes and expectations for a romantic partner (Fletcher et al., 1999). A substantial amount of theoretical and empirical work has focused on what individuals are looking for in potential romantic partners (for a review see Campbell & Stanton, 2014, or Eastwick et al., 2014; also see Buss, 1999;Eastwick et al., 2019;Fletcher et al., 2020Fletcher et al., , 2013. This work has been informed by the Ideal Standards Model (Fletcher et al., 1999;, which posits that people possess images of their ideal romantic partner across a range of attributes (e.g., interpersonal warmth, physical appeal, status and resources), and these ideal preferences are used to evaluate both potential mates and actual partners in existing relationships. ...
... Past research has examined discrepancies between a person's ideal standards and their perceptions of their current partner or relationship meeting their standards. Reviews of the literature have revealed that different methods of assessing ideal-partner discrepancy yield different findings, and the match between a persons' ideals and their partner's traits is not always associated with relationship initiation or quality (for a review see Campbell & Stanton [2014] or Eastwick et al. [2014]). However, a person's perception of the extent to which a partner meets their ideals is consistently associated with relationship satisfaction (e.g., Buyukcan-Tetik et al., 2017;Campbell et al., 2001;Fletcher et al., 1999Fletcher et al., , 2000aKelley & Burgoon, 1991;Meltzer et al., 2014) and the likelihood of the relationship enduring (see Gerlach et al., 2019). ...
Despite the importance of sex for the maintenance of satisfying romantic relationships, our understanding of a person's sexual ideals-the traits and attributes a person desires in a sexual partner or experience-and what might buffer against lower satisfaction associated with unmet sexual ideals is limited. Across four studies including cross-sectional, dyadic, longitudinal, and experimental methods (N = 1,532), we draw on the Ideal Standards Model and theories of communal motivation to examine whether unmet sexual ideals are associated with lower sexual satisfaction and relationship quality and test whether higher sexual communal strength-the motivation to meet a partner's sexual needs-buffered these effects. Across studies, when individuals perceived their partner to fall short in meeting their sexual ideals, they reported poorer sexual and relationship quality. People with partners low in sexual communal strength reported poorer sexual satisfaction and relationship quality when their sexual ideals were unmet, but these associations were attenuated among people with partners who were high in sexual communal strength. Perceived partner responsiveness-both in general (Study 2) and to a partner's sexual needs specifically (Study 3)-was one reason why people with partners high in sexual communal strength were buffered against the lower sexual and relational quality associated with unmet ideals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
... Even rarer are studies that attempt to capture the "official" formation of a relationship-defined as the moment two people agree they are romantic partners (Campbell, Chin, & Stanton, 2016;Eastwick & Finkel, 2008a;Eastwick, Keneski, Morgan, McDonald, & Huang, 2018). Consequently, we know remarkably little about what takes place between the moment two strangers meet and the moment they form a mutually recognized, committed romantic partnership (Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Eastwick & Finkel, 2008c). Despite the fact that relationship scientists conceptualize relationships as having arcs that rise and fall (Bradbury & Karney, 2013), the actual rise of these arcs is largely missing from the current literature. ...
... Few studies have examined romantic evaluations longitudinally during the pre-official-relationship portion of trajectories (e.g., Campbell & Stanton, 2014). Relationship-specific ...
... They can thus not actually inform us about whether preferences guided these choices. Researchers have sought to address this question more directly in speed-dating studies (for an overview, see Stanton 2014 andEastwick et al. 2014). Participants looking for a partner were questioned about their preferences before meeting potential partners for a very short time in a speed-dating event. ...
... However, initial attraction, the outcome of speed-dating studies, does not necessarily translate into long-term interest or choice for a more committed relationship when getting to know the other better. In fact, rates of actual relationship formation following speeddating events are as low as 4 to 7 percent (Asendorpf, Penke, and Back 2011;Campbell and Stanton 2014). ...
... Even rarer are studies that attempt to capture the "official" formation of a relationship-defined as the moment two people agree they are romantic partners (Campbell, Chin, & Stanton, 2016;Eastwick & Finkel, 2008a;Eastwick, Keneski, Morgan, McDonald, & Huang, 2018). Consequently, we know remarkably little about what takes place between the moment two strangers meet and the moment they form a mutually recognized, committed romantic partnership (Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Eastwick & Finkel, 2008c). Despite the fact that relationship scientists conceptualize relationships as having arcs that rise and fall (Bradbury & Karney, 2013), the actual rise of these arcs is largely missing from the current literature. ...
... Few studies have examined romantic evaluations longitudinally during the pre-official-relationship portion of trajectories (e.g., Campbell & Stanton, 2014). Relationship-specific ...
... Even rarer are studies that attempt to capture the "official" formation of a relationship-defined as the moment two people agree they are romantic partners (Campbell, Chin, & Stanton, 2016;Eastwick & Finkel, 2008a;Eastwick, Keneski, Morgan, McDonald, & Huang, 2018). Consequently, we know remarkably little about what takes place between the moment two strangers meet and the moment they form a mutually recognized, committed romantic partnership (Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Eastwick & Finkel, 2008c). Despite the fact that relationship scientists conceptualize relationships as having arcs that rise and fall (Bradbury & Karney, 2013), the actual rise of these arcs is largely missing from the current literature. ...
... Few studies have examined romantic evaluations longitudinally during the pre-official-relationship portion of trajectories (e.g., Campbell & Stanton, 2014). Relationship-specific ...
This article introduces a metatheoretical framework—the Relationship Trajectories Framework—that conceptualizes how human mating relationships develop across their complete time span, from the moment two people meet until the relationship ends. The framework depicts relationships as arc-shaped evaluative trajectories that vary on five dimensions: shape (which includes ascent, peak, and descent), fluctuation, threshold, composition, and density. The framework can depict single trajectories in isolation or two partners’ trajectories with respect to each other (dyadic trajectories). Two theoretical models demonstrate the generative power of the framework—the relationship coordination and strategic timing (ReCAST) model and the sociosexuality trajectory model—both of which integrate close relationships and evolutionary psychological perspectives on mating. Finally, additional examples illustrate how the framework can generate new research questions about core relationships topics.
... Studies of romantic attraction between unacquainted individuals are frequently informative about initial impression contexts (Berscheid & Walster, 1978) but rarely examine people's real-life relationships beyond a single interaction (for exceptions, see Asendorpf, Penke, & Back, 2011;Eastwick & Finkel, 2008;Sprecher & Duck, 1994). Lost in between the attraction and close relationships literatures is a vast swath of understudied, early stage romantic relationships (for discussions, see Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Graziano & Bruce, 2008;Sunnafrank & Ramirez, 2004). Indeed, well-cited models of this time period (e.g., the post-firstimpression, prerelationship-maintenance stages of Knapp's, 1978 model) are nonetheless built on a very small empirical knowledge base (Fox, Warber, & Makstaller, 2013; for exceptions, see Baxter & Wilmot, 1984;Dunleavy & Booth-Butterfield, 2009;Guerrero & Chavez, 2005). ...
... close relationships literature recruit couples who are exclusive, and exclusivity did not occur until the 16th event in our long-term relationships on average. Surely, at least some of the personally significant events in this relationship formation phase have implications for the future of the relationship, and thus scholars might routinely be failing to capture important precursors of dynamics in established relationships (Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Hunt et al., 2015;Joel, Teper, & MacDonald, 2014). As for the evolutionary psychological literature, this tradition incorporates short-term relationships to a large degree, with many theories positing that people use short-term or long-term strategies to pursue the goal of obtaining a short-term or long-term relationship (i.e., strategy use is probabilistically associated with different relationship length outcomes). ...
Close relationships research has examined committed couples (e.g., dating relationships, marriages) using intensive methods that plot relationship development over time. But a substantial proportion of people’s real-life sexual experiences take place (a) before committed relationships become “official” and (b) in short-term relationships; methods that document the time course of relationships have rarely been applied to these contexts. We adapted a classic relationship trajectory-plotting technique to generate the first empirical comparisons between the features of people’s real-life short-term and long-term relationships across their entire timespan. Five studies compared long-term and short-term relationships in terms of the timing of relationship milestones (e.g., flirting, first sexual intercourse) and the occurrence/intensity of important relationship experiences (e.g., romantic interest, strong sexual desire, attachment). As romantic interest was rising and partners were becoming acquainted, long-term and short-term relationships were indistinguishable. Eventually, romantic interest in short-term relationships plateaued and declined while romantic interest in long-term relationships continued to rise, ultimately reaching a higher peak. As relationships progressed, participants evidenced more features characteristic of the attachment-behavioral system (e.g., attachment, caregiving) in long-term than short-term relationships but similar levels of other features (e.g., sexual desire, self-promotion, intrasexual competition). These data inform a new synthesis of close relationships and evolutionary psychological perspectives called the Relationship Coordination and Strategic Timing (ReCAST) model. ReCAST depicts short-term and long-term relationships as partially overlapping trajectories (rather than relationships initiated with distinct strategies) that differ in their progression along a normative relationship development sequence.
... A close inspection of all of the published studies included in this meta-analysis, however, found that essentially none of it directly assessed mate choice in the actual formation of new relationships [7]. Instead, the bulk of this research focuses on the influence of ideal partner preferences in (a) initial interpersonal attraction (sometimes referred to as early relationship initiation), or (b) established relationship processes. ...
... Presently we do not yet have a systematic body of research addressing the predictive validity of ideal partner preferences in relationship formation [7]. Our results provide some initial evidence that people do tend to enter new relationships with others possessing traits that more closely correspond their own ideal preferences. ...
An important assumption in interpersonal attraction research asking participants about their ideal partner preferences is that these preferences play a role in actual mate choice and relationship formation. Existing research investigating the possible predictive validity of ideal partner preference, however, is limited by the fact that none of it has focused on the actual process of relationship formation. The current research recruited participants when single, assessed ideal partner preferences across 38 traits and attributes, tracked participants’ relationship status over 5 months, and successfully recruited the new partners of 38 original participants to assess their self-evaluations across the same 38 traits and attributes. Using multilevel modeling to assess the correspondence between ideal partner preferences and self-evaluations within couple, the results showed a positive within-couple association that was not accounted for by personality similarity or stereotype accuracy. We discuss these results with respect to the current literature on the predictive validity of ideal partner preferences in relationship formation.
... Third, our sample was not representative of the Brazilian population as a whole, since it was composed mostly of young, white, educated participants from industrialized areas. Fourth, our results pertain to self-reported partner preferences that may not correspond to how individuals actually behave, especially since the previous studies have demonstrated mixed evidence regarding the predictive value of the individual's reported and actual partner preference in different relationship stages (Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Eastwick et al., 2014;Li et al., 2013). Lastly, we examined partner preferences in a unilateral manner, analyzing whether an individual would be interested in a partner without evaluating if such a partner would be available or willing to reciprocate the interest. ...
Partner preferences are an important differential in relationship formation and evolutionary fitness, and vary according to individual, ecological, and social factors. In this study, we evaluated the variation in preference for intelligence, kindness, physical attractiveness, health, and socioeconomic level among individuals of different sexes and sexual orientations in a Brazilian sample. We analyzed the preference scores of 778 heterosexual, bisexual, and homosexual men and women in three budgeted mate design tasks (low vs. medium vs. high budget) and their association with sociosexuality, attachment styles, homogamy, and willingness to engage in short- and long-term relationships. Results indicated a global trait preference order, with intelligence ranking first, followed by kindness, physical attractiveness, health, and lastly by socioeconomic status. Typical sex differences were observed mostly within the heterosexual group, and specific combinations of sex and sexual orientation were linked to variation in preference for physical attractiveness, kindness, and socioeconomic status. We also found unique associations of the other variables with partner preferences and with willingness to engage in short- or long-term relationships. By exploring the partner preferences of non-heterosexual individuals from a Latin American country, an underrepresented group in evolutionary psychology research, our results help understand the universal and specific factors that guide partner preferences and human sexual behavior.
... Finally, future studies could extend our perspective by (a) zooming in on the dynamic processes (e.g., the interplay of expressed behaviors, perceptions, cognitions) involved in real-life first encounters and (b) taking a closer look at alternative forms of the initial screening phase (e.g., online dating; e.g., Bruch & Newman, 2018) and subsequent steps of the dating phase (e.g., relationship formation and development; Campbell & Stanton, 2014). We are convinced that these avenues will lead to a deeper understanding of how people make one of the most relevant decisions in their lives-who is a "good match" for them. ...
A central assumption in lay and psychological theories is that people are attracted to potential mates who are similar to themselves in personality traits. However, the empirical findings on this idea have been inconclusive. Only a few studies have considered real-life dating contexts, and the statistical approaches they applied have sometimes spuriously identified similarity effects. In our study, 397 heterosexual singles (aged 18–28) participated in real speed-dates (N_dates = 940). Using dyadic response surface analysis, we investigated effects of actual similarity (similarity between self-reported personality trait levels) and perceptual similarity (similarity between an actor’s personality and his/her perception of the partner’s personality) concerning the Big Five traits. Neither type of similarity was related to initial romantic attraction. That is, the empirical evidence contradicted the idea that attraction occurs when people’s personalities match. We conclude that understanding initial attraction requires a deeper understanding of interpersonal dynamics in first encounters.
... As such, our findings cannot explain the mixed findings in previous research on the link between preferences and relationship decisions. An alternative explanation for those mixed findings may be the relationship phase investigated (see Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Gerlach et al., 2019): studies which could not find a link between preferences and relationship decisions for the most part investigated the initial stage of getting to know each other (e.g. Eastwick and Finkel, 2008;Joel et al 2017;Todd et al., 2007), suggests that studies which investigate the association between preferences and relationship decisions do not necessarily need to constantly assess preferences over the investigated timespan. ...
Ideal partner preferences for traits in a partner are said to be stable cognitive constructs. However, longitudinal studies investigating the same participants’ ideals repeatedly have so far been limited to relatively short retest intervals of maximum three years. Here, we investigate stability and change of ideals across 13 years and participants’ insight into how ideals have changed. 204 participants (M = 46.2 years, SD = 7.4, 104 women) reported their ideals at two time points. We found a mean rank-order stability of r = .42 and an overall profile stability of r = .73 (distinctive r = .53). Some ideals changed over time, e.g. increased for status-resources, in relation to age and parenthood. We found some, but varying insight into how ideals had changed (mean r = .20). Results support the idea of ideals being stable cognitive constructs, but suggest some variability related to demands of different life stages.
... The ndings and conclusions put forth by the opposing camp have been directly critiqued by various mate preferences scholars on both theoretical and methodological grounds (Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Fletcher et al., 2014;Li & Meltzer, 2015;Li et al., 2013;Meltzer et al., 2014aMeltzer et al., , 2014bSchmitt, 2014). In one response to the criticisms, Li et al. (2013) pointed out that the lack of sex di erentiation in mate choices and the disconnect between ideal preferences and actual choices may be an artifact of not having enough representation from potential partners at the low end of earning prospects and physical attractiveness. ...
Evolutionary social science is having a renaissance. This volume showcases the empirical and theoretical advancements produced by the evolutionary study of romantic relationships. The editors assembled an international collection of contributors to trace how evolved psychological mechanisms shape strategic computation and behavior across the life span of a romantic partnership. Each chapter provides an overview of historic and contemporary research on the psychological mechanisms and processes underlying the initiation, maintenance, and dissolution of romantic relationships. Contributors discuss popular and cutting-edge methods for data analysis and theory development, critically analyze the state of evolutionary relationship science, and provide discerning recommendations for future research. The handbook integrates a broad range of topics (e.g., partner preference and selection, competition and conflict, jealousy and mate guarding, parenting, partner loss and divorce, and post-relationship affiliation) that are discussed alongside major sources of strategic variation in mating behavior, such as sex and gender diversity, developmental life history, neuroendocrine processes, technological advancement, and culture. Its content promises to enrich students’ and established researchers’ views on the current state of the discipline and should challenge a diverse cross-section of relationship scholars and clinicians to incorporate evolutionary theorizing into their professional work.
... Finally, future studies could extend our perspective by (a) zooming in on the dynamic processes (e.g., the interplay of expressed behaviors, perceptions, cognitions) involved in reallife first encounters and (b) taking a closer look at alternative forms of the initial screening phase (e.g., online dating; e.g., Bruch & Newman, 2018) and subsequent steps of the dating phase (e.g., relationship formation and development; Campbell & Stanton, 2014). We are convinced that these avenues will lead to a deeper understanding of how people make one of the most relevant decisions in their lives-who is a "good match" for them. ...
A central assumption in lay and psychological theories is that people are attracted to potential mates who are similar to themselves in personality traits. However, the empirical findings on this idea have been inconclusive. Only a few studies have considered real-life dating contexts, and the statistical approaches they applied have sometimes spuriously identified similarity effects. In our study, 397 heterosexual singles (aged 18-28) participated in real speed-dates (Ndates = 940). Using dyadic response surface analysis, we investigated effects of actual similarity (similarity between self-reported personality trait levels) and perceptual similarity (similarity between an actor’s personality and his/her perception of the partner’s personality) concerning the Big Five traits. Neither type of similarity was related to initial romantic attraction. That is, the empirical evidence contradicted the idea that attraction occurs when people’s personalities match. We conclude that understanding initial attraction requires a deeper understanding of interpersonal dynamics in first encounters.
... Second, a critical question to ask, therefore, is can we generalize existing empirical evidence with established couples to fledgling relationships? The literature suggests that it is not appropriate to assume that what we see in married or co-habiting couples will generalize to fledgling ones (Arriaga, 2001;Campbell & Stanton, 2014). There is a limited longitudinal research on newly-formed relationships and existing literature suggests that evaluations in early relationships are easily influenced (Fletcher, Simpson, & Thomas, 2000a;Joel & Eastwick, 2018). ...
Self-disclosure and perceived partner responsiveness are two principal components of the intimacy that aims to explain relationship functioning. This theory has been tested in the past but all focused on long-term married couples with Western samples. The current study examines the basic tenets of the process model of intimacy in the context of a fledgling relationship in a non-Western cultural setting. Couples who were in the early stages of a romantic relationship (N= 151) reported their intimacy in two sessions three weeks apart. Between the two sessions, they completed a 21-day diary assessing self-disclosure and perceived partner responsiveness. Dyadic analyses using multilevel modeling provided evidence for the reciprocal links between self-disclosure and perceived responsiveness. Additionally, perceived responsiveness partially mediated the effects of disclosure on increases in intimacy. These findings demonstrated that the current conceptions of the interpersonal model of intimacy generalize across early stages of romantic relationships and across a non-Western cultural context.
... In particular, single people cannot meet new dating partners in face-to-face encounters if they adhere to maximal social-distancing recommendations. There is already a dearth of ecologically valid research on earlyrelationship formation, in part because fledgling relationships present recruitment challenges even under normal circumstances (Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Joel & Eastwick, 2018). Such challenges will be greatly exacerbated in the coming months-and potentially years-if social distancing remains a norm beyond the pandemic's immediate aftermath. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has extensively changed the state of psychological science from what research questions psychologists can ask to which methodologies psychologists can use to investigate them. In this article, we offer a perspective on how to optimize new research in the pandemic’s wake. Because this pandemic is inherently a social phenomenon—an event that hinges on human-to-human contact—we focus on socially relevant subfields of psychology. We highlight specific psychological phenomena that have likely shifted as a result of the pandemic and discuss theoretical, methodological, and practical considerations of conducting research on these phenomena. After this discussion, we evaluate metascientific issues that have been amplified by the pandemic. We aim to demonstrate how theoretically grounded views on the COVID-19 pandemic can help make psychological science stronger—not weaker—in its wake.
... Although the present work is the one making contribution to the field by investigating predictive validity of ideal standards for different relational outcomes, longitudinal designs are recommended for future research. Moreover, as claimed by previous studies, there could be possible shifts in ideals operating in dating relationships (Campbell and Stanton, 2014;Eastwick and Neff, 2012), and increase in interdependence between romantic couples may result in shrinking of the gap between ideal standards and the current perceptions (Eastwick et al., 2011). Recently, it was found that after entering relationships, people tend to adjust their ideal preferences towards the attributes of the partner (Gerlach, Arslan, Schultze, Reinhard and Penke, 2019). ...
... Like most partner preference studies, the current study relied on self-reports, which are vulnerable to response biases. Indeed, there is debate over how well self-reported preferences predict with whom people actually form partnerships (Campbell & Stanton, 2014) traits that almost everybody considers desirable (e.g., honest) or undesirable (e.g., cruel) may generate higher levels of normative congruence. ...
To examine cultural, parental, and personal sources of young adults’ long-term romantic partner preferences, we had undergraduates ( n = 2,071) and their parents ( n = 1,851) in eight countries (Canada, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Malaysia, Philippines, the United States) rate or rank qualities they would want in the student’s partner. We introduce and use a method for separating preference patterns into normative patterns (shared across families and generations) and distinctive patterns (that characterized particular families or individuals). We found that youth everywhere wanted partners who aligned with both their own dispositions and their parents’ preferences, and these alignments reflected both culturally normative preferences and preferences distinctive to specific individuals or families. Students also predicted their parents’ responses: Their predictions were reasonably accurate reflections of what a typical parent prefers, but also reflected distinctive assumed agreement (i.e., they overestimated the degree to which their particular parents shared their particular preferences for qualities that diverged from culturally normative ideals). Culturally normative patterns exerted a stronger influence on actual or assumed parent–child agreement and accuracy in relatively collectivistic Southeast Asia (Philippines and Malaysia) than in relatively individualistic English-speaking North America (the United States and Canada). Conversely, preferences for partners who shared one’s distinctive personal dispositions were stronger in Western than Asian countries.
... Given the social upheaval characteristic of beginning college, incoming freshman might be an especially useful group in which to explore existing, ending, and newly beginning friendships. In doing so, future work might thus attend to the ongoing debate about the utility of ideal partner preferences for predicting relationship formation and outcomes, particularly at earlier versus later stages of relationships (e.g., Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Huang, Ledgerwood, & Eastwick, 2019). ...
Close friendships are associated with greater happiness and improved health; historically, they would likely have provided beneficial fitness outcomes. Yet each friendship requires one's finite time and resources to develop and maintain. Because people can maintain only so many close relationships, including friendships, at any one time, choosing which prospective friends to pursue and invest in is likely to have been a recurrent adaptive problem. Moreover, not all friends are created equal; some might be kind but unintelligent, some intelligent but disloyal, and so on. How might people integrate their friend preferences to make friend choices? Work using a Euclidean model of mate preferences has had significant success in elucidating this integration challenge in the domain of mating. Here, we apply this model to the domain of friendship, specifically exploring same-sex best and close friendships. We test and find some support for several critical predictions derived from a Euclidean integration hypothesis: People with higher Euclidean friend value (a) have best friends who better fulfill their best friend preferences, (b) have higher friend-value ideal best friends, and (c) have higher friend-value actual best friends. We also (d) replicate existing similar findings with regard to mating and (e) additionally provide a first test of whether people's Euclidean friend value (versus mate value) is a better predictor of their friend outcomes, and vice versa, finding some, albeit mixed, support for the dissocialbility of these constructs.
... Ideal standards for a romantic relationship reflect one's hopes and expectations for a romantic partner (Fletcher et al., 1999). A substantial amount of theoretical and empirical work has focused on what individuals are looking for in potential romantic partners (for a review see Campbell & Stanton, 2014or Eastwick, Luchies, Finkel, & Hunt, 2014; also see Buss, 1999;Eastwick, Finkel, & Simpson, 2019;Fletcher, Overall, & Campbell, 2019;Fletcher, Simpson, Campbell, & Overall, 2013;. This work has been informed by the Ideal Standards Model (Fletcher et al., 1999;Simpson et al., 2001), which posits that people possess images of their ideal romantic partner across a range of attributes (e.g., interpersonal warmth, physical appeal, status and resources), and these ideal preferences are used to evaluate both potential mates and actual partners in existing relationships. ...
Most couples view sexual satisfaction as crucial for the maintenance of romantic relationships, yet our understanding of a person’s sexual ideals (i.e., the traits and attributes a person desires in a sexual partner and the characteristics of a sexual experience a person finds to be ideal) and what might buffer against lower satisfaction associated with unmet sexual ideals, is limited. One factor that may help couples manage unmet sexual ideals is sexual communal strength—the extent to which a person is motivated to meet their partner's sexual needs. Across six studies including cross-sectional, dyadic, longitudinal, and experimental methods (N = 2,429), we draw upon the Ideal Standards Model and theories of communal motivation to examine whether unmet sexual ideals are associated with lower sexual satisfaction and relationship quality and test whether higher sexual communal strength buffered these effects. Results suggest that when individuals perceive their partner to fall short in meeting their sexual ideals, they feel less sexually satisfied and report poorer relationship quality. However, having a partner who was high in sexual communal strength buffered these effects. Whereas people with partners who were low in sexual communal strength typically reported poorer sexual satisfaction and relationship quality when their sexual ideals were unmet, these negative associations were attenuated among people with partners who were high in sexual communal strength. Our results provide novel evidence of the deleterious effects of unmet sexual ideals for relationships and suggest that sexual communal strength can help buffer these detriments among partners.
... If it is not a promising strategy to develop interventions that target potential partners before they meet, one alternative strategy would be to intervene after potential partners meet and get to know each other but before they actually form a dating relationship. In the existing literature, this period of relationship initiation is relatively neglected; only a handful of studies have attempted to examine the stretch of time after an initial interaction (i.e., with a stranger) but before the official formation of a relationship (Campbell & Stanton, 2014). Nevertheless, some evidence suggests that romantic compatibility becomes especially tangible during this period. ...
Relationship quality has far-reaching consequences for health and well-being. To date, large-scale efforts to improve relationship quality have targeted established relationships. However, a novel approach would be to target relationships much earlier. Investment-based programs would intervene (on a voluntary basis) before partners become strongly tied to one another (i.e., within the first few months of “official” dating) and help people to avoid investing in relationships that they might later decide are wrong for them. Selection-based programs would intervene before an official dating relationship has formed, perhaps by helping people to identify especially compatible partners from within their network of friends and acquaintances. To develop such interventions, researchers must (a) identify when important relationship experiences (e.g., perceived responsiveness, capitalization, and sexual satisfaction) become reliably predictive of long-term outcomes and (b) identify how this information could be better incorporated into early relationship decisions. Overall, efforts to facilitate the initial formation and development of high-quality relationships may hold promising, untested potential.
... The application of this Euclidean algorithm to understanding relationship satisfaction has addressed concerns with existing hypotheses about how ideal partner preferences relate to relationship satisfaction. Although much of the literature assumes that people should be less satisfied with partners that do not match their ideal preferences, empirical evidence has demonstrated mixed support for this claim (Campbell and Stanton 2014). identified two Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-017-0122-8) ...
We used a Euclidean algorithmic method of calculating mate value discrepancies to test the hypothesis that mate value discrepancies would mediate a negative association between the Dark Triad and relationship satisfaction. Participants (N = 211) rated themselves, their partner, and their ideal partner on a set of traits known to be important in mate selection. They also completed Dark Triad and relationship satisfaction measures. We found an indirect, negative association between the Dark Triad and relationship satisfaction mediated by the partner-potential partner mate value discrepancy. The higher on the Dark Triad, the more alternative partners there were that were closer to the participant’s ideal mate preferences than their current partner, which was associated with decreased relationship satisfaction. This study contributes to our understanding of how the Dark Triad relates to mating psychology. These findings also highlight the utility of employing a Euclidean algorithm to understand associations between individual differences and relationship outcomes.
... Future research could assess the ability of the Euclidean algorithm and other algorithms to predict both participants' continuous feelings toward potential mates as well as their categorical selections among them. Even further in the stream of mate selection decisions, relatively little research attempts to bridge the gap between the decision to pursue a mate and the actual initiation of a relationship with that mate (Campbell & Stanton, 2014). This stage of mate selection, along with attraction and within-relationship decisions, may serve as a critical arena for comparing alternative models of human mate preference integration. ...
We tested the ability of a Euclidean algorithm to predict attraction to potential mates—a relatively upstream domain in the temporal sequence of the mating process. Participants in two studies reported their ideal mate preferences using a 23-item preference instrument. Separately, they rated their attraction to profiles of potential mates that varied on those 23 dimensions. Study 1 (N = 522) found that Euclidean distances predicted attraction to potential mates both in terms of (1) overall mate value and (2) unique mate value. Study 2 (N = 411) replicated these effects and further found that Euclidean mate values discriminatively predict between short- and long-term attraction. Across both studies, a Euclidean model outperformed a variety of alternative models for predicting attraction to potential mates. These results suggest that a Euclidean algorithm is a good model for how multiple preferences are integrated in mate choice.
... tionary psychologists examine what happens when people initially form impressions of each other but less commonly examine how actual relationships develop . Close relationships researchers study how existing couples navigate their relationships over time but rarely examine the events and processes that precede couple formation (Campbell & Stanton, 2014). Future approaches to the study of mate selection should endeavor to link these three lines of inquiry, and the current article demonstrates how a single analysis strategy-estimating the degree of consistency among romantic partners-can apply to each of these perspectives. ...
Theoretical perspectives on mating differentially emphasize whether (and why) romantic partner selection and maintenance processes derive from stable features of individuals (e.g., mate value, mate preferences, relationship aptitude) and their environments (e.g., social homogamy) rather than adventitious, dyad-specific, or unpredictable factors. The current article advances our understanding of this issue by assessing how people’s actual romantic partners vary on constructs commonly assessed in evolutionary psychology (Study 1), sociology (Study 2), and close relationships (Study 3). Specifically, we calculated the extent to which the past and present partners of a focal person (i.e., the person who dated all of the partners) cluster on various measures. Study 1 investigated consistency in the observable qualities of the romantic partners, revealing substantial evidence for clustering on coder-rated attributes like attractiveness and masculinity. Study 2 examined qualities self-reported by romantic partners themselves in a demographically diverse sample and found modest evidence for clustering on attributes such as IQ and educational aspirations; however, clustering in this study was largely due to demographic stratification. Study 3 explored target-specific ratings by partners about the focal person and found little evidence for clustering: The ability to elicit high romantic desirability/sexual satisfaction ratings from partners was not a stable individual difference. The variables that affect mating may differ considerably in the extent to which they serve as stable versus unpredictable factors; thus, the fields of evolutionary psychology, sociology, and close relationships may reveal distinct depictions of mating because the constructs and assessment strategies in each differ along this underappreciated dimension.
... Likewise, like almost every study on attractiveness preferences, we did not test how the preferences that we assessed would translate into real-world encounters. While several studies have shown a relationship between ideal and actual partner choice, the former does not necessarily predict the latter (Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Eastwick, Luchies, Finkel, & Hunt, 2014). For consistency with the wealth of existing literature on human mate choice, we asked the daughters to indicate the more attractive male face in the pair. ...
Physical appearance provides a wealth of information concerning an individual's biological fitness and reproductive quality, but we do not know whether parents make use of this information when evaluating potential partners for their offspring. This is critical to our understanding of human mate choice, because parents frequently influence their offspring's mating decisions, either directly, for instance through arranged marriages, or indirectly, through manipulating their offspring's partner choice. Here, we used facial images that varied in attractiveness, masculinity, health, and symmetry to assess both reproductively-aged daughters' and their parents' preferences in potential mates for the daughters. In line with our predictions, both daughters and their parents had clear preferences for markers of genetic quality, although the daughters showed significantly stronger preferences for these markers than their parents. Contrary to previous research, parents and daughters did not have stronger preferences for markers of genetic quality if they perceived the daughter to be more attractive. Parents' preferences for the facial markers of genetic quality in their offspring's partner may help maximise inclusive fitness.
... Are there individuals high on either dimension of narcissism who are able to remain in satisfactory romantic relationships, and what distinguishes these relationships from other less successful long-term relationships involving a person high on narcissism? The processes between initial attraction and long-term commitment in romantic relationships are generally rarely studied, and hence, little is known about them (L.Campbell & Stanton, 2014). Investigating these processes might therefore not only help to advance knowledge about narcissism's impact on romantic relationships but might also contribute to answering unresolved questions in romantic relationship research (e.g., whether there are changes in the importance of other partner characteristics over the course of a romantic relationship). ...
Narcissism is known to be related to romantic success in short-term contexts (dating, early-stage relationships) but also to problems in long-term committed relationships. We propose that these diverging romantic outcomes of narcissism can be explained by differential associations with agentic versus antagonistic dimensions of grandiose narcissism: Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry. Both dimensions serve the central narcissistic goal of gaining and maintaining a grandiose self-view, but do so by different processes: Admiration is characterized by the tendency to promote the positivity of one‘s self-view by seeking social admiration (assertive self-enhancement). Rivalry is characterized by the tendency to protect oneself from a negative self-view by derogating others (antagonistic self-protection). Across 7 studies (total N = 3,560) using diverse measures and methodological approaches (self-, peer-, and partner-reports, as well as interpersonal perception measures in video-based studies, face-to-face laboratory encounters, and online surveys), we show that the short-term romantic appeal associated with narcissism is primarily attributable to the dimension of
Admiration, whereas the long-term romantic problems associated with narcissism are primarily attributable to the dimension of Rivalry. These results highlight the utility of a two-dimensional reconceptualization of grandiose narcissism for explaining its heterogeneous romantic outcomes. The findings further underscore the idea that different facets of personality traits might impact different aspects of romantic relationship quality, depending on the stage of the relationship. Such a more nuanced view increases the predictive validity of
personality traits in social relationship research.
... Both Study 1 and Study 2 relied on people's self-reported preferences for what they would like in a long-term mate. However, the extent to which mate preferences actually predict real-life partnering decisions and satisfaction with these decisions remains an open question (Campbell & Stanton, 2014;Eastwick & Finkel, 2008). It is important to assess what people think they want, however, because this might be what people have in mind when they are out in the world actively seeking a partner. ...
According to a "mating market" approach, people with desirable traits have a stronger "bargaining hand" and can be more selective when choosing partners. We examined how heterosexual mate preferences varied by gender, age, personal income, education, and appearance satisfaction (Study 1 N= 22,815; Study 2 N= 4790). Men and women differed in the percentage indicating it was "desirable" or "essential" that their potential partner was good-looking (92% vs. 84%; d=.39), had a slender body (80% vs. 58%; d=.53), had a steady income (74% vs. 97%; d= 1.17), and made/will make a lot of money (47% vs. 69%; d=-.49). There were also gender differences in whether it was "very important" or "a must have" their partner made at least as much money as they do (24% vs. 46%; d=.60) and had a successful career (33% vs. 61%; d=.57), but not in whether their partner was physically attractive to them (40% vs. 42%; d=.03). Wealthier men and people with better appearance satisfaction had stronger preferences for good looking and slender partners. Preferences varied within and between genders, and were linked to bargaining hand in the mating market.
Objective
This study examines contributors to mate preferences and their changes, as well as behaviors corresponding to mate preferences in Japan, where mate preferences likely play a role in its steady marriage decline.
Background
Mate preferences are believed to guide mate selection processes. However, previous research has not adequately explained how individuals' circumstances contribute to shifts in preferences and how such shifts are linked to partnering behaviors, including partner‐seeking actions and marriage formation.
Method
This study employs 11 years of data ( N = 8946) from the Japanese Life Course Panel Survey. Random‐effects, fixed‐effects, and discrete‐time proportional hazard models are used to uncover gender disparities in mate preferences, factors associated with changes in these preferences, and links between mate preferences and partnering behaviors.
Results
Women express more preferred characteristics in potential partners and are more likely than men to consider a partner's financial prospects as important. They are also unlikely to compromise on the mate's income with changes in partnering opportunities. Single men's preferences are somewhat more malleable. Moreover, identifying more mate‐selection criteria is associated with a more active partner search, especially when individuals are eager to marry, but having many criteria slows the transition to marriage.
Conclusion
Japanese women's high and unwavering mate preferences likely reflect the rigid gender roles and high stakes of marriage they face. The negative relationship between insisting on many, especially gendered, mate preferences and marriage formation suggests that Japan's gender context discourages marriage formation through fostering singles' insistence on certain mate preferences.
We do not know what happens in initial interactions to spark platonic or romantic relationships. This requires data on relationships from their inception, tracked over time. Building on theory about relationship promotion, we identified three exemplar behaviors to test novel hypotheses about relationship development. When starting college, a greenhouse for relationship initiation, first-year undergraduates ( N = 143) reported initial interactions with potential friends and romantic partners, and then 129 of them reported back about those 591 people over the semester. As predicted, reports of each behavior—affectionate touch, shared laughter, and partner’s gratitude expression—were associated with immediate interest in affiliating with the new person, beyond their perceived warmth, competence, and attractiveness; theoretically derived social perceptual mechanisms explained these links. Critically, although not all potential connections blossomed into relationships, these behavioral precursors to relationship promotion predicted relationship development via post-interaction interest in affiliating. Findings are contextualized within attraction literature with implications for relationship development.
This study investigates the criteria of an ideal partner among university student by using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM). A questionnaire survey has been distributed to respondents in nine faculties in UTHM with the total of 11 criteria of an ideal woman and 11 criteria of an ideal man have been listed for respondents to rank based on their priorities. The objective of the study is to determine the priority criteria of man and woman that most students considered before getting marriage. Some comparison of selection criteria for an ideal partner between Malay and non-Malay has been analysed. Result shows the main priority criteria for an ideal man are religious followed by responsible, loyal, honest, loving, mature, hygiene, ambitious, rich, intelligent and good looking. Meanwhile, the main priority criteria for an ideal woman are religious followed by honest, motherly, patient, beautiful, polite, cooking, friendly, cheerful, intelligent and independent. The comparison between non-Malay present the main criteria of an ideal man and ideal woman are responsible and beautiful. One of the significant findings throughout the research was majority of the respondents agreed that religious become the main criteria in selecting a right partner and highly significant difference in selection criteria of an ideal partner between Malay and non-Malay.
Entering and establishing a long-term relationship is typically a gradual process, as dating partners acquire information about each other over weeks or months. In contrast, existing mate selection paradigms (e.g., lab experiments, speed-dating) typically examine single brief encounters with real or potential mates. In the current research, we used a Choose Your Own Adventure design to examine how potential dealbreakers operate within the context of a broader relationship dynamic. In two studies, a combined total of 1585 participants read a story about a new dating relationship. At each of 17 junctures in the story, participants chose whether to continue dating or end the relationship. Potential dealbreakers were independently manipulated to be present or absent at each juncture, for a total of up to 17 negative pieces of information about the partner. Study 2 was a preregistered replication and extension of Study 1. On average, participants did not reject the hypothetical partner until several potential dealbreakers had been presented (M = 4.20 in Study 1, M = 3.68 in Study 2). Participants' self-reported dealbreakers consistently aligned with their in-story decisions. Even so, participants tended to encounter at least two of their own personal dealbreakers before choosing to reject (Study 2). Together, these studies highlight the sequential, iterative nature of partner evaluations, and illustrate a novel, accessible method for testing models of early relationship development.
Determining who to marry can be one of the most meaningful and daunting decisions an individual can make during their lifetime. The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of couples as they moved through varied partner selection decisions to become engaged and/or married to each other. Capturing the couples’ voice moves beyond individual partner preferences and attraction tendencies by inquiring how individuals use these variables to make complex partner selection decisions within the context of the relationship. A qualitative approach is used and thematic analysis is employed to analyze the data. Interviews with five engaged or married couples revealed that as part of the relationship deepening process, pivotal illuminating moments allowed subconscious partner preferences and expectations to surface. Couples enter a process to discern partner and relationship preferences and expectations and use external feedback from family and friends as a checks-and-balances function. Couples can utilize this information to make more informed partner selection decisions. Educators, clergy, and mental health professionals can supplement the content in pre-marital education curriculums and enhance couple interventions.
Event history calendars (EHCs) are popular tools for retrospective data collection. Originally conceptualized as face-to-face interviews, EHCs contain various questions about the respondents’ autobiography in order to use their experiences as cues to facilitate remembering. For relationship researchers, EHCs are particularly valuable when trying to reconstruct the relational past of individuals. However, while many studies are conducted online nowadays, no freely available online adaptation of the EHC is available yet. In this tutorial, we provide detailed instructions on how to implement an online EHC for the reconstruction of romantic relationship histories within the open source framework formr. We showcase on ways to customize the online EHC and provide a template for researchers to adapt the tool for their own purposes.
Event history calendars (EHCs) are popular tools for retrospective data collection. Originally conceptualized as face-to-face interviews, EHCs contain various questions about the respondents’ autobiography in order to use their experiences as cues to facilitate remembering. For relationship researchers, EHCs are particularly valuable when trying to reconstruct the relational past of individuals. However, while many studies are conducted online nowadays, no online adaptation of the EHC is available yet. In this tutorial, we provide detailed instructions on how to implement an online EHC for the reconstruction of romantic relationship histories within the open source framework formr. We showcase on ways to customize the online EHC and provide a template for researchers to adapt the tool for their own purposes.
Preprint on PsyArXiv: https://psyarxiv.com/h8cs9/
The authors examined the linguistic cues that inform personality judgments from online personal advertisements, and whether these judgments are accurate. Advertisers reported their personality, and 2 sets of naïve judges-including one that was seeking a romantic partner-rated advertisers' personality after reading their ads. Judges' impressions of extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability-3 traits that are strongly desired in a romantic partner-were influenced by particular lexical cues, such as word count, emotionality, and profanity. Both sets of judges formed accurate impressions for extraversion, but not other traits. These findings suggest that online daters use linguistic cues to judge the desirability of a potential romantic partner's personality, but that the impressions driven by these cues are not always accurate.
Social exchange and evolutionary models of mate selection incorporate economic assumptions but have not considered a key distinction between necessities and luxuries. This distinction can clarify an apparent paradox: Status and attractiveness, though emphasized by many researchers, are not typically rated highly by research participants. Three studies supported the hypothesis that women and men first ensure sufficient levels of necessities in potential mates before considering many other characteristics rated as more important in prior surveys. In Studies 1 and 2, participants designed ideal long-term mates, purchasing various characteristics with 3 different budgets. Study 3 used a mate-screening paradigm and showed that people inquire 1st about hypothesized necessities. Physical attractiveness was a necessity to men, status and resources were necessities to women, and kindness and intelligence were necessities to both.
Evidence is presented showing that body fat distribution as measured by waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is correlated with youthfulness, reproductive endocrinologic status, and long-term health risk in women. Three studies show that men judge women with low WHR as attractive. Study 1 documents that minor changes in WHRs of Miss America winners and Playboy playmates have occurred over the past 30-60 years. Study 2 shows that college-age men find female figures with low WHR more attractive, healthier, and of greater reproductive value than figures with a higher WHR. In Study 3, 25- to 85-year-old men were found to prefer female figures with lower WHR and assign them higher ratings of attractiveness and reproductive potential. It is suggested that WHR represents an important bodily feature associated with physical attractiveness as well as with health and reproductive potential. A hypothesis is proposed to explain how WHR influences female attractiveness and its role in mate selection.
In this chapter, we describe our theory of the relational self grounded in the social-cognitive phenomenon of
transference. Relational selves embody the cognitive, emotional, motivational, and behavioral tendencies exhibited in relation to significant others. We argue that relational selves are stored in memory and are linked to significant other representations. Accordingly, when a significant-other representation is activated and used in an encounter with a new person, the perceiver not only comes to interpret and evaluate the new person as if he or she were the significant other but also views and experiences the self as he or she usually does in relation to the particular significant other. Having laid out our theory, along with wide-ranging evidence to support it, we then address several questions and issues raised about our work. We conclude with a discussion of several broad directions for future research on transference and the relational self.
Male and female college students in the United States (N = 224) viewed models who had been prerated for physical attractiveness and who were dressed in costumes representing one of three levels of socioeconomic status (SES). Subjects reported their willingness to engage with these stimulus persons in six relationships involving various levels of marital potential and sexual involvement. Models' costume status had greater effects on female subjects' willingness than on male subjects' willingness to enter all six relationships. This difference was larger when the physical attractiveness of models was low than when it was high. Costume status also affected female subjects' ratings of male models' attractiveness but did not affect male subjects' ratings of female models' attractiveness. Results supported eight hypotheses derived from evolutionary theory: In choosing partners, men and women weighed potential partners' SES and physical attractiveness differently, and these factors may have different behavioral implications depending on the degree to which sexual relations, or marital potential, or both, are involved.
Scientific interest in whether women experience changes across the ovulatory cycle in mating-related motivations, preferences, cognitions, and behaviors has surged in the past 2 decades. A prominent hypothesis in this area, the ovulatory shift hypothesis, posits that women experience elevated immediate sexual attraction on high- relative to low-fertility days of the cycle to men with characteristics that reflected genetic quality ancestrally. Dozens of published studies have aimed to test this hypothesis, with some reporting null effects. We conducted a meta-analysis to quantitatively evaluate support for the pattern of cycle shifts predicted by the ovulatory shift hypothesis in a total sample of 134 effects from 38 published and 12 unpublished studies. Consistent with the hypothesis, analyses revealed robust cycle shifts that were specific to women's preferences for hypothesized cues of (ancestral) genetic quality (96 effects in 50 studies). Cycle shifts were present when women evaluated men's "short-term" attractiveness and absent when women evaluated men's "long-term" attractiveness. More focused analyses identified specific characteristics for which cycle shifts were or were not robust and revealed areas in need of more research. Finally, we used several methods to assess potential bias due to an underrepresentation of small effects in the meta-analysis sample or to "researcher degrees of freedom" in definitions of high- and low-fertility cycle phases. Neither type of bias appeared to account for the observed cycle shifts. The existence of robust relationship context-dependent cycle shifts in women's mate preferences has implications for understanding the role of evolved psychological mechanisms and the ovulatory cycle in women's attractions and social behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
In the current study, opposite-sex strangers had 10-min conversations with a possible further date in mind. Based on judgments from partners and observers, three main findings were produced. First, judgments of attractiveness/vitality perceptions (compared with warmth/trustworthiness and status/resources) were the most accurate and were predominant in influencing romantic interest and decisions about further contact. Second, women were more cautious and choosy than men-women underestimated their partner's romantic interest, whereas men exaggerated it, and women were less likely to want further contact. Third, a mediational model found that women (compared with men) were less likely to want further contact because they perceived their partners as possessing less attractiveness/vitality and as falling shorter of their minimum standards of attractiveness/vitality, thus generating lower romantic interest. These novel results are discussed in terms of the mixed findings from prior research, evolutionary psychology, and the functionality of lay psychology in early mate-selection contexts.
Although mate preference research has firmly established that men value physical attractiveness more than women do and women value social status more than men do, recent speed-dating studies have indicated mixed evidence (at best) for whether people's sex-differentiated mate preferences predict actual mate choices. According to an evolutionary, mate preference priority model (Li, Bailey, Kenrick, & Linsenmeier, 2002; Li & Kenrick, 2006; Li, Valentine, & Patel, 2011), the sexes are largely similar in what they ideally like, but for long-term mates, they should differ on what they most want to avoid in early selection contexts. Following this model, we conducted experiments using online messaging and modified speed-dating platforms. Results indicate that when a mating pool includes people at the low end of social status and physical attractiveness, mate choice criteria are sex-differentiated: Men, more than women, chose mates based on physical attractiveness, whereas women, more than men, chose mates based on social status. In addition, individuals who more greatly valued social status or physical attractiveness on paper valued these traits more in their actual choices. In particular, mate choices were sex-differentiated when considering long-term relationships but not short-term ones, where both sexes shunned partners with low physical attractiveness. The findings validate a large body of mate preferences research and an evolutionary perspective on mating, and they have implications for research using speed-dating and other interactive contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
The present study explored minimum mate selection standards (i.e., the lowest levels of various characteristics that an individual must possess in order to be considered a potential partner) and the extent to which gender, self-perceived mate value, and relationship context moderate minimum standards. Men and women were more selective (expressed higher minimum standards) as the mating context shifted from short- to long-term, for a number of partner attributes. As expected, gender moderated these effects; women were more selective than men when considering a potential short-term (but not long-term) mate. Men's self-perceived mate value largely was unassociated with their selection standards; however, women's mate value correlated positively with their minimum criteria, across a variety of characteristics and for a short-term sex and a long-term romantic partner. As expected, gender differences in the strength of these correlations were greater in the short-term than in the long-term mating context.
In most social species, position in the male social hierarchy and reproductive success are positively correlated; in humans, however, this relationship is less clear, with studies of traditional societies yielding mixed results. In the most economically advanced human populations, the adaptiveness of status vanishes altogether; social status and fertility are uncorrelated. These findings have been interpreted to suggest that evolutionary principles may not be appropriate for the explanation of human behavior, especially in modern environments. The present study tests the adaptiveness of social status with actual mating and reproductive data in a representative sample of males from an industrial society. Reproductive success, even when assessed by a more reliable measure of actual male fertility than the one commonly used, fails to correlate with social status. In striking contrast, however, status is found to be highly correlated with potential fertility, as estimated from copulation frequency. Status thus accounts for as much as 62% of the variance in this proximate component of fitness. This pattern is remarkably similar to what is found in many traditional societies and would result in a substantial positive relationship between cultural and reproductive success in industrial populations were it not for the novel conditions imposed by contraception and monogamy. Various underlying mechanisms are suggested for these findings, illustrating the value of current behavioral and reproductive data in the study of adaptation. It is concluded that evolutionary explanations of human behavior remain entirely relevant in modern societies.
A central element of interdependence theory is that people have standards against which they compare their current outcomes, and one ubiquitous standard in the mating domain is the preference for particular attributes in a partner (ideal partner preferences). This article reviews research on the predictive validity of ideal partner preferences and presents a new integrative model that highlights when and why ideals succeed or fail to predict relational outcomes. Section 1 examines predictive validity by reviewing research on sex differences in the preference for physical attractiveness and earning prospects. Men and women reliably differ in the extent to which these qualities affect their romantic evaluations of hypothetical targets. Yet a new meta-analysis spanning the attraction and relationships literatures (k = 97) revealed that physical attractiveness predicted romantic evaluations with a moderate-to-strong effect size (r = ∼.40) for both sexes, and earning prospects predicted romantic evaluations with a small effect size (r = ∼.10) for both sexes. Sex differences in the correlations were small (rdifference = .03) and uniformly nonsignificant. Section 2 reviews research on individual differences in ideal partner preferences, drawing from several theoretical traditions to explain why ideals predict relational evaluations at different relationship stages. Furthermore, this literature also identifies alternative measures of ideal partner preferences that have stronger predictive validity in certain theoretically sensible contexts. Finally, a discussion highlights a new framework for conceptualizing the appeal of traits, the difference between live and hypothetical interactions, and the productive interplay between mating research and broader psychological theories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
Hypothesized that men prefer women around their own age, but that as they grow older, men develop a preference for women who, although not absolutely younger, are progressively younger than themselves and that women begin with a preference for older men, and compared with men, show less variation in that preference over their life span. Six studies support this gender-differentiated prediction in age preferences expressed in 218 personal advertisements, 1,189 marriages from 2 US cities, 100 marriages in 1923, matrimonial advertisements from 2 European countries and India, 1,789 marriages recorded from 1913–1939 on a small island in the Philippines, and 213 singles advertisements placed by financially successful American women and men. Limitations of normative and evolutionary explanations of age preferences are considered. 30 commentaries and an author response follow. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined the consequences of mate preferences for the processes of assortative mating and sexual selection. In Study 1, 92 married couples (aged 18–40 yrs) completed measures such as the California Psychological Inventory, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and Personal Attributes Questionnaire. Data were used to identify (a) the mate characteristics that were consensually more and less desired, (b) the mate characteristics that showed strong sex differences in their preferred value, (c) the degree to which married couples were correlated in selection preferences, and (d) the relations between expressed preferences and the personality and background characteristics of obtained spouses. Marital preference factors included Religious, Kind/Considerate, Artistic/Intelligent, and Easygoing/Adaptable. Study 2, with 100 unmarried undergraduates, replicated the sex differences and consensual ordering of mate preferences found in Study 1, using a different methodology. Alternative hypotheses are presented to account for the replicated sex differences in preferences for attractiveness and earning potential. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Contemporary mate preferences can provide important clues to human reproductive history. Little is known about which characteristics people value in potential mates. Five predictions were made about sex differences in human mate preferences based on evolutionary conceptions of parental investment, sexual selection, human reproductive capacity, and sexual asymmetries regarding certainty of paternity versus maternity. The predictions centered on how each sex valued earning capacity, ambition— industriousness, youth, physical attractiveness, and chastity. Predictions were tested in data from 37 samples drawn from 33 countries located on six continents and five islands (total N = 10,047). For 27 countries, demographic data on actual age at marriage provided a validity check on questionnaire data. Females were found to value cues to resource acquisition in potential mates more highly than males. Characteristics signaling reproductive capacity were valued more by males than by females. These sex differences may reflect different evolutionary selection pressures on human males and females; they provide powerful cross-cultural evidence of current sex differences in reproductive strategies. Discussion focuses on proximate mechanisms underlying mate preferences, consequences for human intrasexual competition, and the limitations of this study.
Three studies explored how the traits that people ideally desire in a romantic partner, or ideal partner preferences, intersect with the process of romantic relationship initiation and maintenance. Two attraction experiments in the laboratory found that, when participants evaluated a potential romantic partner's written profile, they expressed more romantic interest in a partner whose traits were manipulated to match (vs. mismatch) their idiosyncratic ideals. However, after a live interaction with the partner, the match vs. mismatch manipulation was no longer associated with romantic interest. This pattern appeared to have emerged because participants reinterpreted the meaning of the traits as they applied to the partner, a context effect predicted by classic models of person perception (S. E. Asch, 1946). Finally, a longitudinal study of middle-aged adults demonstrated that participants evaluated a current romantic partner (but not a partner who was merely desired) more positively to the extent that the partner matched their overall pattern of ideals across several traits; the match in level of ideals (i.e., high vs. low ratings) was not relevant to participants' evaluations. In general, the match between ideals and a partner's traits may predict relational outcomes when participants are learning about a partner in the abstract and when they are actually in a relationship with the partner, but not when considering potential dating partners they have met in person.
Evolutionary-related hypotheses about gender differences in mate selection preferences were derived from Triver's parental investment model, which contends that women are more likely than men to seek a mate who possesses nonphysical characteristics that maximize the survival or reproductive prospects of their offspring, and were examined in a meta-analysis of mate selection research (questionnaire studies, analyses of personal advertisements). As predicted, women accorded more weight than men to socioeconomic status, ambitiousness, character, and intelligence, and the largest gender differences were observed for cues to resource acquisition (status, ambitiousness). Also as predicted, gender differences were not found in preferences for characteristics unrelated to progeny survival (sense of humor, "personality"). Where valid comparisons could be made, the findings were generally invariant across generations, cultures, and research paradigms.
Social psychologists have devoted considerable theoretical and empirical attention to studying gender differences in traits desired in a mate. Most of the studies on mate preferences, however, have been conducted with small, nonrepresentative samples. In this study, we analyzed data collected from single adults in a national probability sample, the National Survey of Families and Households. Respondents were asked to consider 12 possible assets or liabilities in a marriage partner and to indicate their willingness to marry someone possessing each of these traits. These data extended previous research by comparing men's and women's mate preferences in a heterogeneous sample of the national population and by comparing gender differences in different sociodemographic groups. The gender differences found in this study were consistent with those secured in previous research (e.g., youth and physical attractiveness were found to be more important for men than for women; earning potential was found to be less important for men than for women) and were quite consistent across age groups and races. However, the various sociodemographic groups differed slightly in the magnitude of gender differences for some of the mate preferences.
Evidence is presented showing that body fat distribution as measured by waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is correlated with youthfulness, reproductive endocrinologic status, and long-term health risk in women. Three studies show that men judge women with low WHR as attractive. Study 1 documents that minor changes in WHRs of Miss America winners and Playboy playmates have occurred over the past 30-60 years. Study 2 shows that college-age men find female figures with low WHR more attractive, healthier, and of greater reproductive value than figures with a higher WHR. In Study 3, 25- to 85-year-old men were found to prefer female figures with lower WHR and assign them higher ratings of attractiveness and reproductive potential. It is suggested that WHR represents an important bodily feature associated with physical attractiveness as well as with health and reproductive potential. A hypothesis is proposed to explain how WHR influences female attractiveness and its role in mate selection.
This article proposes a contextual-evolutionary theory of human mating strategies. Both men and women are hypothesized to have evolved distinct psychological mechanisms that underlie short-term and long-term strategies. Men and women confront different adaptive problems in short-term as opposed to long-term mating contexts. Consequently, different mate preferences become activated from their strategic repertoires. Nine key hypotheses and 22 predictions from Sexual Strategies Theory are outlined and tested empirically. Adaptive problems sensitive to context include sexual accessibility, fertility assessment, commitment seeking and avoidance, immediate and enduring resource procurement, paternity certainty, assessment of mate value, and parental investment. Discussion summarizes 6 additional sources of behavioral data, outlines adaptive problems common to both sexes, and suggests additional contexts likely to cause shifts in mating strategy.
Social exchange and evolutionary models of mate selection incorporate economic assumptions but have not considered a key distinction between necessities and luxuries. This distinction can clarify an apparent paradox: Status and attractiveness, though emphasized by many researchers, are not typically rated highly by research participants. Three studies supported the hypothesis that women and men first ensure sufficient levels of necessities in potential mates before considering many other characteristics rated as more important in prior surveys. In Studies 1 and 2, participants designed ideal long-term mates, purchasing various characteristics with 3 different budgets. Study 3 used a mate-screening paradigm and showed that people inquire 1st about hypothesized necessities. Physical attractiveness was a necessity to men, status and resources were necessities to women, and kindness and intelligence were necessities to both.
Prior research and theory suggest that people use three main sets of criteria in mate selection: warmth/trustworthiness, attractiveness/vitality, and status/resources. In two studies, men and women made mating choices between pairs of hypothetical potential partners and were forced to make trade-offs among these three criteria (e.g., warm and homely vs. cold and attractive). As predicted, women (relative to men) placed greater importance on warmth/trustworthiness and status/resources in a potential mate but less importance on attractiveness/vitality. In addition, as expected (a) ratings of ideal standards partly mediated the link between sex and mate choices, (b) ideal standards declined in importance from long-term to short-term relationships, with the exception of attractiveness/vitality, and unexpectedly, (c) sex differences were higher for long-term (compared to short-term) mate choice. Explanations and implications are discussed.
Based on undergraduates' self-reports of mate preferences for various traits and self-perceptions of their own levels on those traits, Buston and Emlen [Buston PM, Emlen ST (2003) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:8805–8810] concluded that modern human mate choices do not reflect predictions of tradeoffs from evolutionary theory but instead follow a “likes-attract” pattern, where people choose mates who match their self-perceptions. However, reported preferences need not correspond to actual mate choices, which are more relevant from an evolutionary perspective. In a study of 46 adults participating in a speed-dating event, we were largely able to replicate Buston and Emlen's self-report results in a pre-event questionnaire, but we found that the stated preferences did not predict actual choices made during the speed-dates. Instead, men chose women based on their physical attractiveness, whereas women, who were generally much more discriminating than men, chose men whose overall desirability as a mate matched the women's self-perceived physical attractiveness. Unlike the cognitive processes that Buston and Emlen inferred from self-reports, this pattern of results from actual mate choices is very much in line with the evolutionary predictions of parental investment theory.
• assortative mating
• decision making
• evolutionary psychology
• sexual selection
• speed-dating
In paradigms in which participants state their ideal romantic-partner preferences or examine vignettes and photographs, men value physical attractiveness more than women do, and women value earning prospects more than men do. Yet it remains unclear if these preferences remain sex differentiated in predicting desire for real-life potential partners (i.e., individuals whom one has actually met). In the present study, the authors explored this possibility using speed dating and longitudinal follow-up procedures. Replicating previous research, participants exhibited traditional sex differences when stating the importance of physical attractiveness and earning prospects in an ideal partner and ideal speed date. However, data revealed no sex differences in the associations between participants' romantic interest in real-life potential partners (met during and outside of speed dating) and the attractiveness and earning prospects of those partners. Furthermore, participants' ideal preferences, assessed before the speed-dating event, failed to predict what inspired their actual desire at the event. Results are discussed within the context of R. E. Nisbett and T. D. Wilson's (1977) seminal article: Even regarding such a consequential aspect of mental life as romantic-partner preferences, people may lack introspective awareness of what influences their judgments and behavior.
The finding that women are attracted to men older than themselves whereas men are attracted to relatively younger women has been explained by social psychologists in terms of economic exchange rooted in traditional sex-role norms. An alternative evolutionary model suggests that males and females follow different reproductive strategies, and predicts a more complex relationship between gender and age preferences. In particular, males' preference for relatively Younger females should be minimal during early mating years, but should become more pronounced as the male gets older. Young females are expected to prefer somewhat older males during their early years and to change less as they age. We briefly review relevant theory and present results of six studies testing this prediction. Study 1 finds support for this gender-differentiated prediction in age preferences expressed in personal advertisements. Study 2 supports the prediction with marriage statistics from two U.S. cities. Study 3 examines the cross-generational robustness of the phenomenon, and finds the same pattern in marriage statistics from 1923. Study 4 replicates Study 1 using matrimonial advertisements from two European countries, and from India. Study 5 finds a consistent pattern in marriages recorded from 1913 through 1939 on a small island in the Philippines. Study 6 reveals the same pattern in singles advertisements placed by financially successful American women and men. We consider the limitations of previous normative and evolutionary explanations of age preferences and discuss the advantages of expanding previous models to include the life history perspective.
The Oxford Handbook of Close Relationships provides the best, most in-depth, and most comprehensive summary of the study of close relationships. The book is divided into eight sections: introductory comments, major theoretical approaches to relationships, attraction in relationships, models of relationship functioning and processes, daily relationship functioning, psychological and physical well-being in relationships, relationships across development and time, and concluding comments. The 37 chapters showcase the most important classic and contemporary theories, models, and empirical research that have been conducted across three dozen major topic areas within the field of close relationships. Chapter topics range in scope from evolutionary approaches to understanding relationships, the "battle between the sexes," cultural influences on relationships, female sexuality, personality in relationships, intimate partner violence, relationships and health, social development, and adult relationship outcomes. Each chapter is structured around three themes: (1) the most important and foundational principles, ideas, and findings on each chapter topic, (2) the most important and novel emerging themes and issues relevant to each topic, and (3) the newest and most promising directions for future research. Current, comprehensive, and with heretofore unmatched breadth and depth, this volume will serve as a roadmap for future theory and research in the study of close relationship during the next decade.
The Science of Intimate Relationships represents the first interdisciplinary approach to the latest scientific findings relating to human sexual relationships.
A study of a U.S. national sample of females ages 25 through 40 reveals a moderate association of education, and a weaker association of physical attractiveness, with husbands' occupational prestige. Consistent with earlier findings reported by Elder, the contribution of education to females' status attainment through marriage seems to vary positively with level of origins and the contribution of attractiveness seems to vary inversely, except that the apparent effects for farmers' daughters resemble those for high-origin rather than low-origin females. The contribution of attractiveness seems almost nil for both farmers' daughters and high-origin females and does not seem to vary systematically by age. Among daughters of low-manual workers, education and attractiveness seem to interact, so that each enhances the utility of the other. It is concluded that the exchange involved in mate selection must be very complex and that the major exchange theories of mate selection probably underestimate the influence of highly variable needs, preferences and tastes.
Most research on mate choice in modern societies is based on data that may or may not reflect actual mating behavior (e.g., stated preferences, personal advertisements). In the present study, real-life matings were reported by a large representative sample of men and women (N = 1,133). These data were used to test an evolutionary model in which mate choice is hypothesized to depend on resources potentially contributed to reproduction by each sex. Consistent with the model, it was found that (a) men (but not women) of higher social status acquire more mating partners, suggesting that male status is an important criterion in female choice; (b) women's (but not men's) number of partners decreases linearly with age, suggesting that female reproductive potential is an important criterion in male choice; and (c) women (but not men) display a significant relationship between marital dissolution and promiscuity, suggesting that female sexual exclusivity is an important criterion in male choice. These results are discussed in relation to understanding mate choice mechanisms from behavioral data.
Women who rate their male partner as more masculine tend to prefer more masculine faces. However, it is unclear whether a preference for masculinity causes women to select masculine partners, or to perceive their current partner as more masculine. By incorporating multiple measures of male masculinity, we establish that women’s preference for facial masculinity in short-term partners is correlated with their rating of their partner’s masculinity and with their partner’s self-rated masculinity, but with neither independent ratings of men’s facial masculinity nor a facialmetric masculinity index. Facial masculinity preference in long-term partners is correlated with women’s rating of partner masculinity, with a similar trend for men’s self-rating. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that these relationships were independent of age, although only for short-term preference. We conclude that women who prefer masculine men tend to have more masculine partners, and therefore that mate-preferences do drive mate-choice.
The acquaintance process has long been of interest to social psychologists, but previous research has rarely considered communication as a consolidator of initial attraction. In this study, pairs of previously unacquainted men and women were matched and sent on a get-acquainted date. The researchers examined how the perceived quality of the communication during the interaction affected the dating and friendship attraction the partners had for each other, their desire to see each other again, and the actual continuation of the relationship. The importance of two frequently studied social psychological variables was also considered; partner's physical attractiveness and similarity (both as perceived by the subjects). Most subjects judged the communication to be high in quality and experienced at least some attraction for their partner (and more friendship than romantic attraction), but very few couples went on to have a second date. Quality of communication was found to be related to attraction and the desire to see the other again. Its importance, however, was greater for women than for men and greater for friendship attraction than for romantic attraction.
We investigated the moderating influence of individual differences in women’s sociosexuality on romantic preferences within three specific relationship contexts. Female participants were presented with four prospective mates, varying in their ambition and attractiveness, and were asked to rate interest in these targets as short-term sexual partners, as casual dating partners, and as long-term romantic partners. Short-term sexual appeal largely rested on targets’ attractiveness, particularly among women with an unrestricted sociosexual orientation. Dating appeal was dependent on attractiveness, particularly among unrestricted women, and on ambition. Ambition and attractiveness synergistically influenced targets’ long-term desirability, and these preferences were not moderated by women’s sociosexual orientation. These findings portray the textured manner in which sociosexual orientation shapes women’s mate preferences and underscore the need to delineate different types of short-term relationships. We advance an interactionist framework that considers how women’s dispositions and the traits of potential mates jointly operate to influence romantic preferences within distinct contexts.
We studied initial and long-term outcomes of speed-dating over a period of 1 year in a community sample involving 382 participants aged 18–54 years. They were followed from their initial choices of dating partners up to later mating (sexual intercourse) and relating (romantic relationship). Using Social Relations Model analyses, we examined evolutionarily informed hypotheses on both individual and dyadic effects of participants' physical characteristics, personality, education and income on their dating, mating and relating. Both men and women based their choices mainly on the dating partners' physical attractiveness, and women additionally on men's sociosexuality, openness to experience, shyness, education and income. Choosiness increased with age in men, decreased with age in women and was positively related to popularity among the other sex, but mainly for men. Partner similarity had only weak effects on dating success. The chance for mating with a speed-dating partner was 6%, and was increased by men's short-term mating interest; the chance for relating was 4%, and was increased by women's long-term mating interest. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The relative influence of attractiveness and educational attainment in marriage mobility was investigated in a longitudinal sample of women from middle- and working-class families. The women were born in the early 1920s, were intensively studied during the 1930s, and most of them participated in at least one adult follow-up. During adolescence, middle-class girls were significantly higher on physical attractiveness, groomed appearance, and IQ than girls from the working class. The two groups did not differ on status aspiration or academic aptitude. In the total sample, girls who became upwardly mobile through marriage were characterized by physical attractiveness, a desire to impress and control others, high aspirations for the future, and an avoidance of steady dating. Intelligence and academic aptitude were not directly predictive of marriage mobility, although both factors influenced the adult status of the women through their educational attainment. Among women from the working class, physical attractiveness was more predictive of marriage to a high-status man than educational attainment, while the relative effects of these factors were reversed among women of middle-class origin. Social ascent from the working class was also related to sexual restraint and a well-groomed appearance.
This research examined lay relationship and partner ideals in romantic relationships from both a social-cognitive and an evolutionary perspective. Studies 1 and 2 revealed that the qualities of an ideal partner were represented by 3 factors (partner warmth-trustworthiness, vitality-attractiveness, and status-resources), whereas the qualities of an ideal relationship were represented by 2 factors (relationship intimacy-loyalty and passion). A confirmatory factor analysis in Study 3 replicated these factor structures but found considerable overlap across the partner and relationship dimensions. Studies 4 and 5 produced convergent and discriminant validity evidence for all 5 factors. Study 6 indicated that the higher the consistency between the ideals and related assessments of the current partner and relationship, the more positively the current relationship was evaluated.
Women prefer slightly feminized male facial shapes. Such faces (Fig. 1a)
are given positive personality attributions that might correlate with
actual behaviour. In contrast, masculine features seem to signal
immunological competence. Heritable benefits can be realized only if
conception follows copulation, so women might be more attentive to
phenotypic markers indicating immunological competence during the
follicular phase of the menstrual cycle when conception is most likely,.
Consistent with this hypothesis is the observation that women's
preference for the odour of men with low fluctuating asymmetry (a
correlate of testosterone-facilitated trait size and developmental
stability) increases with the probability of conception across the
menstrual cycle.Symmetrical men report more extra-pair copulation
partners, and extra-pair copulation rates peak in midcycle. Here we show
that female preference for secondary sexual traits in male face shapes
varies with the probability of conception across the menstrual cycle.
or about current dating experiences (2%), and one study recruited involved participants and asked questions about how the relationship began and developed (1%) Only two studies From dating to mating and relating: Predictors of initial and long-term outcomes of speed-dating in a community sample
- Asendorpf
- Penke
- Back
(12%), and a few studies recruited single individuals and asked about prior dating experiences (1%), or about current dating experiences (2%), and one study recruited involved participants and asked questions about how the relationship began and developed (1%). Only two studies (Asendorpf, Penke, & Back, 2011; Eastwick & Finkel, 2008), however, recruited participants References Asendorpf, J. B., Penke, L., & Back, M. D. (2011). From dating to mating and relating: Predictors of initial and long-term outcomes of speed-dating in a community sample. European Journal of Personality, 25, 16–30.
The Oxford Handbook of Close Relationships Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: Role of waist-to-hip ratio
- J A Simpson
- L Campbell
Simpson, J. A., & Campbell, L. (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Close Relationships. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Singh, D. (1993). Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: Role of waist-to-hip ratio. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 293–307.
Mate choice in modern society: Testing evolutionary hypotheses with behavioral data
- Pérusse