Running head: WEEK 6
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Week 6 Written Assignment
Otiz Porter
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
WEEK 6
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Week 6 Written Assignment
The article that I chose to discuss is titled: “Universal dimensions of human mate
preferences” by Shackelford, Schmitt, and Buss (2005). In the article the authors take a new
perspective on the work completed by Buss in 1989 on mate choice preferences across cultures
using an “archival database of preference ratings provided by several thousand participants from
three dozen cultures” (Shackelford et al., 2005, p. 447) “six continents and five islands (p. 456).
The attempt was to “determine with greater certainty…whether a small set of dimensions
underlie human mate preferences” (Shackelford et al., 2005, p. 456).
The study consisted solely of the archival data from the Buss 1989 study, which focused
on 10000 men and women aged 17 to 30 (86% of which were single) and used 18 mate
characteristics graded using the following 4-point scale: “3 points = indispensable, 2 = important,
1 = desirable, but not very important, and 0 = irrelevant or unimportant” (Shackelford et al.,
2005, p. 449). The authors were attempting to extract data that better narrowed down to four
main components that were universal across cultures in mate choice. The four components being:
“good financial prospects”; “good cook and housekeeper”; “similar educational background” (p.
454); and “pleasing disposition” (p. 455).
The work completed by Shackelford et al. (2005) showed that, in general, “women more
than men value social status and financial resources in a long-term mate”; “women around the
world value dependability, stability, education, and intelligence in a long-term mate more than
do men….[and], men more than women value in potential mates their good looks, health, and a
desire for home and children” (p. 456). The authors make the claim that “The four dimensions
identified in the current research, therefore, may be the best available approximation of universal
mate preference dimensions” (p. 456).
WEEK 6
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References
Shackelford, T. K., Schmitt, D. P., & Buss, D. M. (2005). Universal dimensions of human mate
preferences. Personality and Individual Differences, 39(2), 447-458.
This is the format I expect to see for your research papers. No, you do not
have to write an abstract for the research paper; unless you want to add it.
Please be sure to read the comments. If you have any questions about this
please contact me. Do not forget to use The Owl at Purdue as an online
reference.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
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