I. Introduction
a. Two main areas of study: sex differences and similarity preferences. (Women interested in
“resources”; Men interested in “attractiveness”)
b. Sex-role socialism suggests females’ “comparative structural powerlessness” leads them to
marrying-upward in SES while men are more likely to accept the concept of “exchange object.”
Therefore physical attractiveness is a central mechanism for measuring relative value in exchange
commodity.
c. Evolutionary theory concerned with reproductive success: females focus on the social and material
provisioning for offspring while males seek out fertility
d. The aim of the study: to look at sex, personality, and ideological predictors of mate choice
e. Different literature on influences:
1. Influence of “birds of a feather” - Shows people seek out those similar to
themselves. [Luo and Klohnen (2005)]
2. Influence of personality factors [Swami and Furnham (2008)].
3. Influence of real, media-based personal or lonely hearts advertisements
4. Harrison and Saeed (1977), Thiessen, Young, & Burroughs (1983), Greenlees
and McGrew (1994), Koziel and Pawlowski (2003), & Barrett, Dunbar and
Lycett (2002) all analyzed lonely hearts advertisements.
a. Common thread: Women – more likely to offer attractiveness and seek
out resources (financial security).
b. Men – more likely to offer resources (financial security) & status, and
seek attractiveness (health, sexiness) and youth.
f. Studies examining the desirability of traits in mate selection
g. Hypothesis:
1. Females would place a higher emphasis on education, social skills, emotional
intelligence and conscientiousness.
2. There would be a “birds of a feather”/assortative mating effect - people would
seek out those with personalities similar to themselves – Extraverts would seek
out Extraverts and so on.
3. There would be a strong ideological compatibility effect – those of stronger
beliefs and commitments to religious/political causes would be a huge factor in
their preference.
II. Method
a. Participants:
1. 250 – 110 single male and 140 female.
2. Ranged in age from 18-41
3. Rated themselves on attractiveness scale, religious scale, and political scale
4. 1/3 – Asian from Hong Kong, China & Singapore; ½ - European, mainly
British; Remaining from North America & Australasia
b. Questionnaire:
1. Two page questionnaire completed online or on paper
2. First part: required to write down five characteristics they believed to best
describe themselves; then write down & rank the five characteristics they most
want in a long-term romantic partner.
3. Second part: rated characteristics provided on an 11-point scale [0 = Not
Desirable to 11 = Extremely Desirable)
4. Personality assessed by frequently used brief measure of Big Five questionnaire
c. Procedure
1.
2.
Ten research assistants contacted 25 friends by email, asking if they or their
friends would complete a questionnaire.
Asked friends to ensure that they were roughly half male and half female,
between the age of 18 and 25, unmarried and heterosexual.
III. Results
a. Differences in self-descriptions among the sexes
1. Female: outgoing, cheerful, and caring
2. Male: intelligent and good looking
b. Differences of preferences of traits in partner
1. Female: caring, funny, loyal
2. Male: looks, caring, intelligent
3. Confirms 1st hypothesis (Females showed higher preference compared to males
for cognitive ability, emotional intelligence, conscientiousness, education, and
social skills while males preferred attractiveness)
c. Religious predictors
1. Women ranked religious compatibility more importantly than males did for mate
selection
d. Height and weight predictors
1. Taller participants rated good looks higher but conscientiousness lower than
shorter people
2. Heavier participants rated conscientiousness, height, and education lower than
lighter participants
e. Personality predictors
1. “like attracts like” phenomenon
2. Confirms 2nd hypothesis (“birds of a feather flock together”)
f. Value predictors
1. Conservative females, both religiously and politically, ranked politically
compatibility highly important.
2. Confirms 3rd hypothesis (Prediction for strong ideological compatibility
preference)
IV. Discussion
1. Broad support for hypotheses
2. Showed both individual and sex differences in sexual mating
3. Inclusion of religious and political variables were unique to this study
4. Evolutionary survival advantages to seeking religious and political group
compatibility.
Summary of:
Furnham, A. (2009). Sex difference in mate selection preferences. Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 262267.
Summary by Alyssa Reichental, Roxanne Majich, and Kathryn Hogan
For Dr. Mills’ Psyc 452 class, Fall, 2010
The two main areas of study of human mate selection preference center around sex differences and
similarity preferences. Women are interested in “resources” and men are interested in “attractiveness.” The aim of
this particular study was to look at sex, personality, and ideological predictors of mate choice. The researchers
referenced several different areas of literature that influence mate selection preference. These studies discuss
influences that range from “birds of a feather” to media-based personal or “lonely-hearts” advertisements. The
common theme amongst the studies that looked at lonely-hearts ads was that women are more likely to offer
attractiveness and seek out resources (financial security) while men were more likely to offer resources (financial
security) & status, and seek attractiveness (health, sexiness) and youth. Other studies referenced in the article found
the most desirable traits of the Big Five for both males and females were Conscientiousness and Agreeableness.
The hypothesis of the study was: first, females would place a higher emphasis on education, social skills,
emotional intelligence and conscientiousness. Second, there would be a “birds of a feather”/assortative mating
effect - people would seek out those with personalities similar to themselves – Extraverts would seek out Extraverts
and so on. Third, there would be a strong ideological compatibility effect – those of stronger beliefs and
commitments to religious/political causes would be a huge factor in their preference.
There were 250 participants; 110 male and 140 female between the ages of 18-41 years. The participants
filled out a two page questionnaire online or on paper. The questionnaire required the participants to write down
five characteristics they believed described themselves and then five characteristics, in order, they want in a longterm romantic partner. The next part asked them to rate provided characteristics on an 11-point scale. In order to
obtain the participants, ten research assistants contacted 25 friends by email.
Based on participant responses, the top three categories of descriptions listed by males for their mate
preferences were looks, caring, and intelligence. The three characteristics females found most important in their
mate were caring, funny, and loyal. From this data, the researchers found that women displayed a significantly
higher preference for cognitive ability, emotional intelligence, conscientiousness, height, education, social skills,
and political and religious compatibility, whereas males were more significantly interested in good looks.
Male overall (%)
Female overall (%)
Intelligent/capability
46.4
37.1
Funny/humorous
29.1
41.4
Caring/loving
54.5
64.3
Well-mannered/good
20.0
17.1
Loyal/honest
31.8
41.4
Considerate/kind
35.5
33.6
Male overall (%)
Female overall (%)
Height/body
25.5
11.4
Look/attractiveness
60.0
27.1
Compatibility
0
13.6
Religious-rated
0
14.3
Dependable
0
20.7
Outgoing/extravert
0
10.7
Wealth/job/future
0
29.3
Table adapted from Furnham (2009), p. 264
Data for desired traits in a mate
The results also showed a number of physical predictors such that heavier participants rated
conscientiousness, height, and education lower than lighter participants. The researchers also found that taller
participants rated good looks higher but conscientiousness lower than shorter participants. Overall, height preference
in a mate was positively correlated with the height of the participants.
The participant’s personality was found to be the strongest predictor for personality trait preferences in a
mate. This result confirmed the theory of “like attracts like.” It was also discovered that women with conservative
tendencies, politically and religiously, significantly valued political and religious compatibility whereas males did
not.
Overall, all three hypotheses were supported such that birds of a feather tend to flock together, females
show a higher preference for deeper traits whereas males focus on shallow traits like attractiveness, and ideological
compatibility is an important variable for mate preference. The third hypothesis was unique in that religious and
political compatibility have not been thoroughly studied in previous research. However, the experiment was not
without fault considering the researchers used their own friends as participants, which weakens the generalizability
of the results. Furthermore, socioeconomic status was not accounted for as a variable in mate preferences, and
according to previous research, SES is a significant factor.